Book Club Discussion Questions and Guide for Better Faster Farther by Maggie Mertens

Book Club Discussion Questions

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Please be aware that this discussion guide will contain spoilers!

1. Had you heard that earlier generations of women weren't allowed to run long distances? What are your impressions of rules like this?
2. When Paula Radcliffe ran a marathon after having a baby, she was considered "the medical unknown." Have you ever felt like your own body confronted a "medical unknown" simply due to your sex?
3. What was your experience with school sports growing up? Did anything about the women in the book having access to or not having access to school sports surprise you?
4. If all children were given more opportunities to play coed sports or encouraged to be athletic regardless of gender, what might the effect be?
5. Have you noticed female athletes being treated differently from male athletes during the Olympics? Did you know that it took until 1984 for women to have an Olympic marathon, and even the 3,000-meter race?
6. Have you ever felt physically underestimated because of your sex? When? How did you feel?
7. Diane Leather's family was frustrated that her achievements, including being the first woman to officially break the five-minute mile, weren't appreciated during her lifetime. How do the stories we are told about athletes change what we believe about ourselves? Would knowing more of the women's stories from this book earlier in your life have changed the activities you chose to do?
8. Tidye Pickett and Louise Stokes were both discriminated against as runners on the Olympic track and field team in 1932 and 1936, but track teams became dominated by Black women runners in later years. Have you ever made assumptions about an athlete's abilities because of their race?
9. Why do you think the original creators of the modern Olympics were so against having women compete? Did anything in their arguments sound familiar to messages we hear about gender today?
10. What emotions came up for you when reading about the surgery Annet Negesa underwent? Did reading her story change anything about the way you view transgender women athletes?
11. Are the attempts to keep intersex and transgender women runners from competing in women's events reminiscent of other rules that have tried to "protect" women in the past?
12. Jasmin Paris, and many other women ultramarathoners, beat men outright in their endurance races. Did you know this was possible? What was the most impressive or inspiring part of her story?
13. When the author learned that the official Olympics footage of the 1928 800-meter race had been doctored to align with the story the newspapers of the time wrote— that the women all collapsed—did it bring up any questions for you about other media stories we've accepted about the past?
14. How has coverage of women athletes in the news media changed over the past 100 years? How has it not changed?

For the full book club kit please refer to the publisher's page.

Unless otherwise stated, this discussion guide is reprinted with the permission of Algonquin Books. Any page references refer to a USA edition of the book, usually the trade paperback version, and may vary in other editions.