Grrrrrr...skaters glamorizing smoking

[snoopysnake]

:frus: Latest offender is Katherine Healy whose flashy big band number at Evening with Champions (Harvard) was ruined for me by her use of a cigarette in a holder as a constant prop during the number. She did many "glamourous" smoking gestures during this number...what kind of message does this send to young people, especially young female skaters?

And this is a benefit to sponsor research for CANCER?!?

:frus:

[AxelAnnie22]

I'm with you. Pretty stupid! Just what I want MY grand daughter to watch!! :roll:

[MQSeries]

If it was done in character of the number and by an adult then I don't see what's wrong with it. Plus Katherine Healy is a relatively unknown skater. It wasn't like a figure skating icon like MK was doing it. Beside, it's up to the parents to discuss it with their children afterward if the smoking number bothered them.

[snoopysnake]

If it was done in character of the number and by an adult then I don't see what's wrong with it. Plus Katherine Healy is a relatively unknown skater. It wasn't like a figure skating icon like MK was doing it. Beside, it's up to the parents to discuss it with their children afterward if the smoking number bothered them.

The number did not require smoking to be in character; for instance, she was not portraying Cruella De Ville or The Pink Panther..even those should not be portrayed with a prop cigarette.

The real question is, is there anything wrong with smoking...and the answer is YES. Smoking is still legal, but it should not be encouraged by its glamorization or being presented to the public as something artistic. This show is not some kind of freedom of speech, rebellious thing...it's a CANCER benefit.

[Tapper]

What was the context of the use of the cigarette? 1940s musical?

[MQSeries]

Sandra Loosemore has a brief description and a picture of Healy's performance:

http://www.frogsonice.com/skateweb/reports/2004-ewc/


I didn't see the performance, but I think it's jumping the gun to claim that young girls in the audience watching Healy will suddenly find smoking "glamorous" and want to emulate that behavior. First of all, kids are smart enough to know that the smoking was a part a performance. Second, if kids are raised with the values that smoking is harmful, then watching a performer smoking isn't going to make them want to do it.

[skatepixie]

Personally, as a 16 year old, I find it downright insulting that anyone would think that seeing a skating program with a cigarette holder would make anyone want to smoke. Everyone knows the dangers of smoking. Some people are going to choose to ignore that and smoke anyways, but I dont honestly think that a skating program is going to make a diffrence one way or the other.

[fadedstardust]

Personally, as a 16 year old, I find it downright insulting that anyone would think that seeing a skating program with a cigarette holder would make anyone want to smoke. Everyone knows the dangers of smoking. Some people are going to choose to ignore that and smoke anyways, but I dont honestly think that a skating program is going to make a diffrence one way or the other.

AMEN. This "politically correct" stuff is going way too far and absolutely strangling every art medium. Some not-very-known skater holding an EMPTY (I assume?) cigarette holder is not going to want to make anyone smoke, that's ridiculous. It's a friggin prop, lighten up.

[snoopysnake]

AMEN. This "politically correct" stuff is going way too far and absolutely strangling every art medium. Some not-very-known skater holding an EMPTY (I assume?) cigarette holder is not going to want to make anyone smoke, that's ridiculous. It's a friggin prop, lighten up.


It does not matter how well-known this skater is or is not...she was performing in a CANCER benefit attended by many children including cancer patients at the very hospital that receives the proceeds...in this case, the prop was the centerpiece of the number (the holder contained a cigarette, albeit unlit, but the actions displayed smoking as attractive, glamorous, artistic, i.e. something one should aspire to)

Children are not taking up smoking because well-known people smoke...the do it because lots and lots of people do, and it is accepted and made desirable to them. The only way to stop this is to change the image. Every image matters. One image matters.

I do not speak up against smoking because it is politically correct. I do it because others' second-hand smoke has compromised my own health. Yes, it has. My own mother died a horrible death from lung cancer.

It is not my business if others smoke, but it is my business if others' smoking influences others. Every person who smokes in a crowd, in others' air space, or makes smoking appear as a positive thing to do, influences someone.

By the way, the following night, Katherine Healy did the same number without the cigarette and holder; instead she wore long black gloves and diamond bracelets...and the program was absolutely lovely...such a difference.

I stick to my principles on this. If you disagree, I still will. Smoking kills and it is everyone's responsibility to change this.

