Everand Logo

Welcome to Everand!

  • Discover millions of ebooks, audiobooks, and so much more with a free trial

    Only $11.99/month after trial. Cancel anytime.

    Unavailable
    Unsportsmanlike Conduct: College Football and the Politics of Rape
    Unavailable
    Unsportsmanlike Conduct: College Football and the Politics of Rape
    Unavailable
    Unsportsmanlike Conduct: College Football and the Politics of Rape
    Ebook286 pages7 hours

    Unsportsmanlike Conduct: College Football and the Politics of Rape

    By Jessica Luther

    4/5

    ()

    Currently unavailable

    Currently unavailable

    Listen to the audiobook instead

    About this ebook

    "Jessica Luther studied history and the classics before marshaling her writing talent toward of-the-moment topics like sexual assault and college sports culture. Now she's an investigative journalist, working from her adopted hometown, Austin, Tex., in what is perhaps the nation's most college-obsessed state. Ms. Luther's new book, Unsportsmanlike Conduct, examines the 'programmatic manner' in which sexual assaults are swept under the rug by institutions both on campus and in the media."
    --New York Times

    "Not to reckon with Luther's book would be an abdication not only of one's moral faculty but also of one's fandom...Luther does't just want to save future victims; she wants to save college football."
    --New York Times Book Review

    "A significant and riveting look at how one of the greatest cultural tragedies of the millennial generation--the silencing of sexual violence against women on campus--is nurtured by a system of cover-ups and corporatized crises management."
    --Playboy.com

    "In Unsportsmanlike Conduct, [Luther] draws on years of research and reporting to outline what she calls the 'playbook'--all the standard, predictable ways that football programs, universities, the NCAA, and sports media typically respond when athletes are accused of rape or assault. It's an infuriating, exhaustively researched catalogue of problems, from denial and toothless language to ignoring or discrediting the victim."
    --Elle.com

    "The most important sports book of the year."
    --Booklist, Starred Review

    "Jessica Luther is a Texas-based investigative reporter who broke the story of Sam Ukwuachu, a football player at Baylor University who was then on trial for sexual assault. Since then she's kept track of the dozens of sexual-assault claims made against college football players every year. Here, she looks at the relationship between football and sexual assault, the people and systems that perpetuate it, and how we can change the narrative going forward."
    --New York Magazine

    "Investigative journalist Luther catalogues the abuses created and enabled by college football programs and suggests workable reforms."
    -- Boston Globe, One of the Best Sports Books of 2016

    The latest from Akashic's Edge of Sports imprint.

    Football teams create playbooks, in which they draw up the plays they will use on the field. Playbooks are how teams work and why they win. This book is about a different kind of playbook: the one coaches, teams, universities, police, communities, the media, and fans seem to follow whenever a college football player is accused of sexual assault. It's a deep dive into how different institutions--the NCAA, athletic departments, universities, the media--run the same plays over and over again when these stories break. If everyone runs his play well, scrutiny dies down quickly, no institution ever has to change how it operates, and the evaporation of these cases into nothingness looks natural. In short, this playbook is why nothing ever changes.

    Unsportsmanlike Conduct unpacks this societal playbook piece by piece, and not only advocates that we destroy the old plays, but also suggests we replace them with ones that will force us to finally do something about this issue.

    Political sportswriter and Edge of Sports imprint curator Dave Zirin (the Nation) has never shied away from criticizing that which die-hard sports fans hold dear. The Edge of Sports titles will address issues across many different sports--football, basketball, swimming, tennis, etc.--and at both the professional and nonprofessional/collegiate levels. Furthermore, Zirin brings to the table select stories of athletes' journeys and what they are facing and how they evolve both in their sport as well as against the greater backdrop of one's life's odyssey.

