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The October selection for the Out of Your League Book Club is one I announced when I sent out the lineup for the rest of the year, but here it is officially official! The link to register for this event is at the bottom of this newsletter, below the paywall.
We will be reading Say Her Name: Centering Black Feminism and Black Women in Sport by Dr. Letisha Engracia Cardoso Brown, a book that is timely and necessary always, but feels especially so as the conversations about labor and equity in the WNBA are at the forefront of mainstream discourse.
I first spoke to Dr. Letisha Brown back in 2021 when I wrote about the way athlete-mothers were pushing back on damaging narratives and expectations around their bodies. I hadn’t realized that Letisha had written a book until earlier this year, when I had the privilege of moderating a panel that she was part of. The panelists all contributed such incredible insight and fodder for discussion, but I left feeling like there was so much more Letisha and I could have talked about.
Her work, and this book, seeks to recenter the way we talk about sports and asks what would happen if we allowed the conversation to be driven by the Black women who are fighting to compete, who are setting records, who are driving interest, rather than continuing to set expectations and parameters around an assumed white cishet athlete? In light of conversations in all area sport, but especially around the WNBA at this moment, Letisha’s work is urgent.
From the book’s description:
Say Her Name: Centering Black Feminism and Black Women in Sports offers an in-depth look into the lived experiences of Blackgirlwomen as athletes, activists, and everyday people through a Black feminist lens. With so much research on race centered on Black men and gender research focusing on white women, Say Her Name offers a necessary conversation that places Blackgirlwomen at the center of discussion.
Say Her Name delves deeply into issues of gender, the politics of punishment, athlete activism, the politics of Black hair, fingernails and fashion, and the representation and commodification of Blackgirlwomen in sport and society. An entry point into the growing research in sport studies and beyond from a Black feminist lens, Say Her Name offers a clear window into the power and potential of nuanced examinations of sport.
Our Zoom event will be on Saturday, October 25th at 1 PM ET/10 AM PT. Letisha will be joining us for that conversation, which is only open to All-Access paid subscribers. The conversation will be recorded and sent out to everyone who registered for the event, so you can watch it even if you can’t join us live.
A few days before our Zoom meeting, I’ll send out another email with the link to the event, along with a companion syllabus of additional reading and listening material related to the book.
Access to the Zoom event requires registration. You can register for ‘SAY HER NAME’ BOOK CLUB DISCUSSION at the link below:
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