Hi,

My name is Maureen and I am a junior at Saint Joseph's University in Philadelphia, where I am a Sociology major with a minor in Gender Studies.

In one of my classes, I recently watched a movie entitled "Beyond Killing Us Softly", in which Amy Richards was speaking, among many other things, about the positive effects of athletics in the role of adolescent girls. In yet another one of my classes, Research Methods, I am proposing a research project for Senior Seminar. My hypothesis is that Competition in competitive female athletics has a positive impact on self esteem in the lives of women. So after this long drawn out explanation I finally get to my point! I was trying to contact Amy to find out if she knew of any research that has been studied or carried out in this particular area. Any help would be greatly appreciated, and again I apologize for the unnecessary length of this e-mail.

Thanks,

Maureen

Dear Maureen,

Have you heard of the Women's Sports Foundation---www.womenssportsfoundation.org -- they might have some studies or at least some references for further places to look. In general, I think that sports are good for women's self-esteem, because it challenges us to realize what our bodies are capable of. We also learn how unique our bodies are -- we are each capable of different things and this really comes out on sports teams where you have to be dependent on each other and you realize that others are dependent on you. I hope that helps -- and I think it's a great topic, certainly worthy of further research.

Good Luck,

--Amy