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    Female journalists stopped from entering locker room after Jaguars-Colts game

    • Usher wanted to check women were allowed inside
    • Colts and Jaguars say sorry for incident
    Colts-Jaguars
    The Colts beat the Jaguars in overtime on Sunday. Photograph: Sam Riche/ZUMA Press/Corbis
    Associated Press in Indianapolis
    A male usher stopped three female journalists from entering the Jaguars locker room after their loss to the Colts because they were women, asking other men if it was OK before finally allowing them inside.
    Graham Watson of Yahoo Sports and Joey Chandler of the Tuscaloosa News both said on Twitter on Sunday night that they were not allowed inside the locker room after Indianapolis’ 16-13 overtime win until the usher first checked to make sure the women were allowed to enter. The women were at the game as part of the Associated Press Sports Editors sports media diversity weekend.

    When getting ready to enter Jags locker room with other APSE female fellows, old man tried to deny us entry. It's still 2015, right?

    “I was just blocked from a locker room by an old, out-of-touch geezer who wasn’t sure women were allowed because ‘you know how guys are,’” tweeted Watson. “This guy was an usher and apparently not aware that women cover sports. I about lost it.”
    “I have covered male sporting events all over the world and it took coming to Indianapolis to face my first gender discrimination,” he added.
    Public relations staffs from both the Colts and the Jaguars apologized to the women.
    Colts spokesman Avis Roper said the usher was in an area where he didn’t know who was allowed access.
    The Association for Women in Sports Media expressed disappointment at the episode. “[We are] disappointed three credentialed female media members were briefly denied access to the Jaguars locker room, by an usher, after today’s game against the Colts in Indianapolis,” it said in a statment. “Although the Colts’ staff handled the situation quickly and both teams apologized, it is unfortunate such issues continue to exist.”

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    • 0 1
      This is what happens when you mix up gender in the locker room....
      http://youtu.be/SI3P0bB2Dqk
      Reply |
    • 1 2
      why is tbis a story. c'mom guardian. guys getting dressed in a locker room probably dont want woman around - nor would men be allowed into the female swedish volley ball team locker room without checking. THIS IS NOT WORTHY OF THIS NEWSPAPER.
      Reply |
    • 0 1
      No one should be allowed in the locker rooms except players and staff, period. I imagine there is a press conference room in every professional facility for interviews. Why would any member of the press, male or female want to invade the privacy of someone showering, changing clothes?
      Reply |
      • 0 1
        It's become standard practice in team sports in the US where press are allowed a window of time to speak with athletes in the locker room to get their 'honest' take on events. The thinking is that if they reporters were forced to wait until after they'd showered and changed, the PR staff could have spoken with them and 'guided' their responses before they spoke with the press. Seeing as how it's just professional sports and not some national security issue, i don't see why it would matter, but it is what it is.
        Reply |
    • 0 1
      Well, I don't' want some man forcing his way into a female locker, so . It only seems fair.
      Reply |
    • 2 3
      Do men get to enter women's locker rooms when covering female sporting events?
      I'm not posing that to be provocative - I genuinely am seeking the answer..??
      And if they do, what does this mean? And if they don't, ditto.
      p.s. One usher does not usher out a gradual recognition of change.
      Reply |
      • 0 1
        There's only one "major" sports league for women in the USA: the WNBA, which is owned and financially subsidised by the almighty NBA, plays to far less attention, and which naturally pays the players about 10% of what even a male rookie earns, let alone the superstars. Fair enough--they don't put as many arses in seats.
        The rule is that sportswriters (male and female, but at least 90% of sports journalists are male, it seems to me) that are assigned to cover a who-cares WNBA game are allowed to do locker-room interviews for up to 30 minutes after the end of a game. After that, they all leave. The women as well the men--have to be fair about that. Only after they have exited, the team members undress and wash up.
