Ines Sainz is shown here interacting with a National Football League player in an interesting way that I doubt you'd see very many male reporters do. Be honest, would you imagine many male reporters doing something like this to an NFL football player? Come on, now.
CAUTION: Some people are not going to like some points I am going to make in this blog. So, you have been warned and should proceed with caution.I've been quite intrigued by this whole issue of Ines
Sainz and alleged sexual harassment that took place in the locker room of the New York Jets.
It's a challenging issue because women sports reporters clearly have to face some challenges that men might not have to face. When men and women are side by side, as sports reporters, men are often more likely to get the benefit of the doubt and the respect of others in the business - coaches, players, administrators, fans, other media, etc.
For women in the locker room (for the life of me I still struggle with the concept of reporters going into the locker room), it's even more challenging.
Sex and sex appeal are the elephants in the room.
Sainz looks good ... REAL GOOD! Not gonna lie. And, that is part of the point here. Hear me out. As far as this situation is concerned, we can all stick our heads in the sand and pretend it's supposed to be a professional environment - just like the bakery, the newspaper office or the insurance agent office. A football locker room is not like a grocery store or behind the counter at
McDonalds.
It's different - IT'S VERY DIFFERENT. I know that statement is not exactly politically correct, but it's real.
There are women reporters who have earned their stripes in the business and who conduct themselves in a completely professional way. Erin Andrews looks good ... REAL GOOD. BUT, she also is very well respected and succeeds with her talent (looks I am sure have helped her too, but she has the game to go with the looks).
Here is an excerpt from
a Web site called Opposing Views about the incident involving
Sainz, who now seems to be enjoying the attention (duh ... what do you think she is in this for ... just saying ...):
Sainz clearly has a history of playing up to her looks and sex appeal, rather than her knowledge and professionalism as a reporter. The skimpy outfits in the pictures above show this much. This is not the case of acting as if a rape victim was “asking for it” that the media was making it out to be. This is a case of putting on bait, and then acting like you’re shocked when the animals jump on it. The animals shouldn't have jumped, but you should have seen their reaction coming when you put on the bait.
There is a huge difference between being an attractive reporter who dresses in a classy, professional manner while being a legitimate newsperson, and what Sainz has shown a history of being. She is the same woman who at one time rode on the shoulders of Indianapolis Colts players during a segment. She’s done another segment where she measured the biceps of a bunch of players around her. She’s built an entire career on flirting and being completely unprofessional with the athletes she’s covering.
And now, she’s furthering her career because of the coverage she received from this harassment allegation. It’s sickening. The same way she has completely spit on the efforts of all of the legitimate female reporters who have worked long and hard to demand respect in the sports arena with her half-hearted plays on her sex appeal throughout her career, she’s now making the same mockery of women reporters being mistreated in sports.
There's not necessarily anything wrong with someone enjoying their sex appeal. What concerns me is the damage it does to women who want to be thought of as real reporters - not as "the woman" reporter or, worse, the "sexy woman reporter."
Hopefully
Sainz is thinking about how difficult she is making it for women who have made great progress in earning respect in a male dominated world of sports.
No one deserves to truly be sexually harassed.
I know women, specifically women reporters, will rush (and are rushing) to defend
Sainz. I can understand why. I really can understand why. But, this kind of behavior does more harm to their cause than good.
No woman should be sexually harassed (anywhere) or in and around athletics. I would have been the first male reporter to come to her aid. But, she seems to be enjoying the attention here. Just saying...
From
CBS:
On "The Early Show," Tara Sullivan, a sports columnist for The Record, a New Jersey newspaper, and Lauren Streib, a reporter for The Daily Beast website, discussed issues surrounding Sainz's attire and the way women of the press are treated in men's locker rooms.
Streib said it's about dressing appropriately.
"I personally have never been in an locker room, but in newsrooms, when you're in interviews with sources, you have to dress the part. I think when it becomes distracting, and I don't want to blame her and I, you know, I'm not personally involved in the situation, but when it becomes distracting, then you question, 'Is she dressed appropriately?"'
This piece I am writing is not meant as an excuse in any way, shape or form for players who may have engaged in inappropriate behavior (that still is under investigation). Players need to behave professional, but based on her history I think she got what she wanted out of it, and played those who sympathize with her for suckers. Reporters also need to behave (and dress) appropriately.
Something about her reaction to it all that just makes me a bit less sympathetic to those who think this is a big deal even though she doesn't seem overly troubled by it all (she has been doing interviews all over the place and Tweeting about this situation).
I repeat what I said a little earlier ... y'all are
gettin' played by Ines
Sainz. I am not badmouthing her, but she is doing her thing and, frankly, getting what I think she wants out of it: attention.
I will adapt a quote from the late great rapper 2
Pac: Ines, I ain't mad
atcha ... I got nothing but love for ya ... do ya
thang girl!
Greg Gutfeld at his dubious best.
