Issue of sex appeal shouldn’t confuse right and wrong in treatment of sideline reporters
Eric Deggans |
Sept. 14, 2010 11:24 a.m.
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So why is that concept so hard for some people in the sports world to accept?
The latest casualty of the odd sexual hypocrisy in professional sports was TV Azteca reporter Ines Sainz, a nine-year veteran of the sideline reporting biz who found herself singled out during a Saturday practice by the New York Jets, reportedly subjected to hoots, ogling and passes thrown at her direction by the coaches, prompting players to run near her.
“The line (between acceptable joking and harassment) is very fragile…I feel the environment was uncomfortable,” said Sainz this morning in an interview with NBC’s Today show. Later, the sportscaster demurred when asked if she felt harassed, saying she shrugged off the incident until she saw news accounts of what the players were saying. “I prefer the NFL make the judgment.”
If the reporting from the scene is accurate, Jets coaches, players and public relations staff tolerated the scene, which Sainz said made her feel “uncomfortable.” Complicating matters, the reporter didn’t complain about the treatment officially, despite sending messages on Twitter while it was happening; the Association for Women in Sports Media eventually demanded an investigation by the NFL, which is ongoing.
But even though Jets owner Woody Johnson reportedly has apologized to Sainz and she has accepted it, the incident unearthed the ongoing, fitful relationship between model-pretty sideline reporters and the sports they cover.
There is little doubt Sainz has used her beauty to advance her fame as a broadcaster. Her personal website, Twitter page and the TV Azteca web site are filled with photos of her in swimsuits and short skirts, along with several images of Sainz posing for magazine covers in bikinis.
When the Today show featured Sainz, it prefaced her interview with a story showing off the former Miss Spain’s alluring photos. But she may not be well-known outside the world of Spanish-language television; those looking for more information on her after the Jets incident found she didn’t even have a Wikipedia page – a basic sign of celebrity in America.
And though she wears jeans during her sideline work, she does sometimes look more suited for an evening of nightclubbing than chasing down Spanish-speaking players for her broadcasts.
None of which justifies how she was treated by the Jets organization.
Indeed, it seems the media world often conflates two issues which don’t belong together when such incidents happen – most notably, when ESPN sideline reporter Erin Andrews was victimized by a stalker who released secretly-taken nude videos of her filmed through a gimmicked peephole in a hotel room.
Already known as “Erin Pageviews” for the online attention photos of her in tight clothing along sidelines drew on sports blogs, Andrews found long-simmering controversies about her dress and physical beauty surfacing in some stories about the crime.
Making matters odder, Andrews’ higher profile following intense media coverage of that devastating crime has only made her more compelling as a celebrity and broadcaster.
Even as the man who took the videos was caught, prosecuted and sentenced for the crime, Andrews was joining the cast of ABC’s Dancing with the Stars — placing third on the second most-watched TV show on network TV – eventually negotiating a new ESPN contract with expanded opportunities beyond sports.
For both Andrews and Sainz, it’s tough to dispute that a major factor in their charisma as broadcasters involves their sex appeal.
But the issue of how that relates to their work as sports journalists should always be separate from how they are treated by fans, athletes, the general public and the institutions they are covering.
And I write these words as someone who conflated the two bit myself when Andrews’ story became a media tsunami, authoring a column for the St. Petersburg Times last year asking whether the crime against her was, in part, “born from a sexist sports journalism culture.”
Back then, I even quoted award-winning CBS Sports journalist Lesley Visser, who admitted “I think all of us in the media have fostered this culture, in the hopes of driving more people to our networks, our columns and our radio shows . . . . Every woman in this business has dealt with unwanted attention, but this culture makes it more difficult. Erin's America is the merger of a beautiful woman and a lawless Internet.”
I don’t dispute Visser’s words and I agreed with them wholeheartedly at the time.
Now, however, I’m feeling slightly different.
Those who want to challenge the appropriateness of using beautiful sideline reporters in covering sports should challenge these journalists and the organizations which employ them for what the women do in their broadcasts and how their outlets exploit their image. For sure, there’s a valid debate to be had about whether sports media outlets are featuring beautiful sideline reporters because of their journalism skills or appearance.
But when that image leads someone else to do something that is clearly wrong, then it’s time to deal with that injustice, apart from the larger issue of how some in sports media use sex appeal to sell their products.
Using an incident like the ones involving Andrews and Sainz to kick off a wider discussion just confuses the issue too much, I think.
Because, no matter how provocatively a woman is dressed, she never invites sexual assault or harassment.
Period.
Eric Deggans is TV and Media Critic for the St. Petersburg Times and a 1990 graduate of the Indiana University School of Journalism. His work has also appeared in the Washington Post, Village Voice, VIBE magazine, Chicago Tribune, Detroit Free Press, Chicago Sun-Times and many other publications. He also writes a blog on media, The Feed, at blogs.tampabay.com/media.
I appreciate your point of view on this, and as a female sports journalist I'm grateful for the efforts by AWSM and professional sports leagues and teams to address mistreatment.
