This book investigates the intersection of gender, class, and media representation through the lens of the 1994 Tonya Harding and Nancy Kerrigan figure skating scandal. Cynthia Baughman, an academic editor and scholar, compiles a series of essays that analyze how the media constructed the two skaters as binary archetypes of 'good' and 'bad' femininity. The text utilizes cultural criticism and feminist theory to argue that the public obsession with the event was rooted in deep-seated societal anxieties regarding female ambition and social mobility.

Scholars and cultural critics frequently cite this collection as a foundational text for understanding the intersection of sports media and gender politics in the 1990s. Readers often note the academic density of the prose, which provides a rigorous critique of the tabloid culture that defined the era.