In a few decades, sport has undergone a radical gender transformation. However, Cheryl Cooky and Michael A. Messner suggest that the progress toward gender equity in sports is far from complete. The continuing barriers to full and equal participation for young people, the lower pay for most elite-level women athletes, and the continuing dearth of equal media coverage all underline how much still has to change.

Introduction 1
CHERYL COOKY AND MICHAEL A. MESSNER
Part I Sport, Gender, and Sexuality
1 Gender Ideologies, Youth Sports, and the
Production of Soft Essentialism 15
MICHAEL A. MESSNER
2 Policing the Boundaries of Sex: A Critical
Examination of Gender Verification and the Caster
Semenya Controversy 37
CHERYL COOKY AND SHARI L. DWORKIN
3 Gender Relations and Sport:
Local, National, Transnational 54
MICHAEL A. MESSNER
4 Women, Sports, and Activism 70
CHERYL COOKY
Part II Sport as Gendered Practice
5 Barbie Girls versus Sea Monsters: Children
Constructing Gender 93
MICHAEL A. MESSNER
6 "Girls Just Aren't Interested": The Social Construction
of Interest in Girls' Sport 113
CHERYL COOKY
7 Ready for Anything the World Gives Her?:
A Critical Look at Sports-Based
Positive Youth
Development for Girls 139
LAUREN RAUSCHER AND CHERYL COOKY
8 Separating the Men from the Moms: The Making of
Adult Gender Segregation in Youth Sports 160
MICHAEL A. MESSNER AND SUZEL BOZADA-DEAS
9 Gender and Sport Participation in Montenegro 180
CHERYL COOKY, MARKO BEGOVIC, DON SABO, CAROLE A. OGLESBY,
AND MARJ SNYDER
Part III The Gender of Sports Media
10 "It's Dude Time!": A Quarter Century of Excluding
Women's Sports in Televised News and Highlight Shows 209
CHERYL COOKY, MICHAEL A. MESSNER, AND MICHELA MUSTO
11 Reflections on Communication and Sport: On Men
and Masculinities 235
MICHAEL A. MESSNER
12 It's Not about the Game: Don Imus, Race, Class,
Gender, and Sexuality in Contemporary Media 247
CHERYL COOKY, FAYE L. WACHS, MICHAEL A. MESSNER, AND SHARI L. DWORKIN
13 "What Makes a Woman a Woman?" versus "Our First
Lady of Sport": A Comparative Analysis of the
United States and the South African Media Coverage
of Caster Semenya 269
CHERYL COOKY, RANISSA DYCUS, AND SHARI L. DWORKIN
About the Authors 295
About the Contributors 297
Index 299

CHERYL COOKY is an associate professor of American Studies in the School of Interdisciplinary Studies at Purdue University in West Lafayette, Indiana. 
MICHAEL A. MESSNER is a professor of sociology and gender studies at the University of Southern California in Los Angeles. He is the author or editor of many books including Child's Play: Sport in Kids' Worlds (Rutgers University Press).