[Tapper]

Well, I empathize with you regarding the ills of smoking, and I cannot tolerate being around smoke either. I even get huffy when I can smell a stranger's perfume... invading my space. But, I think that the use of a cigarette holder to convey the flapper period is completely and totally and absolutely harmless. On the other hand, I can see how the use of the cigarette holder in front of this particular audience might have been somewhat insensitive.
However, censorship in art concerns me.

[fadedstardust]

My mother smoked for years and I told her she either chooses to quit giving me cancer by second hand smoking, or I run away and leave the house which she made unhealthy for me to live in. I was 13-she quit and is now much healthier for it. I never had anyone tell me smoking was bad for me, everyone in my family smoked. All my friends smoked and it was considered cool (even more so than it is now) to do it. I never did it. Ever. It smells bad. People cough. COMMON SENSE will tell you not to smoke. That's something you have to learn, like everything else. The notion that art influences bad habits in people is silly at best, hypocritical at worst. I mean, when does the blame stop going to art or society and start going to the actual people who do it? If everyone on the street starts to chop off their own arm with a chainsaw, do you feel compelled to do it too?? That's the first thing you learn in kindergarten. A kid may be a kid but they have free will and choose to smoke. There's a surgeon general warning right on the box, and these days, you can't NOT know it causes cancer and assorted other health problems. It's their choice, and their parents' choice to educate them about it though I didn't even need that much intervention and I'm not any smarter than anyone else so if I could figure it out on my own, I'm sure others can too. If we're going to crack down on cigarettes, then good, but let's crack down on alcohol too. It's just as harmful to the body and causes way more problems (domestic violence, etc...) and yet it's still acceptable in public. If she'd be carrying a martini glass I doubt we'd be having this discussion.

My point is, we'll never rid the world of harmful things (pollution anyone??), or young kids' likeliness of being exposed to it. All we can do is educate ourselves and each other. If kids saw that cigarette holder, then it was a great opportunity for parents to speak to their children about the dangers of smoking. "She's not really smoking, if she smoked she wouldn't have enough breath in her lungs to be an athlete...etc"

Smoking grosses me out. But smoking wasn't involved here, it was an unlit prop set to display a mood. Life is full of negative images, and we're not going to change the world so drastically that they disappear. It's our job to know better.

[Rabid Baby]

I'm sorry, but whether we like it or not, cigarette holders WERE the embodiment of female glamour during certain periods of time in United States history. If one wants to portray a 1930s Hollywood glam girl, for instance, or a sexy 1940s jazz singer with a smoky voice, the cigarette holder is an integral prop (whether in skating or in film or in photography or were ever).

I agree with the previous comments; kids aren't stupid. Kids are bombarded with anti-smoking advertisements and cancer statistics from a very young age. They KNOW smoking is harmful; my 6-year-old cousin came home from first grade a few weeks ago crying because Daddy was going to die from smoking. They KNOW.

Seeing a skater with a cigarette holder isn't going to counter all of the anti-smoking propoganda so prevalent in the world. Besides -- how many LITTLE kids even know what a cigarette holder is? Probably not many. How can a kid be influenced by an object that he doesn't even know the function of? And how many teenagers are going to take up smoking just because a skater did it? They all KNOW that the skater herself doesn't smoke because it would cut into her endurance and her ability to skate.

I guess I'm saying that it's silly to blame athletes/movie stars/singers for things like young people smoking. There are plenty of ways to counter the messages from these superstars. First and foremost, parents should talk with their children and instill anti-smoking values in their children, if it's an issue that's important to them. Second, most (if not all) American schools have vigorous anti-smoking campaigns...and we've all seen and heard the numerous television and radio adsvertisements. Really, the anti-smoking images are just as prevalent today as the smoking messages.

Ultimately, it's up to the individual either to smoke or not smoke. As much as we may want to blame someone else, it IS an individual choice, and the facts are just as readily available as the "cool" image." Kids are well enough informed that they know what they're doing...they're not just smoking because some relatively obscure skater held a cigarette holder during a performance.



(Disclaimer: I comment only on America simply because it's the only country I really know well enough to comment ON. I have no idea how smoking is portrayed in the UK, for example.)

