Don Cherry continues arguing against female reporters in locker rooms
Hockey analyst Don Cherry stirred up some drama last Saturday when he ranted on-air about female reporters’ access to locker rooms, claiming women should be kept out of the locker room. In response to the rant, Cherry received quite a bit of criticism from fans, and both the NHL and CBC came out with statements saying they do not support Cherry’s views.
But Cherry does not seem to be changing his opinion anytime soon. Robin Herman, the first female reporter to enter a professional sports locker room, published a column on ESPN-W Wednesday to remind Cherry that he was the first NHL coach to allow her to enter a locker room. She voiced her surprise over his change of heart.
So Cherry responded Wednesday night on “Coach’s Corner”, saying that men, especially professional athletes in a locker room, act in ways he does not believe are appropriate around women.
“I let [Herman] in, I had no problem at all,” Cherry said on the show. “Why have I changed my mind? I’ll tell you why I’ve changed my mind. I have seen things and I have heard of things that go on in the dressing room when the women are in there [that] are disgusting.
“You would not want your daughter or sister in there, believe me.”
Cherry’s heart seems to be in the right place. He said he does not like the way some athletes act around women and does not want women to have to put up with it, but his idea of keeping women out displaces the punishment.
Nothing would change for the athlete by restricting access for female reporters. They can keep on behaving any way they’d like because they won’t be punished in any way for their behavior.
Instead of kicking women out of locker rooms or even ranting about the behavior on-air as Cherry did, perhaps it is time for the leagues to think of ways to teach athletes how to behave properly in professional locker rooms. After all, if the players are professionals at their sports, shouldn’t they also be professional in conduct at their workplace?
