Another year of women’s college hoops is in full swing. Can anybody stop UConn from three-peating as NCAA champions? Will Baylor’s Brittney Griner break out as the game’s most dominant post player? For women’s sports fans, finding the answers to these questions may be tough: SportsCenter, ESPN’s popular highlights show, spent just 1.4 percent of its time reporting on women’s sports.
Author: Michael Messner
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 is the author of 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 is honoring him with its Pursuit of Justice Award, for his work in support of girls and women in sport.