Coming on Strong

Gender and Sexuality in Women’S Sport

Second edition

Susan K. Cahn

University of Illinois Press Urbana, Chicago, and Springfield

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First Illinois paperback, 2015 © 1994, 2015 by Susan K. Cahn. Reprinted by arrangement with the author. Manufactured in the United States of America 1 2 3 4 5 c p 5 4 3 2 1

? This book is printed on acid-free paper.

Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data Cahn, Susan K. Coming on strong : gender and sexuality in women’s sport / Susan K. Cahn.—Second Edition. pages cm First edition title: Coming on strong : gender and sexuality in twentieth-century women’s sport. Includes bibliographical references and index. isbn 978-0-252-03955-3 (hardcover : acid-free paper) — isbn 978-0-252-08064-7 (paperback : acid-free paper) 1. Sports for women—History—20th century. 2. Sex discrimination against women—History—20th century. 3. Gender identity. I. Title. gv709.c34 2015 796.082—dc23 2014035978

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To my parents, Gretchen and James Cahn

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vii

Contents

Preface ix Introduction 1

1. The New Type of Athletic Girl 7 2. Grass-roots Growth and Sexual Sensation in the Flapper Era 31 3. Games of Strife The Battle over Women’s Competitive Sport 55 4. Order on the Court The Campaign to Suppress Women’s Basketball 83 5. “Cinderellas” of Sport Black Women in Track and Field 110 6. No Freaks, No Amazons, No Boyish Bobs The All-American Girls Baseball League 140 7. Beauty and the Butch The “Mannish” Athlete and the Lesbian Threat 164 8. “Play It, Don’t Say It” Lesbian Identity and Community in Women’s Sport 185 9. Women Competing/Gender Contested 207 10. You’ve Come a Long Way, Maybe A “Revolution” in Women’s Sport? 246 Epilogue. “Are We There Yet?” The Paradox of Progress 281

Notes 315 Index 389

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ix

preface

As a sports-minded teenager of the 1970s, I marveled at the courage and skill of the pioneer female athletes of my generation. Prompted by new federal legislation against sex discrimination and, more generally, by feminist demands for female access to traditionally male realms of society, the sports world seemed to undergo a rapid, almost instant transformation. Within a few short years, girls’ and women’s athletic leagues, tournaments, sports camps, and city, state, and national championships sprout- ed to serve women at the high school, college, and professional levels. The media took note as well, giving extensive coverage to such female tennis and gymnastic stars as Billie Jean King, Chris Evert, Kathy Rigby, and Olga Korbut. As one of the grateful ben- eficiaries of these changes, I eagerly joined my high school bas- ketball team and thrilled at my good fortune—the chance to be involved in what I assumed was the first-ever interscholastic sporting opportunity for girls. Delighting as I did in the chance to play in organized competi- tion, I was not concerned with the blatantly second-class status of women’s sport in budget matters and the media; it did not occur to me that it could be otherwise. And though I had ached to pla