ABSTRACT
To talk about women in sport is to describe a paradox, for sport is a province that is deemed most properly male. What it takes to be successful in sport, at least according to conventional wisdom, is the very ideal of a man: superiority, mental and physical toughness, competitiveness, initiative, strength, power, aggression, and confidence. As children, we learn that men and women are not only different; they are actually opposites. Whatever men are, we know that women must be the very antithesis. How does one describe a woman? Inferiority, weakness, incompetence, cooperation, passivity, timidity, and vulnerability. Sport is, according to our commonsense understanding of the world, a celebration of manhood. How, then, can a woman be a successful athlete?
