Playing Nice

Playing Nice by Festle, Mary Jo. hardcover edition. ISBN: 9780231101622.

Exposes how gender, race, class and choice of sport have defined athletics for women since World War II. Festle shows how the tactic of "apology" stressing femininity and heterosexuality and downplaying "masculine" enthusiams for competition and career has ultimately failed. More successful, she argues, have been the achievements of athletes like Billie Jean King and Martina Navratilova, who confront prevailing gender norms rather than reinforce them. Her conclusion is that men and women should both work toward a more humanistic playing field for everyone. Annotation c. by Book News, Inc., Portland, Or.