You can’t beat the Internet
Perhaps I’m not being fair or understanding here, and maybe some of you can provide some insight.
An 18-year-old high school pole vaulter, Allison Stokke, got her picture plastered all over the internet. It’s an innocent picture, but it, er, clearly showed how attractive she is. I was debating about whether to post the picture at all since the family seems so sensitive about it (explained at the end).
A fairly popular website got a hold of it, and pretty soon, there were plenty of crude and explicit comments from the male gender all over the place. (Of course, I had nothing to do with it. I always exhibit the utmost respect towards females.*)
She and her dad were very ticked–this part I understand.
They tried to get various media outlets to remove the picture, and while obviously futile (see title), I get that.
What I don’t get is doing interviews with the Washington Post and local TV, only increasing the profile of the story. It’s just about the last thing you’d want to do.
And this from the article: “…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.”
I’m trying really hard to grasp this one. If a bunch of people wanted my body for a screensaver–well, there are probably some meds to help those people–but to say that I’d feel violated? That seems paranoid.
Oh, and I posted the picture because:
1. I’m skeptical that someone who just wants the story to go away would do an interview with a major national newspaper.
2. It would have been so much extra work to make readers find the pic themselves.
3. This site is not exactly high-traffic anyway.
4. Yeah, she’s hot.