        By contrast in the important male leagues--NFL, NBA, Major League Baseball (MLB) and the National Hockey League (NHL), oh, and probably Major League Soccer (MLS) as well--by hallowed American tradition, sportswriters have always been allowed "hot pursuit" into the locker room to do interviews and seek quotes within minutes of the game ending, yes while the players are stripping off their clothes and strolling around naked to and from the shower, or sitting in their jock straps nursing injuries, or what have you.
        Beginning in the 1970s when second-wave feminism was getting up to speed, what was then the tiny handful of female sports writers were barred from such post-game contact with athletes, and some of them sued to demand equal access with their male competitors, on the basis of sex discrimination. Unfairly sexist working conditions; protection when they did not want to be protected. To nearly everyone's surprise, the courts consistently ruled in their favor under the various anti-discrimination statutes that existed by then. Nowadays it's not a big deal or problem. Female reporters just stand there while male athletes are, perhaps, wiping their wet tackle dry with a towel, and ask "what were you thinking during the big play you made, Darnell?"
        The leagues could always ban all sportswriters, but they don't. The immediate post-game reaction interview is a part of US sportswriting and team marketing.
        It could take all the feminist writers at the Guardian, and that means all the women and most of the men, to completely unpack and analyse why what's sauce for the gander is not sauce for the goose. I think the cultural assumption is that the female gaze isn't considered threatening or even particularly lustful when directed at males, and girls may have seen naked boys while babysitting, or whatever the hell the reasons are; while female athletes have every reason to protect their very fit naked bodies from the eyes of male sportswriters, most of whom appear to be robustly heterosexual, and whose interested male gaze is apt to turn appraising, or frankly overcome by desire.
        After all, men are always accused of "undressing women with their eyes." While women take care, even if they are pro beach volleyballers and compete in a teeny bikini, to conceal the strategic areas from view by the opposite sex.
        Hope this helps you. As the king of Siam says in The King and I: It is a puzzlement.
        Reply |
      • 0 1
        I doubt it but the women play football in something like a bikini so it could be a whole other can of worms to try gauge the level of equal treatment.
        It seems American Football is one of the few sports, if not the only sport, where female reporters do have a practice of accessing the men's locker room.
        Reply |
    • 0 1
      And if the Guardian wants to report about women being discriminated against by a man, why don't they also report about cases when a woman is the one doing the discriminating?
      WEST HARTFORD, CT (WFSB) -
      A West Hartford police officer was declined service at a Dunkin' Donuts in West Hartford on Saturday morning.
      According to police, the officer entered the coffee shop located at 1234 Farmington Ave., at about 8:30 a.m.
      Police said the officer was standing in the back of the line, and a store employee looked over at him and stated very loudly, "he didn't get the message, we don't serve cops here."
      The officer left the store without saying anything. When the officer got to his cruiser, he was approached by the manager and the employee who apologized to him.
      According to police, the officer told the employee she should apologize to the patrons who seemed to have taken offense to her comment.
      Reply |
      • 0 1
        You're username seems... angry. And your comment seems... angry.
        But your reported case seems embarrassingly inaccurate in it's dichotomy.
        The cop was refused for being a cop, not for being a male.
        You, sir, have challenged nothing and asked no good questions.
        But, thank you for highlighting your anger - the stand out feature of your contribution.
        Reply |
    • 2 3
      How about the reporter's lack of class with her description if the usher. He may or may not have erred but the reporter should know better.
      Reply |
    • 2 3
      right let's get all Rosa Parks over this non issue because some senior citizen usher makes a mistake then corrects it. someone call the justice department.
      Reply |
    • 1 2
      I don't understand the locker room thing for journalists, male or female. What's so great about seeing a group of sweaty, heavily muscled black men running around naked?
      Reply |
    • 2 3
      “I was just blocked from a locker room by an old, out-of-touch geezer who wasn’t sure women were allowed because ‘you know how guys are,’” tweeted Watson.
      Apparently Watson is okay with making age discrimination comments, though. Why isn't there any outrage over her comment?
      Yet another example of how we all have to be politically correct, but only in certain cases, and not in others.
      Reply |
    • 2 3
      They should do this like they do football everywhere else. No journalist at all in the locker room and players and coaches are made available to the media outside of it.
