The disgusting ordeal ESPN reporter Erin Andrews has had to face — being the victim of a peeping Tom while she was walking around naked in her hotel room, then having the video surface on the Internet — has brought together men and women of all stripes, as people everywhere come to her defense. Many admit that women in such high-profile positions don’t have the luxury of just being able to do their jobs and be respected for it.

KING 5 sports reporter Lisa Gangel in Seattle is also a beautiful blonde hoping to be respected rather than drooled over. The whole incident affected her, as well.

"It deflated me," Gangel told The Seattle Times. "You never know what can happen, and in our profession, being so visible, you never know who’s watching you … I’ve always thought that, despite Erin Andrews’s smokin’ hot looks, she’s very good at what she does. You only hope that people recognize your work first. It hurts to know what she’s going through."

Viv Bernstein of TrueSlant writes:

So Andrews is punished for being pretty. But somehow she deserves it, because everyone assumes the only reason she was hired by ESPN was her appearance. What people don’t realize is that puts Andrews in a position no male reporter faces on a daily basis: She has to prove herself on every assignment to demonstrate that she is more than a beautiful stand-in for a real reporter.

A blog post on Feministing.com said the voyeurism "is simply an escalation of the barrage of sexism and objectification that constantly surrounds her [Andrews] as she attempts to construct a career in a ‘man’s sphere,’" and notes that female sideline reporters are often selected for what they look like — oh, and maybe their broadcast skills. "They are, in short, exploited for their sex appeal to straight, male audiences and rarely, if ever, asked to provide opinions or analysis (presumably because the networks are not interested in the sports opinions of women, and certainly not these women). Female sideline reporters generally do not graduate to the broadcast booth or other high-level on-camera positions. More often, they are phased out as they age and replaced by younger women."

As the investigation into who violated Andrews continues, ESPN has banned staffers from the New York Post from appearing on any of its TV or radio programs. That’s payback after the Post published photos of Andrews from the video in its paper and on its website for all to see. Andrews’s lawyer has vowed legal action against any media outlet that publishes the explicit photos.

"In light of the New York Post’s decision to run graphic photos of ESPN reporter Erin Andrews, we have decided to stop utilizing Post reporters on any of our outlets," said ESPN spokesman Chris LaPlaca. "Erin was grievously wronged here, and while we understand the Post’s decision to cover this as a news story, their running photos obtained in such a fashion went well beyond the boundaries of common decency in the interest of sensationalism. This is not a decision we undertook lightly, but we feel it is an appropriate one."