Commenting on a recent flap in which Ines Sainz, a female reporter, asserted she had been sexually harassed while reporting from the New York Jets' locker room last week, Washington Redskins running back Clinton Portis put foot in mouth, making some comments to the effect that a female reporter in such a situation would inevitably be attracted to at least some of the players and their "packages." No doubt this is a common view among (male) players but Portis was the one who actually stated it. He has since apologized.
Now, everyone knows by not that as long as we're going to have reporters in locker rooms, then women reporters are going to demand to be there along with the guys. Why do we have women reporters of all-male sports? Well, I'm sure there might be a few women who really have a passion for sports. But especially at the NFL level, it's pretty clear networks and team owners and even players know that guys might enjoy watching a pretty woman doing the reporting (no 60+ grandmas have been sighted in this profession yet); and they cloak that truth in the dubious proposition that having female reporters will attract more women as spectators. Equality for women in their chosen professions is essential, yet we may legitimately ask whether we will ever see male reporters in the locker rooms of women's sports.
One local commentator (Tim Brant, a former college player himself), reporting on Portis's statement for Washington's ABC affiliate, ventured into editorial mode on the question of equal professional access. He should not have.
Brant suggested that the locker room really is a refuge or sanctuary (I don't recall the exact term he used) and that women reporters ought to be restricted to areas where men and women are normally and typically present. Hmm. OK Tim, I tend to agree the locker room is supposed to be a place of sequestration, but from what? From the pressures of the game. The team retreats to the locker room at halftime to rest, recharge, and be harangued/charged up/instructed/critiqued by the coach. There is really no place for reporters - male or female - in there. Let's go back to the day when the press really wasn't allowed in the locker rooms.
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