Not Buying It

   If you've been watching any football in the United States the past few months, you have probably noticed the "No More" public service announcements that have run during the commercial breaks. These announcements feature NFL players and other well known people saying things like "No More Violence", "No More Excuses", "No More Bystanding".
   These ads are being broadcast partly in the wake of the domestic abuse scandals involving high profile NFL players. While I applaud their attempt to take a  stand on this subject, I'm not impressed. It's a good show, but it is also lip service only. It's real easy to ask various players to participate in  this public service campaign. It's real easy for Roger Goodell to stand up at a press conference and say that they (NFL) needs to do a better job at handling these cases.
   I'm not buying it.
   I realized  this this morning when I watched a little of NFL AM. The cast of the show consists of former players, sport reporters and one woman. The one thing that I noticed is how she was dressed. This morning she was wearing a form fitting dress in a snakeskin print. She was wearing a pair of five inch high stiletto heels. The hemline was a bit above the knee when she was standing up, but once she sat down the hemline was much higher showing a generous amount of well shaped thigh.
   I've watched NFL AM off and on for a couple of years. I like to watch it when I'm working out in the mornings during football season. The dress may be a different colour, the necklines are sometimes lower, but it is always very form fitting and the heels are always sky high.
   She does reports on various things and can hold her own with the guys during the patter between segments. While she does have a obvious role on the show, it is very obvious that she is also eye candy for the males watching the show. This is what bothers me. I find it more than a little disingenuous that the NFL is making this big deal out of their ant domestic abuse stand and is yet has a woman whose role is to be decorative.
   I understand that image is all when it comes to television and that no one will tune in to a show where the people aren't attractive (zombie shows being an exception). It is possible for the female anchor, Erin Coscarelli, to dress attractively, but not provocatively. A dress doesn't have to fit like a glove and the shoes can have about half as much heel height. She'd still look great.
  I'm sure by now I'm going to get someone who is going to accuse me of (please excuse the expression) slut shaming or body shaming. They're going to say that Erin can wear whatever she wants and I have no right to criticize.
   Those who say that are missing the point. The point is that based on how she is dressed for the show part of her role is to be something for the guys to ogle. In other words, she's an object. The minute that someone becomes an object, it is much easier to think of them as not real, not human and someone that that be used and abused at will.
  I've read some things on abuse. Some of what I've read is that it is more about power and control. It's my opinion that a reason why women are abused is because of how they are portrayed by the media in general. Many times they are portrayed arm candy, playmates, friends with benefits what have you. What they are not seen as is human. A person. Someone with needs and feelings.
  It's all fine and well for the NFL to say that they are against domestic abuse. It great that they air those announcements. In my opinion, if they want to be taken seriously on this subject than they should stop contributing to the root cause of abuse. They can start with how they portray their female reporters, anchors and fans.