Stay out of the locker room

There has been a lot of buzz the past few days about Mexican Azteca Television reporter Ines Sainz and her accusations of sexual harassment against members of the NFL’s New York Jets football team.
Evidently, the harassment began on the field during practice and continued in the locker room afterward while players were changing, showering and dressing.
I will state on record that the behavior of these professional athletes was completely inappropriate, and those responsible for their lewd behavior should be punished. They are supposed to be “professional” athletes, after all, and the reporter is a professional there to do her job. There ought to be common courtesy given to all professionals involved in the sports entertainment industry.
This includes some common courtesy by the news media given to the athletes.
I find it rather interesting that Ms. Sainz persisted into the locker room even after the incidents out on the practice field. If nothing else, those should have served as warning signs to her that if she entered the locker room, things were not going to get any better. In fact, events got predictably more out of hand.
To make matters worse, still video footage of Ms. Sainz showed that she was wearing a pair of tight-fitting blue jeans that accentuated her backside, and a white snug (form-fitting) button-down blouse that clearly showed her curvature. I’m not suggesting that the reporter dressed this way on purpose, because I really don’t know what her motivation for dressing this way was. But one could make a reasonable argument that she was dressed to make a certain impression with certain people. To assume that a naked man in a locker room would have no reaction to seeing an attractive young woman in tight-fitting clothes stand before him is both naïve and unrealistic.
In fact, an investigation of Ms. Sainz shows that she makes a habit of wearing marginally provocative clothing while on the job: Miniskirts, tight-fitting tops, short-shorts or above the knee dresses, and heels. While this clothing may be marginally appropriate, when it in the presence of naked men, it is wholly inappropriate. What should a young, attractive woman wearing tight jeans and a form fitting button-down blouse expect when she is standing in front of a naked male athlete, whose testosterone level is through the roof having just come in from an arduous practice? This is not "Mister Rogers' Neighborhood," Ms. Sainz.
Somehow, though, I doubt that she was expecting such. I suspect that she may even have anticipated the reactions she got. This is a woman who is not at all camera shy, and no stranger to provocative photo shoots. Do a Google search and several photographs of her in skimpy clothing or bathing suits come up. She knows what she's got and she flaunts it. That is pretty plain for even a Neanderthalithic Y chromosome male like me to see.
In fact, it is entirely possible that Ms. Sainz knew exactly what she was doing when she got up that morning. As a result of the Jets' stupidity, Ms. Sainz is front page news and either a book deal, a Playboy shoot, or both await her now.
After all, that's essentially what happened to ESPN reporter Erin Andrews after she strode into the Chicago Cubs' clubhouse in 2008 wearing a short dress showing plenty of leg and cleavage, and high heels. In 2009, her image appeared on a Playboy spread.
Not bad for a few moments of embarrassment. I'd say Andrews has been well-compensated for her humiliation, wouldn't you?
And if my hunch is right, Ines Sainz may be looking at a comparable pay-out.
But Ms. Sainz apparently possesses every desirable asset save one: Common sense.
I understand that reporters have a job to do, and that they cannot be legally barred from entering the locker room. I was a newspaper sports reporter for a while, so I know this.
However, common sense would seem to dictate that if a female reporter enters an area where male athletes are undressed, then she does so at her own risk.
Is it realistic to expect testosterone-charged men to act normally when a member of the opposite sex enters what really has become the last bastion of male bonding, a gathering place where guys can let their hair down, so to speak, without worrying about who they might offend? Moreover, is it too much to ask that men be given some personal space, a small measure of privacy, and a little bit of basic respect for the sake of human dignity?
I’m going to go out on a limb here and state that I think many American men today feel hen-pecked by a society that appears to have embraced femininity over masculinity.
The pendulum has shifted into the other direction, and women now have the power, the upper hand that men once held.
When I watch television commercials featuring the interactions of male and female characters, more often than not, the male character assumes the passive-aggressive role of an idiot while the female character is the assertive one with the brains, the wisdom and the know-how. It is simply a sign of the times we live in. Men are portrayed as idiots and their women counterparts as savvy.
As a man, I am fed up with a popular culture image of manhood that, frankly, appears disparaging. To be a man in pop culture today is not to be a person of worth and value, but rather a hairy, sexually charged knuckle-dragger; a mindless, brainless brute with a one-track mind.
Idiots, in other words.
There are several ladies with whom I work who seem to enjoy taking shots at the male gender, referring to them as the “Y” chromosome.
As a man, I am offended at how blatant this condescension is in the workplace, the media, and sometimes even at home. There is really no place sacred where a man can avoid it. And there is really no longer a safe place exclusive to men anymore where they can escape a society that has overdosed on estrogen and become deliberately testosterone deficient.
Ladies, this is not a matter of men being chauvinist or sexist, but rather about men just wanting to socialize with and be around other men without their spouses, girlfriends or other members of the opposite sex present.
Sometimes men just want to get away for a short while from the estrogen that surrounds their lives. They just want to exert some testosterone and enjoy being male.
Just as women like their “girl time,” men want their “guy time,” too.
