Originally Posted by
1999ballboy
I usually enjoy watching Kornheiser, but his remarks were way out of line and the suspension is 100% deserved. I'm rather shocked that anybody thinks differently to be frank. There's no need to politicize this incident when sexism wasn't even the issue. Tony broke the rules. ESPN did not suspend him because Hannah Storm's a woman, they suspended him for breaking the rules. He acknowledged it on the air. You're very obviously not supposed to say that kind of thing about co-workers, and bringing their age into it doesn't help. It's not like anybody would react with anything but laughter if he criticized Madonna for wearing the same outfit, so the gender-double-standard card falls flat here. What's the big deal anyway? Two weeks.
And so what if there is a gender double standard? The theory about business attire, sexism, etc. is not entirely incorrect but it's a pretty big oversimplification and in no way is it limited to ESPN. As part of our culture, women's fashion is less conservative and more individualistic than men's, even in business circles. Blame the media, etc., but at the end of the day women and men are both typically wearing what they want to. Men don't want to make a statement and have the image of the American masculine professional in mind. Women see other women in the media dressed more outlandishly, and they don't necessarily see the sexual aspects of it like men do- it's more of a form of self-expression, and they likely feel pressure from the members of their own sex to participate. So let's not make ESPN the bad guys (yeah, that's a phrase I never thought I'd say) for suspending the guy who made a really uncalled-for statement.