Pole Vaulter's Dad Gets the Shaft

Tuesday, June 05, 2007 8:33 AM

Scrolling through my RSS feeds this morning, I notice there's considerable buzz in the ether about 18 year old high school pole vaulter Alison Stokke. In a nutshell: she's shattering state records, happens to be photogenic, and is now plastered all over the 'net, i.e., American Idol hottie Antonella Barbra.

In one heavily-linked article, her father, defense attorney Allan Stokke, talks about how he surfs the web to protect her from potential stalkers. Well, that's all fine and good...and what most of us would do to protect our children from society's detritus if it were our daughters. However, maybe Allan Stokke should seriously reconsider resigning from his current profession (excerpted from feministing.com):

...Stokke's father is the same guy who earlier this year defended a cop who jerked off on a stripper during a routine traffic stop. “She got what she wanted,” Al Stokke said, of the stripper. “She’s an overtly sexual person.”


I can imagine the dinner conversation at the Stokke table: "Yes, honey, I realize you feel this is an invasion of your privacy and you are hurt and offended, but, you know, it's not really their fault. You are pretty and you did show the bare skin of your belly when you were breaking the records...and, I mean, c'mon, a "pole" vaulter? You pretty much deserve the attention."

As the father of two daughters, it disgust me that I'm partly defined in the same demographic as Stokke.

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