Yahoo sports analyst Jason Cole holds Ines Sainz, the Mexican reporter who was subject to catcalls in the Jets locker room accountable
But he gets mail from, not feminists, not girls, but get this, male readers defending her. And some of their arguments are ridiculously absurd
Check this out:
Cryptblade
Methinks Jason is a tad jealous he can’t dress in tight jeans with a sleeveless shirt and get noticed by players in the locker room. Your comment that – for all intents and purposes – says Ines Sainz got what she deserved proves that you’re just like that loser Clinton Portis(notes). … You can preface all you want but it’s clear you hold the same thoughts as that loser Portis.
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Jason Cole's response:
No, I don’t have the same thoughts as Portis. I have no idea if Sainz or any other woman reporter (aside from Samantha Stevenson) has ever been interested in having a relationship with an athlete. Frankly, I think most women sportswriters are just trying to do their job, just like I am. Most of all, what another journalist thinks or does is not my business unless it becomes news (by way of some legal action or related incident).
However, I do know provocative attire from professional attire. I have seen plenty of women in management positions (my wife is a manager at a supermarket) and I have seen plenty of women journalists. Ms. Sainz definitely pushes the boundaries of what is considered professional attire. Again, I don’t have a problem with it. I’m not jealous. Frankly, I couldn’t care less because I don’t aspire to do the kinds of stories Ms. Sainz does. But she obviously does her job well enough to stay employed. Good for her.
Furthermore, you can’t compartmentalize your life. If you choose to do revealing swimsuit photos that are obviously done to provoke interest in yourself, you can’t say, “Oh, I did that a week ago, right now I’m this serious professional.” You are the sum total of your actions. If I expect to be taken seriously as a reporter, there are certain things I have to do to maintain that standard. It’s called personal conduct. I don’t drink excessively, I don’t take drugs, I don’t do a lot of things that would reflect poorly upon myself. If, for example, I did take drugs or get in trouble for drinking, I think it would be pretty hard for me to write something about the conduct of other people, regardless of what position I took. At the same time, Ms. Sainz does something to get attention, from how she dresses to doing swimsuit shots to how she does her stories (getting on the shoulders of players). Again, that’s fine. However, getting leered at by players made her “die of embarrassment” as she tweeted? Oh, please. Now, this is not justifying what the players did. As I said, they did the wrong thing, too. However, she’s not innocent, either. This is a case where everybody is wrong.
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Paul Ketzle
This comment is going to be critical, but I want to start by saying that I don’t intend this as blame. I just think you need to seriously reconsider something that you perhaps haven’t thought through all the way. When you talk about Ines Sainz being insincere in her embarrassment at how she was treated in the Jets locker room, in the performance of her job, because she has done modeling photos or “used her looks to get attention,” as you put it, you are barely removed from the fallacy of blaming the victim.
Whatever she does in another context in no way invites any of the harassment she endured in this one. You imply that she is not capable of being demeaned or degraded, merely because she modeled or, at another time, was dressed in a way you found overly provocative while covering the Super Bowl. “Don’t act surprised when sometimes attention goes the wrong way” is simply a regrettable statement. It is exactly the argument used to blame rape victims for dressing provocatively. She did not “ask” to be treated this way, and to imply so is to go down a path far beneath a man of your proven intelligence and integrity.
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Jason Cole's response
The problem with the example you use is she was not raped. There is no justification for rape. It’s an absolute crime. Sexual harassment is a crime that falls into a sad gray area because so many people act like idiots when they’re at work. However, if you use the example of a woman dancing provocatively in a club and she gets attention, such as hoots and hollers or leering men, to some extent she was provoking reaction. The same goes for entertainers of all kinds. They are looking to attract attention. That’s how they make money.
In the case of Sainz, she has danced on the razor’s edge between trying to attract attention with her body and saying she’s a professional reporter. At a certain point, you have to say, “Ines, what are you trying to be, a swimsuit model or a reporter?” You can’t really mix both and be taken seriously. But now she’s aghast, embarrassed and uncomfortable when players don’t take her seriously? Trust me, the players are wrong, just as workplace harassment is wrong. But for her to be surprised she got attention – and worse, become the face of women in journalism – is ridiculous. I’m sure she didn’t have a problem when men were staring at her swimsuit photo. I’m sure she didn’t have a problem when she was getting interviews with any player she wanted at the Super Bowl when she wore revealing outfits. Again, that’s her choice. I’m not telling somebody how to do their job. But don’t cry how people view you later on.
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Chris Villareal
The Charo card is more than a little racist. Did you use that when Erin Andrews “Danced with the Stars” or comment on what she wears on the sidelines? I’ve seen her in tight pants and sleeveless shirts. But she still shouldn’t have people peeping at her. This woman shouldn’t be treated any differently just because she is considered attractive. Why Charo? Do you do that for African-Americans when they complain of being treated unfairly or is only that considered racist?
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Jason Cole's response
No, it would have been racist to write something like, “The Latin woman card.” The fact that both Charo and Sainz are Latin is coincidental. Fact is, Charo was someone who used her looks to get attention. Sainz is doing the same, to a large extent. She’s setting the bar on how people view her with how she dresses. At least she has on many occasions. As for Erin Andrews, I don’t take her very seriously, either. But the crime that was committed on Andrews is far different than what happened to Sainz. Andrews had her privacy invaded. Sainz got some catcalls. Both are wrong, but you’re comparing a cement mixer to a wheel barrow.
