Out for a Change (1994)

Overview

The award-winning short documentary features interviews with student athletes, coaches (including Stanford’s Tara Van Deveer), athletic directors, academics, and prominent professional athletes including Martina Navratilova and Zina Garrison-Jackson as they describe how the fear of being labeled a lesbian or “dyke” hinders the performance of all female athletes, and even prevents many women from participating in sports at all. The personal tales are contextualized within a larger narrative that illustrates how sexism and homophobia are wielded as political tools to retain male control over the multi-billion dollar women’s sports industry.