Women, Sport, and the Press in Twentieth-Century Mexico

Abstract

The concept of women engaging in physical recreation was anathema to late nineteenth-century Mexican society. While underlying scepticism continued throughout the decades that followed, post-Revolutionary reforms provided a surprisingly open arena within which both men and women could practice sport. We analyze how the issue of gender influenced these reforms and the degree to which this affected popular participation in sports. Identifying media coverage as a barometer of broader society’s perceptions of female sporting activity, we consider the salient trends in the Mexican press, how these changed over time, and the ways in which female journalists approached women’s sport. Our findings suggest the need for caution in leaping to gender-based assumptions and provide evidence that, in some respects, male journalists became more enlightened than their female counterparts in confronting underlying prejudices.