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A review by theseventhl
Unsportsmanlike Conduct: College Football and the Politics of Rape by Jessica Luther
5.0
Content warning: this review discusses a book which covers the topic of rape and rape culture in a collegiate setting and could be potentially triggering to some readers. This article will avoid any explicit descriptions of events and acts in the text, but the book itself does not have the same discretion for details.
A young woman is assaulted by a football player at a campus party. She goes to the police. She goes to the administration. She goes to the coaches. The police stall, the administration wring their hands, and the coaches suggest that the woman forget the entire event happened. After all, that football player is a rising star on the team. He is an NFL prospect in the making. Does she not see how her accusation will ruin lives? She is threatened by the player’s friends. She withdraws from classes, loses her scholarship, and transfers to another school. The assailant wins.
This is not uncommon in 2016; a woman goes up against a college-level athlete with an accusation of rape and is torn down in the process. The details are not always exactly the same every time, but they should be. This is the focal point of Jessica Luther’s new investigative book, which drags college sports down from the pedestal on which society has put it, and reveals all of the cracks and flaws that threaten its legacy and, most importantly, put the lives of women in danger every year.
You can read my full review of UNSPORTSMANLIKE CONDUCT at the Current independent student newspaper website. A reviewer copy of the paperback was provided for free by Akashic Books/Edge of Sports; no other compensation was offered for this review, nor was a review required to receive the book.
A young woman is assaulted by a football player at a campus party. She goes to the police. She goes to the administration. She goes to the coaches. The police stall, the administration wring their hands, and the coaches suggest that the woman forget the entire event happened. After all, that football player is a rising star on the team. He is an NFL prospect in the making. Does she not see how her accusation will ruin lives? She is threatened by the player’s friends. She withdraws from classes, loses her scholarship, and transfers to another school. The assailant wins.
This is not uncommon in 2016; a woman goes up against a college-level athlete with an accusation of rape and is torn down in the process. The details are not always exactly the same every time, but they should be. This is the focal point of Jessica Luther’s new investigative book, which drags college sports down from the pedestal on which society has put it, and reveals all of the cracks and flaws that threaten its legacy and, most importantly, put the lives of women in danger every year.
You can read my full review of UNSPORTSMANLIKE CONDUCT at the Current independent student newspaper website. A reviewer copy of the paperback was provided for free by Akashic Books/Edge of Sports; no other compensation was offered for this review, nor was a review required to receive the book.