OT: UConn student terrified by new husky dog logo
Well , it's not exactly the logo itself that "terrifies" Carolyn Luby, but the traits she sees represented by the new logo. As Luby, puts in her open letter to UConn president Susan Herbst,
Instead of giving ... problematic aspects of male athletic peer culture at UConn a second look or a giving the real face of athletics a true makeover, it appears that the focus of your administration is prioritizing the remodeling of the fictional face of the Husky Logo.
. . . .
What terrifies me about the admiration of such traits is that I know what it feels like to have a real life Husky look straight through you and to feel powerless, and to wonder if even the administration cannot “mess with them.”
http://thefeministwire.com/2013/04/an-open-letter-to-uconn-president-susan-herbst/
Rename the mascot a Huskerete.
I mean, I guess they are in fact both dogs:
http://thefeministwire.com/2013/04/why-is-uconns-mascot-a-rape-meme/
Just a PSA, we're all being real misogynistic by commenting on this.
/femministwire.com.gov.gif
^ This should be the president's response. That's gold. And is probably accurate if we're talking about an angry husky.
It's not even a rape meme. It's Insanity Wolf. 99% of it isn't about rape. It's about crazy insane shit.
The letter is way too over-written with buzz words and rhetorical flourishes, so it's hard to figure out exactly what she means, but I think she's making 2 points:
1. UConn has had a number of embarrasing incidents recently (APR-based postseason ban; athletes in trouble with law, specifically violence against women), and the administrations to be responding by re-branding rather than addressing the underlying issues. This seems like a reasonable complaint on its face, though I don't know enough about the issues to figure if the criticism is accurate or not.
2, and the really confusing part. The administration is playing into the worst aspects of stereotypical jock culture by creating a "fighting dog" image that "can't be messed with." Personally, I think that's reading too much into a logo and a standard-issue coach's quote. On the other hand, when the writer says "I know what it feels like to have a real life Husky look straight through you and to feel powerless, and to wonder if even the administration cannot “mess with them,"" I think the "real life Husky" she's referring too is a UConn athlete and not a, you know, actual real Husky. If she has been the victim of violence or fealt threatened by an athlete, I can understand her reading too much into a logo and a quote even if I don't agree with it.
Of course, as I said, it was hard to make heads or tails of much of the writing in the letter, so I could be completely wrong in my interpretation.
I am a prosecutor, and I exclusively prosecuted domestic violence cases for a couple years. Violence towards women is a serious problem that is often ignored in our society. Rape victims are ostracized and often are judged more harshly than defendants at trial. Domestic abusers control their victims by threatening to take away or harm their kids. Many, if not most, homicides are the result of domestic violence.
I could go on, but my point is that a fucking new husky logo is not the problem. This woman is an idiot.
You, sir, have boiled this kerfuffle down to its essential vapors.
April 26th, 2013 at 10:41 PM ^
They sell RL at Kohls now?
I'm just saying, if I had a choice between hooking up with Maryland sorority chick and UConn Husky complainer chick, I'm heading to College Park 10 time out of 10.
I have no idea what exactly her issue with the new logo was. I can understand the rebranding being an issue if they're just trying to slap a new face on a department with some serious issues, but she completely loses me when she links all of these gender issues to a new husky face.
To comment on what I think I read, "powerful and aggressive" is just as desirable on the female side of the athletic department as it is on the mens; I guarantee Hutch and Barnes Arico aren't out recruiting players they would describe as meek and passive.
Hide ya kids, hide ya wife
slow day
Young lady has every right to her opinion. It's a silly opinion though.
That's a good logo. It could be a female or male husky.
Still, it's better to be a Wolverine.
Reading the letter, it doesn't sound like she really objects to the logo in itself so much as she objects to the logo in what she perceives as its context. From her perspective, male violence against women is a systemic issue with UConn athletics that has gone unacknowledged by the school administration. Rebranding in the midst of this is a bit of a white washing, is what she seems to be arguing. I think her comments about the logo being aggressive and emblematic of male athletic peer culture are just rhetorical devices to try to get her point across. She wanted to discuss violence against women at UConn, and the imagery of the logo happened to provide a convenient way of doing that. At least that's how I interpret her letter.
I think there are good reasons to disagree with her, but I think some of you are being uncharitable to her position.
I don't necessarily agree with the girl's letter, but the way a lot of the posters on this board are trivializing and/or joking about rape is pretty fucking disgusting.
April 26th, 2013 at 10:12 PM ^
"I don't get it. Was this woman writing raped by a Husky at some point in her life?"
Score: 5
"That Husky is LITERALLY raping me with it's gaze."
Score: 5
"Fun fact: UCONN has had three players already selected in the 2013 NFL draft. The B1G has had only four selected. Rape Huskie FTW."
Score: 4
Edit: Perhaps what is equally as distressing is the out-of-hand dismissals/questioning of why someone would be reading a feminist website (dismissals which are also quickly upvoted).
April 26th, 2013 at 10:17 PM ^
April 26th, 2013 at 10:53 PM ^
I guess we interpreted the posts differently, then. I'm not saying that the author made any good points or that I agree with her, but some of the responses in this thread have been pretty rough to read.
is hardly bringing out the best in this blog's readership.
No one is "trivializing rape". The criticisms are about this girl's complete inability to make a cogent argument.
