Active Bodies: A History of Women’s Physical Education in Twentieth-Century America (2012) by Martha Verbrugge

Active Bodies is a thoughtful and thought-provoking look at physical education for women in the United States from the late 19th century to the present.The product of extensive archival and oral history research that took author Martha Verbrugge across the country, Active Bodies is a welcome addition to the historical study of physical education.In particular, it contributes to our understanding of the generations of women physical educators who created spaces for women and girls to be active.It also explores the rich entanglements of race and gender in the history of physical education.Active Bodies offers a thematic reading of what the author considers the "most common sites" for physical education, "public schools and undergraduate institutions" (p.11).The first six chapters examine female physical educators; science and sex difference; menstruation; race; competition; and physical education in public schools before the 1950s.The final three chapters revisit physical educators, sex difference, and reproductive health in the latter half of the 20th century.Chapters 1 and 7 explore women physical educators.In Chapter 1, Verbrugge sheds light on who was drawn to the profession and what their training likely entailed before turning her attention to educators' experiences on the job.Chapter 7 does similar work, although it is structured differently.Namely, Verbrugge includes four sections that are concerned with public school teachers and college instructors before and after the early 1970s to elucidate how the passage of Title IX-a federal law prohibiting gender-based discrimination in all schools receiving government funding including colleges-affected women's physical education.The irony, Verbrugge notes, is that even as opportunities for girls and women to be active increased exponentially after 1972, women lost ground as administrators, educators, and coaches.Verbrugge writes, "With women's sports heralding career advancement and visibility, more men entered the arena, aided by well-established professional networks and favorable hiring practices" (p.192).In Chapters 2 and 8, Verbrugge considers how physical educators' ideas about sex difference measured up against medical science and popular opinion over the course of the 20th century.She further inquires about the consequences of these ideas for students in physical education classes.Verbrugge's treatment of these myriad philosophies of active womanhood is at once balanced and critical.She is clear about both the possibilities and pitfalls of her subjects'

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