    LanguageEnglish
    PublisherEdge of Sports
    Release dateSep 6, 2016
    ISBN9781617755217
    Author

    Jessica Luther

    JESSICA LUTHER is an independent writer and investigative journalist living in Austin, Texas. Her work on sports and culture has appeared in the Texas Observer and the Austin Chronicle, and at Sports Illustrated, Texas Monthly, Vice Sports, Guardian Sport, and Bleacher Report. Luther’s work gained national attention in August 2015 when writing for Texas Monthly; she and Dan Solomon broke open the story about a Baylor football player on trial for sexual assault, a case known by only a few in the community and not reported in the media for nearly two years. She is the author of Unsportsmanlike Conduct.

    Related to Unsportsmanlike Conduct

    Related ebooks

    Football For You

    View More
    View More

    Related podcast episodes

    Related articles

    • Article

      The Isolation of Being Deaf in Prison

      Oct 19, 2018

      When I was in state prison in Georgia in 2013, I heard about a class called “Motivation for Change.” I think it had to do with changing your mindset. I’m not actually sure, though, because I was never able to take it. On the first day, the classroom

      4 min read

    • Article

      Race and Equality

      Jul 16, 2020

      Race and Equality
      20 min read

    • Article

      SEX, SCIENCE & STEREOTYPES

      Oct 11, 2020

      It has a provocative title and dedication (“For everyone who blocked me on Twitter”), but your book is evidence-based, nuanced and compassionate. Why did you, a liberal “sex positive, non-traditionalist gay rights supporter”, write a book that delves

      6 min read

    • Article

      When Sports and Politics Mix

      Jun 29, 2023

      When Sports and Politics Mix
      10 min read

    • Article

      Raising Boys

      Nov 4, 2020

      Raising Boys
      10 min read

    • Article

      Raymond Braun.

      Jun 28, 2019

      Raymond Braun.
      6 min read

    • Article

      Robert C. Koehler: Mass Murder: New Victims, Same Old Questions

      Dec 8, 2021

      Four students dead, six more, plus a teacher, wounded. Can you believe – another mass shooting last week. This one north of Detroit, at Oxford High School. A 15-year-old boy – and his parents – were arrested. While the shock and collective horror are

      3 min read

    • Article

      The Kidsin America

      Aug 15, 2023

      The Kidsin America
      4 min read

    • Article

      From Sports Violence To Scandals, What’s A Fan To Do?

      Sep 24, 2020

      In “Loving Sports When They Don’t Love You Back,” Jessica Luther and Kavitha A. Davidson explain how to remain a fan while recognizing problems.

      4 min read

    • Article

      Model Behaviour

      Mar 25, 2022

      Model Behaviour
      4 min read

    • Article

      Male Violence Is Everywhere

      Feb 26, 2018

      Male Violence Is Everywhere
      7 min read

    • Article

      Quiet Courage

      Jun 12, 2019

      Quiet Courage
      9 min read

    • Article

      Just Ask !

      Jul 1, 2021

      For most of us, pronouns are just another topic in English class. A quick back-to-school lesson will tell you that pronouns replace a noun and are mainly used when referring to another without using their name repeatedly. “He” or “she” are the most u

      4 min read

    • Article

      A 101 In Lovelessness

      Apr 10, 2023

      A 101 In Lovelessness
      7 min read

    • Article

      Robin Abcarian: I Pray For RBG (and Other Confessions)

      Sep 11, 2019

      I think I've done everything at this paper except cover sports. I've been a feature writer, a culture writer, a national reporter, a section editor. I've covered mass shootings, hurricanes, political campaigns, presidential conventions, Oscars, Emmys

      4 min read

    • Article

      Roxane Gay: ‘I’m Trying To Move Further Left Because That’s The Only Way That We’re Gonna Achieve Change’

      Oct 14, 2023

      Before the pandemic, Roxane Gay was constantly on the road. When the lockdowns of early 2020 came into effect, she realised something startling. “That was the longest I had been in one place since 2014.” She and her now wife, the writer and designer

      8 min read

    Reviews for Unsportsmanlike Conduct

    4/5

    28 ratings9 reviews

    What did you think?

