A Locker Room of Her Own: Celebrity, Sexuality, and Female Athletes

David C. Ogden, Joel Nathan Rosen

Univ. Press of Mississippi, May 14, 2013 - Biography & Autobiography - 209 pages

Profiles of superstar women athletes and the obstacles they face Essays by Lisa Doris Alexander, Kathleen A. Bishop, Angela J. Hattery, Lisa R. Neilson, Roberta J. Newman, Elizabeth O'Connell, Martha Reid, C. Oren Renick, Joel Nathan Rosen, Yvonne D. Sims, Earl Smith, Lea Robin Velez, and Kimberly Young Female athletes are too often perceived as interlopers in the historically maledominated world of sports. Obstacles specific to women are of particular focus in A Locker Room of Her Own. Race, sexual orientation, and the similar qualities ancillary to gender bear special exploration in how they impact an athlete's story. Central to this volume is the contention that women in their role as inherent outsiders are placed in a unique position even more complicated than the usual experiences of inequality and discord associated with race and sports. The contributors explore and critique the notion that in order to be considered among the pantheon of athletic heroes one cannot deviate from the traditional demographic profile, that of the white male. These essays look specifically and critically at the nature of gender and sexuality within the contested nexus of race, reputation, and sport. The collection explores the reputations of iconic and pioneering sports figures and the cultural and social forces that helped to forge their unique and often problematic legacies. Women athletes discussed in this volume include Babe Didrikson Zaharias; the women of the AAGPBL; Billie Jean King; Venus and Serena Williams; Marion Jones; Chris Evert and Martina Navratilova; Sheryl Swoopes; Florence Griffith Joyner; Roberta Gibb and Kathrine Switzer; and Danica Patrick. David C. Ogden, Pacific Junction, Iowa, is associate professor in the department of communications at University of Nebraska at Omaha. Joel Nathan Rosen, Allentown, Pennsylvania, is associate professor of sociology and Africana studies at Moravian College. They are coeditors of Reconstructing Fame: Sport, Race, and Evolving Reputations and Fame to Infamy: Race, Sport, and the Fall from Grace, both published by the University Press of Mississippi.

Contents

• Babe Didrikson Zaharias Revealed: 3
• How the AAGPBL Gained and Maintained Its Highly Respected Reputation: 23
• The Simplification of the Life and Career of Billie Jean King: 43
• Traversing the Barriers of the Country Club World: 72
• Equity through Infamy: 92
• Chris Evert and Martina Navratilova on the Global Stage: 107
• Race and Sex and the Framing of the Sheryl Swoopes Narrative: 124
• Sexual Politician in a Unitard: 146
• Roberta Gibb Kathrine Switzer and Womens Marathoning: 162
• How Danica Patrick Swooned Her Way into Sponsorship: 175
• The Goddess Dethroned: 191
• List of Contributors: 199
• Index: 205

About the author

David C. Ogden is associate professor of communication at the University of Nebraska at Omaha. He is coeditor of Fame to Infamy: Race, Sport, and the Fall from Grace; A Locker Room of Her Own: Celebrity, Sexuality, and Female Athletes; and Reconstructing Fame: Sport, Race, and Evolving Reputations, all published by University Press of Mississippi. Joel Nathan Rosen is associate professor of sociology at Moravian College in Bethlehem, Pennsylvania. He is author of The Erosion of the American Sporting Ethos: Shifting Attitudes Toward Competition and From New Lanark to Mound Bayou: Owenism in the Mississippi Delta, and coauthor of Black Baseball, Black Business: Race Enterprise and the Fate of the Segregated Dollar, published by University Press of Mississippi. He is founding coeditor of a five-volume collection that explores the forging and maintenance of the reputations of celebrity athletes: Fame to Infamy: Race, Sport, and the Fall from Grace; A Locker Room of Her Own: Celebrity, Sexuality, and Female Athletes; Reconstructing Fame: Sport, Race, and Evolving Reputations; More than Cricket and Football: International Sport and the Challenge of Celebrity; and The Circus Is in Town: Sport, Celebrity, and Spectacle, all published by University Press of Mississippi.

Bibliographic information

• Title: A Locker Room of Her Own: Celebrity, Sexuality, and Female Athletes; UPCC book collections on Project MUSE
• Editors: David C. Ogden, Joel Nathan Rosen
• Publisher: Univ. Press of Mississippi, 2013
• ISBN: 161703813X, 9781617038136
• Length: 209 pages
• Subjects: Biography & Autobiography / Sports; Social Science / Popular Culture; Social Science / Sociology / General; Social Science / Women's Studies; Sports & Recreation / Cultural & Social Aspects; Sports & Recreation / Women in Sports