This Clinton Portis issue is a MensRights issue. He complains about women being in a men's locker room and is forced to apologize? Are men allowed in a WNBA locker room?

robin1961 · 2010-09-15T02:59:48+00:00

If I remember correctly, wonen-reporters in professional sports' locker rooms was a result of a court case. Locker-room interviews had become a very popular source of story-material for video, radio, and print reporters. Women reporters were banned from most locker rooms at the time: it was argued that this created a job-discrimination issue, where female sports reporters were not allowed to compete equally w male reporters. As I recall, women forced their way in with a Federal court order that they be given equal access. Rather than simply make all reporters wait till the players had exited the locker room before interviews, the team owners caved and allowed the women into the lockers rooms : they didn't want to face the fines of non-compliance, and they didn't want to lose the effective media that came out of the locker-room interviews.....so Player's modesty has taken a backseat to Job Equity and media 'exposure'.

mct137 · 2010-09-15T02:17:21+00:00

Why the hell is a woman in the men's locker room in the first place? Can't she wait until the players are done changing? I swear, if a woman walked into a locker room where I was changing, the first words out of my mouth would be "Get the fuck out!". I'm sick of the idea that women-only spaces are OK, but the only place a man can have where women aren't welcome is his own home.

aGorilla · 2010-09-15T03:36:28+00:00

Virtually every female reporter I know acts and dresses in a conservative and appropriate manner while on the job.

Yeah, except this one.

2010-09-15T06:02:57+00:00

While the entire situation shouldn't have happened to begin with, it still makes logical sense why women shouldn't be allowed in a male locker room...

If it becomes an issue of discrimination of only male reporters allowed in locker rooms, then everyone should wait outside, but the whole situation is ridiculous to begin with.

charleycoyote · 2010-09-15T02:28:48+00:00

If I am a 50 year old male reporter and want to be in the locker room to report as the high school girl's swim team changes, are they "meatheads" if they ask me to leave?

That is precisely what this reporter calls Portis for the reverse situation.

Liverotto · 2010-09-15T08:06:06+00:00

You don't seem to understand the RULES.

Women cannot be excluded from any club, college or other social gathering.

Women have the right to form women-only-clubs, women-only-colleges and women-only-social-gatherings.

You wanted equality and you got feminism, cry me a fucking river you dreamy hippies!

Benlarge1 · 2010-09-14T23:52:22+00:00

I'm waiting for the BBC to run this, maybe then we can weed out the hate speech. Give the guy a break, maybe he just wants to change and get out of there, and doesn't want to have to deal with women being in there. And I know damn well that they don't allow male reporters into a WNBA locker room.

FreakCERS · 2010-09-15T00:35:28+00:00

[permanently deleted]

melb22 · 2010-09-15T10:15:15+00:00

Notice how histrionic the journalist gets. He's trying to push non-reality onto us and knows that he has to push hard. The non-reality is that there is no sexual connotation to women wandering around a locker room filled with naked male athletes, even if the woman is as sexed up as Ines Sainz.

matches42 · 2010-09-15T12:27:15+00:00

I am so confused at how a man wrote that article. This is ridiculous.

ZenaLundgren · 2010-09-15T16:55:15+00:00

That's not right. They have a right to privacy. He should have refused to apologize.

You guys need more posts like this on mensrights.

2010-09-15T08:30:13+00:00

But why would anyone ever go into a WNBA locker room?

sentienceISi · 2010-09-15T02:50:41+00:00

I've never read an article by someone with such a huge mangina. What is wrong with wentzel. Why is he so mad. Calling Portis meat head a mysoginist. Portis made an observation isn't it natural to be attracted to the other sex. Wentzel really upset me. I have no respect for self emasculating men like him.

SyntaxOfL · 2010-09-15T09:44:33+00:00

Where I go swimming there is almost always a woman cleaning the shower-floors with 20 nude men. I always thought why this is okey and the other way around is not. A womans body is a temple while a man is a trashcan.

GymIn26Minutes · 2010-09-15T17:10:15+00:00

From: http://www.nydailynews.com/ny_local/2010/09/13/2010-09-13_ines_sainz_accepts_jets_coach_woody_johnsons_apolgy_in_sex_harass_flap_says_cant.html

"Sainz said she "never heard something sexual" from the players, but noted one called her a "bonita señorita" - a pretty lady."

This leaves me awfully confused, there is a huge deal being made of it, and the most sexual thing said to her was calling her pretty lady? Seriously? Is that a big enough deal that it needs nationwide media coverage?

Young testosterone laden men try and vie for a pretty females attention while engaging in competitive athletic activities. One even going so far as calling her "pretty lady". Not news.

neofool · 2010-09-16T00:10:55+00:00

First of all that writer sucks and is too dim or too lazy to look at the larger issue. Some people don't want to have to appear in front of people of the opposite sex as part of a job requirement. A guy makes one or two comments about modesty or simple human privacy and is mocked, wtf.

RNAscientist · 2010-09-16T02:52:09+00:00

Men are allowed in WNBA locker rooms and there is a cooling off period where they can get changed before reporters are allowed in the locker room: WaPo

anomalis · 2010-09-15T11:37:48+00:00

The biggest thing that stands out to me is how the hell did the writer of that article deduce their conclusion from what the athlete said? I'm afraid I'm not offended by it simply because I have no idea what Portis was trying to say. But, at the very least, I didn't take his comments to mean that female reporters just wanna check out Jock-Junk, like the reporter obviously did. Also, I agree fundamentally with the double-standard here that is so often in play, which says that Men and Women are inherently different, but somehow only Women should be protected from that. I don't agree with part A or B.

triffideater · 2010-09-15T16:21:29+00:00

hey, I'm in favor of allowing male reporters into women's dressing rooms!

