Greencastle, Ind. — "More than three decades after Title IX legislation leveled the athletic playing field for women, contact sports represent the last frontier, said Jeffrey Montez de Oca, a visiting professor who specializes in the sociology of sports at DePauw University," reports the Des Moines Register. Dr. Montez de Oca is quoted in a story which examines the increasing popularity of women's contact sports in Iowa, including roller derby, rugby and football.
"If sports is about strength, power, aggressiveness and competitiveness, nothing symbolizes that more than contact sports," Montez de Oca tells the newspaper. "Collision sports are such a crystallization of competitive athletics. They also tend to be the higher status sports. For women to be able to demonstrate parity with men, they need to be able to participate in these sports as well. And both men and women enjoy bodily contact."
Read the complete story at the Register's web site. |
