Kellor, 1909, p. 157). Yet one page later, Dudley and Kellor complain that such groups as are suited to professionalism and showmanship--commercial organizations--destroy the raison d'etre of girls' athletics, by "making contests, awarding prizes and stimulating competition [which] displace all other functions" (Dudley and Kellor, 1909, p. 158). A person could be forgiven for asking what else athletics (for girls or boys) does except create and aggravate the environment for contests and competition, yet this duality of purpose, or more exactly cross purpose, has the effect of confusing just what the mission of female athletics might be. And this appears to have been true from 1909 onward. In sum, a discernible pattern of promotion on one hand of the idea of girls' athletics as physical activity and discouragement on the other of the idea of girls actually deriving some personal satisfaction from the engagement of their bodies in competitive exertion appears to have persisted from at least 1900 until World War II.
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