While I don't believe that Sainz was "asking for" or deserved the treatment she got — the Jets credentialed her after all — I think she did lack proper professionalism because of her attire.
Despite the social progress women have made, including in sports media, it's simple common sense to realize that we cannot dress any way we want, anywhere we want, at any time we want, and not expect there to be some unwanted attention.
Sainz is very good at drawing attention to herself, and making herself the story, as evidenced by her rounds on morning TV programs today.
This undermines the work of women in sports media as much as the alleged behavior of the Jets.
I appreciate your position for sure. But I think women should be able to dress any way they want in a locker room and have the athletes react professionally.
We're not talking about walking into a penitentiary or some home for wayward kids. These are largely college-educated men earning pretty good livings at the top of their field. Expecting them to act respectfully when a woman comes into their locker room regardless of what she is wearing — but especially when she's wearing something like tight jeans and a halter top — is not asking too much, I think.
I used to be a sports reporter/anchor. The locker room can be an interesting place for women especially when you're on deadline.
But Wendy said it best about professionalism. Dress the part. Just like we have dress codes in the newsroom and the boardroom, it should apply on the field as well for sports reporters. Wearing jeans is one thing, but those are, indeed, night club jeans and not appropriate for work – on a football field or other (unless you work in a night club). If women dress professionally, they'll get that respect.
Sorry, Eric, but Ines Sainz was not dressed properly for doing her job, and that's unacceptable whether you're an accountant, construction worker or a sports reporter. Especially for women.
I wasn't in locker rooms all that much, since the occasions were mostly covering college football in the South, where locker rooms weren't open in many places. But I was in that environment enough to know that if I dressed to go to work as though I was stepping out for the evening, I would be putting myself in a very untenable position.
When the Jets gave Sainz a credential, they were obligated to treating her professionally. That didn't quite happen. But reporters know that the credential we are given also obligates us to professional standards as well, including attire. Sainz didn't observe that standard even if she didn't deserve that happened.
And that she gladly went on various national TV shows to talk about it and now admits she wasn't all that offended by what happened is evidence that she doesn't mind being the story. That, too, is not properly professional, and it undermines what so many women sports journalists do every day.
I think the issue of her clothing has been over-dramatized. I looked at the picture of what she was wearing that day, it was a simple white button-down with jeans and boots. Yes, the jeans were tight. But she wasn't wearing go-go boots with a top open down to her stomach.
But think about this: what if she had been wearing something that the general public deemed appropriate (good luck with agreeing on that, by the way, even if you covered her up in a parka, she would still be a beautiful, ethnic woman). It would have been interesting to see, because I don't think it is too far-fetched to say she might have received the same amount of unwanted attention.
The issue of attributing blame to the victim comes up in every sexual harassment case. At this point, the only people I'm interested in blaming are the harassers. An assistant coach? Really? Things need to change, and while wearing "appropriate" clothing might please some as a starting point, I feel that the immediate issue should be investigating why this is happening in the COACHING STAFF, and the players as well.
Sainz was wearing a curvy and tight jeans. Does that means every woman wearing something like that deserves to get harassed on the field during a practice? Does that mean the players can do the same with the cheerleaders? After all, they're provocatively dressed, too.
I think the debate over how she should be dressed is separate from the debate over how she should be treated. She didn't walk into the locker room naked, or even in a short skirt. Seems to me, that people are reacting more to pictures of her in situations far removed from the locker room than anything she wore to a practice.
And brushing aside the players' responsibility to treat her well to criticize how she does her job misses an important issue. If we don't expect athletes to behave responsibly in professional situations, they won't.
Gotta say, I'm surprised by some of the opinions expressed here. Interesting to hear women say someone can put on tight jeans and a low cut top and invite harassment. I just wonder where the line lies. How conservative must you dress before getting catcalled isn't cool?
The message that has been sent by plenty of female columnists in the last few days seems to be that, "We'll back you, but only if you dress and act the way we think you should." I find that incredibly disturbing.
There's been too much writing of, "Well, the Jets were wrong, but she was wrong, too." I find this judge-and-jury attitude disheartening, and in many of columns I've read, quite arrogant.
We should be fighting for equal access and equal treatment for everyone, not just those who we think deserve it.
It's not about dressing and acting "the way we think you should" but rather about presenting yourself properly for the job. Period. No matter what that job is. No matter your gender.
Wendy and Kim have it right.
The ONLY REASON Ines Sainz reports from the sidelines is so she can appear on television and garner publicity regarding her beauty. She is FAR from a serious journalist.
The ONLY mistake the Jets made was to credential that third-rate softcore porn star in the first place.
Thanks for this article! I enjoyed it! I find the discussion of women athletes and their looks interesting. There’s something to be said for being a good looking athlete, just like male athletes, but it shouldn’t override their abilities. There’s a good discussion of this over at TC Huddle. I found your article looking for more opinions on this.
This is a good article. Thanks! Here’s the article if you’re interested: http://www.tchuddle.com/2011/07/women-athletes-and-the-need-to-objectify/