Social movements have cycles. They
seem to last about a
generation and then move back. The
feminist movement which
piggybacked the African-American
movement of the '60s has
evolved. In its evolution, the movement
has bi, tri, or
multi-furcated. Key issues causing
these divisions are the
intensities of approach and the notions
of equal treatment
versus special treatment. Taking
a back seat to the above
movements over the past thirty years
have been men as a
group. Transparent perhaps better
describes the group as
legislation, magazines, talk shows,
etc. blossomed
unnoticingly around them or with
scorn for them. It has been
written and spoken that the '90s
will be the decade for men,
that publications, organizations
and leaders for this gender
will emerge and prosper.
In the October/November 1990 issue
of Men's Life, a
legitimate office/family magazine
rack publication, a survey
of 815 men, conducted by Peter D.
Hart Associates of
Washington, D.C. was reported. Men's
Life writes, "But our
men's most frequently mentioned misconception
is when women
say `men have no feelings or emotions.'"
The survey and article also articulated
that more men felt
that their lives were worse (31%
--about equal to the
percentage in favor of the American
Revolution) since the
women's movement got started in the
'60s than got better
(26%)... 40% felt that there was
no difference. Relating
to women, 74% of the men felt that
the movement made things
better for women, 14% worse, and
10% no different.
Where all of these feelings eventually
surface is yet to be
seen. As it pertains to locker rooms,
expect more civil
disobedience until the privacy "problem"
is cured. American
men are modest... more modest than
credited and perhaps more
modest than women in ways. Visual
research proves the point:
The male bikini is a fashion failure;
yet, women shave to get
into theirs. Loose shirts, loose
pants with the exception of
jeans, boxy suits, and brief underwear
(a.k.a. Jockey shorts)
are the bulk of American male attire.
Certainly, Coach Sam Wyche of the
Cincinnati Bengals was
civilly disobedient in barring Denise
Tom, a women reporter
from USA Today, access to a locker
room well after the
Patriots' Incident. Wyche willingly
stood in harm's way (he
was fined close to $30,000) when
he stated, "I will not allow
women to walk in on 50 naked men."
An action long delayed
after the court's admission of women
to locker rooms was a
noteworthy step, nonetheless. No
nudity. No Neanderthal.
Unfortunately, Coach Wyche's first
approach to solving the
privacy "problem" was that the "problem"
was not and is not
women; it is the locker room's design
or the access by male
reporters to the private areas! Coach
Wyche's second
approach, the curtains with access
restrictions, was right
out of the US court playbook. Now,
if only the NFL would
continue to require better interviewing
environments, Coach
Wyche could relax without carrying
curtains to each city.
Nevertheless, as reported by the
Boston Globe 10/14/90,
according to the Bengals' front office,
Wyche is receiving
checks daily to offset his fine with
one amount for $1,700
sent in by a team that took up a
collection.
Who still thinks that men don't have
support groups?
POWER PLAYS
Barry and Karen Oshry, Boston based
consultants in power
workshops, continually prove the
famous expression,
"Absolute power corrupts absolutely,"
as they deprive one
group of workshop participants while
empowering a second
group and then mid-week reverse the
roles. Those people
who were first deprived, rather than
empathizing with the
newly deprived, forget them. This
is a world of "haves"
and "have-nots." It is not a world
of men v. women, per se.
"We are not more moral than men;
we are only uncorrupted by power
so far."
Gloria Steinem, 1970
When the Incident first unfolded,
women's groups viewed the
events of the Patriots/Kiam Incident
as a male versus female
battle. Ms. Toni Tropp of Boston
NOW was quoted in the
9/26/90 Boston Globe as saying in
part "This makes it obvious
that the gains women have made in
the past 10 years whether
in the locker or board room are not
as solid as many think."
(Can one football player, team, or
owner make anything
"obvious" about roughly 1,150,000,000
-- that's a billion --
women/years of effort for equality
during this 10 year
period, or the efforts that other
men have made to assist
The facts indicate differently. It's
difficult to say that
it's a men-against-women world when
some men's indifference
subjugates other men to nudity and
when male reporters,
identifying more with their reporting
function than their
gender, rally around their female
counterpart without giving
argument for, or benefit of the doubt
to the male players'
innocence.
Just why did the male media immediately
side against the
players?
Could it be the self-preservation
of a time honored
privilege... the locker-room scoop?
After all, wherever male reporters
have access, women
reporters have access. Knowing this
fact, males should feel
threatened by the Incident. It draws
focus to their own
presence in the locker rooms.
