Locker Room Talk: A Woman’s Struggle to Get Inside

Author:   Melissa Ludtke
Publisher:   Rutgers University Press
ISBN:  

9781978837782


Pages:   374
Publication Date:   23 September 2024
Recommended Age:   From 16 to 99 years
Format:   Hardback
Availability:   In Print   Availability explained
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Locker Room Talk: A Woman’s Struggle to Get Inside


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Overview

While sportswriters rushed into Major League Baseball locker rooms to talk with players, MLB Commissioner Bowie Kuhn barred the lone woman from entering along with them. That reporter, 26-year-old Sports Illustrated reporter Melissa Ludtke, charged Kuhn with gender discrimination, and after the lawyers argued Ludtke v. Kuhn in federal court, she won. Her 1978 groundbreaking case affirmed her equal rights, and the judge’s order opened the doors for several generations of women to be hired in sports media.   Locker Room Talk is Ludtke’s gripping account of being at the core of this globally covered case that churned up ugly prejudices about the place of women in sports. Kuhn claimed that allowing women into locker rooms would violate his players’ “sexual privacy.” Late-night television comedy sketches mocked her, as newspaper cartoonists portrayed her as a sexy, buxom looker who wanted to ogle the naked athletes’ bodies.  She weaves these public perspectives throughout her vivid depiction of the court drama overseen by Judge Constance Baker Motley, the first Black woman to serve on the federal bench. She recounts how her lawyer, F.A.O. “Fritz” Schwarz, employed an ingenious legal strategy that persuaded Judge Motley to invoke the Fourteenth Amendment’s Equal Protection Clause in giving Ludtke access identical to that of her male counterparts. Locker Room Talk is both an inspiring story of one woman’s determination to do a job dominated by men and an illuminating portrait of a defining moment for women’s rights.  

Full Product Details

Author:   Melissa Ludtke
Publisher:   Rutgers University Press
Imprint:   Rutgers University Press
Dimensions:   Width: 15.60cm , Height: 3.30cm , Length: 23.50cm
Weight:   0.680kg
ISBN:  

9781978837782


ISBN 10:   197883778
Pages:   374
Publication Date:   23 September 2024
Recommended Age:   From 16 to 99 years
Audience:   General/trade ,  College/higher education ,  Professional and scholarly ,  General ,  Tertiary & Higher Education
Format:   Hardback
Publisher's Status:   Active
Availability:   In Print   Availability explained
This item will be ordered in for you from one of our suppliers. Upon receipt, we will promptly dispatch it out to you. For in store availability, please contact us.

Table of Contents

Prologue Chapter 1 Chapter 2 Chapter 3 Chapter 4 Chapter 5 Chapter 6 Chapter 7 Chapter 8 Chapter 9 Chapter 10 Chapter 11 Chapter 12 Chapter 13 Chapter 14 Chapter 15 Chapter 16 Chapter 17 Chapter 18 Chapter 19 Chapter 20 Chapter 21 Chapter 22 Chapter 23 Chapter 24 Chapter 25 Chapter 26 Chapter 27 Chapter 28 Chapter 29 Chapter 30 Epilogue Acknowledgements Notes Selected Bibliography Index

Reviews

"""This book by Ludtke focuses, in meticulous detail, on the landmark 1978 Ludtke vs. Kuhn case, the impact of the 14th Amendment, and the back-and-forth legal battles for equal rights across history. This shines a light on a court case (litigated well before the ""MeToo"" era) that opened doors for women in sports media, and is a good reminder for younger generations of the legal battles that helped women get the rights we have today.""  -- Brenda Berrera * Booklist * ""Shut out of the locker rooms, young Wellesley grad and Sports Illustrated reporter Melissa Ludtke was constantly missing the quotes that she needed to get the story. Locker Room Talk is the gripping first-hand report of how she took on Major League Baseball and with a ruling by Judge Constance Baker Motley, the nation's first Black woman on the federal bench, changed the future of sports journalism for women."" * Electric Literature * “Locker Room Talk gives us a front-row seat at Melissa Ludtke's celebrated courtroom battle when she went up against Major League Baseball and emerged with an enduring win for women's equal rights. I also admire her gutsy decision to share reflective insights on how the plentiful societal backlash against her buffeted her personal life as a 26-year-old woman. Hers wasn't an easy struggle, but she persevered, and we are the better for it.”   -- Hillary Rodham Clinton * former US secretary of state * “Locker Room Talk is not just a look back to the 1970s. While women in sports media report inside locker rooms today, what they earn and the jobs they are given are still not equal to men's pay and roles, nor is their treatment. Melissa Ludtke gives us a good hard look at what she went through to win equal access and tells us how she prevailed. Without Melissa Ludtke, none of us are here.” -- Suzyn Waldman * New York Yankees radio broadcaster * ""Melissa Ludtke's trailblazing career in sports media is a lesson in moral courage, perseverance, and equality. Her deeply personal reflections underscore the challenges she faced and the progress she championed.""   -- Adam Silver * NBA commissioner * “I grew up recounting baseball games to my father, so I loved discovering in Locker Room Talk how Melissa Ludtke’s mother passed down her love of the game to her daughter. For this daughter to now tell us the story of how, as a young woman, she went to court to revolutionize our nation’s most tradition-laden sport provides a splendid resource for historians and a cherished gift for baseball fans.”   -- Doris Kearns Goodwin * historian and author of Wait Till Next Year * “When I read about her 1978 court victory while still in college, I knew two things: Melissa was my hero, and women like me now would have the opportunity to do the jobs we loved. In Locker Room Talk, Melissa takes us into Judge Constance Baker Motley’s courtroom as the lawyers argue about her rights, then brings us to the ballpark, where she shone, often as the only woman working the baseball beat.”   -- Christine Brennan * USA Today sports columnist and TV and NPR commentator * “In the early 1980s, I interviewed baseball players in locker rooms due to the courageous court fight that Melissa Ludtke had waged for equal access against Major League Baseball in 1978. To read her book, Locker Room Talk, is to relive our challenges as pioneering women sportswriters. She reminds us of the emotional strain that discrimination imposes on those who experience it and then shows us how she overcame it. Brava!”   -- Claire Smith * the only woman to be saluted in Cooperstown as the Baseball Writers of America’s Career Excellence h *"


