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Summary
Summary
When Billie Jean King trounced Bobby Riggs in tennis's "Battle of the Sexes" in 1973, she placed sports squarely at the center of a national debate about gender equity. In this winning combination of biography and history, Susan Ware argues that King's challenge to sexism, the supportive climate of second-wave feminism, and the legislative clout of Title IX sparked a women's sports revolution in the 1970s that fundamentally reshaped American society.
While King did not single-handedly cause the revolution in women's sports, she quickly became one of its most enduring symbols, as did Title IX, a federal law that was initially passed in 1972 to attack sex discrimination in educational institutions but had its greatest impact by opening opportunities for women in sports. King's place in tennis history is secure, and now, with Game, Set, Match , she can take her rightful place as a key player in the history of feminism as well. By linking the stories of King and Title IX, Ware explains why women's sports took off in the 1970s and demonstrates how giving women a sporting chance has permanently changed American life on and off the playing field.
Reviews (4)
Kirkus Review
An exploration of the link between the feminist revolution and the role of women in sports, as embodied by one of the 20th century's most iconic sports figures.Ware (Title IX: A Brief History with Documents, 2006) would have been hard-pressed to choose a better lens through which to examine the transformation of women's sportsfrom seldom participated-in activities to an ever-growing field of high-level athletic excellencethan tennis superstar and trailblazer Billie Jean King, whose victory over Bobby Riggs in the 1973 "Battle of the Sexes"was a major catalyst for that change. Though biography is not the primary focus, the author provides a full account of King's life, touching on her early marriage to a man who would be more business partner than lover, her sexual confusion and ultimate coming out as a lesbian, and her indomitable drive to not only succeed in tennis, but to help the game of tennis succeed. King's rise to prominence coincided with the passage of Title IX, a piece of legislation designed to prevent sexual discrimination in federally funded academic institutions that would have its most profound impact on sports. The narrative is by turns an account of the passage of the legislation and progression of women's athletics, a theoretical discourse on second-wave feminism and sexuality as they relate to sports and a biography of the influential and controversial King, making it a book that works on multiple levelsa quality that also makes it somewhat jumbled. Though the historical details necessarily inform the theoretical dissertation, the balance between each element is uneven, making the narrative hard to categorize, even as it cogently argues that the passage of Title IX may actually have impeded the creation of a level playing field.It's a tribute to how much has changed that much of the book's content will be shocking to readers under 30; it's also a measure of how much remains to be done, given the "separate but equal" approach that still dominates sports today.]] Copyright Kirkus Reviews, used with permission.
Booklist Review
In 1973, Billie Jean King, then the best female tennis player in the world, defeated fiftysomething Bobby Riggs before a national television audience in the so-called Battle of the Sexes. It was a symbolic victory and proved to be the catalyst for a tremendous growth spurt in women's competitive sports. By the late seventies, women's participation in high-school and intercollegiate sports had skyrocketed. Ware, a scholar specializing in women's history, presents both a biography of King and a chronological history of women's sports. She smoothly segues between chapters on King and chapters on the sociological landscape in which women compete. The King chapters are fascinating, particularly Ware's exploration of King's commitment to advancing women's tennis, but the best parts of the book deal with the larger issues of sports, especially the legislative battles to pass Title IX (guaranteeing equality in funding women's intercollegiate sports) and the struggle to implement it. An extraordinarily illuminating account of the history of women's sports.--Lukowsky, Wes Copyright 2010 Booklist
Choice Review
This is not a biography of King, as the title might imply. Rather, it is an examination of the legal and cultural history of women in sport, focusing on the 1960s through the 1980s and using King to tie it all together. Ware (independent scholar) devotes chapters to the evolution of Title IX and laws supporting gender equity; the rise and fall of women-centered media; the challenges of celebrity and sexuality in sport and the US; the growth of women's professional tennis in particular; and so on. In each of the book's six chapters the author uses King as an example of the circumstances and/or effects of whatever she is discussing--for example, she discusses King's efforts to create and promote the Women's Tennis Association. Ware relies on an extensive review of the secondary scholarship and also on primary archival work; extensive footnotes and references direct the reader to source material. The value of this book is its readability and its innovative use of King as a central figure to bring the history of women's sports to life. Summing Up: Recommended. All readers. S. K. Fields Ohio State University
Library Journal Review
Tennis great Billie Jean King was always in the thick of things. Ambitiously, she wanted to transform tennis from its country-club domain into a viable profession. She started coed Team Tennis and womenSports magazine, but it was 1973's televised "Battle of the Sexes," when she defeated Bobby Riggs, that sealed her reputation as a superstar. Independent scholar Ware (Title IX: A Brief History with Documents) approaches her subject by alternating chapters on King's life and career with chapters on feminism's history, Title IX legislation, and a historical overview of American women's sports. Mostly, this results in a seamless account of a turbulent time in American women's history, except for some understandably slow-moving sections on political and legislative struggles. Ware astutely places King at the vortex of the change in women's rights, gay causes (precipitated by the 1981 "palimony" suit brought against her), and sports professionalism, leaving no doubt about King's place in 20th-century women's sports. VERDICT Extensive notes ensure this book's value to students of women's history and women's sports as well as Billie Jean King's fans. (Index not seen.)-Kathy Ruffle, Coll. of New Caledonia Lib., Prince George, B.C. (c) Copyright 2011. Library Journals LLC, a wholly owned subsidiary of Media Source, Inc. No redistribution permitted.
Table of Contents
| Prologue The Battle of the Sexes | p. 1 |
| 1 The Making of a Sports Icon | p. 15 |
| 2 In the Meantime The Early Days of Title IX | p. 43 |
| 3 Billie Jean King, Inc. WomenSports, the Women's Sports Foundation, and World Team Tennis | p. 75 |
| 4 Before The Sports Bra A Short History of Women's Sports through the 1970s | p. 117 |
| 5 The Feminist Moment That Wasn't | p. 147 |
| 6 The Perils of Celebrity and Sexuality The Outing of Billie Jean King | p. 179 |
| Epilogue The Incomplete Revolution | p. 207 |
| Notes | p. 215 |
| Acknowledgments | p. 269 |
| Index | p. 273 |
