Good for a Girl: A Woman Running in a Man's World

As part memoir and part manifesto, Fleshman’s work contributes to the genre of sports literature by embedding personal story within broader social critique. She aims to amplify the issue of female exclusion and mistreatment in athleticism by detailing the physical and emotional harm suffered by herself and her athletic peers through her school, collegiate, and professional career as a distance runner. In doing so, Fleshman hopes to create a system that is more inclusive of female experiences of athleticism, rather than female athletes participating in a system that presents male physiology (especially in terms of lean, muscular bodies and linear athletic progression) as the norm, damaging women by holding them to physiologically inappropriate goal posts. Fleshman also calls out blatant sexism embedded in modern sports culture, including female uniforms that are designed to emphasize sexual appeal for cis-male, straight viewers, and athlete sponsorship deals that favor white, thin, attractive women but sideline BIPOC, gender-diverse, and larger-bodied athletes, as well as athletes with disabilities.

This isn’t the first time Fleshman has sought to use the written word to publicize her message. Fleshman received a Shorty Award in 2015, an award that recognizes social media impact, for her piece “A Letter to My Younger Self.