Female Olympians

1. Front Matter

   Pages i-xv

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2. An Introduction to Female Olympians

   • Linda K. Fuller

   Pages 1-23

3. A Brief History of Women and the Olympic Games

   • Linda K. Fuller

   Pages 25-58

4. Political/Nationalistic Concerns Relative to Female Olympians

   • Linda K. Fuller

   Pages 59-86

5. The Gendered Economics of the Olympic Games

   • Linda K. Fuller

   Pages 87-111

6. Sociocultural Considerations Relative to Female Olympians

   • Linda K. Fuller

   Pages 113-144

7. Concluding Thoughts on Female Olympians

   • Linda K. Fuller

   Pages 145-155

8. Back Matter

   Pages 157-220

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This book examines women's participation in the Olympic Games since they were allowed to be included in that global arena. Using a holistic, social scientific approach, and emphasizing the rhetoric of sport mediatization, Female Olympians reviews the literature relative to sexism, racism, and ageism before providing historical, political, economic, and socio-cultural perspectives  such as the gendered language of Olympic reportage, religious considerations, women’s bodies relative to their training for the Games, drugs and doping, and female Paralympians. With numerous critical case studies, never-before assembled data, and personal interviews with athletes, this volume offers insights that both investigate and celebrate female Olympians’ successes.

• Olympic Games
• gender
• sport
• IOC
• sex testing
• Paralympics
• culture
• feminism
• history
• ideology
• individual
• media
• philosophy
• social science
• social structure
• sociology
• sports
• women

“Fuller’s multifaceted Female Olympians offers an extensively researched study grounded in familiar, essential theories concerning issues of gendered power and privilege. … This comprehensible study will be of interest to scholars in several fields, as well as any individual interested in gendered Olympic history from a ‘mediated’ cultural focus. Summing Up: Recommended. All readers.” (A. Curtis, Choice, Vol. 54 (11), July, 2017) 

• Worcester State University, Worcester, USA

  Linda K. Fuller

Linda K. Fuller is Professor of Communications at Worcester State University, USA. She is the author, editor, or coeditor of more than 20 books and 250 professional publications and conference reports. Her books include Sport, Rhetoric, and Gender: Historical Perspectives and Media Representations (Palgrave, 2006), African Women's Unique Vulnerabilities to HIV/AIDS: Communication Perspectives and Promises (Palgrave, 2008), Women, War, and Violence: Personal Perspectives and Global Activism (Palgrave, 2010), and The Power of Global Community Media (Palgrave, 2012).

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