But he gets mail from, not feminists, not girls, but get this, male readers defending her. And some of their arguments are ridiculously absurd
Check this out:
Cryptblade
Methinks Jason is a tad jealous he can’t dress in tight jeans with a sleeveless shirt and get noticed by players in the locker room. Your comment that – for all intents and purposes – says Ines Sainz got what she deserved proves that you’re just like that loser Clinton Portis(notes). … You can preface all you want but it’s clear you hold the same thoughts as that loser Portis.
--------------------------------------
Jason Cole's response:
No, I don’t have the same thoughts as Portis. I have no idea if Sainz or any other woman reporter (aside from Samantha Stevenson) has ever been interested in having a relationship with an athlete. Frankly, I think most women sportswriters are just trying to do their job, just like I am. Most of all, what another journalist thinks or does is not my business unless it becomes news (by way of some legal action or related incident).
However, I do know provocative attire from professional attire. I have seen plenty of women in management positions (my wife is a manager at a supermarket) and I have seen plenty of women journalists. Ms. Sainz definitely pushes the boundaries of what is considered professional attire. Again, I don’t have a problem with it. I’m not jealous. Frankly, I couldn’t care less because I don’t aspire to do the kinds of stories Ms. Sainz does. But she obviously does her job well enough to stay employed. Good for her.
Furthermore, you can’t compartmentalize your life. If you choose to do revealing swimsuit photos that are obviously done to provoke interest in yourself, you can’t say, “Oh, I did that a week ago, right now I’m this serious professional.” You are the sum total of your actions. If I expect to be taken seriously as a reporter, there are certain things I have to do to maintain that standard. It’s called personal conduct. I don’t drink excessively, I don’t take drugs, I don’t do a lot of things that would reflect poorly upon myself. If, for example, I did take drugs or get in trouble for drinking, I think it would be pretty hard for me to write something about the conduct of other people, regardless of what position I took. At the same time, Ms. Sainz does something to get attention, from how she dresses to doing swimsuit shots to how she does her stories (getting on the shoulders of players). Again, that’s fine. However, getting leered at by players made her “die of embarrassment” as she tweeted? Oh, please. Now, this is not justifying what the players did. As I said, they did the wrong thing, too. However, she’s not innocent, either. This is a case where everybody is wrong.
------------------------------
Paul Ketzle
This comment is going to be critical, but I want to start by saying that I don’t intend this as blame. I just think you need to seriously reconsider something that you perhaps haven’t thought through all the way. When you talk about Ines Sainz being insincere in her embarrassment at how she was treated in the Jets locker room, in the performance of her job, because she has done modeling photos or “used her looks to get attention,” as you put it, you are barely removed from the fallacy of blaming the victim.
Whatever she does in another context in no way invites any of the harassment she endured in this one. You imply that she is not capable of being demeaned or degraded, merely because she modeled or, at another time, was dressed in a way you found overly provocative while covering the Super Bowl. “Don’t act surprised when sometimes attention goes the wrong way” is simply a regrettable statement. It is exactly the argument used to blame rape victims for dressing provocatively. She did not “ask” to be treated this way, and to imply so is to go down a path far beneath a man of your proven intelligence and integrity.
--------------------
Jason Cole's response
The problem with the example you use is she was not raped. There is no justification for rape. It’s an absolute crime. Sexual harassment is a crime that falls into a sad gray area because so many people act like idiots when they’re at work. However, if you use the example of a woman dancing provocatively in a club and she gets attention, such as hoots and hollers or leering men, to some extent she was provoking reaction. The same goes for entertainers of all kinds. They are looking to attract attention. That’s how they make money.
In the case of Sainz, she has danced on the razor’s edge between trying to attract attention with her body and saying she’s a professional reporter. At a certain point, you have to say, “Ines, what are you trying to be, a swimsuit model or a reporter?” You can’t really mix both and be taken seriously. But now she’s aghast, embarrassed and uncomfortable when players don’t take her seriously? Trust me, the players are wrong, just as workplace harassment is wrong. But for her to be surprised she got attention – and worse, become the face of women in journalism – is ridiculous. I’m sure she didn’t have a problem when men were staring at her swimsuit photo. I’m sure she didn’t have a problem when she was getting interviews with any player she wanted at the Super Bowl when she wore revealing outfits. Again, that’s her choice. I’m not telling somebody how to do their job. But don’t cry how people view you later on.
-------------------------------------
Chris Villareal
The Charo card is more than a little racist. Did you use that when Erin Andrews “Danced with the Stars” or comment on what she wears on the sidelines? I’ve seen her in tight pants and sleeveless shirts. But she still shouldn’t have people peeping at her. This woman shouldn’t be treated any differently just because she is considered attractive. Why Charo? Do you do that for African-Americans when they complain of being treated unfairly or is only that considered racist?
-------------------------------------
Jason Cole's response
No, it would have been racist to write something like, “The Latin woman card.” The fact that both Charo and Sainz are Latin is coincidental. Fact is, Charo was someone who used her looks to get attention. Sainz is doing the same, to a large extent. She’s setting the bar on how people view her with how she dresses. At least she has on many occasions. As for Erin Andrews, I don’t take her very seriously, either. But the crime that was committed on Andrews is far different than what happened to Sainz. Andrews had her privacy invaded. Sainz got some catcalls. Both are wrong, but you’re comparing a cement mixer to a wheel barrow.
