"They provide a comprehensive review and analysis of women's athletics, sport journalism, and difficulties women encounter in the gendered domain of sport... [T]he book fills a gap in the fandom literature. Thought provoking and enjoyable to read, this book will interest readers in a variety of social scientific fields - e.g., psychology, sociology, history - as well as those interested in sports. Summing Up: Highly recommended." Choice, December 2012 "Markovits and Albertson explain that just as women have been demoted to secondary roles in the history of sport, female fans have also been relegated to the margins... While Sportista raises numerous questions and makes controversial claims, the topic of female fandom is relatively under-studied in the discipline of sport studies. Markovits and Albertson's foray into the male-dominated arena of sports spectatorship is a first step toward understanding and deciphering the sidelining of women in the big-time sports in the USA." - Sport in Society "Sportista is an interesting look at female (and male) sports fandom... [I]t is an important contribution to the study of sports fandom and a step toward an understanding of why and how women consume sport and why so many don't." - idrottsforum.org "Sportista offers an impressively global (in both senses) discussion on the impact of gender segregation in sport... [T]his text is a fine feminist critique of hegemonic sport culture, and adds to the library of work demonstrating how gender segregation is detrimental to gender parity in sport and in wider culture." - Contemporary Sociology, May 2014
