After Atalanta

I'm pretty sure there was something I was supposed to blog about in the wake of the North American Society for the Sociology of Sport (NASSS) annual meeting in New Orleans last night. But I can't remember what it is. So instead thanks to one of my NOLA roomies, Dr. Pants, I will blog about Hope Solo instead. Dr. Pants is a big fan of Hope Solo; she even read her auto(ish)biography Solo: A Memoir of Hope. I personally am not a Solo fan and though I considered reading the memoir for scholarly purposes, I couldn't get past the title. I might be interested in some version of a sequel, however, given the latest news about Solo that I received from Dr. Pants. Hope Solo is married! She also hosted a party of a small group of friends a few days ago which resulted in the arrest of her then-fiance Jerramy Stevens. There was some alcohol, there was fighting (apparently over where the happy couple was to live), there was pushing and shoving and maybe some hitting. There was blood...

So I am in Cambridge this weekend, doing some research at Hahvahd* while everyone else is across the river at Gay Pride. *sigh* I love Cambridge though so it's ok. I even love the subway. I love people watching on the subway, which is where this story is going. A college-age female enters the car. She is wearing a UNH t-shirt which makes me smile. (That's my alma mater for anyone who doesn't know.) But I am not the type to say "Do you go to UNH? I went to UNH." which was a good thing because when said young woman got up to exit the car a stop ahead of me I got a glimpse at the back of the shirt: "Freshman girls. Get them while they're skinny." Oy. So what does this have to do with gender and sports. Well nothing really--I just needed to tell the story. Though she was carrying a tennis racket bag so she must have been an athlete, which just goes to prove what most of us already know--that female athletes are not necessarily the best feminists. In othe...

I had a great opportunity to talk about gender equity this weekend when I was on a longish bike ride. One of the women in the group is a former PE teacher and current freelance educator who works with schools to provide equitable after-school opportunities. So while admiring the scenery and dodging angry drivers who did not appreciate our endeavors, we started talking about her past experiences with single-sex PE and sports activities. She noted that girls with whom she has worked really enjoyed, for example, learning sports skills in a single-sex environment and she would get comments from the participants like "It's so much better without boys around" and "I learned to do something I never thought I could do." And I supported this program and its outcomes. But it was only a one-time program. When biker friend was a teacher, she taught single-sex PE. A few times she and the male PE teacher tried joint activities, but they quickly abandoned them because they did...