WGS 3230

Course Description

In ancient Greece, women risked death if they even attended the Olympic Games. As Pierre de Coubertin looked to revive the games in 1896, he thought women better suited to cheering on the male victors, than to competing themselves. This course will explore women's early participation in the Olympic Games, the pressures upon Olympic sportswomen to be feminine, and the important intersections of race, class, and sexual orientation.