Abstract
This Article will focus on an issue that was probably not on the minds of 19th century educators, nor primarily on the minds of the legions of present-day academic critics of intercollegiate sports. Namely, this Article explores the ways in which big-time athletics- particularly football-normalize and encourage harms to women, including educational and sexual harms. The author’s theses depend upon acknowledging certain open secrets about college football: that it is a celebration of male physical supremacy (measured by male standards); that it is something that society lets males do and have as their sport, for reasons both good and bad; that football worship by both men and women is weirdly and widely accepted in spite of the huge costs of football; and that football has a darkly gendered underside that deserves serious consideration.
Recommended Citation
Ann Scales,
Student Gladiators and Sexual Assault: A New Analysis of Liability for Injuries Inflicted by College Athletes,
15
Mich. J. Gender & L.
205
(2009).
Available at:
https://repository.law.umich.edu/mjgl/vol15/iss2/1
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