ABSTRACT
This chapter highlights feminist connections going back over 150 years, before sport psychology existed as an identifiable field, through the early organization of sport psychology in the 1960s and 70s, up to our current time. Following a brief historical overview of feminism, the early roots of feminist sport psychology are identified in both psychology and women’s physical education. The chapter then moves into the emergence of sport psychology along with the feminist movement of the 1960s and 70s, when a few women trailblazers made a place in sport psychology. The 1972 passage of Title IX marked the beginning of a move toward today’s competitive women’s sport programs. Although participation in competitive athletics has grown dramatically, opportunities have narrowed for the larger population, and in contrast to pre-Title IX when most women’s sports had women coaches and administrators, white men dominate coaching and administration. Women are more visible in sport psychology today than in earlier times, but sport psychology falls short of a feminist vision. Feminist scholarship, highlighting intersectionality and power relations, is needed to inform sport psychology practice and move toward social justice.
