I have many problems with the New York Giants, primarily their performance from last season and a 3-13 record. I also understand the controversy surrounding the NFL's insistence on making a policy regarding the National Anthem. And, while I feel that first amendment rights should always be protected, the Giants have never allowed this particular issue become a headline in a paper. I believe that's due to the ownership's desire to have all press about this ball club be about the game, and not off-the-field issues. Granted, some players bring that on themselves as we saw with kicker Josh Brown who admitted to domestic abuse. He was summarily dismissed. Was he the best kicker? No, but he was able to make nearly 92% of his scoring attempts and had the 5th most field goals made in the organization. There's no place for that level of abuse in sports, and players who commit such crimes should not be allowed to be team representatives or community role models, which these athletes, and others from parallel leagues, are.
With that mentality, I also agree with the Giants position on cheerleaders. From a 2010 article in the New York Times: “Philosophically we have always had issues with sending scantily clad women out on the field to entertain our fans,” said John Mara, the Giants co-owner. “It’s just not part of our philosophy.”
Exactly. Parading around half-naked women during a sporting event where there are thousands of inebriated patrons, predominantly men, doesn't make sense. Are you there for football or are you there to gawk? Ask the Jets, where in the old Giants Stadium it was tradition to harass women to take their tops off as they walked by! Don't worry, instead of doing a better policing job and throwing this scumbags out, the Jets, in 2006, started their own cheerleading squad to better focus leering fans. Again, why are you there?
In today's New York Times I learned of another lurid tactic: in addition to the ladies who are actually required to perform dance routines during the games, there is a second group of cheer-leader-adorned models whose only purpose is to promote luxury services by either selling suites or as during-game entertainment. Basically, teams employ this secondary squad to create a Hooters-like atmosphere at games for those with cash to encourage them to keep coming. These women frequently make minimum wage, and are routinely sexually and physically harassed by the same patrons these organizations are courting.
These women are also expected to be used for photo shoots and promotional materials such as swimsuit calendars...for minimum wage. As detailed in their etiquette manuals, the restrictions on where they can appear, what they can wear, and what they can say are highly regulated, nevermind the fact that they also have to maintain waistlines and bustlines or be terminated. They even are required to sign non-disclosure agreements which has prohibited some of them for going on record with the news media about the hostile work conditions they face as their sex-symbol football personas.
Now that lawsuits have surfaced from these women about their treatment, the NFL teams needs to do some serious soul searching. How much of your annual revenues are due to mostly naked women? What real purpose do they serve? Do they impact the team's ability to win football games? I think we know most of these answers, and in the spirit of not abusing women or supporting those players and administrators who do, it may be time to end the practice of cheerleading in professional sports as it flies in the face of what this country stands for, specifically as a violation of women's civil rights in a workplace (See Civil Rights Act of 1964, Title VII).
Based on new policies claiming the need to honor our country during the National Anthem, this should be a no-brainer.
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