It’s finally here — 37 Words the book

Seven years ago I decided to write a book about something that inspires me, which became 37 Words: Title IX and Fifty Years of Fighting Sex Discrimination. At the time, I wasn’t sure how to do it, or even if I could do it. So the first thing I did was to start telling everyone that I was doing it. I psyched myself into believing in the project and publicly committed to it in order to make it harder to back out.

It worked! The New Press formally releases 37 Words on Tuesday, April 12. Friends who have pre-ordered copies tell me the book is arriving in the mail already. I can’t tell you how exciting it is for me that people finally can read some of the funny, heartbreaking, and eye-opening stories that I learned along the way. I feel honored that I get to introduce readers to the amazing characters through whom I tell the ongoing story of Title IX, the 1972 law that changed so many lives by prohibiting sex discrimination in education.

I’d written one previous non-fiction book on a completely different topic in 2006: Plug-in Hybrids. I researched and wrote that book in five months. Had I known that 37 Words would take me seven years, I probably wouldn’t have lasted. But I’m glad I did. Along the way I had to acquire some of the skills of historians. I found that I loved archival research in multiple libraries. The nearly 100 interviews with sources came easier because of my experience as a journalist. And of course, crafting the whole thing into a page-turner of a book is a different skillset.

Some day perhaps I’ll write a blog post on the good decisions and the mistakes I made along the way, the surprising discoveries and the dead ends in the journey to this book. For now, though I hope you’ll join me in the happiness of birthing a new book into the world. You can read here what people are saying about it so far.

Where you’ll find me

April 12 — Book publication day! San Francisco State University’s chapter of NLGJA: The Association of LGBTQ Journalists hosts a live gathering of students and a give-away of books by three authors (including moi) who will join via Zoom. I’ll be there virtually with Vanessa Hua and Lucy Jane Bledsoe. Later, join me live at 7 p.m. ET for a 37 Words book launch event at Norwich Bookstore in Vermont. I’ll be in conversation with my guest Kate Rohdenburg of WISE, the only advocacy organization in the Upper Valley supporting survivors of gender-based violence. Twenty percent of proceeds from sales of my book at the event will be donated to WISE! Can’t come? Send a screenshot of your book purchase receipt to titleixbook@gmail.com with the code WISE and I’ll donate 20% of the cost to WISE.

April 13, 2:00-3:00 p.m. ET — You’re invited to a lively Zoom discussion between me and Kenyora Parham, executive director of End Rape on Campus, as we talk about 37 Words during Sexual Assault Awareness Month. Come join us! Register here. And if you’d like to support End Rape on Campus while buying 37 Words, send a screenshot of your book receipt with the code EROC to titleixbook@gmail.com and I’ll donate 20% of the cost to End Rape on Campus.

April 21, 7 p.m. ET — A virtual get-together with the Washington, D.C. chapter of NOW. RSVP here.

May 26, 6:30 p.m. PT — A virtual get-together with the Riverside, Calif. chapter of the National Organization for Women (NOW).

June 9, 7 p.m. PT — Join me and Lucy Jane Bledsoe, author of the new Young Adult novel No Stopping Us Now, at a virtual event hosted by Green Apple Books on the Park, San Francisco.

June 23, 3:00-4:30 p.m. ET — It’s Title IX’s 50th birthday! I’ll be Zooming with members of the Association of Title IX Administrators (ATIXA) to celebrate. Read details here.

The Washington Monthly gave 37 Words a fine review — check it out!

The New York Historical Society’s Center for Women’s History & Academic Affairs posted a discussion with me and some of the earliest Title IX activists, available on YouTube.

If you registered for the American Historical Association 2022 conference, you can watch a video that will be available through June of our panel session on “Fifty Years of Title IX: Evolutions in the Struggle Against Sex Discrimination in Education.”

The Nation magazine published an excerpt from my chapter 5. Check it out!

Elsewhere

USA Today, which I have long maintained provides the best news coverage of women’s sports in this country, conducted a first-of-its kind investigation of how colleges and universities still shortchange women’s sports 50 years after Title IX passed. It’s first-rate journalism. Maine’s Press Herald did a great job reporting how women’s athletics still get shortchanged in that state. To settle a 2020 lawsuit, Dartmouth College Athletics released a plan to comply with Title IX by 2023-2024. The Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals said girls at a Hawaii high school could pursue a class-action suit about athletics. The New York Times forecasts the next battle for equity in basketball: how to divide the money.

Twenty-eight percent of women faculty and staff and 11 percent of men faculty/staff believe they’ve been passed over for promotion or work opportunities because of their sex, a recent poll found.

Indiana State students walked out to protest anti-gay legislation. Yet another bill banning transgender girls from athletics, this time in Kansas, is headed to the governor’s desk.

Here’s where you’ll find links to order 37 Words: Title IX and Fifty Years of Fighting Sex Discrimination. Thanks for your support. I hope you enjoy the book.