It's All for the Kids: Gender, Families, and Youth Sports (Paperback) (ISBN-13: 9780520257108)

Today, in a world quite different from the one that existed just thirty years ago, both girls and boys play soccer, baseball, softball, and other youth sports. Yet has the dramatic surge in participation by girls contributed to greater gender equality? In this engaging study, leading sociologist Michael A. Messner probes the richly complex gender dynamics of youth sports. Weaving together vivid first-person interviews with his own experiences as a volunteer for his sons' teams, Messner finds that despite the movement of girls into sports, gender boundaries and hierarchies still dominate, especially among the adults who run youth sports. His book widens into a provocative exploration of why youth sports matter--how they play a profound role in shaping gender, class, family, and community.

Author: Michael Messner
ISBN-10: 0520257103
ISBN-13: 9780520257108
Publisher: University of California Press
Language: English
Published: 03/18/2009
Pages: 288
Format: Paperback
Weight: 0.88lbs
Size: 8.94h x 6.12w x 0.71d

Review Citation(s):
Chronicle of Higher Education 04/24/2009 pg. 21