Throw Like a Girl, Cheer Like a Boy: The Evolution of Gender, Identity, and Race in Sports

A thought-provoking journey into the complicated history of gender, sexuality, race, and social justice through the world of sports. Have you ever wondered why most cheerleaders are girls? Or why some athletes, like Caster Semenya, have to prove they’re women while there’s no testing for men? And why do athletes like Megan Rapinoe and Colin Kaepernick use sports as a platform for social justice, and should they? These questions and more are examined in Throw Like a Girl, Cheer Like a Boy: The Evolution of Gender, Identity, and Race in Sports. Robyn Ryle uses the world of sports to examine the history, controversy, and current conversations around sexuality, race, and social justice, bringing in the stories of today’s athletes to highlight the issues. Topics covered include gender segregation, gender testing, transgender athletes, sexuality, homophobia, globalization, race, and activism. Throw Like a Girl, Cheer Like a Boy shows the great strides that have been made in the sports world, but there are still questions that remain and work that needs to be done. This book brings to attention the ways in which sports can contribute to inequalities while also demonstrating how sports can help create a more just world for everyone.

Table of Contents:
Acknowledgments Introduction 1. When All Cheerleaders Were Boys: Sports and Gender Segregation 2. How to Tell If a Woman Is “Really” a Woman: Gender Testing and the Olympics 3. Throwing Like a Girl: Are Men Really Better Athletes Than Women? 4. Sport for Everyone?: The Case of Transgender Athletes 5. Bow or No Bow?: Sexuality in Women’s Sports 6. Inside the Boys’ Locker Room: Homophobia and Men’s Sports 7. Why the Dutch Are So Good at Baseball: Globalization, Sports, and the Legacy of Colonialism 8.The Best Italian Baseball Player Is Black: How the Histories of Sport and Race Intertwine 9. Riding a Bike, Raising a Fist, and Taking a Knee: The Long History of Sports, Activism, and Social Change Notes Bibliography Index About the Author

About the Author :
Robyn Ryle is a sociologist, writer, and sports fan who has taught about gender, race, and sexuality to college students for twenty years. Her previous books include She/He/They/Me: For the Sisters, Misters and Binary Resisters and Questioning Gender: A Sociological Exploration. She lives in Madison, Indiana.

Review :
Did you know that cheerleading was originally thought to be too macho for girls? This book delves into all the ways that our gender, sexuality, or race-based assumptions and expectations about people affect how we see their performance on the playing field, often ignoring what people are actually doing out there. Robyn Ryle uses clear sources and text to show how often the expectation comes first, and then the results are interpreted to fit what people wanted to see. Modern issues around transgender athletes, activist players, and homophobic announcers in different sports are all examined with a steady but light tone, showing how society and sports affect one another in ways we never think about. Throw Like a Girl, Cheer Like a Boy offers a historically acute, narrative-driven sociological account of males and females in organized sport. It weaves a narrative of where sport has been, where it is, and where it is going, in prose that is easy to read and engaging. It is, above all, a riveting and intellectual endeavor. This is perfect reading for anyone interested in sport, gender, and sexuality. Ryle gives readers a thoughtful, comprehensive look at sport's past and present, while skillfully unpacking the pressing discussions that will influence its future. A fascinating and illuminating compendium of the vital issues facing sports culture today. In a climate that is relentlessly hostile towards transgender and intersex people, books like this are needed to set the record straight and continue advocating for inclusion of diverse people in sport and beyond. Brilliant and thought-provoking read that cuts through the misinformation and fear-mongering surrounding transgender and intersex people in sport.