Provides an analysis of the 1972 federal statute known as Title IX, which prevented sex discrimination in education. Outlines the statute's successes and failures and reveals the impact this statute has made on the emergence of women's sports and the development of positive body image and leadership roles.

Separate is equal? -- Integration rights : girls playing with boys and boys playing with girls -- The three-part test and the opportunity to play -- Complicating equal participation : what counts as a sport, which sports should women play, and which women should play them? -- Cutting men's opportunities to help women? : Title IX and leveling down -- Treatment as an equal -- The dilemma of difference and the "problem" of pregnancy -- Beyond equal access : retaliation, coaching, and sexual harassment.