Last night I was reading our latest issue of Newsweek. Anna Quindlen had the Last Word, as is appropriate in an issue that was mostly about women in high placed jobs. I'm not going to gripe about that; actually she made some fantastic points and I enjoyed reading what she had to say. She also got me thinking about one of my pet peeves. Now, I don't know if I qualify as a true die-hard feminist. I believe in equality - pay, voting, job status, etc. I've deliberately upset people just to get them to think, even for a minute, like the 'bill' I tried to pass in my high school gov't class 'senate' that would include women in registering for selective service just like men do when they turn 18. Most people totally missed my points: A) the draft is wrong for both men and women, and B) if men have to register then it is sexist not to include women. One teenaged mother in the class had a cow because women have babies. Sheesh. So they do, and men are fathers.
But that's not what I wanted to ramble on about. I want to get you thinking about sports. Not title IX, but mascots. Now, when I went to high school there we were the Roughriders. And we were the Lady Riders. Whoa, boy, get off my back! It gets worse, and so far, this is the worst that comes to mind; in college we were Razorbacks (woo pigs!) and the Lady 'Backs. Anyone care to make the requisite derogatory comment? Well I will! Ladies-on-your-backs! Ugh. Both cutesy nicknames for the girls' or womens' teams make the think of poor sex jokes, always have. And that's not even the part that really gets me going!
Why do schools need to separate out their athletic departments into mens and womens - Hornet and Lady Hornets, Panthers and Lady Panthers. If I'm a Razorback, why can't I be a Razorback? Why do the men's teams automatically get the mascot, and the women get the leftover sexist version 'Lady'. What about calling them the Tigers and the Gentlemen Tigers? Before you tell me that adding the 'lady' makes it honorific, I'm going to say no, it's a modifier, and it's not intended to elevate, it's intended as a diminutive. If we must differentiate between the genders of our athletic teams, then find a way to work boys or men into the name, and don't let us all assume that when a news anchor tells us that the Sooners won the game they mean the men! That we even need a modifier is overtly sexist.
Perhaps this just isn't a big deal to most people. Honestly, I didn't worry much about it before I moved to Kansas and got my first taste of midwestern manners. There I couldn't find anyone else who found it sexist. In fact, I found pride in the division. They weren't just plain old Jayhawks, they were Lady Jayhawks. Ack, if you are a Kansan, you are all Jayhawkers! (yes, even you PowerCat sporting K-Staters)
It got worse when I moved to Arkansas, where the lady was clearly a diminutive and the girls teams did not get nearly the attention of the boys.
So I've gotten over my high-school need to lift as much weight as any guy, refusal to ask for help or prove in any way that I'm just as tough, smart, fantastic as any guy. After all, I'm a woman. I'm better. I just can't get over the fact that girls don't get the mascot title unless it's prefaced by 'Lady'.
When I hear that the Hogs went 9 and 0, I want to have to ask, "which team?" and be referring to gender.
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I went to an all girls high school our mascot was the Monarchs. That's right butterflies. So if there were boys I would love to see them be butterflies. And in fact we were also the Lady Monarchs in the newspaper. Never thought of it as derogatory more like a title. Shows what I know.
ReplyDeleteAnyways I need to go watch my husband make me dinner, entertain the kids, and do all the laundry while I sit on the couch with my hand in my pants.