COLUMN LIKE I SEE 'EM: To the extinction of Lady Panthers

Posted 5/8/14

Powell High School is represented by the panther. And unless you spend a lot of time in the school to see the murals and statues, this fact is made most apparent to you by the school’s athletic teams that carry the name.

The Powell Panthers — …

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COLUMN LIKE I SEE 'EM: To the extinction of Lady Panthers

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It’s not an audio recording of appalling racist remarks. It’s not the painfully cartoonish logo that openly mocks an entire race of people. At first (and probably second and third) glance, it’s not even all that offensive.

It’s quiet and subtle, and easy to dismiss.

And that’s why exactly we need to talk about it.

Powell High School is represented by the panther. And unless you spend a lot of time in the school to see the murals and statues, this fact is made most apparent to you by the school’s athletic teams that carry the name.

The Powell Panthers — in the midst of an incredibly successful stretch that’s yielded three state football titles, three state wrestling titles, a volleyball title, a singles tennis champion, multiple track and field champions and second-place finishes for both swim teams — are the pride of this small town.

But are we casually discriminating against roughly half of the school’s athletes?

Whether they know it or not, or we intend it or not, the “Lady Panthers,” by way of semantics, aren’t always being treated equally.

It’s long bothered me that we, as well as thousands of communities around the country, often refer to female sports teams as the “Lady” version of the school’s nickname.

Most of these mascots — Panthers, Warriors, Bison, Bulldogs — are gender-neutral, meaning they don’t, by definition, indicate male or female.

Wouldn’t it sound wrong if you heard a tourist remarking about all the “lady bison” he saw in Yellowstone? That sentiment comes off even worse when it’s applied to humans.

Yet so many of us still find it necessary to modify team names when the athletes are female.

This practice sets the precedent that male is the norm while the female version is something of an alternate. And that’s a precedent our community should be careful to avoid.

Girls raised in Powell should grow up with no questions about their place in society. They are as capable, valuable and worthy of respect as boys. In a word, equal. This isn’t a new notion and printing such an obvious statement walks the dangerous line of patronization.

But no matter how obvious the sentiment, it’s not always plain to see where we go wrong, and Powell should do all it can to thwart any doubts — subliminal or otherwise — from setting into the minds of young girls.

To its credit, PHS doesn’t employ the naming practice itself, as you will not find the word “Lady” on any of the girls’ jerseys.

It’s the people around town talking about Powell sports who use “Lady Panthers,” if for no reason other than it’s easy. And there may be no party more guilty than the newspaper you’re holding.

As a sportswriter, it gets tiring to come up with interesting ways to refer to the team you’re writing about. Powell. The Powell squad. The PHS boys. The PHS girls. The Panthers.

As writers we seek to diversify our words in an attempt to avoid redundancy, and as readers it’s difficult not to add media-prevalent terms into your vocabulary.

“Lady Panthers” is used — out of habit and laziness — because it can be.

It’s a term that means no overt harm, but research suggests it’s not so benign.

A study published in the April 2008 issue of Sociology of Education suggests that colleges that use gender-specific nicknames or modifiers such as “Lady ____” and “____-ettes” are likely to provide women with fewer athletic opportunities.

The article, “The Relationship Between Sexist Naming Practices and Athletic Opportunities at Colleges and Universities in the Southern United States,” was written by Ohio State University’s C.F. Pelak and claims these naming practices reflect “unequal power relations between men and women.”

I have no reason to believe PHS or high schools that do openly employ these naming practices offer fewer athletic opportunities to their female students than to their male students. There are laws in place to see to that and high schools can’t favor males with athletic scholarships the way colleges can.

But it’s important that while we limit and hopefully abolish all active forms of discrimination, we also try to remain aware of passive discrimination, such as creating a culture and environment that could promote the “unequal power relations” mentioned in the article.

Men aren’t the standard, and women aren’t some off-shoot of men, ribs be damned.

By simply doing away with a bad verbal habit, and embracing that PHS students are all, simply and proudly, Panthers, we can ensure a more welcoming and productive environment for every student and student athlete.

Like any other change that aims to improve our schools, it’s an investment in Powell’s future. Even the most slight-seeming forms of discrimination can hinder development and prevent students from reaching their potential, and in turn prevent Powell from reaching its potential.

Taking the ax to the “lady” modifier is an easy fix that will benefit everyone. People and lady people.

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