Not Just A Pretty Face!
While movies and TV shows portray cheerleaders as the girls every woman wants to be, I was unhappy to be mistaken for one this past winter at Madison Square Garden. Arriving at a special entrance to pick up our press passes, my friend Alexandra and I were annoyed by the security guard’s mistake. No, we corrected him, we are here to cover the Holiday Festival Tournament, a college basketball tournament that included our school, Cornell, (the eventual winner).
In the guard’s defense, not only were we the same age as the cheerleaders, but we also happened to arrive at the same time as they did. Nevertheless, despite the existence of male cheerleaders, it is doubtful he would have made the same mistake if we carried Y chromosomes.
In hindsight, the mix-up was fairly amusing, and barely registers on the scale of sexual discrimination in sports coverage.
What does register, however, with the magnitude of a growing storm, is what happened a few days ago between Ines Sainz, a Mexican sports reporter, and the New York Jets. Sainz alleged that she was subjected to catcalls in the locker room, as well as drills during practice that encouraged players to bump into her.
Although she has since said the incident has been blown out of proportion, and taken criticism for her revealing clothing and pictures, the comments and actions of the Jets remain unacceptable.
Regardless of whether the Jets embarrassed Sainz, and despite the way she was dressed, neither she nor any other reporter should ever be on the receiving end of inappropriate actions simply for doing their job. Just as it would be unthinkable to comment on a journalist’s race, their gender should also remain a nonfactor.
In circumstances such as these, the teams have numbers and power to their advantage, but especially because of these factors, it is even more important for them to give reporters and other workers the respect they deserve. Because while Sainz can take back her words all she wants, there are certainly other women in similar positions, too scared to use theirs.
And while blatant cases of sexual discrimination are uncommon, more subtle kinds exist in abundance. So the next time you see a woman on the sidelines, don’t automatically assume that she’s a cheerleader. Unless, of course, she’s holding pom-poms.