[skatepixie]

a) No one used holders to smoke anymore. It certainly isnt cool. They are used pretty much only in this medium...that is...a prop.

b) It was a prop. She wasnt really smoking. I cant stress this enough.

c) Kids know the dangers of smoking. In 5th grade, I was shown (now...this is graphic...Im going to get graphic...so if you dont wanna hear it...skip to d...ok? we're clear....youre warned.) pictures of what a patient with (Im not going to spell it...I cant...but it starts with e and its that illness where you cough all the time) coughs up each day. Gross, to say the least. That picture has clearly stuck with me, and I would never smoke.

d) Smoking is a legal activity. It isnt exactly healthy by any meaning of the word, but it is still an action that people have the choice to do. She wasnt pretending to do crack out there.

e) You cant re-write history. As mentioned in "a" above, people dont use holders anymore. Its a piece of a time. It sets a mood. Thats *all*.

f) As a prop, it extends the line of the arm. This is why you think of glamour. It is bringing attention to the movements she is doing with her hands.

g) People are, in the end, responsible for their own choices. I dont smoke. If I did, I would be choosing, because I know the dammage it does, to accept that. Just as, when someone drinks too much, they are then responsible for the hangover that they wake up with. They know they'll get the hangover, the smoker knows what could happen. Its not the fault of a skater, or an ad, or anyone else except for the smoker. Take responsibility for your actions.

h) Wow...Ive gotten to h...anyways... When you promote not taking responsibility for your actions, you are doing childern more harm then seeing a skater doing a program that suggests the idea of smoking. You see, you are leading by example in saying that it isnt ones fault when one makes a bad choice. You did it cause you wanted to be like that skater, it has nothing to do with what you chose.

[fadedstardust]

Skatepixie- The disease you are thinking of is Enphezema (sp?) :D And ITA with everything you said.

[jcspkbfan]

This thread reminds me of an editorial published in one of the Toronto papers about Kurt's "Casablanca" program. I believe the full article is posted on the Kurt Files website for anyone interested in reading the whole thing, but the editorial basically criticised Kurt for glamorizing smoking and setting a bad example to his fans because he pretends to take a drag from a cigarette at one point during the program. :roll:

The only other program I can think of featuring smoking was Brian Boitano's "Hernando's Hideaway" number, but I remember the camera cut away from Brian at the point where he lit the cigar during one broadcast of this number.

I can't speak for anyone else, but despite the fact "Casablanca" is still my all-time favourite Kurt program (and the "cigarette gesture" is one of my all-time favourite moments in that program), I've never had the urge to take up smoking during any of the numerous times I've seen it. Ditto for Brian's program.

It bothers me more when I learn a skater (or any other public figure) smokes off the ice (ie. Tonya Harding) than when I see a skater pretend to smoke while portraying a character on the ice. I do agree actors smoke too often in movies when it's not necessary to the character or plot, but I wouldn't put skating programs in the same category unless the skater actually inhales on the ice (which, to the best of my knowledge, Kurt, Brian and Katherine have never done!)

That being said, I have to agree Katherine's program doesn't sound like the most appropriate number to skate at a cancer benefit show, but in the grand scheme of things when it comes to kids influenced by negative behavior from role models, seeing a skater pretend to smoke while portraying a character on ice ranks far down the list, IMO.

[Callisto]

Unfortunately from personal experience, I know it's spelled "emphysema": my beloved grandfather, who who helped raise me, died of a combination of that disease and lung cancer. He had smoked for over 60 years.

**gingerly clambers onto official soapbox from Patsy's Parlor**

There's nothing glamorous about smoking. Please, if you're a smoker, and you love anybody--if anybody loves you--please, please try to quit. It may be--most likely it will be--one of the most difficult things you ever do. But it will also be one of the best things you ever do.

**carefully inches down from soapbox and returns it to the Parlor**

I would sincerely hope that no one, young or not so young, would take up smoking just because they see a professional performer of any sort smoke while portraying a character, especially one from a period of history in which smoking was considered a glamorous--or at least socially accepted--activity.

[flippet]

I would sincerely hope that no one, young or not so young, would take up smoking just because they see a professional performer of any sort smoke while portraying a character, especially one from a period of history in which smoking was considered a glamorous--or at least socially accepted--activity.
I can't imagine anyone who would....while growing up, I saw plenty of movies, etc that included smoking, and I never thought they looked cool--I thought they looked silly. I never had any desire to smoke, and seeing supposed role models smoking certainly didn't put that desire into me.

Like others have said...kids aren't stupid. They know the difference between acting and reality. The fact that Daddy or Mommy smokes will have a much larger impact on them than some skater MIMING smoking in order to create a mood. Acting is not smoking....and smoking is not acting. Big difference between imagination and reality.

[NJSk8Fan]

Tis true that smoking was once considered glamorous and those cigarette holders were popular.
I'm not for a lot of censoring....however, since this was a benfit for Cancer.....maybe this one time the cigarette holder could have been left off the ice.