There was a time when sports reporting
was a Man's world. Whether the athletes being covered were male or
female, team sports or individuals, the reporters were men and the
people running the video cameras were men. Back in those days,
interviews were routinely conducted in the men's locker rooms as well
as organized press conferences. Women athletes were interviewed
exclusively in a press conference setting.
As women have made significant progress
in the world of sports reporting (though we have a long way to go!),
there has been ongoing controversy regarding women's presence in
men's locker rooms. The men are in various degrees of undress, going
to and coming from the showers, getting dressed. Some of the men
purposely use varying degrees of their own nudity to try to
intimidate, humiliate and otherwise harass women reporters. Sports
Illustrated recently ran an
in-depth article regarding the sexual harassment female reporters
have to deal with on a daily basis (SI article).
Following the Cincinnati Bengals game on 10/18/15, the NFL Network was interviewing a defensive player (Adam Jones) and "inadvertently" showed several players, naked. Teammate Andrew Whitworth is speaking out, saying 'You can’t judge us off who we will and won’t accept into our locker room and then say all these things we have to do, but then also put us in a situation where every single day I have to change clothes and be naked or not in front of media. It’s just not right. There’s no office, there’s no other situation in America where you have to do that. It’s dated, it’s old and it needs to change.'
On the one hand, it's a little bit like the pot calling the kettle black. After using the very tool that was so effective in marginalizing female reporters for so long, they are now claiming to be victims of their own creations. Be that as it may, Mr. Whitworth is right.
Can you imagine the outcry (rightly so) if reporters bombarded the locker room of the USA's female soccer team, or the locker room of a WNBA team? Asking questions as a dozen or so women walked around naked, or wrapped in a towel? It IS ridiculous. And a problem that is easily solved.
There is no reason for immediate, post-game locker room interviews. 99% of the questions asked in those interviews are stupid anyways. I mean really.... asking a player how he feels after blowing a lead and losing a game. Is anyone really surprised that he is upset? I mean, come on.
There's really no reason that a press conference setting cannot be used to field any questions. Of course with "big team" sports, like football, it's ridiculous to think that +60 players and coaches would wait around for their turn, so have a separate receiving room that players and coaches walk through, after they've showered, to meet the press before leaving the arena. The star players, the ones who make the plays and the leaders of the team, they already give press conferences anyway. There really is no reason, whatsoever, to have reporters and cameras in the locker rooms of male or female athletes.