Benlarge1 · 2010-09-15T18:01:23+00:00

We can test Portis' theory very easily, instead of anyone making assumptions about whether or not female reporters actually ever see anything they like when they are in the lockerroom , why not ask 4 or 5 of them? Is Portis still a meathead/misogynist if he is right?

rensfriend · 2010-09-15T23:31:48+00:00

there's gotta be some kind of line drawn fellas - we'd witness the first ever mass shrinkange event if cheryl miller ever showed her mug in the men's locker room.

MagicSPA · 2010-09-15T14:37:11+00:00

Mountains out of molehills. I guess it was a slow news day.

slickastro · 2010-09-15T17:17:36+00:00

I've read the Portis quote 3 times now and fail to see where he complained about a woman being in the locker room. I read it as an observation that men are attracted to beautiful women and he assumes that women in turn are attracted to at least 1 of what he percieves to be 53 celebrity men. His tact may have been a bit severe, but I don't see where he was blatently disrespectful or complaining. The reporter even stated she never felt attacked sexually or ever felt she was in a position were she was threatened. I think both sides are blowing this out of proportion.

Purp · 2010-09-15T14:08:34+00:00

No, he implies that women must be more preoccupied with the players' "packages" than doing they're job. You know, because they're women.

This, in response to being "asked about an allegation that some members of the New York Jets had harassed a female reporter". Hmm, seems unlikely, doesn't it?

This is not an issue for /mr. Oh, and men are allowed in wnba locker rooms.

StanWilliams · 2010-09-15T15:35:19+00:00

Men are allowed in the WNBA locker rooms. Next.

2010-09-15T10:42:44+00:00

the better question is, would a man really want to be in a WNBA locker room?

davidahall · 2010-09-15T21:22:54+00:00

In short, yes they are, with similar restrictions and guidelines that cover reporters of both genders in locker rooms of all professional sports.

kloo2yoo · 2010-09-15T00:49:11+00:00

Pretty sure the objection is to the idea that female reporters doing their reporting job are there to check out "packages."

JayTS · 2010-09-15T05:26:27+00:00

I didn't fully understand the situation earlier, but now that I do, I still have to think it was more of an insurance policy and workplace culture decision.

The guy basically condoned hitting on women in the workplace.

It's not an issue of who belongs where or at what time. The guy basically said that a woman who is exposed to 53 naked athletes is fair game, whether or not she wants to be. That's like saying a woman who performs prostate exams is begging to be anally reamed.

When I'm at work, I want to work. I don't want to be distracted, harassed, abused, or threatened by customers, much less my co-workers. I don't go to work to pick up women, that's what bars and clubs and craigslist are for. So what Portis doesn't realize is that there are many aspects to professionalism:

1) Getting your job done. He's a football player, so that means he plays football.
2) Professional courtesy. Showing up on time, respecting your fellow co-workers, etc.
3) Representing your organization. This is where he failed. If you work for Sun Microsystems and you decide to diarrhea shit all over a qur'an and wear a KKK outfit to work, it reflects poorly on your organization. The NFL doesn't want that kind of heat, so they asked him (or forced him) to apologize.
If you work for, say, Caterpillar, and you say "Caterpillars are great for bulldozing." That's fine. However, if you tack on "... Palestinian shanties," that's when you begin to represent your organization in a poor light. That's not professional.
Regardless of whether or not sexual harassment law is "no fun" or whatever, it's still common sense that you don't hit on ladies, or anybody else, at the workplace, because you expose yourself to all kinds of legal bullshit, and also because the workplace is for work. You're a millionaire football player for fuck's sake, you don't even have to "cut your eye" at all to get pussy. Just wait til after you leave the locker room to get your freak on. Clinton should have been told this from the beginning.

HQR3 · 2010-09-15T06:38:29+00:00

Translation: Clinton Portis is insecure about his small penis.

All right, I'm kidding. I don't think this should be an issue at all with adults. Professional athletes are adults over 18, right? It's not like we're talking about underage high school athletes. I think it's safe to say that reporters just want to get their sound byte from players and then get out for the day/night. I know I'm basing my opinion off of nothing, but sorry, Clinton, you've got some growing up to do. I think he ought to call up some other pro sports buddies, like Greg Oden of the Portland Trailblazers, who wasn't very shy about taking a picture of his shlong.

Should it be the same in reverse with WNBA players after games? I think it should be. I'm sure not many are going to agree with me on that, but I just think we all should relax about our bodies. Wishful thinking on my part? Yes, it is.

Title	This Clinton Portis issue is a MensRights issue. He complains about women being in a men's locker room and is forced to apologize? Are men allowed in a WNBA locker room?
Author	[deleted]
Upvotes	147
Comments	94
Date	September 14, 2010 11:42 PM UTC (13 years ago)
Subreddit	Posted in /r/MensRights
Original Link	https://old.reddit.com/r/MensRights/comments/ddxe5/this_clinton_portis_issue_is_a_mensrights_issue/
Archive Link	https://theredarchive.com/r/MensRights/this-clinton-portis-issue-is-a-mensrights-issue-he.1047492 https://theredarchive.com/post/1047492