The Terry Cloth Solution

Let me state for the record that I do not like going into locker rooms, and have never been in one unnecessarily. Also, in my 10 years as a journalist I have entered roughly 250 locker rooms without a single unpleasant experience. I attribute this to my own tact and the commendable behavior of most athletes. And not once have I or they swooned to the floor from either lust or embarrassment.

The right of women reporters to have the same access as their male colleagues is endorsed by every professional sports league. It is also the law, and has been since 1978, when Melissa Ludtke, then with SI, won the right to enter the New York Yankee clubhouse. U.S. District Court Judge Constance Baker Motley ruled that to bar Ludtke violated her constitutional rights under the 14th Amendment.

Speaking of the law, if the New England Patriots' Zeke Mowatt did indeed perform the lewd act that Boston Herald reporter Lisa Olson alleges he did (SI, Oct. 1), he should be arrested, as he would have been if the episode had occurred in a park or any other public place.

As for the puerile rantings of other athletes, coaches and owners: The next time one of them behaves so childishly, give him a truly fitting punishment.

Tell his mother.