I never call into sports talk radio. I listen all the time, but never have the urge to call.
That is until the topic of Inez Sainz pushed one of my hot buttons: women in the locker room.
Inez is the sports reporter for Mexican TV whose name (and everything else) is popping up in national headlines because of her visit to a New York Jets practice last weekend.
Inez felt like ball drills during practice were being deliberately thrown her way so players could get a better look at her. Then after practice, while waiting to interview quarterback Mark Sanchez in the locker room she said: "It was an uncomfortable moment because you are in the team's dressing room and they are obviously changing clothes, showering — doing what they do every day in the locker room. So being a woman, obviously it was a bit uncomfortable."
I have four words: Welcome to American football.
I’ve been in and around a men’s locker room since I was a sophomore at Broomfield High School. I was an athletic trainer for the football team, and while it wasn’t acceptable in 1985 for a woman to be in the men’s locker room, our training table was right outside the always-open door. I taped up just about every body part imaginable, so I consider that close enough to being in the locker room.
For the last 13 years, I’ve been in professional and college locker rooms too many times to count. Yes, there are naked bodies - that tends to happen when people shower and change clothes.
When I heard Jim Rome talking about Inez and the gray area that separates “locker room chatter” from harassment, I felt compelled to call and talk about my experience.
I received a very warm welcome from Rome’s producer Jason Stewart when he found out my background and what I wanted to talk about. In fact, after spending about 10 minutes on hold with a guest scheduled in the following segment, J-Stew asked if he could call me back in 20 minutes. First class.
After he called back, I listened as Rome re-set the scene about Inez. He gave his thoughts, which are very similar to mine, and it boils down to this: there is no black and white in this situation. I wasn’t there first hand to hear or see what happened so I am basing my thoughts on what Inez and others around the situation have said.
Here’s my take (and then some):
No person, regardless of anatomy, should walk away from a locker room feeling harassed, degraded or otherwise. That is unacceptable - period. However, while that line is drawn in permanent marker, it’s edges are blurry. That’s where either trouble can start or relationships can be built.
Contrary to what some players might think, I (and I’m guessing most other women) don’t walk into a locker room hoping to check out “packages” as Clinton Portis would say. In fact it’s quite the opposite.
For starters, 99.9% of the guys are very conscious of wearing towels to and from the shower and facing their locker when getting dressed. If there does happen to be a time when I catch a glimpse of bare skin below the waist, I immediately look up. I could probably tell you the ceiling material in every locker room.
Depending on the day, the locker room can be a great time to build relationships with athletes and being a woman is a huge advantage. Keep in mind: I’m married with two kids, I’m not looking for THAT kind of relationship.
Here’s what I’m talking about: before or after a practice, most guys are loose and hanging out at their lockers which are usually littered with pictures of family. Considering I’ve gone through two pregnancies in these 13 years, most guys know I have kids and there’s no better conversation starter than children. Sometimes I talk more about family with a guy than sports. No microphone, no camera, just chatting. That’s the kind of relationship I’m talking about.
Many of these initial bonds have grown into much more over the years. Take Clint Hurdle for example. I used to talk with him when he was a hitting coach and his wife Karla and I were pregnant at the same time. When his daughter Maddie was born with a genetic disorder and they wanted to spread awareness about Prader Willi Syndrom, they called me to do the first story. What an honor.
But back to Inez and now on to her credibility. I hate to question it, but when she showed up to a Super Bowl media day in a wedding dress and asked Tom Brady to marry her, I was suspect then. Those suspicions have now grown after seeing her appearances this week on multiple news shows, taking pictures with people on the streets of New York and looking wide-eyed at her profile pictures which appear on both her station and personal websites.
I’ll say this much: I’m 40, stay in shape and am proud of it. However, I don’t have to wear spiked heels, tight jeans and a blouse with a V neck to my belly button to feel good about myself. Its inappropriate dress for just about any workplace and a locker room is no different.
Things like this make my blood curl because I, along with so many other women in my profession, have worked and continue to work so hard to be professionals who are accepted as equals to our male counterparts. Stories like these set us back a few steps and it takes much longer to regain those steps than it did to lose them.
Lastly, to her concerns about plays in practice being thrown her way so guys could get a better look-see. Newsflash: they pull this stuff in every sport and it doesn’t matter if you are a man or woman. I’ve had footballs kicked my way, baseballs ground out at my feet and hockey pucks slapped into the plexiglass in front of my face. Usually I’m not standing by myself when this happens, but rather with members of both sexes. Players like to mess with the media - they test us and try to see what we are made of.
After 20 years in radio and TV, I know what I’m made of and I have to admit being in the locker room is one of the best parts of my job. It’s a way to get to know players beyond the X’s & O’s and give viewers/listeners a different into their lives (if appropriate).
I was able to articulate most of this on Rome’s show but have added quite a bit more here. Apparently I have a few things to say about this topic, thanks for hearing me out.
Did I mention I never call into sports talk radio?
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Well said Suzie. I think she is just trying to draw attention to herself. You do a fine job and the men (and woman) athletes in the town who play have the upmost respect for you. Thank you for all you do!!
ReplyDeleteOh yes, lets hear from another female pervert!!! If that was your daughter in the locker room and some male so called reported just barged ion you would feel the same -right? Yea thought so!
DeleteWell said
DeleteWell said. I grant Inez can dress like a pole dancer; that's her right. It's also her right not to be harrassed. But you nailed it when you said her behavior and her style of dress are inappropriate to any workplace.
