A Place on the Team: The Triumph and Tragedy of Title IX

After Title IX of the Higher Education Act passed in 1972, women's athletics began to change. While women's sports existed long before the amendment was passed, Title IX brought about more opportunities, more scholarships and more teams for women. But the first three decades after its passing were also marred with dark periods of protest and noncompliance and, to this day, Title IX remains a work in progress. All the highs and the lows, are extensively chronicled in Suggs's book, a must-read for any sports historian or female athlete interested in how the opportunities she so freely enjoys came about. But for every proponent of Title IX, there exists opposition, Suggs writes. ""In mandating that women athletes be treated the same as men, the law encouraged women's sports to develop in the hypercompetitive, highly commercialized model that evolved in men's sports."" He notes that others argued men's sports were being cut in order to comply with Title IX, creating conflict between male and female athletes and coaches. In 1976, Yale rowers made headlines when they stripped nude, ""Title IX"" written across their chests and backs, to protest the cutting of sports of ""lesser importance,"" like crew, in colleges across the nation. ""These are the bodies Yale is exploiting,"" the men said in a written statement. The awarding of scholarships was another critical change for women's college sports, making it possible for schools to recruit women for the sole purpose of playing on sports teams. As Title IX is celebrated and debated, Suggs's book, the most extensive on the subject, includes in-depth looks at pre- and post-Title IX athletics and clearly deciphers one of the most controversial laws in American history.