# Are women reporters allowed in male locker rooms? **URL:** \ **Category:** Factual Questions\ **Created:** [March 14, 2003, 8:41pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/are-women-reporters-allowed-in-male-locker-rooms/161430 "2003-03-14T20:41:03Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 14\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![DaveRaver](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/daveraver/32/1078_2.png) [@DaveRaver](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/DaveRaver)\ **Post date:** [March 14, 2003, 8:41pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/are-women-reporters-allowed-in-male-locker-rooms/161430/1 "2003-03-14T20:41:03Z")
There was a big controversy about 20 years ago when a female reporter reported on the size of male athletes’ genitals which she saw in the locker room. When women were subsequently banned from male locker rooms, the female reporters cried discrimination, resulting in all reporters, male and female, being banned from locker rooms. Now I’m not sure, but I think I’ve seen reporters in locker rooms in recent years, so I’m wondering, what is the status of reporters gaining access to locker rooms of athletes of the opposite sex? ---
**Author:** ![David\_Simmons](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/9de053/32.png) [@David\_Simmons](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/David_Simmons)\ **Post date:** [March 14, 2003, 8:55pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/are-women-reporters-allowed-in-male-locker-rooms/161430/2 "2003-03-14T20:55:51Z")
I’m pretty sure that if teams bar women reporters, they have to bar _all_ reporters. Most of them close the locker room until the players have dressed, at least partly. I suppose that when reporters are allowed in immediately, like after the last World Series game, the players have their celebration for the cameras, the press is then shooed out and the players go ahead finish their cleaning up. Proper accomodations for opposite sex reporters can be made if a little common sense is used. The trick is to treat everyone the same and not let the men, or women as the case may be, in first so they get first crack at all the “hot off the wire” interviews. ---
**Author:** ![everton](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/ecb155/32.png) [@everton](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/everton)\ **Post date:** [March 14, 2003, 9:01pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/are-women-reporters-allowed-in-male-locker-rooms/161430/3 "2003-03-14T21:01:59Z")
I don’t know what rules apply to American broadcasters, but [Beverly Turner reports on the NBA for British TV](http://global.nba.com/uk/turner_chattranscript_010311.html) and she interviews players in the locker room. When she was interviewed herself a little while back she was asked whether it was difficult to overt her gaze from guys coming out of the shower and she replied something like “yeah, sometimes it’s hard to remember which microphone to speak into if you know what I mean”. I can’t believe they’d give her better access than the local reporters. ---
**Author:** ![RealityChuck](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/realitychuck/32/195_2.png) [@RealityChuck](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/RealityChuck)\ **Post date:** [March 14, 2003, 9:07pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/are-women-reporters-allowed-in-male-locker-rooms/161430/4 "2003-03-14T21:07:45Z")
Woman sports reporters routinely go into the locker rooms, and the athlete’s are pretty much used to it. They don’t particularly cover up and after a few weeks on the job, the women don’t pay much attention to any nudity. There was an article a few years ago where a woman reporter (for a Dallas or Houston newspaper) told of her experiences. A woman friend once asked her, “You mean you’ve seen [athlete] naked?” The reporter had to think for a moment before saying, “Oh, yeah. I guess I have.” It wasn’t any big deal after the first few weeks. Now if a woman reporter wrote about the size of the athlete’s genitals, then she could probably be barred from the locker room as reporting on matters not related to sports. The same, however, for any male reporter. It’d be highly unprofessional and they might even get in trouble with their editors. Now a male sports reporter going into a woman’s team locker might not be allowed until after everyone is dressed. ---
**Author:** ![syncrolecyne](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/f08c70/32.png) [@syncrolecyne](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/syncrolecyne)\ **Post date:** [March 14, 2003, 9:16pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/are-women-reporters-allowed-in-male-locker-rooms/161430/5 "2003-03-14T21:16:29Z")
I thought the controversy was started when a female reporter from the Boston Globe began demanding access to the Patriots locker room. She finally was allowed in, and some male football players acted lewdly in her presence to make her uncomfortable. That was when the late Victor Kiam (“I loved Remington razors so much I bought the company”) owned that team. He called the reporter a “classic bitch”. Perhaps the reporter gave a detailed account of the players’ assets in revenge! ---
**Author:** ![Nametag](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/nametag/32/406_2.png) [@Nametag](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Nametag)\ **Post date:** [March 14, 2003, 9:41pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/are-women-reporters-allowed-in-male-locker-rooms/161430/6 "2003-03-14T21:41:40Z")
Women were never allowed into men’s locker rooms prior to 1978, when some landmark lawsuits were ruled on. There was an attempt to ban all reporters from the locker room after that, but that was ignored by many reporters, and the various leagues and teams finally gave up. Reporters, women and men alike, have had essentially unrestricted access to male players’ locker rooms since then. The “reported on the size of male athletes’ genitals” story sounds like B.S.; many women reporters have reported on the experience or interviewing naked athletes, some of them pretty humorously, but the OP’s story sounds well beyond what any credentialed reporter would do. ---
