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xvi Preface significantly changed the daily lives of Americans. Many Amer- icans moved from working on farms to working in factories. As more families moved into the cities, there were many senti- ments about keeping the working class physically active as a means to assimilate immigrants and other Americans into this new way of life. The upper classes also began to develop court- ing practices around leisure and sporting events. Thus, sport began to become woven into American society at all levels. As sport took on a stronger social and cultural significance, more and more women became interested in participating. Yet, it was the growing cultural significance of sport that also was problematic for women. Through the visible display of physicality, sport symbolized fortitude, strength, and viril- ity. All these attributes were associated with men, not women. Society’s views of women’s roles in society also made sport an activity that was in direct opposition to what women should do. Fears that sport and physical activity would jeopardize women’s bodies and health for childbearing were pervasive. Fears that women who participated in sport would become manly were “logical” conclusions at the turn of the 20th century. Cultur- ally, sport was for men. Although these views about women seem incredulous in today’s context, the idea that sport is a male domain and per- haps “not healthy” for women still has a hold in modern soci- ety’s psyche. The forms in which these views manifest today are often more subtle than in the early 1900s. The fact that most sports are organized by gender is based on and, as a result, rein- forces the view that fundamentally boys and men are superior physically to girls and women. Tensions around what consti- tutes female and femininity are accentuated in sport and physi- cal activity due to the deeply held “sport as masculine” belief. These beliefs create issues and problems for nonheterosexual individuals and individuals who do not clearly fit into a bio- logical male or female category. Sport media remains predomi- nantly focused on men’s sports, and female athletes are rarely depicted as athletes when they do make it into mainstream