    Tap to rate

    Review must be at least 10 words

    • 4/5
      CN: Rape

      I first learned about Ms. Luther during Wendy Davis’ filibuster of HB 2 in Texas – the bill that would eventually become the TRAP law that made it all the way to the Supreme Court as Whole Women’s Health. She is a journalist who has built her career focusing on the intersection of sports and culture, reporting extensively on how women are treated when they report that an athlete has sexually assaulted them.

      Unsportsmanlike Conduct is a book from a small press that focuses exclusively on issues in sport, and the publishers approached Ms. Luther to write it. They also worked with her to create the framing for the book, which is about sexual assault committed by football players, and how both the victims and the student-athletes are failed by the system as it currently stands.

      The first half consist of five chapters that set the stage – or field, as it were – as it currently stands. There is the field – the universities and colleges themselves – as well as what we don’t see.

      She explores the tension that exists with a sport that sees majority black players and (assumed) majority white female who are assaulted and raped, and the history of racism there. The chapter that focuses on this history was fascinating and depressing, and important for understanding the entire issue. One fact she shared, which I found both unsurprising but also depressing as hell, was that the most important predictor of opposition to paying student athletes was if someone had a negative view of black people. Yikes.

      With this history firmly grounded, Ms. Luther moves on to discuss the ways Universities, the NCAA and police will try to simply make the reports of rape and assault go away. Or, Coaches and Athletic Directors will claim that the cases just aren’t that big of a deal. Finally, she includes my personal (least) favorite – the attempt to just move on, and pretend everything has been handled appropriately. I loathe the ‘we’re looking to the future’ mentality, when the transgressions of the past have not yet been properly addressed. It is infuriating, and this chapter handles this well.

      With the field set, Ms. Luther focuses the second half of the book on things that can be done to improve things now. There are ten chapters of varying length; the one that I think is the most critical (if we were to rate them) is the one that explores the reality of what trauma looks like. We so often hear ‘why didn’t she go to the police right away’ or ‘why did she text the guy a week later’ or ‘her story changed,’ but the media doesn’t provide the context for how the brain recovers memories after a traumatic event like a rape or assault.

