
We're heading into another day of the Erin Andrews civil trial, in which the sports TV reporter and host is suing the stalker who in September 2008 secretly filmed her while she was nude and the hotel in which it happened for $75 million in damages.
Pretty much every bit of detail that has emerged from the trial ranges from heartbreaking to disgusting — enough so to warrant a deeper reflection about the sexist culture that still very much permeates sports and the sports media. Among the lowlights:
*In the months between the leak of the video in 2009 and the arrest of Michael David Barrett, who made the video and was sentenced to 2 1/2 years in prison, Andrews testified Monday that widespread speculation that she had somehow created the video as a publicity stunt "ripped me apart." ESPN, her employer at the time, forced her to do an on-air interview reliving the experience as terms for returning to the air.
Let's think about that for a moment. I remember when all of this broke. And I remember the crass idiots who thought Andrews did this to boost her career. It was and remains sexism under the guise of skepticism.
*If that wasn't bad enough, a defense attorney during cross-examination Tuesday suggested her career has taken off since 2009, as Andrews moved from ESPN to Fox and landed other high-profile gigs and endorsements.
On the one hand, this is just a lawyer doing a job. If the job is to prove that the monetary damages being sought are out of line, one supposes this is a valid argument. On the other hand, the subtle insinuation here gets back into the territory of the publicity from the video somehow being "good" for Andrews. And again, that's a pretty low form of humanity.
In response to the line of questioning, Nita Chaudhary, co-founder of UltraViolet, a national women's advocacy organization, released a statement that read in part: "Comments like the ones made by their attorney today contribute to rape culture and could sway other women not to come forward with their stories of assault. Their victim-blaming is shameful and an affront to women and survivors everywhere."
And as Lindsay Gibbs writes at Think Progress: Andrews was a rising star in the industry before this, and she's a bona fide star now — not because a man violated her and put her naked body all over the internet, or because of the attention she received for it, but because despite all of this, she was able to focus on her job and persevere. And she is brave for being so open about her struggles, and for continuing to seek justice in a system that so rarely provides it for women.