Book Review: Sporting Realities. Critical Readings of the Sports Documentary

detrimental to the positive progress of their representation, including, for instance, what she identifies as ‘the temporary lesbian’, ‘the dead lesbian’, and ‘the evil lesbian’. Each example is diligently examined by McNicholas Smith in her consideration of the development of lesbian visibility over time, and the extent to which progress has been made, with arguments that remain clear, engaging and accessible throughout. Whilst the scope of analysis may be limited somewhat through its primary focus on examining case studies of teenage lesbians who are both white and cis-gendered, McNicholas Smith’s research provides an overview of the current state of lesbian representation, introducing the subject to researchers interested in queer studies or, more specifically, lesbian representation and becoming a useful foundation for further research.