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The not so implausible joke

By Erin Buzuvis, Sudha Setty, and Kristine Newhall

April Fool's Day came and went here at the Title IX blog. At least I thought it had until I started reading this article in the University of Buffalo student newspaper about officially changing the women's team nicknames to the Lady Bulls after years of just being the Bulls. I was aghast and I did not recognize the joke right away because, frankly, so little surprises me these days about the efforts some people go to to keep women's sports in an inferior position. And the (concocted) reasoning the "article" attributed to administrators about a separate identity and greater recognition and honor and protection from being deemed too masculine are not at all unusual. They have been proffered for years as a rationale for the Lady nickname.
What finally tipped me off? The "fact" that a fan group had proposed--and the administration accepted--simply calling them the Cows, because, after all, that's what Lady Bulls are.
And now that a wave of relief has washed over me I think it's a pretty funny article and it shows that there are people out there who get just how ridiculous this practice is. Phew.

Full post as published by Title IX Blog on April 03, 2008 (boomark / email).