SHARP Insights: How Title IX Changed the Game - the cultural impact of Title IX

Free and open to the public.


Title IX is widely known and has become synonymous in many Americans' minds with gender equity in sport. Yet, like any law, it is limited. Inequities continue inside and outside of sport--inequities that are beyond the direct legal reach of Title IX. Misunderstanding the limits of Title IX has an ironic effect. On the one hand, it can fuel a backlash that blames Title IX for problems associated with some men's sports. On the other hand, it can lead to advocates of women's and girls' sports to overemphasize Title IX as the pivotal site for gender equity strategies. Drawing in part from recent research on youth sports, Messner will shed light on the cultural impact, limits, and possibilities of Title IX.

Michael Messner is professor of sociology and gender studies at the University of Southern California. His teaching and research focuses on gender and sports, men and masculinities, and gender violence. In 2010, the USC Center for Feminist Research released the most recent update of his longitudinal study, Gender in Televised Sports: News and Highlights Shows, 1989-2009. He has published several books, including, most recently, Out of Play: Critical Essays on Gender and Sport (SUNY Press, 2007), and It's All for the Kids: Gender, Families and Youth Sports (California, 2009). Messner is currently researching men who work with boys and men to stop gender-based violence. In 2011, the California Women's Law Center honored him with its Pursuit of Justice Award, for his work in support of girls and women in sport.

Sponsored by: the Institute for Research on Women and Gender, and the Gerald R. Ford School of Public Policy.