These cases tend to be presented as wacky human-interest stories-like the 2016 case of Nicola Thorp, a receptionist who was sent home without pay for refusing to wear high heels, or Debrahlee Lorenzana, a bank clerk who alleged in 2010 that she was told not to wear heels because they looked too provocative and was then penalized when she switched into flip-flops.īut allowing bosses to control or even comment on workers’ bodies creates real and dangerous invasions of privacy-everything from Hooters waitresses being threatened with job loss unless they lose weight to "religious exemptions" allowing employers to refuse insurance coverage for birth control.Įven in relatively comfortable and safe office work, women are pressured to look conventionally attractive (by wearing heels, or makeup, or getting manicures, or generally being "put together" in a thousand ways men don’t have to think about), but they're penalized for unprofessionalism if they’re so attractive it "distracts" their coworkers.Įven as women have made gains in the workplace, women’s bodies are still seen as commodities for men to possess, exploit, and trade. Employers frequently assume control of female employees’ bodies in a way that doesn’t apply to men. The team doesn’t seem to mind monetizing their cheerleaders’ sexuality on the field, then punishing it after-hours.īut the problem isn’t specific to cheerleaders. As commentators have noted, the one-piece that Davis wore on Instagram covers as much or more of her body than the Saints’ two-piece cheerleading uniform. But the undercurrent here is just as toxic, with an employer essentially treating a female employee’s body as company property. The claim that Davis’ gender discrimination makes is simple: It is implicitly discriminatory to put all the burden for preventing “fraternization” on cheerleaders, who are mostly female, and not on players, who are exclusively male. After she posted the one-piece photo to her private Instagram account-she’d locked it to prevent NFL players from following her, per team rules-she received a text message from Ashley Deaton, senior director of the squad: “Very poor judgement to post a picture like that especially considering our recent conversations about the rumors going around about u." Four days later, Davis was fired.
Instead of putting the onus on men not to be sexually inappropriate with their colleagues, the team asks cheerleaders to sequester themselves in order not to be seen as temptresses.ĭavis claims she never socialized with the Saints, but the mere impression was enough to compromise her career. It’s an ancient prejudice: rather than examine men’s behavior, women are supposed to make themselves less available to men, the better to “protect” themselves from predation. Players can follow whomever they like on social media they’re allowed to wear Saints gear in selfies and they’re not required to change their plans, shut up, or leave the premises if a cheerleader turns up. These rules are supposedly meant to “protect” the cheerleaders from sexual attention, which of course doesn’t explain why none of them apply to the Saints players themselves. If a cheerleader is in a restaurant and a player arrives afterward, she must leave." Davis’ mother, Lora Davis, claims that cheerleaders are not even allowed to make small talk with players: " been told that anything beyond ‘hello’ and ‘great game’ is too personal… It’s considered fraternization to say anything beyond that." If a Saints cheerleader enters a restaurant and a player is already there, she must leave. The rules around their social lives are even stricter: "Cheerleaders are told not to dine in the same restaurant as players, or speak to them in any detail. The New York Times summarized the rules which cheerleaders must follow: Cheerleaders must block Saints players on social media and the team dictates what outfits are appropriate on social media-no Saints gear (which is considered a form of marketing) and no lingerie.
Her Name Is Cynthia Nixon-not Miranda.īut if Davis broke those "fraternization" rules, well, it seems almost impossible not to.
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