Blown out of Proportion

By: Angie Wiatrowski

First of all, I don’t see why the Chicago Sun-Times’ front-page story featured blow-up sex dolls in the White Sox clubhouse. Second of all, I don’t see why Kara Spak and Carol Slezak are making a huge deal out of it. I became more and more frustrated the more I read.

For those who don’t know what happened, here’s the deal. Some players brought two blow-up sex dolls into the clubhouse for a slump-buster. As some may know, they haven’t been doing the greatest and need to step up their game. One of the dolls had a sign that said ‘Go White Sox’ while the other said ‘You’ve Got to Push,’ and baseball bats fanned around them. Okay, I’ll admit that is kind of tasteless and gross, but it’s their clubhouse, and they’re guys! I’m honestly not that surprised, and I thought it was kind of funny.

Ozzie defended his players and said to the Sun-Times, “If the players do it in the dugout so everyone in the public can see it, or did it in the hotel lobby…we did it in the clubhouse. A lot of worse things happen in the clubhouse. I don’t really know why people are making a big deal.”

I don’t know either Ozzie. The way these women ranted about this issue mad me feel like they’re putting a ‘too sensitive’ stereotype on women reporters. The guys aren’t going to want us around if we’re going to criticize and complain about everything they do in the clubhouse. Again, I do agree it was pretty disgusting and tasteless, and I would feel awkward walking into that situation, but by going into the clubhouse, reporters are going into their personal space. It’s their place to hang out and relax before and after the game. If they need to pull pranks for a slump-buster then just leave them alone.

I think Slezak went a little too far when she said the display was “rationalizing that the team treats female reporters respectfully,” and that the blow-up dolls, “said a mouthful about how the Sox organization views women.”

What??? I’ve been in the Sox clubhouse a few times and hung out with the players and the coaches and they were nothing but respectable and nice to me. Don’t get me wrong, I’m sure the dolls did offend people for good reasons, but I think this just went a little too far. I don’t think the Sox organization meant to degrade women at all or prevent them from doing their job. Slezak went further and added, “So, how do you like your team now, Sox fans? Do you think the players respect women? I’m not so sure about that.”

Whoa, who’s to say that all of the players were involved with this? I’m not saying she should have pin pointed every player who took part, but I think she’s jumping to conclusions too rapidly.

Being one out of maybe three women in a locker room is tough and I worked hard, just as they have, to get to that level Making a harmless prank a big deal will definitely change their views on being comfortable with female reporters. It was a harmless prank that really should not have been blown out of proportion.

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Angie Wiatrowski is a journalism student at Columbia College Chicago and has been an active journalist since freshman year of high school. She attended Minooka Community High school, where she was the Special Features editor for the school newspaper. She was born and raised around baseball and is a diehard Chicago White Sox fan. Also, check out her blog.

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2 Comments

  1. We generally get offended about trivial things. But I also can understand how some women would be upset because I probably have a friend or two who would think that is pretty tasteless. However, at the same time, jokes and pranks are just that. I mean, I guess I might be offended if my sister was a blow-up doll.

    In one of the weekly entertainment newspapers I read often, there is a paid advertisement featuring women in business every year. The feature was satired in the same edition with a completely chauvinistic, stereotyped parody. Which, in essence, exemplified that there are many successful women owning local businesses. Several women were outraged or either thought the satire was in bad taste; some thought it was bad timing.

    Obviously, that is a completely different example. But it just shows how certain things can be over analyzed I traveled with a baseball team and I never knew any of the players who actually needed blow-up dolls; and that might be more offensive to some.

    Comment by den cotton on May 6, 2008

  2. As a journalism student, you should be able to recognize the difference between a column and a news story. Slezak=column. That’s why her picture and opinion are in there. The news story that I wrote never said I was “making a huge deal out of it” or ascribed any sense of what I think about this.

    Comment by Kara Spak on May 6, 2008

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