By JIMMIE TRAMEL Sports Writer on Sep 14, 2013, at 9:06 AM Updated on 9/14 at 9:06 AM
GAMES PEOPLE PLAY
Former Oklahoma State receiver Artrell Woods is down and out. He suffered a spinal injury (and temporary paralysis) due to ...
Former receiver Artrell Woods was a focal point in the final chapter of Sports Illustrated's five-part investigative series ...
On Friday, Sports Illustrated’s five-part investigative look (“The Dirty Game”) at the Oklahoma State football program focused ...
For a story in today's Tulsa World, I talked to Melanie Page, an Oklahoma State psychology professor who was quoted in an SI story which alleges that members of an Orange Pride student hostess group enticed football recruits with sex.
We talked about a big-picture issue (the role of women in society) that she has strong feelings about and that issue was the bulk of my story.
But I led the story with this because I thought it would be an attention-getter and, yes, I'm admitting that because I think transparency in journalism is a good thing.
I told her this was a loaded question and she might want to give it some thought before she answered it. But the question was this: Do you think it's hypocritical for SI to write a story about enticing recruits with sex when the magazine annually publishes a swimsuit issue?
“Incredibly,” Page said. “I actually thought about that today when I was waiting for the article to come out. I was like, wait a minute. The entire swimsuit issue objectifies women in the worst way possible. That last cover was shot in Iceland or something, like the girl almost had to go to the hospital for frostbite or something for the sake of this sexy art photo.”
Page isn’t kidding. Cover girl Kate Upton said she temporarily lost her hearing and eyesight after a cover shoot in Antarctica because her body was shutting down.
Of course Page was curious to read the SI story about OSU. When she went to a web page to see the article, right there beside it was a promo for a “cheerleader of the week.”
