I have found that when talking to most people about Title IX it is expected that you put your hand over your heart. After all, it has been responsible for the phenomenal growth in women's athletics (before Title IX only 1 in 27 high school girls played sports - today 1 in 3 do so) and it has produced that fabulous victory for our Women's World Cup Soccer team. Who could possibly argue with these facts? Author Gavora does. Although a former women's athlete, Gavora clearly does not have her hand over her heart.

If you want to read something controversial this is it. When I was at AAHPERD headquarters in Reston last week, the women working at the NAGWS desk emphatically exclaimed that she would not even read "that woman's book". I think she is wrong. I think this book needs to be read by everyone interested in sports and women's issues. There are arguments on both sides of this issue that need to be heard and fairly weighed.

Gavora marshals evidence that questions whether or not Title IX can legitimately take credit for the growth of women's sports and the World Cup victory. And she analyzes the role it is now playing in the reduction of men's college teams that is now occurring at an accelerating rate (359 teams since 1992). She believes that the bad old days of denying women the opportunity to participate in sports was wrong. She believes that today's women who want to participate in school sports should have that opportunity provided to them as fully at it is for the men. But, and here is the rub that stirs passions, she does not believe that women in general have as great a desire to participate in competitive sports as do men in general. Furthermore, she sees this difference not being wholly caused by sociological factors. Her arguments are diverse and will require a reading of the book. They consist of research on innate attitude and play differences among girls and boys, survey results showing males to be decided more interested in participating in intercollegiate sports then women (61% to 39%), data showing large numbers of male walk-ons standing on the sidelines hoping for a chance to play -- and instances of women's teams trying desperately to recruit players by putting adds in campus papers that promise scholarships and announce that "no experience is required!"

Here are a couple of the many games I liked:

Title IX is now being interpreted to demand that colleges have the same number of men and women athletes. Officially this is known as proportionality and schools must be within 5% of the gender ratio on their campus, or in other words, if women constitute 55% of the students at least 50% of the athletes must be women. Gavora says that this quota system was not the intent of the writers of Title IX and that it is creating serious inequalities rather than reducing them. Think, and enjoy this book for yourself.

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