Hockeysaurs offended!

By C. Hutt

Editor, the Gauntlet,

[Re: “Lady hockeysaurs record second win,” sports article, February 2, 2006]

As editor of the Gauntlet I’m confident that you understand the impact of words and metaphor on society.

Therefore, I was extremely disturbed to find the phrase, “But instead of wetting their panties, the Dinos kept the pressure on,” in the article mentioned above. It is no secret that women are struggling to establish their legitimate place in athletics; they face difficulties with funding, discrimination, and a myriad of other challenges; so, to throw such a demeaning, sexualized, and unnecessary metaphor as “wetting their panties” into a game’s description is offensive.

I would have believed that a socially conscious university newspaper would be acutely aware of discrimination, in all forms, and guard against being the perpetuator of base generalizations. Thank you for your time on this matter and please put more consideration into the words that you choose to print.