I have to admit I picked this book because of the cover. If you put Megan Rapinoe on the cover of a dictionary I would still read it. I’m also a huge sports fan and since I have been enjoying more nonfiction lately, I had some high hopes for this book. I’m sorry to say it was just okay. It was much more academic and at times drier than I was hoping for. If it was 17 years ago when I was in my gender studies class, this would have been a perfect book to read for writing a report. When it comes to reading for entertainment and enjoyment purposes, this didn’t really work for me.

On the good side I did learn multiple things I never knew. One surprise was how after Title IX was enacted the amount of women coaches in sports went way down. It was because new money going into women’s sports meant coaches could be paid more so men started going for the coaching jobs. And since most of the athletic directors all over the USA are white men, the inherit bias is to hire people that look like you, so the amount of women coaches is now quite low.

One of my disappointments with this book was that I was hoping for long interviews from athletes, not just quoted text from other interviews. I was hoping for a nice interview with Rapinoe and Williams but neither happened. I also found too much repetition. Steidinger would use a story as an example, than she would revisit it, then sometimes even a third time. I think I read the same annoying quote from Geno Auriemma five times. Again, if I was using this for research I would not have minded as much but reading it straight through for fun had too many things repeated.

I think I found the part about LGBTQ women in sports the most interesting. It was probably because I was looking forward to that part the most but I did find that it read better than other parts. I was disappointed that there wasn’t more info about USWNT (USA soccer team) suing for equal pay. It was talked about briefly but I think it was a missed opportunity not to go more in-depth since it so fits the book. I do have to give a slight trigger warning about the #MeToo section since most of the accounts of sexual assault against female athletes are graphic and really hard to read.

If you are using this book as research or a source, especially in a classroom setting, I think this book would work well for people. When it comes to reading just for entertainment purposes, I can’t really recommend it

STAND UP AND SHOUT OUT by Joan Steidinger is set to be released in March and is certain to appeal to many of our students. Each year, I seem to have an increasing number of girls who are interested in researching and writing about discrimination against women in sports. This text, written by a licensed clinical and sports psychologist, touches on many key issues. Examples include equal pay, media coverage, and the role of female leaders/mentors/coaches. I am excited to add this title to our collection. It will be a great complement to texts like Sex Segregation in Sports and Getting in the Game about Title IX.

For a book that aims to be factual and informative, it is riddled with factual errors. When the author confused Serena and Venus Williams early in the book, and a few pages later mixed up Andy Murray and Andy Roddick (describing Roddick as an Englishman), I gave up.