Lady (mascot)?

Use whatever the official name and nickname is. Period.

 

We know what you spent your barfines on

 

Depends what my headline count is.

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"Lady" and feminine nicknames are simply an attempt by male ADs and other administrators to diminutize the girls' programs, put 'em in their place and imply they're not the "real" teams.

"These are the cutesy-wootsey girlies playing around at basketball before the REAL Eagles, Tigers, Panthers, etc etc take the court."

Same thing as the "Brooklyn Brown Dodgers" and "New York Black Yankees" of the olden days. "These are the 'colored fellas' playing while the real team is on the road."

I kibosh it every time.

A few people have bitched; I don't care. They're wrong.

 

About five years ago, we stopped assuming that all girls high school teams use Lady. We didn't use it for any team and waited to see what teams would say they preferred it. Either nobody has noticed or nobody cared because nobody to my knowledge has complained.

 

Absolutely the correct answer.

But I would also say this: Err on the side of not using "Lady", unless you're certain the team actively self-identifies that way -- as the Lady Vols and Lady Techsters do.

Too often, especially in the South (where, as previously noted, many schools do still include that modifier), it's not really given much thought one way or another. But it was a name originally given when their girls/women's teams began in the '70s or '80s (or '90s!) as a pejorative modifier to separate them from the "real" teams.

 

'Diminutize'?

 

Years ago, when I was a much-younger pup, one of the towns I covered had teams that ended with -men and -maids. Wanting to make some waves and take a stand on gender equity, I started referring to the women as -men, even though it wasn't the official nickname.

The paper still refers to the women's teams as -men. I wish I hadn't set the precedent.

 

I agree with erring against using it. As has been said, unless a team actively pushes it, I wouldn't do it. Unless of course, you want to start referring to the men's/boys' teams as the "Gentlemen Podunks" as well. For Okie State, it makes sense to use Cowgirls, though I find that kind of condescending sounding, but I couldn't imagine OU being the Lady Sooners. Sam goes for high schools. I hate seeing the Lady XXX in print.

But of course there's Centenary, where you actually do have the Gents and the Ladies. That one doesn't bug me as much since they actually are the Gents.

 

How about a no-nickname policy?

 

Don't get me started, Chief.

 

Not only do I not use Lady XXX, I don't place girls/women's in front of programs for which there is no corresponding boys/men's team. In my area, for instance, I do not write 'girls volleyball' or 'girls softball.' By the same token, I wouldn't write 'boys football.' I'm in pretty conservative country and have never heard a peep.