Boys will be boys. Still?

If you pay any attention to the world of sports, you've probably heard about the dust-up surrounding the Chicago White Sox and their creation of a weird shrine involving blow up dolls and strategically placed baseball bats in a misguided attempt to change their clubhouse juju. Let's just say they're doing pretty poorly so far this season and have lost six in a row. A lot of people are defending their behavior, even though it was in an area of the clubhouse open to reporters, with the usual "boys will be boys" banality. Mike and Mike of ESPN Radio however, took the much more enlightened view that defending this behavior clearly discriminates against reporters of any gender that would be made uncomfortable by this inappropriate display. In response to listeners' comments that people were being "too politically correct", Mike Golic and Mike Greenberg argued that this was purely a matter of basic decency. If you want to argue, as some did, that female reporters should just "suck it up" or find a new job, clearly you're willing to accept a certain level of discrimination in sports reporting or that female reporters should be willing to deal with what would amount to actionable sexual harassment in any other workplace. Should we be telling young girls that they can be anything they want to be - except sports reporters, unless they're willing to quietly accept offensive behavior? Would you tell your daughter, niece, etc., that?

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