Softball and Sexism

Re “Show Biz Softball--Accent the Biz� by Jeff Meyers, April 18:

So, according to the league administrators and unnamed “unofficial historians� women just haven’t “shown an interest� in the entertainment softball league. There are 42 teams with 700 players who socialize, rub elbows with the power elite and unabashedly promote their careers; but women have never shown an interest in it?

I’ll tell you how my interest and that of a roomful of industry women was greeted a few years ago. When questioned, a league member at first told us that women were not admitted to the league. Then he changed course and eyeing my 5-foot 5-inch, estrogen-influenced frame, he smirked at me and suggested that I might try for the team if I “really thought that I could compete with Reggie Jackson.� Now I ask you, is there a lot of room for doubt about what was being communicated to me about my chances for joining the league? What do you suppose the chance would be for a major male entertainment figure being turned away on the same basis? (Hey, Barry Diller, do you really think you can compete with Reggie Jackson?)

The facts simply are these: A major source of industry contacts and unofficial networking is conducted in an arena that effectively bars women, and let’s just say, a whole lot of other riffraff is kept out by the imposition of a $1,650 fee.

These actions are unheard of in any other industry, where one would be hard-pressed to find a segregated league and an entrance fee that exceeds the price of a T-shirt. The fact that the “80-page manager’s handbook� doesn’t officially exclude women is not a matter of great comfort since policies of discrimination are so rarely written down.

DENISE ARANT

Glendale