      I think this is an important book. Unfortunately, I cannot see coaches or the NCAA bothering to read it, because it is so critical of them. But if more students, players and journalists took the time to read it, I think we could see some progress. If the subject matter isn’t too triggering for you, I really hope you consider picking it up.
    • 4/5
      This is a really thoughtful journalistic look at a troubling topic that many people and organizations are going to great lengths to cover up. The magnitude of the problem becomes extremely obvious and demoralizing, but fortunately Luther does offer some ideas of how to move forward both pragmatically (what colleges and the NCAA can do) and philosophically (why do we deal with this degradation of women?). I was surprised at how well the "playbook" structure of this book works -- it gives it something more compelling (not to mention a way to move forward) than long-form magazine pieces lamenting this issue without solution.
    • 5/5
      As powerful as it is necessary, Luther's discussion of sexual assault and college football covers a tangled landscape of surrounding culture and attitudes--from politics, to fandoms, to tradition, to expectations, and on to identity. As difficult as the examinations in this book are, there's also a great deal of love and objectivity here; in fact, I suspect that only someone who Does love football could have written this work in this manner, where it is not only serious and piercing, but respectful and, on some level, even understanding of the reasons we've reached this point in history and culture, without excusing any of it.And yes, this is far more than a catalog of players and nights gone horribly wrong, and far more than a listing of victims and villains. Systematically, Luther presents evidence of a culture and systems that not only perpetuate behavior that leads to assault and victimization, but then cover up such behavior with what might look like ignorance, but is actually self-sustaining promotion of the status-quo. And, what's more, she presents paths for change, and signs of change that are already struggling to make a difference, while making it terrifyingly clear that even as these changes are happening, much is being done to undermine them.If I could, I'd ask every college instructor and student to read this. I'd drop off barrels of the book in the locker rooms and even at high schools, and I'd make my students read sections, if not the whole of it, if I still taught in a college town. I'd drop it off in high schools and ask the coaches to read it, and I'd pass it to my friends. And even beyond coaches and athletes, it should be read by fans. There might be an argument to be made that fans need this book as much as anyone, in fact.In an approachable and careful way, this is an important book, and deals thoughtfully with an issue that should not be ignored, but too often is.Absolutely, I'd recommend it.
    • 4/5
      The book reads a little rough in areas, but Luther's task is too important to get caught up on word-smithing. As i watched a college football game last weekend, I was haunted by the fact that many of those men had probably sexually harrassed or raped a fellow college student. Luther has a lot to say about how poorly college and universities treat the victims and really burns the NCAA for their obvious blind eye towards the athletes who commit these crimes.
    • 5/5
      Unsportsmanlike Conduct: College Football and the Politics of Rape is one of the most thorough and thoughtful books I have ever read. The relationship between violence, specifically against women, and sports, especially football, has never been more in the news and discussed than it has in the last few years. However, often it is discussed and that is it. No real change is made, or even suggested. The systems that protect those who commit violence remain unexamined, and those who profit from these systems continue to live their lives as if there is nothing wrong. In Unsportsmanlike Conduct, Jessica Luther takes a stand to change all of that.Luther uses her journalistic skills to examine the relationship between college football and sexual assault. She uses cases going back to the 1970s to illustrate various aspects of this relationship. After a detailed introduction that defines terms and sets the stage for the conversation, the book is split into two halves. The first half examines "the playbook" as it stands. The playbook is how teams, universities, the NCAA, the media, and fans have responded to allegations of sexual assault against players in the past, and for the most part, how they continue to respond. Each institution is culpable in perpetuating systems that shame victims and go out of the way to protect perpetrators of violence. The second half of the book offers thirteen suggestions to change the playbook as it stands. I appreciate that Luther tackles such an important topic. She doesn't shy away from difficult subjects that most would rather avoid. I also really like that she offers potential solutions, and doesn't just point out problems. She admits her own struggle in dealing with sexual assault allegations as a lifelong college football fan. Nothing can change if it remains unexamined or discussed. People who are willing to put money or even just the sometimes almost religious experience of being a fan of a huge football program ahead of the well-being of non-football playing students and others who don't have as much "value" have to own that they are part of the problem. Luther does a great job of pointing out how various groups are at fault, and how each group can change. Violence in our culture is not just the responsibility of those who commit it; everyone can be a part of the solution is we are only willing to ask, "How?"
    • 4/5
      __Unsportsmanlike Conduct: College Football and the Politics of Rape__ by Jessica Luther is a thoughtful and thorough survey of the on-going problems of rape in general, rape by athletic 'heroes' in particular, and the ways in which out academic and athletic organizations (NCAA, college athletic departments, college administrators, sports media) impede the progress of addressing these issues. Luther proceeds by surveying the current 'playbook' of such organizations--how they define the issues, investigate incidents, respond to media questions, etc--and identifying the ways in which the 'playbook' avoids resolution of the problems. Then she offers an altered 'playbook' that will make progress toward better resolutions. She provides numerous examples of real incidents and responses as she proceeds. All of this makes for engaging but disturbing reading. On the negative side, I would have liked a longer book with more detailed analysis of the 'playbooks' both real and proposed.
