Michael Messner Quotations

She was rather abrasive and difficult, but it must've taken that kind of personality to survive and to do what she did in the 1960s.

I think it's dangerous to see (Duke) as an isolated incident. This is a really good opportunity for us to look at the culture of men's sports and ask ourselves, 'If the shoe fits, wear it.' I think it's a systemic problem.

There is a continuing marginalization, or downright ignoring, of women's sports by the media, ... And a lot of that has to do with the choices that TV producers and newspapers editors keep making, preferring to play it safe rather than lead a gender revolution.

We'll have to see how the women compete, whether they hold their own as athletes. It would be sad if Americans weren't ready to see co-ed team sports, but we're a country that doesn't seem ready to have a female vice president.

What gets the mass media's attention are the novelty moments, when women are pitted against men, and that becomes news.

Seeing women and men playing together and competing together begs the question: What do we value as a culture?

It might be a long time before we see co-ed anything, but this is a start. What's important is that girls - and especially boys - see women are great competitors.

It took many, many years for the NBA to catch on the way that it did, and I'm not sure that promoters and marketers are that patient anymore,

She'll continue to be seen as one of the foundational figures in the modern women's movement for a very long time.

The Feminine Mystique' was huge in terms of its national and international impact on society. It was like a spark on tinder and helped light the fire of the women's movement. It had solid academic foundations even though she wasn't an academic. It was the right book at the right time.