...of a Group of Adolescent Female Volleyball Players

Reception analysis was used to examine how a group of adolescent female volleyball players construct meaning from photographs of athletes in women’s health, fitness, and sports magazines. In-depth group interviews were conducted with 41 athletes aged 14 to 18. The findings indicate that these young women use the photographic images in the construction of their own physical self-concepts, which consist of two primary components: physical ability and body image. Physical ability focuses on perceptions of team participation and athletic competence. Body image is heavily influenced by the social comparison process and involves evaluations of overall physical size and specific body parts—arms, abdomen, and thighs. Although the self-evaluations of physical ability are predominantly positive, evaluations of body image are frequently negative and appear to be exacerbated by photographic poses that emphasize an athlete’s aesthetic beauty rather than her athletic prowess.

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U.S. society continues to accept myths regarding the supposed weakness of women’s bodies. Women’s displays of physical power are often prevented or undermined, typically in ways centering on the concept of femininity. Increasing numbers of female athletes have not led to a true physical feminist liberation, one which would increase women’s confidence, power, respect, wealth, enjoyment of physicality, and escape from rape and the fear of rape. Despite these possible benefits, most feminists have not encouraged the development of physical power in women. Although caution regarding physical power is warranted, the benefits of a physical, libratory feminism outweigh the risks.

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Objectification theory posits that Western culture socializes girls and women to self-objectify by adopting a third-person perspective on their bodies. Feminist philosopher Iris Young (1990) argued that such self-objectification accounts for "throwing like a girl" and other constrained and ineffective motor performances. The authors’ hypothesis was that higher self-objectification among adolescent girls would predict poorer throwing performance. The authors tested 202 girls, ages 10 to 17 (32% Anglo-American, 47% African American, and 20% other ethnic minorities). Each was asked to complete written measures of self-objectification and to throw a softball, three times, as hard as she could. Throwing performance was coded from video records. Results show that self-objectification predicted throwing performance above and beyond differences due to age and prior throwing experience. There were no differences by race. Discussion centers on how self-objectification limits girls’ and women’s physical activity, with implications for emotional well-being, physical health and safety, as well as cognitive functioning.

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A Preliminary Analysis of the Relationship Between Midnight Basketball and Urban Crime Rates

The authors conducted a preliminary empirical test of the claim—dismissed by most scholars—that midnight basketball programs lower city-level crime rates. Results show cities that were early adopters of officially sanctioned midnight basketball leagues experienced sharper decreases in property crime rates than other American cities during a period in which there was broad support for midnight basketball programs. Although likely associated with a variety of confounding factors, these rather-surprising results suggest the need to reevaluate the deterrent effects of popular sports- and recreation-based prevention programs with a new emphasis on more diffuse, indirect mechanisms such as positive publicity and community trust. Further substantiation and refinement of these ideas could significantly reshape how these popular and wellestablished initiatives are implemented and evaluated.

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... Body Dissatisfaction