Sexual harassment of female reporters in NFL locker rooms?

Added on Sep 15, 2010 by Jason Kearney in

NFL

Ines gets ready to measure Matt Leinart's bicep

The latest PR firestorm suffered by the NFL involves the alleged ’sexual harassment’ of a TV Azteca reporter named Ines Sainz at Monday night’s New York Jets/Baltimore Ravens game. First things first–we’re not trivializing the concept of sexual harassment. Women who pursue careers in traditionally male dominated occupations have it hard enough as it is, and they shouldn’t be subjected to any sort of abuse because of their gender. Female journalists in pro sports locker rooms has always been a contentious issue for obvious reasons. Should they have the same access as male reporters? Should pro athletes be expected to behave any differently in their domain (eg: the locker room)? Should female reporters be subjected to interviewing Mike Dikta not wearing pants?

There’s plenty of good questions, but this latest controversy isn’t a high water mark for either the NFL or gender equity. Here’s the basic situation–Ines Sainz made some posts on Twitter that suggested that she was singled out while covering the aforementioned Monday Night football game. Some players made comments directed at her, and a Jets’ assistant coach supposedly threw footballs near her. Not exactly an egregious offense like a player dropping his towel after the game and yelling ‘I’ve got a salami to hide’. She’s since said that she never felt uncomfortable or like the was the target of abuse.

Here in the US there’s no shortage of ‘sideline bimbos’ like ESPN reporter/professional victim Erin Andrews who have few discernible job qualifications other than their generally pleasing appearance. Then again, they limit their interaction to stupid sideline interviews with coaches heading to the locker room at halftime. Not exactly Pulitzer Prize worthy, but pretty harmless stuff.

The strange thing about Ines Sainz being at the center of this controversy is her ‘act’ is wearing sexy clothes and making a spectacle of herself. As a sports journalist, she’s closer to Charo than Linda Cohn. Based on a quick Google search, her resume consists of looking good in a bikini and her most famous journalistic ‘prop’ is a tape measure that she uses to measure players’ biceps. She once wore a wedding gown to a Superbowl media day, and that’s one of her tamer ‘outfits’.

Now, we’re not saying that she deserves abuse based on how she dresses to do her job. In this case, however, it’s hard to get upset about someone who’s entire gimmick is using their sex appeal to make themselves the center of attention getting…uh…made the center of attention. It’s a two way street, and we’re not sure that Ines Sainz illustrates any sort of systemic problem as much as it does the fact that a) looking hot is still a shortcut to career success and b) making a spectacle of yourself is still a good career move. I’ve got nothing personal against her–she seems like a nice chick that enjoys being famous and the center of attention–but I’m not losing a lot of sleep that she got the attention she sought.

I’m also not sure that since we’re not holding her to the same standards of journalism or professionalism of male reporters that we should expect she be treated like one. If I tried to interview LPGA golfers wearing a jockstrap and carrying a tape measure I wouldn’t expect to get treated like Howard Cosell.

In any case, she should be thankful she hasn’t had to interview a pantless Mike Ditka: