On this, the first day of September, 1924, we, the Editors of the SPORTSWOMAN, make our bow to the public. After a long and laborious struggle, mainly on the part of schools and colleges, and recently on the part of the United States Field Hockey Association, women's athletics are at last coming into their own. We feel therefore that it is a propitious moment for the SPORTSWOMAN to enter the arena, confident that a woman's magazine, published by women, devoted to all forms of sports in which women take part, linking together the interests of all players and keeping them in touch with each other's achievements, will supply a real need. We have confidence also in our public.
In the 1920s, the appropriateness of competition for women became contested among educators and the public. In order to avoid the problems associated with men’s highly competitive athletics, many women physical educators sought to deemphasize competition and promote simple participation. According to sport historian Roberta Park, these women were “searching for a middle ground” in the debate. There was, however, another group of women whose position dissented from the polarized positions of the public as well as those who promoted the “middle ground” when it came to women’s competition. These women were the editorial staff of The Sportswoman, which was a periodical on women’s sport published from 1924 to 1936. While the editors included multiple perspectives on women’s competition, their own position was frequently in direct conflict with some of the other contributors. This paper highlights the overt and covert strategies used in the magazine to promote the acceptability of women’s competition in sport.
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