Sports Drawer Perspective: Gender based mascots

Feb. 10, 2005
By Dan Tomlin
Sports Editor

I love sports, men or women.  I don't have a personal problem with either of them.  However it has been brought to my attention, and I have noticed in the past that if a mascot is generally thought of to be masculine then for women's teams there is a spin.

The Queen Bees would seem to me derogatory towards women.  According to the encyclopedia, the Queen Bee's sole function is to "serve as the reproducer."

A Fighting Bee to me is not necessarily gender biased.  It would seem to me that a Bee in competition would more likely be a Fighting Bee then a Queen Bee.

Queen Bees are feeble, and are not meant to leave the hive.  I want my SAU women's athletic teams to leave the hive and win championships!

Believe it or not the Queen Bee does not even control their hive.  The workers bees are the ones who really have control (based on numbers alone).

This being the case, no women's teams would ever have home court advantage at Lee Lohlman Arena.

The stinger of this whole thing is that by calling all of the athletic teams the Fighting Bees it would save everyone the time and effort of trying to be politically correct all the time.

I can't imagine too many young women getting upset by having their sports team named the Fighting Bees.  It sounds more aggressive and intimidating.

After all, 'fighting' for victory is what athletics is all about.

It's safe to say that women can do most things men can, athletically or not, and it's somewhat silly to try and differentiate what kind of a Bee is hitting a tennis ball, swinging a golf club, or shooting a free throw.

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