Sports and Physical Fitness

A thought-provoking manifesto arguing for the end of gender segregation in athletics.   Sheree Bekker and Stephen Mumford argue that the category of "women's sports" is not the feminist win some would have you believe. Instead, the segregation of women in sports is just one of the many ways in which women are told to expect less from society. Women had to fight to be included in sports in the first place, and are now only included under far less favorable terms than those enjoyed by men. There are better ways to ensure safety and fairness, the authors make clear, than segregation by gender. And this matters deeply: ending gender segregation would encourage a more equitable distribution of resources, increase women's participation in sports, and challenge outdated, sexist myths about women and their bodies.

How far are we willing to go in the name of "better sport"? Athletes have long sought to push the limits of human potential, but the advent and application of new knowledge, science, and technologies has taken elite sports into uncharted territory. It's no longer enough to break records, today's sport is about athletes surpassing their "natural" limits in the name of accomplishing the impossible. With highlights across the spectrum of professional athletics from ski jumping to horse racing, Regulating Bodies narrates the global scientization of the sports industry and the lasting influence of protective sports policies on international discourses around race, sex, identity, and impairment. While these classifications are designed to protect athletes' wellbeing in the spirit of fair play, protective policies can be shallow solutions to deeper problems, offering the appearance of care while failing to safeguard athletes from more pressing concerns. Regulating Bodies investigates the development of protective policies across topics such as gene doping and sex testing to show how current policies impede the progress of athletic development by engendering unethical and unhealthy practices at the expense of an athlete's individual rights. It offers a pathway forward beyond traditional sports categorization with alternative regulatory strategies to reflect the next generation of high-performance athletes. A scoping inquiry into the modern sports industry, Regulating Bodies asks us whether the unending quest for sporting excellence is worth the financial, social, and human toll it inevitably takes on participants at every level of elite sports.

Jesse Owens wins four gold medals at the 1936 Olympics. Billie Jean King takes on Bobby Riggs in the Battle of the Sexes. Title IX is passed. Some moments in sports--whether they take place on a track, on a tennis court, or in a courtroom--transcend the event itself. Some have helped America live out its creed that all men are created equal. Others have pushed the nation toward gender equality. Others have changed individual sports to such a degree that they have transformed society. Powerful Moments in Sports: The Most Significant Sporting Events in American History encompasses more than a single player, team, or game. This book looks at how a particular event revolutionized a sport, how a contest of speed inspired a nation, or even how a humble victory affected the world. Martin Gitlin considers such impactful moments as Jackie Robinson's integration of Major League Baseball, Gertrude Ederle becoming the first female to swim the English Channel--and shattering the times of five men who had accomplished the feat before her--and the underdog US hockey team defeating the Soviets at the 1980 Olympics. The twenty events featured in this book had profound social, political, and cultural importance and inspired athletes and spectators alike. Spanning multiple decades, Powerful Moments in Sports reveals the tremendous impact athletes have had on America--and the world--over the years. Covering football, baseball, hockey, basketball, track and field, boxing, and more, this book will fascinate and enlighten sports fans, historians, and those interested in the impact of athletic endeavors on culture and society.

This encyclopedia explores exercise and physical activity from a variety of angles, including anatomy and exercise science, health benefits and risks, the wide array of sports and recreational activities available, and the sociocultural context of physical fitness. Exercise and Physical Activity: From Health Benefits to Fitness Crazes is a one-volume encyclopedia featuring more than 200 entries that cover a multitude of exercise-related topics. Content is divided across five broad themes: anatomy, exercise science, sports and activities, health benefits and risks, and exercise and society. The anatomy theme includes entries on all the major skeletal muscle groups and associated connective tissues. Within the exercise science theme, entries focus on topics within the fields of physiology, kinesiology, and sports psychology. Profiles of more than 70 sports and recreational activities are included. Entries under the theme of health benefits and risks explore the effects of exercise on many of the body's physiological processes and related systems, as well as specific sports-related injuries. Exercise and society entries profile influential individuals and organizations, as well as fitness trends. Together, these themes support a holistic understanding of exercise, encompassing both the theoretical and the practical.