News > Culture > When the Internet Sucks

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MONDAY JUNE 4 2007 11:00 AM

During my morning blog rounds today, I ran across this post on one of my favorite take-no-prisoners feminist blogs, about a young pole vaulter (a California Interscholastic Federation champ, with a 13'7" career best vault and five national records--damn!) who became an internet celebrity when a photo of her was posted (without permission from her or the photographer, by the way) on a sports blog along with the following comments:

Hubba hubba and other grunting sounds.

. . . as best as I can tell from my rudimentary Internet sleuthing, Allison turned 18 less than two months ago, and she's still a senior at Newport Harbor, which last time I checked -- and I check often -- is a high school. Writing these kinds of posts are precisely why I keep getting mysterious, threatening voicemails from someone that sounds like Chris Hansen. "I'll get you, Ufford!" "You disgust me, sicko!" "Seriously, put some pants on." Et cetera and so on.

Oh, and there's also this: Miss Stokke is one of the best young pole vaulters in the country. She set the U.S. record for a freshman girl at 12'8", and her present personal best is a couple inches off the best high school girls mark. So, that's why I'm honoring her with a post. Because she's an exceptional athlete. Yes.

. . . she takes pole vaulting so seriously that she's unable to detect sarcasm. Which is too bad, because missing sarcastic remarks ends our steamy, illicit romance before it's even begun. That, and the age difference. And the restraining order.

The sports blogger has since posted an apology--of sorts--and a request that his readers "treat (the pole vaulter*) with respect." But by his own admission, his tendency to virtually leer at women athletes is kinda gross.

The pole vaulter and her family certainly think so: realizing that her pics had gone around the world and that there were "unofficial fan sites" about how "hot" she is and the like, they decided not to just take it lying down, but to try to get the pics and comments off the internet. Obviously a futile goal, but they've had some success: the unofficial fan site is down, with an apology to the pole vaulter "for having contributed to the unwanted attention"--a classy move. And, with the help of the WaPo article linked above, her story's started a bit of internet self-examination about an obvious problem: the ability of online publicity to make public figures of private people, often in degrading, embarrassing, or even threatening ways.

According to the WaPo, the pole vaulter had been getting tons of phone calls and comments on her MySpace page; gets started at when she goes out; tries not to leave the house alone; and her dad tries to keep on top of "potential stalkers" on the internet. All of which are, alas, real problems, as Kathy Sierra, among others (including yours truly) can testify.

For a lot of people, the upshot of this kind of thing is "eh, what can you do: assholes exist." Which is true. But for people who get caught in the asshole vortex, that's not a particularly helpful response. As the pole vaulter says remarkably clearly,

Even if none of it is illegal, it just all feels really demeaning.

This is the thing. Promising athletes, tech and academic bloggers, and fat kids caught on video, really shouldn't have to have their names and images dragged through the mud. And we really shouldn't shrug when it happens, any more than we should shrug when people are targeted by stalkers in "real," non-internet life. There may be little one can do about it legally (although I really do think that cases like the pole vaulting thing should be covered somehow under internet stalking laws), but surely there are things we can do about it morally, as members of a human community.

The bottom line for civil society really isn't what you can get away with under the law. On the internet, in particular, there's a fiercely independent streak that tends to boil things down to arguments that one's freedom to say whatever the hell one wants is the most important moral value. But y'know, we might occasionally do a little cost/benefit analysis: is a sports blogger's right to talk about how hawt a pole vaulter is *really* more important than her right not to be harassed? Is the hilarity of passing around YouTube videos of fat little kids really worth what it must feel like to be a fat little kid with the entire internet pointing at you and laughing? Are we really incapable of understanding the difference between laughing with someone and laughing at them?

And hey, when we make mistakes and it turns out someone we think is in on the joke doesn't find it funny, the least we could do is offer a proper apology and, if necessary, pull the links.

Bitch_PhD has certainly been guilty of using the internet to say bitchy things she'd never say to someone's face, but this story has made her think that she should try to be better about this.

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Comments

Cash

USA

OLD SKOOL

JUN 05, 2007 05:15 AM

Bitch_PhD said:
If she wanted his opinion, she'd have asked.

Soooo......bloggers should get permission from their subject before publishing their opinion?

Also....seriously...pick your battles. You're going to let "hubba-hubba-hubba" get your knickers in a twist?

Jennifer_

Venezuela

November 2006

JUN 05, 2007 05:16 AM

I like the implication in some of these posts that this girl shouldn't be ogled because she's talented.
Which suggests that its perfectly fine to perve over untalented people.

Although personally, I don't think a few comments from people saying this person is attractive would be that bad. It's a part of life, and I can think of worse things that could happen to a person. But I think the problem is with some people just taking it too far - stalking her, putting her face on t-shirts, and generally acting like obsessive loons. 'Admiring the athletic form' is fine (even if it involves the words 'hubba-hubba!'), but acting like a crazed stalker is not.

Also, purely for the purposes of admiring the athletic form in a completely pure and chaste way, and because it deserves to be posted a second time:

Awesome.

TheFuckOffKid

NEWSWIRE

Australia

JUN 05, 2007 06:21 AM

Bitch_PhD said:
If she wanted his opinion, she'd have asked.

Applying this rule to the subjects of scrutiny in your own blog would result in said blog being shut down pretty fast.

I mean, I don't see you approaching any of the people you write about and asking their permission.

Chainlink

Key West, FL

August 2005

JUN 05, 2007 08:32 AM

Bitch_PhD said:
I dunno. It's harassment when some asshole drives by in a car and catcalls; why wouldn't it be when some asshole does pretty much the same thing online? If she wanted his opinion, she'd have asked . . .

