Q&A with Andy Markovits, professor and author

Andy Markovits, a professor at the University of Michigan and author of “Sportista: Female Fandom in the United States,” spoke to students Monday in Hyde Hall about the female perspective in sports.

Staff writer Resita Cox sat down with Markovits to discuss the evolving role of women in sports viewership.

Daily Tar Heel: Where did you get the inspiration for your book?

Andy Markovits: I got it from my deep involvement in following sports on two continents over the last 55 years of my life. Following the big four in North America — basketball, baseball, football, ice hockey. And of course soccer in Europe.

DTH: What is the theory behind it?

AM: The theory behind the book is that women have made amazing strides in terms of sports production, meaning being athletes.

Women are now virtually men’s equals in terms of numbers, but also that women actually consume sports differently, even though the number of women sports consumers has grown immensely.

They actually consume sports as events, they consume them as spectators … Once the event is over, its over. As for men, it is much more continuous and a constant obsession, actually.

DTH: What proof or observations do you have that support your theories?

AM: I have done a huge survey at the University of Michigan involving all of the varsity athletes, excluding football. I have also surveyed equal amounts of non athlete undergraduates, mainly social scientists. The survey is about 850 respondents, and we have 33 women journalists whom we interviewed and 33 non-journalists but sports followers that we believe are “sportistas.”

DTH: What audience do you hope to target most with “Sportista”?

AM: I hope to target the person interested in sports as a culture. People who want to know why sports are important to us; why do we follow sports; what does it mean to us. I hope that those people will read the book.

DTH: What difficulties do you see that women still face?

AM: Women are still not taken quite seriously by most men in terms of their sports knowledge. Women are still sort of doubted or questioned as to how they know it, why do they know it.

DTH: How do you hope or believe this book will change the way women are thought about when discussing sports?

AM: I don’t think any book really changes things, certainly not an academic book. I just hope that people read the book. I hope that this book will change one iota — how women follow sports.

DTH: Do many of your books touch on the topic of feminism?

AM: No, it is mainly in sports that I talk about the role of women, though I am not sure if I would consider myself a feminist scholar or a scholar on feminism.

DTH: Is this the first and/or last book you will do on this topic?

AM: On this topic, it is sort of not the first book, but might be the last book, although I will continue to write on sports topics. In fact, my next topic is on college rivalry games. I will hopefully return here and do an entire chapter on the Carolina vs. Duke rivalry.

Contact the desk editor at university@dailytarheel.com.