A richly reported and provocative look at the history of women’s sports and the controversy surrounding trans athletes by a leading LGBTQ+ sports journalist.
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“[An] electrifying debut…Through in-depth and compassionate reporting, Barnes breaks down the misunderstood science surrounding sex and gender that has been used to keep cisgender women out of sports and has fueled debate over trans athletes participation in women’s sports.”
Shannon Carlin, TIME
magazine, “100 Must-Read Books of 2023”
[An] excellent and much-needed examination of current debates about transgender and intersex athletes. …Barnes brings nuanced, in-depth analysis to complex issues that have been oversimplified, misunderstood and sometimes distorted.”
Heather Hewett, The Washington Post
“This book will help you better understand this very important topic of our time. It really is a must read given how divisive this issue has become.”
Julie Foudy, two-time FIFA Women’s World Cup champion and two-time Olympic gold medalist, and current ESPN broadcaster
“Fair Play is thoughtful, timely, and incredibly accessible. Building on previous reporting with new interviews and insight, this book presents a history of trans participation in sport and a contemplation of what the future could hold for all athletes―all while holding the humanity of everyone who simply wants to play.”
Meg Linehan, Senior Writer, The Athletic
“Katie Barnes has written a lionhearted volume that contains more courage than any book I’ve read in some time. All the people who have been anxiously hoping for a book like this, will breathe a sigh of relief on the first page. All the people who are utterly confused and conflicted about how trans athletes “fit” in the sports world, who really need it, will love it. All the people who hate it would’ve hated it anyways. That makes it a total triumph.”
Dave Zirin, Sports Editor of The Nation, author of The Kaepernick Effect
“A powerful treatise on what current outrage, particularly about transgender girl and women athletes, says about how we think about sports as a whole. Enlightened and empathetic―required reading for anyone weighing in on gender and sports.”
Kirkus Reviews (Starred)
“Through interviews, deep research, and thoughtful observations, Barnes provides much-needed clarification on a topic that too often leads to confusion and discomfort. An important study on the policing of gender.”
Booklist (starred)
About Fair Play
For decades women have been playing competitive sports thanks in large part to the protective cover of Title IX. Since passage of that law, the number of women participating in sports and the level of competition in high school, college, and professionally, has risen dramatically. In Fair Play, award-winning journalist Katie Barnes traces the evolution of women’s sports as a pastime and a political arena, where equality and fairness have been fought over for generations. As attitudes toward gender have shifted to embrace more fluidity in recent decades, sex continues to be viewed as a static binary that is easily determined: male or female. It is on that very idea of static sex that we have built an entire sporting apparatus. Now that foundation is crumbling as a result of intense culture wars. Whether we are talking about bathrooms, gender affirming care for trans youth, or sports, the debate about who gets to decide gender is being litigated every day in every community. Many transgender and intersex athletes, from a South African runner, to a New Zealand power lifter, to a wrestler in Texas, to Connecticut track stars, have captured the attention of law and policy makers who want to decide how and when they compete.
Women’s sports, since their inception, have been seen as a separate class of competition that requires protection and rules for entry. But what are those rules and who gets to make them? Fair Play looks at all sides of the issue and presents a reasoned and much-needed solution that seeks to preserve opportunities for all going forward.
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Katie Barnes 