    • 3/5
      This review is for the paperback version of Unsportsmanlike Conduct, which I received through the LibraryThing Early Reviewers program. The low rating is due to this particular version which has some serious deficiencies, which make the book very frustrating to read. I have checked with the publisher, and learned that I received a copy of the final publication, not an incomplete reader’s version. The deficiencies include: (1) lack of an index, (2) especially with no index, the lack of an appendix summarizing the cases which the author discusses or to which she refers, and (3) with the lack of both an index and an explanatory appendix, the failure to provide the page number[s] of the original description of a case when the author mentions it again in briefer form later in the book. This situation would probably not be so critical in the electronic version provided that one could click on a word and be referred to where it appears elsewhere in the work. Ms. Luther is a died-in-the-wool Florida State University football fan, and often refers to cases concerning that university. However, regardless of where the assaults occur, the author through personal knowledge or her research is much more familiar with the cases than the average reader.Ms. Luther wrote her book in football playbook style. In the first part of the book she describes how football culture fails to value women; women are very likely to be sexually assaulted by football players.If these women report the assault or rape, they are unlikely to be seriously considered; and the player[s] are extremely unlikely to be adequately punished. Here Ms. Luther examines the roles of the players, the coaches and university administrators, the NCAA, and the sports media in the defining and maintaining the football culture. A positive feature of this book is up-to-date. Ms. Luther includes cases through 2015.In the second part of the book Ms. Luther makes some suggestions of steps to take to change the culture. She discusses such topics as a better understanding of what consent really means, a better understanding of the trauma of sexual assault and how the victim might act following it, having the federal government police universities concerning Title IX instead of universities policing themselves, firing coaches and university administrators on their handling of sexual assault cases, reforming the NCAA, changing how media report on sexual violence, hiring more women in sports positions, and many more. However, in my opinion she does not go far enough in this discussion; she does not address the problems of the exalted place of football in the university system including the problem of the high salaries that football coaches receive and how they continue to be paid huge sums of money after being fired (usually for failing to win enough football games).
    • 5/5
      I think that Jessica Luther has a lot of guts to write this book, UNSPORTSMANLIKE CONDUCT: COLLEGE FOOTBALL AND THE POLITICS OF RAPE. (As does the publisher, Akashic Books.)The book dramatically ‘goes after’ college football and the NFL; the NCAA; college personnel at all levels, including students and alumni; the media; campus security personnel and their ‘playbooks’ (or lack thereof); local law enforcement; pampered, spoiled, often violent so-called ‘student’ athletes; and let’s not forget recruiting ‘hostess’ programs.The writing is not so much punitive as factual, informative and an attempt to offer alternatives in the areas of sexual harassment and assault.The format is a crisp, organized one. Ms. Luther is a big football fan (or used to be) and models her book after a football ‘Playbook’. There is a Table of Contents; an Editor’s Foreword; and Introduction (entitled The Playbook); Part I - The Playbook as it is - with 5 chapters and Part II - How It Could Be - with 13 ‘plays’ or chapters; a Conclusion - Change is Possible and exhaustive endnotes.“This is a book about footbal and sexual violence”. Some passages are difficult to read. My reactions ran the gamut from outrage and disgust to anger and sorrow.Some of the most damming passages are related to the NCAA organization. Rich, white, male and powerful - it is the devil we know. Its #1 Play is “The Shrug’. Its #1 Move is ‘Ignore It’. But move over NCAA - the media, college personnel at every level, athletes themselves, fans, alumni, law enforcement - there is plenty of blame to toss around.There is also an opportunity to adopt a different Playbook with 13 different steps - all remarkably common sense and doable. But adopting a different Playbook requires a cultural shift in our attitudes towards and treatment of women.This book should be required reading for every student (male, female, athlete or non-athlete), adults, sports reporters, alumni and fans.WAIT. Everyone should read this book. PERIOD.This book was sent to me by the publisher as part of Library Thing's Early Review Program. Thank you.
    • 4/5
      Reading a book about rape culture and how it has manifested itself within the realm of society and college sports doesn’t make for an “enjoyable” time. Luckily in the capable hands of Jessica Luther, Unsportsmanlike Conduct: College Football and the Politics of Rape, this is and cultural problem has been molded and shaped into something that reads like an essential text, forcing us to reckon with the pain and use it as a baseline for developing solutions.

      More than just for sports fans or those in college, this is a book that dismantles many of the issues in society that have led to college football becoming the perfect microcosm of rape culture. What I think keeps this book humming along, even as you are being shown example after example of repugnant behavior and lack of accountability, is that Luther is unafraid of this depth. This in turn, allows the book to be accessible for those who don’t follow college sports who know about rape culture, those of us who follow sports religiously and maybe didn’t understand, and the regular lay person.

      Most of the populace understands rape and issues of consent are a problem and given what has happened at Baylor, and to some extent the Nate Parker case, is something that needs to be addressed swiftly and with care. Luther outlines many ways to help clean up these issues and in her due diligence leaves readers, and colleges, with the tools to make it happen.