The report
explores topics surrounding the Patriots locker
room incident
(the "Incident") from varying perspectives.
Against a
backdrop of public opinions, public statements,
legal rulings,
and social movements we present facts, or
"dots" for
the reader to connect. This Report is not intended
to investigate
or judge the alleged actions of the parties
involved,
though the reader may draw some interesting objects
when connecting
the dots.
At first glance, and through the eyes of most
people asked
(over 140 to date), the core issue of the Incident
appears to
be the priority of individual "rights," i.e.,
a female sports
reporter's right to access and to report in
a male locker
rooms versus a male athlete's right to privacy
from females
while dressing. But the question is, "Is this
the case?"
The report is not intended to anger, though
it surely will.
There is no such thing as a "no-fault" incident
or accident.
There are always responsible parties in acts
other than
natural disasters which can even be lessened
with
forethought. And there is no doubt that this
report will
provoke further thought and actions in the areas
discussed.
Social movements tend to work like pendulums...
flying to
extremes, never stopping dead center. It is
hoped that this
report will help to stop the pendulum at midpoint.
SCOUTING REPORT
With the Law of Averages being what it is, we
do not doubt
there are many who are content with the current
way of
reporting sport events. Of roughly 1260 football
players,
there must be some who don't care who sees them
naked. In
fact, there must be some 100 plus Adonises who
downright
enjoy it! Of the women sportswriters, there
must be some who
have no problem, some that do and "tough it
out," and those
who stay out of the locker rooms altogether.
And for the
League, teams and media, the Law of Averages
must apply,
though on the surface, the arrangement seems
to work well.
Professional sports, the media, the sponsors
and the
subsequent fan following -- measured in tickets,
trinkets,
viewership and readership -- provide the cornerstones
of a
big business. It's a symbiotic system of interrelated
structural supports. And like all systems,
it turns into a
house of cards if one part fails.
Where do naked athletes get dressed in this house?
It seems unlikely that whatever the answer is
today will
remain the answer, tomorrow. The interpretation
of sexual
harassment laws are already broad and are broadening.
The
realization of this fact along with the increased
awareness/insistence by athletes to their right
to privacy,
and the renewed movement toward true equality
by women sport
reporters will force the League, team ownership/management
and media management to ask and answer the question,
"Is the
current locker room arrangement in our best
interest?"
The prudent-person rule indicates "No." The
risks are far
greater than the rewards. Beside the usual "death
and
taxes," in the US there are two other certainties
in 1990:
1. Place concrete, uranium, and a heat exchanger
next to
flowing water and an anti-nuclear power protest
will occur.
2) Place a male, a female, and nudity in a "hostile
work
environment" and a nuclear reaction will occur...
the fallout being sexual harassment lawsuits
from
either or both sides.
Nudity is not a critical success factor in the reporting
of
sports... It's not even a factor.
When the Incident first occurred, opinions were
pretty well
predicated by gender... especially among women
who felt that
women had a right to be in the men's locker
room, period. As
time has passed, both genders are less strident
and now
commonly recognize that the better way to secure
the female's
right to a living and the male athlete's right
to privacy is
to shield all the media from the nudity. Amazing.
Their opinion
is precisely what the court determined in pivotal
case of
Ludtke v. Kuhn which gave women access to the
locker rooms.
