Sports

A Second Trump Term Could Worsen Inequalities for Women Student-Athletes

Since 1972, when Title IX was signed into law prohibiting discrimination on the basis of sex by any educational program receiving federal financial assistance, colleges and universities have faced questions about what constitutes “discrimination” under the statute, specifically in the universe of college athletics.

Now, 52 years after the law was passed, the Department of Education is under threat by the incoming presidential administration at a crucial time for Title IX enforcement, as new NCAA policies could spell a threat to gender equality in the college sports space even as female student-athletes continue to gain visibility and marketability.

From Maine to Georgia in 40 Days: Tara Dower’s Fastest Known Time on the Appalachian Trail and the Community that Got Her There

The fastest known time (FKT) on the Appalachian Trail has never been held by a woman, until now. Just minutes before midnight on Sept. 21, Tara Dower became the fastest known person to hike the Appalachian Trail, reaching Georgia’s Springer Mountain 39 days, 18 hours and 5 minutes after she began her journey in Maine. 

Averaging 54 miles a day, Dower crossed 14 states and hiked 2,189 miles with 465,000 feet of vertical gain—dropping 13 hours off the previous record set in 2018. 

Ms. spoke with Dower about being a woman in ultra-endurance sports, her recent FKT and love for the Appalachian Trail.

‘The Hidden History of the Pelvic Exam’: Larry Nassar and the National Nightmare

An excerpt from Exposed: The Hidden History of the Pelvic Exam:

“Tasha Schwikert unwittingly entered the ranch at one of its most intense times. ‘We were all so broken down and injured,’ remembered Jeannette Antolin, who was a member of the U.S. national team from 1995 to 2000. ‘No one was taking care of their bodies. We were all malnutritioned. Most of us had eating disorders at the time. Most of us were being abused by Larry and not knowing it.'”

Pay Women Athletes the Compensation They’re Due

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The fight for gender equality in sports remains a long, arduous journey.

The retroactive NIL (name, image and likeness) payments for former and current athletes included in the pending NCAA legal settlement would represent a new chapter in this battle by offering female athletes a chance to finally be compensated for their contributions to their sports and the universities they represented. 

Keeping Score: Liz Cheney Calls Trump and Vance ‘Misogynistic Pigs’; Women Break Barriers at Paralympics and Emmys; Taylor Swift Endorses Harris

In every issue of Ms., we track research on our progress in the fight for equality, catalogue can’t-miss quotes from feminist voices and keep tabs on the feminist movement’s many milestones. We’re Keeping Score online, too—in this biweekly roundup.

This week: Ohio Secretary of State Frank LaRose admits anti-abortion groups helped him write abortion rights ballot language; Kamala Harris and Donald Trump spar over abortion, Project 2025 and immigration at the presidential debate; Paralympics athletes and Emmy winners break records; Taylor Swift endorses Harris and Walz; Montana Supreme Court protects minors seeking abortion care; attacks on women journalists and LGBTQ people; new pay gap data is worse than last year; and more.

Transphobia in Women’s Sports Is Dangerous for All Women

Olympic athlete and women’s boxing gold medalist Imane Khelif recently became a target for anti-trans activists and know-it-all couch potatoes. They decided Khelif was a man based on her perceived appearance and strength, rather than actual facts. So hyped are the anti-trans police that any woman who doesn’t seem to conform to gender norms is suspect and fair game, particularly if she’s public and successful. This is dangerous for all women, no matter their gender identity, and especially women of color.

If we accept transphobes’ arguments against all trans women in all sports, we inevitably accept a set of assumptions that harm women, trans and cis alike.

Keeping Score: Court Blocks Student Loan Relief Plan; Former N.Y. Cop Sentenced 10 Weekends in Jail After Child Rape; Trump’s ‘Tampon Tim’ Jab Backfires

In every issue of Ms., we track research on our progress in the fight for equality, catalogue can’t-miss quotes from feminist voices and keep tabs on the feminist movement’s many milestones. We’re Keeping Score online, too—in this biweekly roundup.

This week: Kamala Harris reaffirmed her candidacy for president at the DNC; Republican-appointed judges strike down Biden’s student loan relief plan; a new law bans women from speaking in public in Afghanistan; working moms earn just 71 cents per dollar earned by dads; understanding the orgasm gap; gold-medalist boxer Imane Khelif fights back against racist and sexist abuse; new reproductive rights bills signed into law in Illinois; and more.

Promise Keepers Revival? The Ms. Q&A With Jackson Katz on the Trump-Era Resurgence of the Largest Organized Men’s Movement

In the 1990s, Promise Keepers were an evangelical group of Christian men who pledged to keep their promises to their wives and children in exchange for female submission and service. Relatively apolitical at the time, Promise Keepers even pledged to work toward “racial reconciliation.”

Filling football stadiums, evangelical men and boys felt safe to cry and hug, while reaffirming each other’s masculinity and entitlement to male dominance. By the end of the 1990s, Promise Keepers had faded from the headlines, but now thirty years later they are staging a revival. 

Ms. sat down with Jackson Katz to get his take on the Promise Keepers revival. “Elements on the Trumpist right understand very well that right-wing, white evangelical men are an incredibly important constituency within the larger MAGA coalition. … The ‘crisis in masculinity’ has now become a crisis in democracy.”

Chromosome Count: Who Gets to Decide Which Athletes Are ‘Feminine Enough’ to Compete?

At the 2024 Summer Olympics in Paris, a right-wing media firestorm spread disinformation that Imane Khelif of Algeria was transgender. As this article from the October 1988 issue of Ms. reminds us, sex testing in women’s sports is nothing new—and its origins are blatantly unscientific.

“Sports are not democratic. They’re elitist. The tallest play basketball. The shortest are jockeys. The ultimate would be to break the Olympics into biological classes and run them like the Westminster Dog Show.”

Keeping Score: Women Make History at the Olympics; Harris Picks Tim Walz for VP; States Attack Voting, Abortion and Contraception

In every issue of 
Ms., we track research on our progress in the fight for equality, catalogue can’t-miss quotes from feminist voices and keep tabs on the feminist movement’s many milestones. We’re Keeping Score online, too—in this biweekly roundup.

This week: Kamala Harris chooses Tim Walz; female Olympians make history; new Title IX rule faces legal challenges; JD Vance doubles down on supporting Project 2025; mandating in-person work hurts women; over 90 percent of women engage in civic actions; and more.