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Recently the International Beach Volleyball Federation (FIVB) implemented a uniform rule that many protesters felt was designed to use the female players as sex objects to attract an audience. In marketing terms, the FIVB implemented a sexual appeal strategy to market their sport. This is only one example of the use of sex and eroticism to promote a sport. There are many others including cheerleaders, fitness programming, bodybuilding, men’s professional soccer and Australian Rules football. Sex in advertising has been a long-debated subject and very little is known about its lasting effects. Sexual appeals play to the sexual survival motive that consists of three elements: sexual gender, sexual impulse and sexual inhibition. Whenever any of these elements appear in advertising, the general goal is to arouse desire for a product. In this paper I examine the strategic purpose for using sexual appeals, the manner in which they impact target audiences, and the potential consequences of this marketing approach. It is clear from the literature that sexual appeals draw attention to the sport using it. However, this attention occurs at the risk of target audiences perceiving the athlete as poor quality, as a negative symbol, or as something less that a true athlete. Sponsors must also worry about being associated with sports that use sex appeals because if the spectator is irritated then this irritation could transfer to the sponsor’s products.

The 30th anniversary of the landmark legislation known as Title IX witnessed a year-long public policy drama over whether the law should be amended in some fashion. The saga reveals much about the political strategies of interest groups engaged in gender policymaking in the 21st century and tests conventional wisdom about policy windows (Kingdon, 1994) and agenda access (Cobb and Ross, 1997). In June 2002, U.S. Secretary of Education Rod Paige appointed a blue ribbon commission to examine ways of strengthening enforcement and expanding opportunities for all college athletes under Title IX. Over the next 12 months, the commission held public hearings and forwarded numerous recommendations for change to the Secretary, but subsequently the Department of Education elected to take no action.

As David Rochefort and Roger Cobb point out, “If policymaking is a struggle over alternative realities, then language is the medium that reflects, advances, and interprets these alternatives” (1994, p. 9). This case explores the overarching strategic goals, membership mobilization efforts, and media strategies of “initiators” and “opponents” (Cobb & Ross, 1994). We juxtapose these strategies against the unfolding media coverage (an analysis of 297 major newspaper stories in 13 major print outlets) and testimony by 225 individuals before the commission.

While revealing the dynamics of problem, policy and political streams (Kingdon, 1994) and strategies of agenda denial (Cobb & Ross, 1994), the case also exposes important paradoxes that may be explained by gender.

Previous research has demonstrated that female athletes draw sexist and homophobic remarks, especially in contact sports, which are more highly valued and dominated by men. As such, female athletes have used a variety of responses to combat stigma they face; however, these responses have reaffirmed sexist and homophobic assumptions rather than contest them. In the last decade roller derby has emerged as a contact sport which is female-dominated and whose members seek to complicate gendered assumptions about sport. Analysis of semistructured, in-depth interviews with 17 female flat-track roller derby players shows that although skaters face similar challenges of sexism and homophobia skaters resist these challenges in innovative ways including demonstrating the legitimacy of the sport, educating outsiders on the diversity of players, shrugging off or defending themselves, and adopting new uniforms. This study concludes by arguing that roller derby, as a unique sport within the particular historical moment of increased LGTBQ acceptance, has implications for altering women’s relationship to sport by resisting homophobic and sexist assumptions. The altered relationship includes skaters being more open to different expressions of sexuality and gender in sport, taking control over their athletic status, and fostering a more accepting place for female athletes. In addition, this resistance has the potential to impact female athletes in contact sports other than roller derby by identifying and adopting these resistive strategies creating larger change.

The purpose of this paper was to profile game strategy used by world’s top female squash players in international competitions using postevent notational analysis methods. A total of 10 matches from the Ladies Hong Kong Open 1993 and 1994 were selected for analysis. A total of 15 right-handed competitors, who were ranked in the top 15 in the world at that time, were involved in the matches. Matches were played under the International scoring system. A 3-CDD video camera, positioned behind the court, was used to record the player’s performance throughout the matches. Frame-by-frame video notation was used to record the player, the kind of stroke, the position where the stroke was made, and the success or failure of that stroke. Shots were classified as “effective”, “ineffective”, “winning” and “losing” shots. Statistics show that the mean number of games per match was 4, rallies per game was 13.57 and shots per rally was 12.44. Of all the shots, 57.13% were “effective”, 31.36% were “ineffective”, 6.24% were “winning” and 5.27% were “losing” shots. Over half (62.01%) of all shots played were the drive, followed by drop (18.20%), volley (11.23%), boast (5.06%) and lob (3.50%). Of all shots played, 43.81% were in the back left court, 32.66% in the back right court, 13.04% in the front left court, and 10.49% in the front right court, showing that these right-handed players preferred to attack the backhand of the opponent. The drive (45.9%) was found to provide the greatest contribution shots to winning scores, with the next greatest being the drop (27.9%), then the volley (20.2), the boast (5.6%) and, finally, the lob (0.5%). Almost an equal number of cross-court shots and straight shots were played. In an average game, the winner played 50% more winning shots than the losing player, showing that in high level competition of female squash, the attacking shots, which produce the most winning scores, are required for success.

This review presents a framework for understanding the role of social support in athletic injury prevention and recovery. The stress-injury model is presented, which is the theoretical basis for many studies on psychosocial factors related to injury in sport. In addition, we discuss the definition of social support, types and sources of social support for the athlete, and strategies supporting others can use to show their support. Finally, using social support as a rehabilitation strategy and gender differences will be presented.

Binge eating disorder (BED) is a relatively new eating disorder that involves recurrent binge eating without compensatory purging behaviors such as using laxatives, excessive physical activity, and/or dietary restraint. Individuals diagnosed with BED exhibit both psychological and physiological problems that are distinct from bulimia nervosa and non-BED obese individuals. There has been little to no research examining the effects of physical activity on BED treatment. Since current BED treatment strategies have been less than successful, physical activity may be a positive addition to BED treatment. Therefore the objectives of this paper are 1) to raise the awareness of exercise professionals as to. the existence of BED, 2) explore the mechanisms that might support the utilization of physical activity as an adjunct treatment strategy for BED and 3) to prompt more interest among researchers and practitioners relative to using physical activity interventions with BED clients.

Female athletes often negotiate their meanings of femininity and athleticism due to restrictive cultural norms, with muscularity at the center of this negotiation. Using a critical feminist interactionist perspective, this study seeks to understand how female collegiate athletes negotiate their meanings of muscularity and femininity within the strength and conditioning environment. Negotiation strategies emerged from the data, including the gendered body and the weight room environment. The findings suggest that while the strength and conditioning coach is responsible for training athletes in power and speed, they must do so within the cultural context that often attempts to limit women’s physicality.