“Locker Room Talk gives us a front-row seat at Melissa Ludtke's celebrated courtroom battle when she went up against Major League Baseball and emerged with an enduring win for women's equal rights. I also admire her gutsy decision to share reflective insights on how the plentiful societal backlash against her buffeted her personal life as a 26-year old woman. Hers wasn't an easy struggle, but she persevered, and we are the better for it.” – Hillary Rodham Clinton   -- Hillary Rodham Clinton * former US Secretary of State * “Locker Room Talk is not just a look back to the 1970s. While women in sports media report inside locker rooms today, what they earn and the jobs they are given, are still not equal to men's pay and roles, nor is their treatment. Melissa Ludtke gives us a good hard look at what she went through to win equal access and tells us how she prevailed. Without Melissa Ludtke, NONE of us are here.” -- Suzyn Waldman * New York Yankees Radio Broadcaster * “When I read about her 1978 court victory while still in college, I knew two things: Melissa was my hero, and women like me now would have the opportunity to do the jobs we loved. In Locker Room Talk, Melissa takes us into Judge Constance Baker Motley’s courtroom as the lawyers argue about her rights, then brings us to the ballpark, where she shone, often as the only woman working the baseball beat.”   -- Christine Brennan * USA Today sports columnist and TV and NPR commentator *


“Locker Room Talk gives us a front-row seat at Melissa Ludtke's celebrated courtroom battle when she went up against Major League Baseball and emerged with an enduring win for women's equal rights. I also admire her gutsy decision to share reflective insights on how the plentiful societal backlash against her buffeted her personal life as a 26-year old woman. Hers wasn't an easy struggle, but she persevered, and we are the better for it.”   -- Hillary Rodham Clinton * former US Secretary of State * “Locker Room Talk is not just a look back to the 1970s. While women in sports media report inside locker rooms today, what they earn and the jobs they are given, are still not equal to men's pay and roles, nor is their treatment. Melissa Ludtke gives us a good hard look at what she went through to win equal access and tells us how she prevailed. Without Melissa Ludtke, NONE of us are here.” -- Suzyn Waldman * New York Yankees Radio Broadcaster * “When I read about her 1978 court victory while still in college, I knew two things: Melissa was my hero, and women like me now would have the opportunity to do the jobs we loved. In Locker Room Talk, Melissa takes us into Judge Constance Baker Motley’s courtroom as the lawyers argue about her rights, then brings us to the ballpark, where she shone, often as the only woman working the baseball beat.”   -- Christine Brennan * USA Today sports columnist and TV and NPR commentator * “Melissa Ludtke’s trailblazing career in sports media is a lesson in moral courage, perseverance and equality.  Her deeply personal reflections underscore the challenges she faced and the progress she championed.”   -- Adam Silver * NBA Commissioner *


“Locker Room Talk gives us a front-row seat at Melissa Ludtke's celebrated courtroom battle when she went up against Major League Baseball and emerged with an enduring win for women's equal rights. I also admire her gutsy decision to share reflective insights on how the plentiful societal backlash against her buffeted her personal life as a 26-year-old woman. Hers wasn't an easy struggle, but she persevered, and we are the better for it.”   -- Hillary Rodham Clinton * former US secretary of state * “When I read about her 1978 court victory while still in college, I knew two things: Melissa was my hero, and women like me now would have the opportunity to do the jobs we loved. In Locker Room Talk, Melissa takes us into Judge Constance Baker Motley’s courtroom as the lawyers argue about her rights, then brings us to the ballpark, where she shone, often as the only woman working the baseball beat.”   -- Christine Brennan * USA Today sports columnist and TV and NPR commentator * “Melissa Ludtke’s trailblazing career in sports media is a lesson in moral courage, perseverance, and equality.  Her deeply personal reflections underscore the challenges she faced and the progress she championed.”   -- Adam Silver * NBA commissioner * “I grew up recounting baseball games to my father, so I loved discovering in Locker Room Talk how Melissa Ludtke’s mother passed down her love of the game to her daughter. For this daughter to now tell us the story of how, as a young woman, she went to court to revolutionize our nation’s most tradition-laden sport provides a splendid resource for historians and a cherished gift for baseball fans.”   -- Doris Kearns Goodwin * historian and author of Wait Till Next Year * “In the early 1980s, I interviewed baseball players in locker rooms due to the courageous court fight that Melissa Ludtke had waged for equal access against Major League Baseball in 1978. To read her book, Locker Room Talk, is to relive our challenges as pioneering women sportswriters. She reminds us of the emotional strain that discrimination imposes on those who experience it and then shows us how she overcame it. Brava!”   -- Claire Smith * the only woman to be saluted in Cooperstown as the Baseball Writers of America’s Career Excellence h *


Author Information

MELISSA LUDTKE was a reporter for Sports Illustrated, a correspondent for Time, and editor of Nieman Reports at Harvard University. Her books include On Our Own: Unmarried Motherhood in America and Touching Home in China: In Search of Missing Girlhoods. She received the Yankee Quill Award and Mary Garber Pioneer Award and was a Nieman Fellow and a Prudential Fellow at Columbia University’s Graduate School of Journalism. She lives in Cambridge, Massachusetts. 

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