Pubdate: Sat, 09 Feb 2002
Source: WorldNetDaily (US Web)
Copyright: 2002 WorldNetDaily.com, Inc
Contact:  http://www.worldnetdaily.com/
Details: http://www.mapinc.org/media/655
Author: Joel Miller
Bookmark: http://www.mapinc.org/mmj.htm (Cannabis - Medicinal)

GETTING NAKED FOR THE CAUSE

Usually when you hear about women protesters stripping to get attention for 
"the cause," they're the hairy-legged, Volvo-driving, Birkenstock type (as 
one of my psych profs used to say), going topless to stymie loggers from 
chopping down trees.

The age-old tradition - just think of Lady Godiva going nude to get 
burdensome taxes lightened - has other practitioners as well.

Most recently, Zambian women have sloughed shirts to protest political 
corruption in their government. And just this week, "Medical Marijuana 
Barbie" doffed her top - and everything else - on Oxford St. in London, one 
of the busiest shopping centers in all of Britain.

According to a press release detailing the stunt, the buxom lady "climbed 
atop a bus stop to show her support for the worldwide campaign to legalize 
cannabis and to ask for the release of Colin Davies, medical marijuana 
patient and inmate of Strangeways Prison in Manchester, UK."

That would all be pretty blase if it weren't for the next detail:

"The irrepressible MMB, complete with diamond studded tiara, entertained a 
crowd of thousands as she stripped to loud cheers and applause, revealing a 
hand-painted marijuana leaf where a fig leaf should be and the slogan 
'Medical Marijuana' inscribed on her bum."

That got attention alright, but from the photos accompanying the press 
release, it's easy to see why the audience was cheering, and it had nothing 
do with marijuana.

Medical Marijuana Barbie is a character created by Tracy Blevins, 
comptroller for New York's Medical Marijuana Party, and is the star 
attraction of Blevins' one-woman "Medical Marijuana Traveling Circus 
Sideshow," designed to garner support for the legalization of medical pot.

Besides her breasts, the best thing Blevins has going for her cause is a 
Ph.D. in pharmacology from the University of Texas Houston Medical School. 
"I get 'em with the Barbie and keep 'em when they hear about the Ph.D.," 
she told the Palm Beach Post in November 2000.

But does she? Sure, parting with a bra and panties is going to pull some 
eyes. But what do the gawkers support, legalizing medpot or your bust? Will 
they become bosom buddies with the cause or simply your bosoms?

Take a different example. Abbie Hoffman was big on guerilla theater in the 
1960s, doing anything nutty to get attention for the antiwar, yippy 
movement. But as Saul Alinsky points out in "Rules for Radicals," antics 
aren't everything - communication of ideas is - and stunts can get in the 
way. If the antics are objectionable to the people to whom you intend to 
communicate, they won't hear the accompanying message. It's that simple.

It may be in England that folks are fine with naked spokeswomen, but that 
doesn't play well in America, especially among the people who need 
convincing about legalizing marijuana the most - conservatives.

As someone who supports the legalization of cannabis completely, and not 
just for medical reasons, I find the antics of people like Blevins 
annoying. I'm a Christian, socially conservative and much prefer folks stay 
well-adorned in public. But beyond my scruples, I don't want the 
legalization movement known for shirtless stunts so much as the merits of 
legalization, which are many.

It is like the annoyance some Libertarians feel being associated with Art 
Bell and Howard Stern. Guys like that can bring attention to the party, 
yes, but they can also make the party look like a pack of kooks.

Likewise, for the sheer shock value in sporting a set of breasts, Blevins 
runs the risk of making the drug legalization community look like a bunch 
of, pardon me, boobs.
- ---
MAP posted-by: Beth