Schools rethinking use of ‘Lady’ for female teams
By Alexandra Svokos, Huffington Post
Recent debates at two universities about removing “Lady” from the names of women’s sports teams caused very different reactions, highlighting the two sides of an ongoing discussion about women’s athletics.
The Review, the student newspaper of the University of Delaware, announced on Sunday that it will no longer use the term “Lady Hens” when writing about the university’s women’s sports teams. The newspaper’s decision comes just as University of Tennessee fans and players are fighting to keep the term “Lady” attached to the name of their female squads, which are currently known as the Lady Vols.
“Though this change is long overdue, we are proud to announce we are disposing of a discriminatory term,” the editors of the Review wrote of their decision.
The newspaper’s move was prompted by a letter to the editor from alum James Wiles, who said that “the term Lady Hens is inherently sexist.”
“The men’s teams are somehow solely entitled to the general term Hens, without a gender specific qualifier,” Wiles wrote.
Believe it or not, there ARE difference between men and women.
Why on earth would anyone be offended by the distinction? More political correctness run amuck.
For the first time, and, very likely, the last time, I’m going to agree with Dogula regarding one of these life threatening issues.
My middle aged daughter was, while pursuing her sports medicine degree, a trainer for a number of sports, including the macho world of football, during her college years. My niece, having supported much of her college career with athletic scholarships, is now a high school softball coach, as well as coaching other levels and forms of athletics.
Like most women still breaking out of our bigoted middle-age sports theories and biases, both see themselves, and accurately so, as far superior to their male counterparts in terms of the challenges they face, and would fight “to the death” for any of the athletes with whom they work on a daily basis.
I’m pretty sure that both of them now consider the concept of “Lady Whatevers” as an endorsement of the superiority of their athletic programs and the competitiveness of their athletes.
Sure, if we ignore subtext, connotation, how the english language handles sex/gender, and other abstract concepts dawg does have a point.
Consider this example involving the all male sports team The Dallas Cowboys. Gender is built into the word Cowboys, but we can treat it as a regular noun and manipulate it in two ways: Cowgirls, and Lady Cowboys.
Now think about there being two teams, the all male Cowboys, and a female professional team from Dallas. Is there a different between calling them the ‘Cowgirls’ and the ‘Lady Cowboys’?
What about the male sports team. Currently, some people who don’t like the team call them the Cowgirls. How different would it be to call them the ‘Lady Cowboys’? Something is going on there with subtext and language that makes those disparaging. Ignoring that is failing to consider the more complicated discussion.
What would the female football team from Dallas want to be called? It doesn’t matter to me, let them name themselves whatever they want, and that’s fine.
Bullgirls would be a clever name.
Why are women still blacklisted from professional football, soccer, baseball, and hockey. They are as good as any man but the powers that be won’t allow these outstanding athletes to show up men.
Really it is about time the selfish men allow these capable women to compete and stop discriminating.
Copper and pescado when you heading to the open try outs?
if they were ‘as capable as any man’ they’d be playing. sometime maybe read ‘the sex contract’, by the noted physical anthropologist helen fisher.
What is political correct anymore… It’s all about “tolerance”
With all the mixed messages, this generation does not know what they are… I think too much time and mental energy is spent on this topic. Thank God we are different! Kindergarten Cop said it best… Girls have vaginas and Boys have penises.
budda-bing, budda-boom! :)
‘Copper and pescado when you heading to the open try outs?’
That’s all you have? Calling a man a woman?
Well since we’re reverting back to grade school level thinking: i know ur but wut am i. ur a doo doo head.
CP you are funny! :) hey, it all starts when we are young….
Gotta agree with Dog. How about the Dallas ‘Girlymen Or Ladyboys? Seriously though-who gives a f***?
@Legal…as usual your tenuous connection to reality is damaged. “Whassa’ matter….too much football without a helmet?”
If an absurdity was dropped on some peoples heads would reality then maybe enter their world? I doubt it seeing the level of reading comprehension demonstrated.