The Chicago White Sox are having a rough year. They were in the middle of a losing streak when someone (possibly outfielder Nick Swisher) decided that good way to boost team morale would be to put two naked inflatable dolls in the clubhouse. These blow-up dolls were wearing signs that said "Let's Go White Sox" and "You've Got to Push".

Well, somebody pushed because one of the dolls had a bat shoved up her butt.

Aren't the White Sox classy gentlemen?

The eloquent Veronica at Viva La Feminista even called her post "Stay Classy, White Sox". She says:

"When it comes to baseball, the question I get asked the most is how I can watch when it's so boring.

Well thanks to the sophomoric antics of the Chicago White Sox, it's not boring any longer...But that anyone would wave away the sex doll display by saying there are worse things in other locker rooms removes any sort of responsibility from the White Sox organization. This display shouldn't be weighted against what the Cubs, Yankees, or Red Sox have in their locker rooms. It should be weighted against human decency and respect for women. It can not be waved away with the ever present, "Boys will be boys" mantra because in fact these are not boys, they are men.

Emma Goldman has a blog called Cowgrrl Up and she isn't buying that "boys will be boys" excuse either.

A lot of people are defending their behavior, even though it was in an area of the clubhouse open to reporters, with the usual "boys will be boys" banality. Mike and Mike of ESPN Radio however, took the much more enlightened view that defending this behavior clearly discriminates against reporters of any gender that would be made uncomfortable by this inappropriate display. In response to listeners' comments that people were being "too politically correct", Mike Golic and Mike Greenberg argued that this was purely a matter of basic decency. If you want to argue, as some did, that female reporters should just "suck it up" or find a new job, clearly you're willing to accept a certain level of discrimination in sports reporting or that female reporters should be willing to deal with what would amount to actionable sexual harassment in any other workplace. Should we be telling young girls that they can be anything they want to be - except sports reporters, unless they're willing to quietly accept offensive behavior? Would you tell your daughter, niece, etc., that?

Look. I think we can all accept the fact the a locker room full of guys can have the tendency to get crude, but this is the workplace. If someone pulled this crap in my old office they would have been fired immediately. The HR department would have been all over the two women in the office begging us not to sue the company and giving us free days off and raises just to buy our silence.

Why is it admissible in baseball?

Is it because it is a game?

They are still getting paid. In fact they are getting paid a lot. The minimum salary for a Major League Baseball player in 2008 is $390,000 a year. I can't speak for you but that is a hell of a lot more than I make a year. That is more than most people I know make in two years. Shouldn't that kind of money imply a certain level of professionalism?

Lady At the Bat doesn't think it is a big deal.

I'm not saying that if I'd walked into that clubhouse I wouldn't have been offended. Of course I would've been. But I doubt the dolls would have been there if they'd known I was coming. To me this is like doing something in the privacy of your own home and being interrupted by unexpected guests.

A big blow up over nothing.

I can't sit here with a straight face and say that I don't think blow-up dolls are funny. Sure, they are gross and disturbing if you think about them being put to their intended use but at the same time they can be comical and part of a good joke - just not at work.

I am not offended that some baseball player tried to motivate his teammates with a blow up doll. I am just offended that they think it is acceptable to do that in their place of employment.

When are we going to get past thinking that just because someone is a talented athlete they don't have to follow the same rules as everyone else?

Contributing Editor Sarah also blogs at Sarah and the Goon Squad and Draft Day Suit.