Militant feminism has succeeded in making men feel ashamed for simply wanting to be male and exert their manhood. Women’s rights groups have literally busted down the doors of any and all institutions that men used to claim as their own. While many occupational barriers have justly been razed, there are still a few areas where I believe the barriers between men and women should persist.
The locker room is one of those.
A woman has no business entering the men’s locker room any more than a man would have entering the women’s locker room. I know that some European countries offer and even encourage unisex locker rooms, and that these countries are much more sexually uninhibited than the United States of America. Well, good for them.
But who the heck really cares what Europe does or does not do?
Does America need to be more like Europe, or should she continue to be more like herself? Frankly, I think sexual modesty is a good thing, because it promotes appropriate boundaries, personal space, dignity, and self-control.
Men and women both deserve to preserve their dignity through modesty if they so choose. But that becomes a mighty difficult task for a professional athlete when the rule of law permits reporters to enter the locker room and go wherever they want in pursuit of an interview.
Thanks to the U.S. Supreme Court’s equal access ruling in the late 1970s, women can literally stand beside a naked male athlete with pad, paper or microphone in hand.
There is something perverse about that regardless of what the law now says.
This is not the same situation as a man being examined by a female health care professional. Doctors, nurses and physician’s assistants are all expected to not only have comprehensive knowledge of human anatomy—the entire male and female human body—but also have the training, skills and techniques to be able to examine, diagnose and treat. It is their job to look at the body and figure out what’s wrong with it.
My primary care provider is a female APN (Advanced Practicing Nurse). My urologist is also female. They don’t bother me, because (1) they are professionals doing their job, which is to examine, diagnose and treat; (2) I am in a safe and professional clinical environment where my dignity and modesty are preserved with gowns, garments and other coverings; and (3) it is just me and the clinician; not an audience in a casual environment.
A reporter in the locker room is hardly the same case as a doctor and patient in an exam room. Besides, there is nothing in a reporter’s job description that requires him or her to enter locker rooms for an interview. I should know, because I’ve done the job myself.
The topic of female reporters in the locker room is not new. The debate has gone on for 30 years.
It wasn’t until 1990 when a female Boston Herald reporter named Lisa Olson was sexually harassed by members of the NFL’s New England Patriots football team while conducting post-game interviews in the locker room that the issue became a really hot-button topic.
After the Olson incident, many NFL clubs began to remodel their clubhouses to accommodate the press with separate, partitioned interview areas that preserved the integrity, modesty and dignity of the rest of the locker room for the players.
I’m unsure how or why that changed, but it seemed to be a good idea and solved the problem that a lot of coaches and players were having with open and unrestricted access to locker rooms. But things have apparently reverted back to the pre-Lisa Olson days when reporters could literally stand at the entrance of the shower area and pluck an athlete away buck naked for an interview. Since the Olson incident, there have been other cases of female reporters being treated unprofessionally by athletes in the locker rooms.
It seems pretty clear to me that had the NFL maintained separation between media accessible areas and players-only areas, then some of what happened to Ines Sainz last week may not have occurred; especially the ogling and teasing that occurred in the locker room.
If she wanted an interview with quarterback Mark Sanchez, then why didn’t she just make that request with his agent, a club public relations representative, an assistant coach, or team manager, who could have arranged for Sanchez to meet with her outside of the locker room.
Considering the antics that went on during practice, I am flabbergasted that Sainz would even think about entering the locker room, a place where men should be able to relax, unwind and let loose with what they can’t say or do in front of the cameras.
Give the athletes their privacy and just leave them the heck alone for a few minutes.
I find it inappropriate for the press to insist on accessing the locker room. After all, there are other places where the media are often not permitted or can be restricted by law: Court rooms, medical examination rooms, laboratories, police interrogation and evidence rooms, crime scenes, military installations, government offices, corporate board rooms and, of course, private property.
You can deny the press access onto your own property and entry into your own home because of private property laws.
Most NFL property is also private, and media access is granted at will as a courtesy to those in the sports entertainment industry. The idea that reporters can arbitrarily enter a locker room is taking that courtesy for granted.
How would Ms. Sainz feel if a reporter showed up at her gym, demanded to interview her right away, and then proceeded to enter the women's locker room while she was in the middle of drying off from a shower? Most people would not appreciate or even tolerate such an invasion of privacy.
I can’t imagine that most professional athletes would, either.
I don’t think it would be fair to ban only female reporters from men’s locker rooms. Rather, it would seem only right to ban all reporters from the areas where players undress, shower and change. Give them a few minutes of dignity to regain their composure and present themselves before the public.
That is all I ask of the news media. As a former colleague, I can speak with some authority on this. I think it is unprofessional to just walk in on an athlete toweling off from the shower. I don’t care if the reporter is a man or a woman. It is an invasion of privacy and can be embarrassing for the athlete.
Use some common sense. Having the right to access the locker room at any time is not the issue here. What this is about is doing what’s right.
I keep going back to my premise of essential liberty: Do what you should do in spite of what you can do. In other words, exercise good judgment to do what you should do rather than just do what you have a right or a freedom to do. Just because you can do something doesn’t necessarily mean that you should.
If more people practiced doing what they should instead of doing what they are free to do, there would be a lot fewer incidents like the one experienced by Ines Sainz.
That goes for everyone involved.