Overview

Fantasy sports have the opportunity to provide a sporting community in which gendered physical presence plays no role—a space where men and women can compete and interact on a level playing field. Whose Game? shows, however, that while many turn to this space to socialize with friends or participate in a uniquely active and competitive fandom, men who play also depend on fantasy sports to perform a boyhood vision of masculinity otherwise inaccessible to them. Authors Rebecca Kissane and Sarah Winslow draw on a rich array of survey, interview, and observational data to examine how gender, race, and class frame the experiences of everyday fantasy sports players. This pioneering book examines gendered structures and processes, such as jock statsculinity—a nerdish form of masculine one-upmanship—and how women are often rendered as outsiders. Ultimately, Whose Game? demonstrates that fantasy sports are more than just an inconsequential leisure activity. This online world bleeds into participants’ social lives in gendered ways—forging and strengthening relationships but also taking participants’ time and attention to generate negative emotions, stress, discord, and unproductivity.

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9781439918876

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Reviews

In this fascinating new study, Kissane and Winslow show us how often aging, non-athletic men can engage in fantasy sports leagues as to both secure a claim on legitimate masculinity and, importantly, to forge much needed emotional bonds with other men. Through careful research, Whose Game? documents the possibilities and perils involved in playing fantasy sports and issues an important call for thinking seriously about the way leisure and fun can reinforce existing gendered, raced, and classed inequalities. -C.J. Pascoe, Associate Professor in the Department of Sociology at the University of Oregon, and author of Dude, You're a Fag: Masculinity and Sexuality in High School Whose Game? is well written and compelling, and the research important and timely. The authors' sociological examinations of fantasy sports make a convincing argument that this is a unique realm of fandom. In its gender analysis, Whose Game? is a strong, valuable contribution to the literature. The breadth and depth of the data make for a rich analysis that allows us to examine and understand patterns of meaning and experience. This book will have significant appeal to those in the fantasy sport world, including participants and organizers, as well as general sports fans. -Rachel Allison, Assistant Professor of Sociology at Mississippi State University and author of Kicking Center: Gender and the Selling of Women's Professional Soccer

Author Information

Rebecca Joyce Kissane is an Associate Professor of Sociology at Lafayette College. Sarah Winslow is Senior Associate Director of the Honors College, Director of the National Scholars Program, and Associate Professor of Sociology at Clemson University, and co-editor of Gender in the 21st Century: The Stalled Revolution and the Road to Equality.

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