Title IX, passed in 1972, ostensibly righted that imbalance, forcing an equal number of girls’ sporting opportunities for every boys’ one, thereby paving the way for generations of women’s basketball and soccer players. Yet this supposed equality—which coincided with the women’s movement and sexual freedoms facilitated by birth control—amplified anxiety around women in sports, especially the figure of the tomboy, who eschewed the traditional trappings of femininity.
