Allison Rebecca Stokke is an American track and field athlete and fitness model. She broke a number of American records for high school pole vaulting. At the age of seventeen, images of her were widely shared on the internet resulting in her becoming an internet phenomenon
One day Allison Stokke was a just a pretty high school athlete and the next she was an international Internet destination, although not by her own choice. Miss Stokke's photograph was taken during a high school track meet, where she was preparing to compete in the pole vault, and someone posted it to a web site. It didn't take long for other less reputable sites to pick up the image and set off a round of Stokke-mania on the worldwide web.
Miss Stokke isn't just a pretty girl; she's a pretty girl who happens to be a tremendous athlete. She was the California pole vaulting champion and is on scholarship at the University of California. She wanted to be known for her athletic accomplishments rather than purely for her looks. In terms of athletics, she wanted to be seen as Maria Sharapova, an attractive tennis player who wins, instead of Anna Kournikova, an attractive tennis player who just shows up and looks pretty. Miss Stokke could eventually become another Natalie Gulbis, a gorgeous LPGA golfer who has been quite successful.
The problem began to surface in 2004 when she began to receive messages from her friends that her photo had been seen on the Internet. She had 1,000 new messages on her social network site and a YouTube video of her being interviewed had been viewed 15,000 times. She began to receive interview requests from around the country, including one from Brazil. She went to her coach for help and to her parents (her father is an attorney) for guidance. They soon realized there was little they could do to stem the flow of messages and photos, other than to focus on trying to stop the ones that were particularly tasteless. They were successful in getting a fake profile of Allison removed from Facebook and another taken off MySpace, which included a slideshow with a dozen photos and a chat forum. She told the Washington Post, "Even if none of it is illegal, it just all feels really demeaning."
There's no question that Miss Stokke is an amazing athlete. Born in Newport Beach, California, she made the U.S. team that competed in the 2005 World Youth Championships, but couldn't compete because of a broken leg. As a senior at Newport Harbor High School she jumped 13 feet, 7 inches, which ranked second in the nation. She held seven national records.
As a freshman at Cal, Miss Stokke set a school freshman record by vaulting 13-5¾ at the Pac-10 Championships. She also qualified for the NCAA Indoor Championships and was ranked No. 20 in the country. In the outdoor season she jumped 13-9¾, the second-best performance in school history.
But because of her notoriety, Miss Stokke hasn't been able to enjoy her success. She rarely leaves her home and has grown weary of the attention she's garnered. In fact, the online media information on the Cal website does not include her mug shot, while all other student-athletes have their images on their biography pages.
You know, it's so very easy to jump onto the media bandwagon; to become a thoughtless drone who is simply led by innuendo, manipulative media practices, and mass mindlessness. Allison Stokke - the new "it" girl for the track and field genre - look at her! She's quite a "hottie!" Oh- and look!! There's a ready made snicker producing prop - the "pole" - get it? Man!! Let's see if we can take this talented, young, and, unfortunately for her, very attractive young Lady and dismiss her arduous hours of excruciating, difficult, repetitive work she no doubt spent in achieving a level of athleticism only a handful of humans can claim. Let's see if we can assist the media in perpetuating the banal, lurid, despicable projection of this young and gifted athlete and make her "public domain," little more than the sum of her parts, an athlete-sex-symbol, a novelty. It was easy - it always is - to objectify this young girl, to marginalize her, to take away the wispy-haired "kid" and replace her with the provocative creation of those who might profit or otherwise exploit her. And all the while this poor little girl just wanted to excel at her sport, her passion.
ReplyDeleteI almost broke into tears when I read the following statement Ms. Stokke gave:
"I worked so hard for pole vaulting and all this other stuff, and it's almost like that doesn't matter. Nobody sees that. Nobody really sees me."
My god. How did I get so easily - no - EAGERLY - drawn into the hype and hoopla that allowed me to see this young athlete in so vulgar a light? Like an evil twin, the media was there to ferret out my lowest common denominator and become an unwitting but still "willing" participant in denying Allison the joy and satisfaction she rightly should have been afforded through her achievements and abilities. It's pathetic.
Allison - Ms. Stokke - I can't have made even the slightest ripple in your pond of serenity - I'm "no one" so far as you are concerned, and I only recently became aware of you. But, sweet girl, it is reprehensible that I was yet another cog in the relentless wheel that took something so magnificent, so pure, so "right" as your athletic (and academic) pursuits and reduced it to something that caused you discomfort or embarrassment or pain. I can only offer you this conciliatory thought; you have made me aware of the deceitfulness of the media; of its cruel or inhuman agenda and of the little girl who worked so hard and so long to truly become someone of value who has been retooled to fit its fancy. You will, no doubt, prosper and go forward with your dreams and your further pursuits. I just regret that I had not been a better human being, a better person, a better "man" who could have avoided ever being part of taking away from your youthful endeavors. For what it's worth, I'm sorry, Allison Stokke.
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