**Author:** ![Enginerd](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/bcef8e/32.png) [@Enginerd](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Enginerd)\ **Post date:** [March 14, 2003, 9:50pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/are-women-reporters-allowed-in-male-locker-rooms/161430/7 "2003-03-14T21:50:53Z")
> [@](#): > > \*Originally posted by syncrolecyne \* > I thought the controversy was started when a female reporter from the Boston Globe began demanding access to the Patriots locker room. She finally was allowed in, and some male football players acted lewdly in her presence to make her uncomfortable. That was Lisa Olson in the Patriots locker room. From [this](http://www.stwing.upenn.edu/~jahavsy1/reporters.html) article: > [@](#): > > During a September 17, 1990 locker room interview, then-Boston Herald sports reporter Lisa Olson was allegedly approached by five semi-naked members of the New England Patriots football team, including Zeke Mowatt, Michael Timpson and Robert Perryman. (Rasnic Winter 1991, 3.) The players made unsavory comments and directed lewd gestures toward her. The NFL then ordered an investigation, conducted by Philip Heymann, a Harvard law professor. On September 23, after the Patriots faced the Cincinnati Bengals, two male reporters Ñ Tom Archdeacon of the Dayton Daily NewsÊand Glenn Farley of the (Brockton, Massachusetts) Enterprise Ñ attributed several derogatory quotes to Victor Kiam in reference to Olson, including “What a classic bitch. No wonder none of the players like her.” (Rasnic, 3 and 6 note 5.) Kiam denied the quotes, though he did admit to saying Olson “sure is aggressive,” and, instead of reprimanding his players, he said in a statement to the Herald, “I can’t disagree with the players’ actions. Your paper is asking for trouble by sending a female reporter to cover the team.” (Rasnic, 3). ---
**Author:** ![istara](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/i/e79b87/32.png) [@istara](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/istara)\ **Post date:** [March 14, 2003, 9:53pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/are-women-reporters-allowed-in-male-locker-rooms/161430/8 "2003-03-14T21:53:56Z")
I once accidentally saw a male ice hockey player in the buff, in his changing room. I was going past the wide, open door to interview their coach. I didn’t see his “wiener” - he was a merkin, so I guess that’s the correct term 😉 - I was just very shocked and embarrassed for him, but actually I don’t think he cared less about being caught nude. Athletes are perhaps more used to their bodies and changing in front of others than the rest of us, so maybe they’re more laid back about it. ---
**Author:** ![BobT](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/8e8cbc/32.png) [@BobT](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/BobT)\ **Post date:** [March 14, 2003, 10:06pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/are-women-reporters-allowed-in-male-locker-rooms/161430/9 "2003-03-14T22:06:17Z")
Lisa Olson ended up moving to Australia as all the resultant publicity from the incident made it impossible for her to continue as a reporter in the U.S. A lot of male athletes still don’t like women in the locker room. Brett Butler, for one, was quite hostile to them and Kevin Brown is also known for engaging in fairly crude behavior toward female players. (I’m just picking on Dodger players because that’s whom I read about in my local papers.) ---
**Author:** ![astorian](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/ad7895/32.png) [@astorian](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/astorian)\ **Post date:** [March 14, 2003, 10:32pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/are-women-reporters-allowed-in-male-locker-rooms/161430/10 "2003-03-14T22:32:57Z")
> [@](#): > > \*Originally posted by BobT \* > \*\*Lisa Olson ended up moving to Australia as all the resultant publicity from the incident made it impossible for her to continue as a reporter in the U.S. > > \*\* Maybe she had a hard time for a little while, but ultimately, the controversy worked in her favor. In spite of her limited (no, make that terrible) writing skills, she has her own column in the New York Daily News. It’s hard to imagine how she could be doing much BETTER, career-wise. And frankly, I don’t think there’s any way she’d be writing for the NY Daily News if that whole sexual harassment case with the Patriots HADN’T taken place. ---
**Author:** ![amarinth](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/3be4f8/32.png) [@amarinth](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/amarinth)\ **Post date:** [March 14, 2003, 11:22pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/are-women-reporters-allowed-in-male-locker-rooms/161430/11 "2003-03-14T23:22:17Z")
> [@](#): > > \*Originally posted by Nametag \* > \*\*There was an attempt to ban all reporters from the locker room after that, but that was ignored by many reporters, and the various leagues and teams finally gave up. \*\* I have heard (and I don’t watch the sports where this would be an issue, so I’ve no first hand knowledge) that this is what happens in some womens’ sports. All reporters, regardless of gender, are banned from the locker room for a certain period of time. Is that not true? Have I been lied to? ---
**Author:** ![moc.liamtoh\_rorrim](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/f17d59/32.png) [@moc.liamtoh\_rorrim](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/moc.liamtoh_rorrim)\ **Post date:** [March 15, 2003, 12:22am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/are-women-reporters-allowed-in-male-locker-rooms/161430/12 "2003-03-15T00:22:48Z")
Yeah its pretty sexist. Women allowed to see men, men not allowed to see women. ---
**Author:** ![Sock\_Munkey](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/aeb1de/32.png) [@Sock\_Munkey](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Sock_Munkey)\ **Post date:** [March 15, 2003, 12:56am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/are-women-reporters-allowed-in-male-locker-rooms/161430/13 "2003-03-15T00:56:06Z")
So what happens when the situation is reversed? ---
**Author:** ![BobT](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/8e8cbc/32.png) [@BobT](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/BobT)\ **Post date:** [March 15, 2003, 1:15am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/are-women-reporters-allowed-in-male-locker-rooms/161430/14 "2003-03-15T01:15:52Z")
For the most part, reputable male coaches of female athletes don’t venture into the locker room when their players are dressing or undressing. I would assume that Bob Kersee went into the locker room a few times to see Jackie Joyner-Kersee however. As for Lisa Olson, I definitely erred in not checking to see if she had returned to the States, which she obviously has.