Abstract
Studying the state of women in sports is right on time: the media coverage of female athletes and women’s sports is at an all-time high. Now, more than ever, we see women media persons in front of the camera in different capacities, and there are some sports in which women have narrowed the gap in pay equity. At the same time, gender inequality, as a whole, rages on. Girls and women athletes still have to contend with being second-class citizens, their athleticism questioned, and persistent inhumane and overtly sexist practices of gender testing. It is clear, as Cooky and Messner state, that progress for girls and women has not been a slam dunk.
This is a must-read book for anyone interested in understanding gender and sport today. It highlights new directions for the coeditors (dealing with international cases and gaining theoretical insights from non-American scholars and perspectives) and it is a wonderful edition made up of new pieces and updates to several classic articles and chapters by Cooky and Messner (with others). Messner discusses how he learned of the work of R. W. Connell and other international feminist theorists and then uses South African Caster Semanya’s struggles with the IAAF and IOC to illustrate the value of this theoretical expansion. Cooky uses a developing project to illustrate what is needed in Montenegro and how feminist and sports scholars might assist in important and necessary policy and social changes. We are reminded of Don Imus’s comments over a decade ago about the role that media plays in defense of white privilege and male privilege when the subject matter is women sports and female athletes. In No Slam Dunk, little is spared in terms of theorizing and accounting for how girls and women remain subjugated to old sexist and hegemonic ideas about their unnatural interest in sport and inferior athleticism.
No Slam Dunk makes an ambitious promise of an intersectional analysis and it does so admirably, but there are some places where I wanted an analysis of race that would equal the depth of their gender analysis. I will make mention of just a couple of missed opportunities. In the Introduction, Cooky and Messner ask the question: “We wonder: Is it a coincidence that the drama of the slam dunk became the litmus test for exciting basketball during the 1980s right as women’s ascent in sport was accelerating?” Important historic details are not explored: contemporary dunking became popular as black men, in particular, were allowed and recruited to play basketball at white universities and in the NBA. But dunking has not always been allowed. Some prominent white coaches objected to its use before the 1950s, and it was banned from college play in 1967 to prevent black male players like Lew Alcindor (now Kareem Abdul-Jabbar) from dominating. The slam dunk was a part of the ascent of the black male basketballer and the inner-city, style of play. And so, another question might have been asked, “Is it a coincidence that the drama of the slam dunking coincided with white men’s fall from basketball and football and white women’s fast ascent in sport?” This type of question avoids lumping all men together, distinguishing black men’s experiences from white men’s, and could also add a class analysis.
In another chapter, Caster Semanya is discussed as the Global South heroine attacked by Global North heterosexism and political and ideological bullying. South Africa is praised for stepping up for Semanya—“she’s our girl”—to reveal and combat the Global North. However, considering South Africa’s recent Apartheid past (only 25 years), the discussion implies that there is a unified South Africa but this should be interrogated. Semanya is a dark-skinned, African woman: she is not simply a South African. And Semanya is not the only example of Global North gender bullying, the other two recent and highest profile cases of gender banning by Track and Field’s governing body have been women of color also with dark complexions—Dutee Chand and Santhi Soundarajan—both from India.
No Slam Dunk synthesizes a robust literature and brings multiple qualitative methods, from content analysis to ethnography, interviews, and subjects’ accounts, to bear on timely topics. And, in true Cooky and Messner fashion, it is complex and multilayered in its attention to detail, while following a clear organization that makes it a relatively easy read. Yet, there is room for a more balanced intersectional analysis. It is a great addition to the canon used in sociology of sport and gender and sport courses as well as a stimulating handbook showing how scholars can stay relevant by expanding their focus and literature outside of our limited national borders.