The subtitle says it all for this extremely well-researched and documented book. Ever wonder why the Dutch do so well in world baseball championships? The answer is rooted in colonialism. What about the reasons why there are so many photographs of suffragists riding bicycles? Again, likely a piece of history that you haven’t considered before. Robyn Ryle is going to make you aware of the answers to these questions and so many more, bringing up all the moments in history where the ability to participate in sports has been inequitable.

Her first chapter is really powerful and details all the ways in which gender inequality has played out in the world of sports, including the absurd methods of gender verification testing and the ways that these tests have been used to disqualify athletes from competing. She carefully debunks many misconceptions about the role that gender plays in athletic prowess. She also talks about the challenges that trans athletes face, especially ones who wish to compete while they explore their gender identity.

Her final chapter focuses on sports and activism, which takes us up to the Black Lives Matter movement and Colin Kaepernick’s national anthem protests against police brutality. All of this is so very timely. It definitely sets the stage for what is currently happening as a result of George Floyd’s murder. At the time of this review, the book didn’t include the NFL’s change of stance on protests and I was wondering what the author’s take would be on that.

But you have to stop writing the book at some point so that you can get it out to the readers. This doesn’t detract from the book in any way.

This book is highly readable and will provide readers with a great background to understand the many changes that are happening in the world of sports.

I make no secret of my general disinterest in sports. What does interest me, I'm realizing, is sociology. That means that I found this book fascinating. It looks at what sports can tell us about roles in society: gender, race, class, and identity. We look at how those roles and how the public's view of various sports have changed over time. As minorities began to achieve, to threaten the superiority of the majority, efforts to hold them back become common place. It's a lot of information, a lot of individual examples, and can be a little dense but I found it compelling enough to drive me to keep reading. Additionally, it's well documented and reliably sourced. There's a clear agenda and bias in the presentation but it's so well researched that it's hard to argue with.

This book is well-researched and interestingly written. It provides historical context for the gender segregation and pay disparity we see in today's sports. The author tackles issues related to sexism as well as gender identification and testing while guiding the reader to the idea that maybe sports don't need to be segregated by gender.

This had some interesting and important points, and could be a good introduction for young/new adult readers who are really interested in the topic. However, I did feel that it wasn't always the most clearly organize and I felt that it sometimes glossed over things or oversimplified them - I think all of these critiques stem from the author trying to cover such a broad array of topics (race, gender, sexuality, colonialism, class) in such a short book. I was also really bothered by the section in the book where she names professional male athletes who have had rumors spread about their sexuality - it isn't helpful to any cause to spread gossip about player who may be straight or may be in the closet by their own choice. (The sections on sexuality in sports also barely mentioned the existence of bi/pan athletes, which was an oversight IMO.)