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Related: Editorials & Other Articles, Issue Forums, Alliance Forums, Region ForumsHow Redskins Used Cheerleaders: Topless Photo Shoots and an Uneasy Night Out
When the Washington Redskins took their cheerleading squad to Costa Rica in 2013 for a calendar photo shoot, the first cause for concern among the cheerleaders came when Redskins officials collected their passports upon arrival at the resort, depriving them of their official identification.
For the photo shoot, at the adults-only Occidental Grand Papagayo resort on Culebra Bay, some of the cheerleaders said they were required to be topless, though the photographs used for the calendar would not show nudity. Others wore nothing but body paint. Given the resorts secluded setting, such revealing poses would not have been a concern for the women except that the Redskins had invited spectators.
A contingent of sponsors and FedExField suite holders all men were granted up-close access to the photo shoots.
One evening, at the end of a 14-hour day that included posing and dance practices, the squads director told nine of the 36 cheerleaders that their work was not done. They had a special assignment for the night. Some of the male sponsors had picked them to be personal escorts at a nightclub.
So get back to your room and get ready, the director told them. Several of them began to cry.
They werent putting a gun to our heads, but it was mandatory for us to go, one of the cheerleaders said. We werent asked, we were told. Other girls were devastated because we knew exactly what she was doing.
Their participation did not involve sex, the cheerleaders said, but they felt as if the arrangement amounted to pimping us out. What bothered them was their team directors demand that they go as sex symbols to please male sponsors, which they did not believe should be a part of their job.
The Redskins weeklong trip to Costa Rica in 2013 for which the cheerleaders were paid nothing beyond transportation costs, meals and lodging, the team said provides a vivid illustration of how N.F.L. teams have used cheerleaders for far more than sideline dancers during games. Their treatment has come under intense scrutiny in recent weeks since two former N.F.L. cheerleaders filed discrimination complaints and described a hostile work environment in which they were often dangled as sex objects for the titillation of male fans away from the games.
https://www.msn.com/en-us/sports/nfl/how-redskins-used-cheerleaders-topless-photo-shoots-and-an-uneasy-night-out/ar-AAwEnTH?li=BBnb7Kz
LonePirate
(13,431 posts)I hope those women win millions from their lawsuit and there are arrests made of the people responsible here.
DRoseDARs
(6,810 posts)Horrific in many ways, and they possibly have legal standing for a suit, but not sex trafficking.
LonePirate
(13,431 posts)Much like when pedophiles arrived at the To Catch a Predator house, they showed under with the intention of having sex. Sounds like the organizers and managers of that trip intended it to be one of sex trafficking.
angrychair
(8,732 posts)Or at the very least unethical.
This is incredibly disturbing.
Aristus
(66,446 posts)It's essentially kidnapping. Depriving someone of their legal means of leaving or entering a country. I don't know what the laws are like in Costa Rica, but this was perpetrated by US citizens against US citizens. There has to be some legal recourse for them.
Major Nikon
(36,827 posts)Its not unusual to have your passport taken when you are part of a group checking into a resort out of the country. The hotel has to make a copy and this can take a while if its a large group. This has happened to me many times and often I dont get it back till the next day.
Its not being confiscated, but you cant check in without either handing it over temporarily or they make a copy.
cwydro
(51,308 posts)Ive never traveled as part of a group either, but that sounds bogus.
TreasonousBastard
(43,049 posts)Major Nikon
(36,827 posts)I know for a fact they made photocopies of all our passports. Ive been traveling internationally for over 30 years and I cant ever remember an international hotel not wanting a copy, so it sounds strange youve never been asked.
Major Nikon
(36,827 posts)Adults only and all inclusive including booze.
TreasonousBastard
(43,049 posts)Look, they knew damn well they were sex symbols when they took the job, but not slaves, sex or otherwise.
And I don't buy for a minute that the "personal escorts" were guaranteed they would not be hit on or assaulted, or that their "dates" were warned to keep hands off. Even if that were the case, that they were told to hang out and dance with some guy should not be part of the deal.
This was five years ago-- is it still going on?
waddirum
(979 posts)Given the resorts secluded setting, such revealing poses would not have been a concern for the women except that the Redskins had invited spectators.
Would not have been a concern for the women? Says who?