. . . gone to his site and read it.

Tallboy66

Chicago, IL

January 2005

JUN 05, 2007 09:01 AM

BDeyeD said:

Tallboy66 said:

PointBlank said:

Tallboy66 said:
The picture taking wasn't wrong and if she's uncomfortable with attention from being a great athlete she should quit now.

On the other hand sexy,barely legal type comments are not needed.

Did you read the article at all? The picture taking isn't in question. Neither is her standing as an athlete.

I did read it and read it again and ..."Stokke read on message boards that dozens of anonymous strangers had turned her picture into the background image on their computers. She felt violated. It was like becoming the victim of a crime, Stokke said. Her body had been stolen and turned into a public commodity, critiqued in fan forums devoted to everything from hip-hop to Hollywood."

So she's uncomfortable with her picture being taken and circulated through the internet and some one thinking she's hot.
If you don't want you're picture taken don't go out where it can be taken.

It's not like they photoshopped her head onto a porn stars naked body.

Don't go out where your picture can be taken? You mean, like, outside? Wtf is this, Afghanistan? Go fuck yourself.

Not Afghanistan but America where we are free to pursue happiness, such as being a great athlete, and drawing attention to yourself by excelling at what you choose to do, now if you happen to be good looking as well chances are someone else will too.

In fairness if she was receiving a lot of phone calls or "hey baby your hot" walking down the street that's another thing and she needs her privacy like anyone else but if you put yourself in the public eye and don't want to be recognized then your in the wrong place so stay home.

BDeyeD

Toronto, ON

January 2007

JUN 05, 2007 09:45 AM

Tallboy66 said:
but if you put yourself in the public eye and don't want to be recognized then your in the wrong place so stay home.

Let me speak slowly and clearly so that you understand.

She.
is.
on.
a.
HIGHSCHOOL.
team.

How the fuck is excelling on your highschool pole-vaulting team putting yourself in the public eye? I can understand people appreciating her attractiveness, but blaming her for being upset and feeling violated by all this unwanted attention is ludicrous and irresponsible.

Cigarette

Cleveland, OH

April 2004

JUN 05, 2007 10:10 AM

apesamongus said:

FancyUltraFresh said:
the alt. radio station here [in KC] was talking about this like a week ago. i got curious, so i looked Allison up. and yes, she IS pretty cute.

but the thing that struck me was what she was wearing. yes, i understand that in certain sports certain attire can be benificial. for example, wind resistance on a tshirt would probably be a bad thing in pole vaulting, espesh if you are trying to break records. i get it. but what i don't get is why she feels the need to wear supersuper short shorts and a sports bra. certainly she could buy shorts that were tight, but a little longer and covered her ass cheeks. or an athletic top that was tight but covered her abs.

i am by no means saying that she was asking for all this attention. but i am saying a girl that good-looking must KNOW she's good looking. she's got to have known people would stare, people would goggle, and some people would want in her spandex.

I'll go a step further and say that picture looks like a glamour shot. It's not an action shot. She's not getting ready to run and throw something. It's a pose. Wearing a very revealing outfit. The owner of the photo (whether it's the photog or if she retained ownership) has every right to tell people they can't put it up on some fan site, but it's bullshit for anyone to claim that either the photographer or her or anybody else involved in taking that picture didn't know damn well it was supposed to be sexy and fully intended it to be so.

The bitch was asking for it, right? What a slut.

Cigarette

Cleveland, OH

April 2004

JUN 05, 2007 10:11 AM

chainlink said:
Poor girl, successful and famous at just 18. My heart goes out to her.

Because we all want to be famous, right? It's the goddamned American way!

Paris Hilton for President!

AndersWolleck

Astoria, NY

February 2003

JUN 05, 2007 10:21 AM

Bitch_PhD said:

Girthy said:

Toku666 said:
Wow.

Inside of two full pages we're already blaming Bitch_PhD for drawing more attention to Stokke (way to miss the point) and completely re-classifying the point of the article in the first place.

I don't care if I start sounding like a broken record, but take a step back, folks:

Whether or not she's hot is beside the point. The point, as is often the case in Bitch_PhD's missives, is that there is a dug-in anti-feminism in our society, and it's not okay because it's worse elsewhere. It's not okay because some of us are "just being men."

Here's the real secret: You can be the most lustful, foul-mouthed, filthy-minded individual and still maintain respect for other people as human beings, PERIOD.

I do it every day.

God damn, I just said I found her attractive, and ya'll wanna jump down my throat. I wasn't makin' any lude comments. I wasn't making any sexual innuendos. I just said she's hot. Then I posted a picture of a dude wearing a shirt with a slogan referring towards her outstanding athleticism. God, I must be some kind of perverted monster! Give me a break.

Furthermore, if she was really that concerned about this girl, she would have omitted her full name from the article.

Guess what? I did.

then you should have just used her first name or no name at all

AndersWolleck

Astoria, NY

February 2003

JUN 05, 2007 10:23 AM

Necia

SPOILERS! (Click to view)

whats wrong with calling an 18 year old hot?

d20

San Francisco, CA

September 2003

JUN 05, 2007 10:41 AM

BDeyeD said:

Tallboy66 said:
but if you put yourself in the public eye and don't want to be recognized then your in the wrong place so stay home.

this isn't really a direct response to you, but she has given interviews on network tv, so it's a bit more complex than that.

not that it isn't a plain fact that cute girl + internet = creep factor 10, but i don't think either of the sides in this thread is really correct. no, she isn't a poor little girl that has been hideously victimized for no reason, and no, she isn't fair game for any random bullshit that you wouldn't have the balls to say to her face in polite company either.