Dear Editor:

Watching the Notre Dame Bulldogs take charge of the court during the third quarter of their Thursday night game at the University High Christmas Tournament, I wondered what their coach had said to them during the halftime interval. Coach Chris Janet answered that question in an interview reported by the Southeast Missourian's sports writer, Jeff Breer on Dec. 31.

He told them that they were letting the Central team push them around so that they looked "like a bunch of girls."

Hailing from a state where women's basketball teams receive support and fan interest similar to that given to men's teams, I can assure Janet that looking like a bunch of girls' is an inaccurate metaphor for "playing poorly." Surely, women athletes -- and their sisters in countless other fields of endeavor -- continue to establish beyond argument that skill, courage, and accomplishment are not restricted by gender.

It is time to get that kind of thinking out of the locker room -- and off the sports page. While it is fashionable to poke fun at the idea of "political correctness," I cannot imagine that Breer would have routinely passed Janet's comment along if it had contained an ethnic slur rather than one based on gender.

Those of us who are encouraging our daughters to be strong, self-confident young women of the nineties are hoping for a generation of young men who will respect them as peers. Perhaps the most troubling aspect of Coach Janet's remark is that it seems to have been very effective.

Sincerely

Ann Hogan

Cape Girardeau