I absolutely love sports and things DiCaro mentioned in this book did not surprise me at all. What did surprise me was how negative this book felt. There was no optimism and what felt like a lot of complaining. I do think the author has a right to those complaints...but let's also hear about the people fighting for women's rights in sports, where we are headed, and what's good about women in sports.

When I started listening to Sidelined, I thought I was getting a real life look at what it’s like to be a woman in sports journalism. I got that and so much more.

@Juliedicaro is a sports journalist in Chicago on the radio. She’s a fierce advocate for women’s rights and women’s sports. She’s often the only woman in the room and she discusses the women trailblazers who came before her. Women weren’t always let into the locker room to get the best interviews and it’s just ridiculous the lengths some athletes went to just to discourage female journalists.

She covers the abusive and offensive behavior of some online sport blogs and it’s fans, she goes over the sexist (and sometimes racist) treatment of Serena Williams. She also talks about the US Women’s Soccer team and their fight for equal pay and treatment. She discusses this for all of women’s sports. She also discusses what sports are like for women abroad, in places like Pakistan where modesty makes it difficult to play sports.

What I especially love about Julie is that she never backed down. When people threatened her, and reported her to her boss, she didn’t shy away from telling her real opinion and the truth. She received so many rude and mean comments on social media and even death threats.

As a woman in a male dominated field, a lot of this really spoke to me. Especially when Julie talks about the “Whisper Network” and being excluded from things just for being a woman. I personally feel like this is a must read/listen, to every woman regardless if you like sports. I cannot recommend this book enough. I also want to specifically shoutout the audiobook; Julie herself is reads it and she talks in her book about how so many listeners would call into her radio show just to complain about her very normal female voice.

5 stars ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️

An absolutely fascinating glimpse into the world of sports media and sports culture in the US.

I thought it was tough for women working in the UK but the level of misogynistic, sexist abuse Julie DiCaro and other female broadcasters have experienced in the US is quite extraordinary.

Much of what is shared, from the outrageous social media behaviour of Barstool fans through to the sexual violence records of high profile male athletes, left me feeling saddened and frustrated. But huge kudos to Julie to putting her head about the parapet to share these important stories with the world.

This is not my usual reading material; Netgalley offered me the book and I'm glad I took a peek. The writer is a sports journalist and honestly I felt the book was more about the harassment women receive on the internet, and she could have expanded on that rather than shoe-horning the narrative into the sports world. It's a much more personal story than I had expected. Certainly there's still a lot of material out there; watching the way women like Simone Biles and Naomi Osaka are treated begs for a follow-up.

As a woman who spent a few seasons working in sports, 'Sidelined' really hit home.

I was lucky in my career: there were many women on my team, and we were respected by our male colleagues, I never experienced sexual harassment, I never had my knowledge of sports questioned. My experience was not the norm and it is so important that the stories of women in the industry are being shared.

This book explores how sexism touches every woman in sports - women in sports journalism, women working for a team, women who are athletes themselves, and even women who are sports fans. Julie DiCaro explores these heavy topics with a sense of humor and personal anecdotes that make this extremely readable.

My heart broke at many points, thinking of my female-identifying friends in the industry who may have experienced many of the things DiCaro discusses in the book.

This should be required reading for sports fans.

Sports journalist Julie DiCaro has seen some particularly virulent examples of misogyny in her career. DiCaro, now at Deadspin, faced the worst of it as she reported on NHL star Patrick Kane's rape allegations in 2015, but she also saw the unacceptable treatment that both her colleagues in the media and female athletes in general were suffering. Her #MoreThanMean video with Sarah Spain brought some attention to sexism in sports (and won a Peabody Award in the process). Now she gives the topic a fuller treatment with new book Sidelined: Sports, Culture, and Being a Woman in America. In it, she tackles issues related to misogyny throughout the sports industry, mixing research and personal experience for a compelling a troubling revelation of a dangerous culture, one that, as she points out, reflects on our society at large.

[continued at PopMatters]

Thanks to the publisher for an advanced copy of this book. I enjoyed the stories and perspectives shared through Sidelined. An important topic that doesn't get discussed enough, DiCaro did a great job of capturing the perspectives of what many women in sports experience throughout their careers. It's an important conversation that needs to be had, and I commend DiCaro for her willingness to have the conversation and bring both fact and emotion into it.

Fascinating critique and dive into intersection of sports and feminism. It reminded me of Jessica Luther and Kavitha A. Davidson's "Loving Sports When They Don’t Love You Back: Dilemmas of the Modern Fan" -- in a good way! More intersectional critique, please.

Read if you: Want an honest and eye-opening look at the injustices women in sports face, in both media and the actual playing of sports. DiCaro has an engaging writing style and writes with authority and passion.

Librarians/booksellers: Purchase if you need titles about contemporary issues in sports.

Many thanks to Dutton and NetGalley for a digital review copy in exchange for an honest review.