Her argument that "making a new logo means the administration at UConn doesn't care about violence" is roughly the logical equivalent of people complaining that "spending 5 minutes filling out an NCAA bracket means the president doesn't care about America".
She can complain about the athletic department all she wants, and she may have a valid point. But she's trying to connect two things that aren't connected. Her argument is rambling, disjointed, and makes some strange leaps. Even if she has valid complaint about the state of the UConn athletic department, she comes off as someone who's just looking for things to be upset about.
April 26th, 2013 at 10:09 PM ^
As any experienced dog owner can tell you, it's not the Huskies or the pit bulls or the Rotties you should be concerned about.
Stay the fuck away from Akitas.
April 26th, 2013 at 10:15 PM ^
April 26th, 2013 at 10:02 PM ^
April 26th, 2013 at 10:06 PM ^
I have a wife, a daughter, a sister, and numerous female cousins who I love very much. I have a number of female friends and/or colleagues who I have a great amount of affection and respect for.
For that reason alone, my attitudes about rape boil down to this: castrate the motherfucker. Without painkillers. Yes, I know we don't do that, but that's my impulse. That's what laws and Constitutions are in place to protect against.
To equate the mere adoption of an athletic logo with active or tacit support of a rape culture is simply stupid and juvenile, and indicates a thoroughgoing misunderstanding of our cultural nuances. That's what you get with 20-something college students. I was an undergraduate in the early '70s, so I have a deep familiarity with earnest but comically naive jeremiads against popular culture.
But, subjecting her to mocking threats of rape and other kinds of abuse is equally stupid, and to the extent possible under the law, the idiots making those threats should be prosecuted.
Moral of this story: the internet is flypaper for morons.
April 26th, 2013 at 10:24 PM ^
I think she was saying they should use this as their mascot?
April 26th, 2013 at 10:34 PM ^
All I needed to see was the word "feminist" in the URL for me to not click it.
As a wise man named The Rock once said, "Know your role.....and shut your mouth!"
April 26th, 2013 at 11:15 PM ^
April 26th, 2013 at 11:42 PM ^
Terrible idea for a post. Second Bolivia trip is two months (third would be four, ect.).
April 27th, 2013 at 12:00 AM ^
April 26th, 2013 at 11:05 PM ^
Carolyn Luby sounds like a crazy person.
April 26th, 2013 at 11:37 PM ^
Breaking news: the Husky mascot has just been linked to the Lincoln assassinaton.
April 26th, 2013 at 11:42 PM ^
That said I fail to see the connection to feminism or violence against women or the attempt to change the logo of the school. A few more English/writing classes probably would not hurt this young woman. No more than a husky logo anyway...
April 26th, 2013 at 11:42 PM ^
That happened.
April 27th, 2013 at 12:25 AM ^
First, this is a very poorly written piece that does a terrible job of expressing coherent thoughts. As some have mentioned above, I think the author's point is largely that the university should not be spending its resources on re-branding and should instead focus on addressing serious problems in its athletic culture.
However, the reason I felt compelled to post here is that I think there might be a meaning to the last paragraph that we're not picking up on. I think her "real life Husky" line (note the capital "H") is a reference to a specific UConn athlete, and given the context probably one who assaulted/attempted to assault the author.
If that's the case, it changes the whole meaning of the piece (at least in my mind) from misguided rant to coping mechanism. I can't fault a victim of assault/sexual assault for having a knee-jerk reaction to something that reminds them of their experience, and the over-emotional, poorly presented argument in this piece reads exactly like that type of reaction.
In short, I sincerely hope that if the author of this piece IS a victim of sexual assault that she is receiving support and help in response to her letter as opposed to scorn.
April 27th, 2013 at 12:55 AM ^
She's still talking about a PICTURE! A picture cannot sexually assault you. No matter how advanced it is.
Note: This is a fake explanation for thep hoto. It's just a picture of a mother and her adopted child. But none the less, it makes the point.
Imagine for a second that you're a victim of sexual assault, and because your assailant is a member of a sports team you forever associate that sports team with your experience. Then that sports team redesigns their logo with the purpose of making it more "aggressive." I think its perfectly reasonable to expect a severe emotional reaction in that situation, and that is what we're seeing in this piece.
She's not trying to promote a rational point that logos promote rape, she's drawing an emotional connection between UConn athletics and her own experience and trying to put that connection into words. That is an extraordinarily difficult thing to do, and I don't fault her in the least for turning out a disjointed, unclear series of comments.
Again, IF she was sexually assaulted by a UConn athlete, then I think this piece is part of her personal attempt to cope and come to terms with her experience. And if that's the case, then regardless of its content or how incoherent it seems, I salute her for the bravery it takes to put such a difficult thing into words and post it for the world to see.
That's not a reasonable reaction. By your logic, if she were assaulted by a black man, she should hate and fear black people and anything that promotes or exemplifies black culture.
A group is only defined by the members that make it up in as much as those members embrace the rules, regulations and charter of the group. Unless you can show that UCONN athletics in some way supports sexual assault, then holding any sort of grudge, resentment, or even mild fear, aggravation or negative sentiment towards UCONN athletics because of the actions of one person whom was dismissed is hate, not rational fear.
This woman may not realize it, but her fear of assault has turned her racist.