The student beneath the mascot suit isn’t always who audiences expect. As women gain visibility in collegiate mascoting, they’re quietly challenging assumptions that have long gone unquestioned | Courtesy of FIU Education Abroad
Alexandra Perez | Staff Writer
Before reading further, I ask that you take a moment to picture FIU’s Roary. If our mascot removed its head, who do you picture beneath the suit?
As graduation season made its yearly debut on social media, college mascots participated in a growing trend where performers removed their mascot heads for a final reveal. After years of secrecy, graduating mascots can finally remove their bulbous heads for the first time. To many viewers and fellow students’ surprise, the students beneath the mascot heads were often women, not men.
These videos have since gone viral, with Women’s Health reporting that “many mascot reveal videos receive hundreds of thousands or even millions of views.” Because the surprise isn’t when the mask comes off, it’s who is standing underneath it.
An understanding of basic “mascot culture”, if you will, is necessary to actually understand where this assumption may stem from. College mascots have long served as symbols of school pride and identity. The anonymity occupied by the mascot is part of the tradition, but it can also shape conclusions as to who is under the mask.
Many collegiate mascots, including Roary, are explicitly male characters. They have masculine names, clothing, pronouns, etc. So naturally, audiences may unconsciously associate the role itself with men. Yet the growing number of female mascots suggests that this belief may not always reflect true reality.
Although sports feature countless male or even gender neutral mascots, distinctly female mascots remain relatively rare. Play Gap, an organization focused on gender equality within sports, identified only 17 prominent female mascots across collegiate and professional athletics. This statistic incredibly highlights how uncommon female representation is in mascot design itself. This negligible quantity of notable female mascot characters contrasts starkly with the growing visibility of women performing in mascot roles.
Regardless of who is beneath the suit, one reality remains consistent; the role is not an easy one. Former female college mascots interviewed by Women’s Health described spending 15-25 hours per week in the role, all while balancing practices, appearances, game days, and their personal lives. On top of the sheer demand of the role, navigating things like limited visibility, heavy suits, and extreme heat all contribute to the physical reality of mascoting.
One of the most widely discussed mascot reveals in recent years came from Abbey Armstrong, who played Indiana University’s Hoosier mascot. Because Hoosier is canonically male and requires performers to fit strict costume dimensions, many fans assumed a man occupied the role. Abbey’s reveal challenged those assumptions and sparked broader conversations about women in sports spaces.
At FIU, Roary stands as one of the most recognizable symbols of school spirit, yet the identity of the student inside is intentionally kept anonymous. That secrecy, combined with mascots that are masculine in name and design, leaves room for interpretation about the gender that likely fills the role.
But viral reveal videos and ongoing conversations around mascoting are starting to disrupt that assumption, with women increasingly stepping into roles audiences don’t always expect. And yet we still tend to assume we already know what the face behind the mask looks like.
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The opinions presented on this page do not represent the views of the PantherNOW Editorial Board. These views are separate from editorials and reflect the perspectives of contributing writers and/or university community members.
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