      Reply |
      • 1 2
        Tennis allows the players to shower and tidy up first, then you walk into the presser. Can't imagine anything worse than some rabid reporter shoving a mic in your face when you're feeling a bit whipped and not looking your best.
        Reply |
    • 0 1
      Cue the internet outrage machine...
      Reply |
    • 0 1
      They should not be allowed in the locker room and they should not want to go in. Perhaps no interviews should be given in the locker room, but rather in a room set aside for that purpose.
      Reply |
    • 3 4
      Female journalists stopped from entering locker room after Jaguars-Colts game
      Are male journalists allowed in the locker after women's soccer games?
      Reply |
    • 6 7
      "A male usher stopped three female journalists from entering the Jaguars locker room after their loss to the Colts because they were women, asking other men if it was OK before finally allowing them inside."
      Would this even be an issue if the genders were reversed? Why do women think men love to have them come into private areas and creep on them?
      Reply |
    • 1 2
      More obvious gender baiting...
      Reply |
    • 3 4
      So in reality, the female journalists were allowed into the locker room w/ their male colleagues, and this is another non-story brought to you by the specialists in identity politics...
      Reply |
    • 1 2
      Is this an American thing? You don't get John Motson wandering into the changing room to interview John Terry in the knack.
      Reply |
      • 0 1
        The press here has always insisted on interviewing the athletes immediately after the game, before they have a chance to shower, compose themselves or talk to team pr people -- it gives them "more honest answers", they say. I think the sports journalists here have always done so, so as women moved into the profession, they insisted on the same access.
        Reply |
    • 1 2
      For those of you asking if male reporters are allowed in female locker rooms, the answer appears to be "yes." Not sure why we're having to re-hash a debate that was resolved in the early 90's here...especially when it's pretty cut and dry gender discrimination.
      Reply |
      • 0 1
        It's not so cut and dry. Locker rooms, at any other time, are gender specific. This isn't in dispute. The usher, who apparently didn't normally work that area, didn't know that female press was allowed in the male locker room because that policy was an exception to the established rules of the gender specific locker room. The man did his job by verifying that they were, indeed, allowed in.
        If he knew they were allowed access and barred their way, then yes, it totally would have been gender discrimination, but stopped to verify that the normally established rules were put on hold for the press before letting women into the locker room was simply him doing his job.
        If they weren't supposed to be allowed in and he simply let them through, he very well could have been fired. He did nothing wrong, and these overly sensitive reporters decided to publicly shame the man for simply trying to make he did his job correctly.
        Reply |
    • 2 3
      I wouldn't want Joey Chandler in my dressing room either, just because you're a journalist it doesn't stop you being a perv.
      Reply |
    • 2 3
      What's the policy about male reporters visiting the women's locker room after an event? Just curious.
      Reply |
      • 0 1
        it's the same. There's a time window where press of both genders are allowed into locker rooms to talk directly with athletes. Because this is a predetermined window, it ensures that none of the athletes are in any compromising states of dress. Once this window expires, all press have to leave the locker room and the athletes go about their business.
        Reply |
    • 3 4
      I see no reason to refuse women entry to male locker room, as long as the women strip down.
      Reply |
    • 6 7
      How is this a story? One old dude didn't know what he was doing, quickly got cleared up with nothing to actually get upset about.
      Reply |
      • 2 3
        Cos Patriarchy.
        Conveniently, that's also the answer to every criticism directed at any feminist articles.
        Reply |
      • 7 8
        If people don't get outraged at stuff like this, they might actually have to deal with real problems. "An employee asked a question? He's set the women's right movement back 50 years, GET THE TORCHES!"
        It's crying wolf at non-issues like this that help give ammo to the folks that argue against legitimate women's rights issues, of which there are many.
        Reply |
      • 0 1
        From what I understand he wanted to make sure the men were decent before he allowed the women in.Nothing wrong with that.I don't think women would be very happy if a male report walked in when they were naked.
        Reply |
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