I still can’t figure out what that statement meant? Doctors are aware that female reporters … no this makes no sense. I’m sure some women are more comfortable with having a female doctor, but I don’t think I’ve met any that cared all that much if their doctor was male or female just that they were good and not creepy. So I don’t know what real world this is referring to but in my real world a doctor is a doctor, male or female, and they get to see you inside and out if they feel it is necessary and I am not aware of any scandals, laws, rules or general practices that would indicate otherwise.
I, like Dewey Finn, also confused. Where in this article does it say that male reporters are not allowed in women’s locker rooms for the purposes of sport reporting?
as a student in feminist theory courses at the time of the Lisa Olson incident:
In male atheletes’ locker rooms, (male) reporters were historically always allowed access. The interviews occurring there sold air time, got broadcast, etc, and female sports reporters (once there were such things, i.e., the world of sports reporting was cracked by some women who wanted to do sports reporting) were at a disadvantage if they could not conduct similar interviews.
In female athletes’ locker rooms reporters (male or female) were not allowed access. The reporters were held back to interview the atheletes after they’d finished showering & dressing. Since female reporters were not going in and interviewing female athletes in the locker room, male reporters are not being treated unfairly or lacking in reciprocity; they are not being kept from an interviewing opportunity that female reports have access to, and in particular they are not being kept from an interviewing opportunity open to female interviewers while in the reciprocal situation female reporters are NOT being kept away from interviewing male athetes.
The key point is equal access to interviewing opportunities. Not equal access to ogling opportunities. One could make the claim that female reporters do have unequal access to ogling opportunities, and I suppose the people objecting to the ruling did so, but what the ruling held was that the interviewing opportunity had to be made equal or else female reporters were being discriminated against. AND it was the world of male athetic teamsports that opted to allow reporters, generically, to interview athetes after the game while they’re in towels and underwear and naked and whatnot, instead of waiting until the guys are dressed, so if their athetes feel invaded, change the freaking rule and don’t let any reporters, male OR female, come into the locker room to do interviews.
Sounds reasonable and fair to me.
I am a sports reporter for a daily paper in one of the largest cities in the US. I can state from experience that the OP’s premise is just flat out wrong. I am a male, and I have been in women’s locker rooms after games. I have also been in NFL and MLB locker rooms along side female reporters.
It hasn’t always been this way of course, but most major sports organizations have gone a long way to getting equal access for men and women reporters.
Do the women undress in front of you then?
I may change my major depending on the answer to this question.
The answer to your question is that while society is attempting to provide legal equality to both genders there are still social mores that affect the speed of that attempt.
No, but most men don’t either. In general, locker rooms are closed for 10-15 minutes after the end of the game, and then opened to reporters for 20-30 minutes. Most players (men and women) wait until that half hour is over to shower and change. In many facilities, the showers and locker areas are separated enough that players can shower and change first in privacy if they wanted to. Some players leave before the locker rooms are opened, and some hide in the showers or the trainer’s room until we leave. In short, the only guys I see naked or in some sort of undress are the ones who want me to see them that way.
Some leagues are moving away from locker room access by allowing radio/tv reporters to talk to players on the field and then making players available to print reporters in a media room 20-30 minutes after the game ends. There are plusses and minuses to this model, but I think it will become more widespread because it allows teams to restrict who we can talk to and makes it a more controlled environment.