ReplyDeleteHow she dressed had nothing to do with it-cheese-amazing how you sidestepped the real issue-SHE DID NOT BELONG THERE!!!!!!
DeleteSuzie,
ReplyDeleteI watch you every morning and have the upmost respect for you. I could not agree more with your comments and sadly, missed you on the Jim Rome show. Wish I could have heard you! You do Broomfield High School proud, and I hope to hear you talk about my kids someday when you cover them at BHS!
oH YEA, Lets HEAR IT FROM ANOTHER FEMALE PERVERT!!!!!!IF YOUR DAUGHTER WAS IN THE LOCKER ROOM AND A MALE REPORTER JUST ASSUMED HE HAD THE RIGHT TO BE THERE YOU WOULD BE OK WITH IT EH? YEA SUZIE-RIGHT.
DeleteYou have a blind eye when it comes to common decency like the author.
You are absoultely correct Susie! I believe she should have been wearing something a little more conservative myself. I am glad you called in.
ReplyDeleteBS, she had no business being in the locker room , period.
DeleteEXCELLENT!! Very well written and to the point. If you don't want guys to stare at you, don't give them a reason (or two)....
ReplyDeleteLove it, Susie!! Right on. I wish I could have heard you call in....since you never do it! :)
ReplyDeleteSpeaking as a former professional basketball player(albeit from Australian Basketball, hardly a sport where media took that much of an interest), it is dissapointing to me that the athletes in general have not been called upon to behave themselves in a more professional manner. I certainly agree that Inez should have been better mentally prepared for possible 'attention', however isn't it fair to say that the athletes bear a resonsibility of professionalism and to not be constantly aiming balls/pucks/themselves in the general direction of any attractive woman in sight, media or otherwise.
ReplyDeleteWhile I loved being a professional athlete in my time, my teammates would sometimes make me cringe with the childish antics they would pull on the media/women.
It would seem to me that the athletes are being given free reign to do what they would and the role of the media is to play the subservient role to them. While we as a society have come so far, it would seem the sports world remains trapped in the past.
This was a very well written and balanced article. I do want to point out one thing.
ReplyDelete"No person, regardless of anatomy, should walk away from a locker room feeling harassed, degraded or otherwise. That is unacceptable - period."
This is correct, but not a reality. Society and virtually all female reporters have determined that the it is acceptable for male athletes to exit the locker room feeling harassed or degraded.
I think this point is missing because personally you did not intend or want to harass or degrade anyone and took the steps you believe that you possibly could to minimize it. That won't necessarily stop men from FEELING harassed or in some instances actually being harassed. Society has decided to deal with this ny simply silencing the men, like Clinton Portis and Lance Briggs.
Take into consideration that the ruling was flawed when the locker room was opened up and the injustice becomes more clear. Although the law relaxes sexual harassment standards when nudity and sex are an inherent part of the job, neither is inherent to playing sports, which is the job.
The marketing is only tangental besides taking into consideration football or baseball maybe 10% of the men will be asked for an interview at any time, while all of them are subjected to the intrusion.
You seem like a decent person. I hope I didn't sound harsh.
lol-you weren't harsh enough-since when do we males have to justify pervert female reporters in our bathroom? Oh yes-protect the females and daughters-but throw out the bathwater with the boy in it!!! What utter BS-shes is nothing more then a pervert!!! She just has a job now to justify her perversion. I for not have no problem calling it it is. Yo know, if it walks like a duck......
DeleteWomen do not belong in the men's locker room period! What you, as a female, feel and how you are treated isn't the point. How the men feel is! And they shouldn't have to have their privacy invaded, or curtail their behavior, because a female is there and might take offense. Reverse the situation and put a male (coach, trainer, whatever) in the women's room and see if you still think it's OK>
ReplyDeletewell said
DeleteOh yes, so just because you have seen it all gives you the right to just go into the men's changing rooms, showers,m restrooms ? Your nothing but a pervert-If I was in that locker room I would kick your face in!!!! If it was a male saying what you just said you would be all up n arms about it. SICKO!!!!
ReplyDeletePerverts always justify what they do, your probably a pedophile too-figures.
This is a feminist double standard put into law by a female judge in the late 70's after a femaile reporter sued the Commissioner of Baseball for her RIGHT to enter the mens locker room. Meanwhile no male reporters are allowed in a womens locker room when the female athletes are in any state of undress. This is again a feminist double standard that violates the privavcy rights of male athletes and upholds the privavcy rights of female athletes. If the shoe was on the other foot the Feminists would raise hell and there would be law suits too numerous to mention about harrassment in the workplace. I only hope some politician or league executive with a backbone at some point readdresses this issue and ends this abhorrent practice.
ReplyDeleteDoes anybody care what the men, inside the MEN'S locker room, think about their rights? Nobody would ever expect a woman to have to experience men in their locker rooms as occurs for the reverse. Maybe some guys would just like to shower and change clothes without the presence of women. Does anybody care what they want?
ReplyDeleteThis comment has been removed by the author.
ReplyDeleteNo reporter (male or female) should enter the locker room. It is a violation of the privacy of players and teams. That's what the media area is for. Why are there no male reporters in women's locker rooms? I am tired of toxic feminism, of the privileges they demand violation the rights of men, of their double standards, and of the submissive manginas that defend them. The changing rooms are for the teams, and the media area for journalists, it should be.
ReplyDeleteIt reminds me of the 50's '60' and 70's, when they forced men to swim naked in high schools, even in front of many women who were only going to see their penises. While women were allowed to wear swimsuits. Total abuse and violation of privacy.