Scientist Betsy Barton: ‘It is insulting that Gina Elise [of Pinupsforvets.com] pretends her purposes are completely altruistic’
Background: I recently praised Gina Elise for her “Pin Ups for Vets”, describing it as a “worthy project.” My blog post on it is here.
Scientist Betsy Barton, a frequent commenter on my blog and one of my favorite readers, slammed actress Gina Elise (pictured) of www.Pinupsforvets.com in a recent blog comment. Elise says she “came up with the idea to recreate a nostalgic pin-up calendar that would serve three purposes”:
“1. The calendars would be sold to raise funds for our hospitalized Veterans.
“2. The calendars would be delivered as gifts to our ill and injured Veterans with messages of appreciation from the donors.
“3. The calendars would be sent to our deployed troops to help boost morale and to let them know that Americans back home are thinking of them.”
In response, Barton wrote:
“Please remember purpose number 4–Promoting Gina Elise. She is an aspiring actress…this ‘campaign’ is certainly very clever marketing on her part. I honestly applaud her initiative. No one is above having to promote themselves, and I do not think that the self-promotion negates all the good that she might do. But it is insulting that she pretends her purposes are completely altruistic.”
Betsy wrote to me and said “I’d love to hear your opinion — on or offline — on my Gina Elise comment,” so here it is. Sure, it’s clever self-promotion for Elise–that was obvious as soon as Elise first emailed me. But so what? If you want to get your product, services, or talents noticed and you want to make a living, you need to self-promote. She’s married her career and a good cause, which I think is just fine. It’s hard to launch significant projects and do some good in the world, and if you’re going to do it, you need media attention and money, and the two are often closely-related.
Also, if she’s going to do the work of creating, promoting, and selling these calendars, why should she not be compensated for that work? I doubt she’s making money off of it, so self-promotion is her “pay.”
I sometimes get this attitude about my work–because I’m a journalist promoting the cause of fatherhood, it’s somehow offensive that I earn a living doing it. I guess it would be more noble if I worked for free and let the bank repossess my home and my kids go hungry.
On a related note, I’m always amused how some guys with family law problems write me and expect me to drop everything I’m doing, spend weeks pouring over their case files, and then devote myself to publicizing the injustice they’ve suffered–all for free. And when I balk, they’re shocked–shocked!–and angrily denounce me for being “just in it for the money.”
I often feel like telling them to open the phone book, call up an electrician, explain to the electrician that they’d like him to drop everything he’s doing and rewire their house for them for free, and see what the electrician says. I have all the sympathy in the world for fathers trapped in these situations, but I receive over 100,000 emails a year and while I do try to help, my ability to do so is obviously limited.
I see Gina Elise as promoting some good values–respect for soldiers and veterans, a healthy view of sexuality, and–gasp–the idea that women can show some appreciation and respect for the men who make sacrifices to protect them. I see no reason why she shouldn’t personally benefit from her work.
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January 26th, 2008 at 11:33 am
this sort of thing is not new. in WWII the boys surely appreciated the pinups of that day, and didn’t they name a life jacket after Mae West? they often painted these women’s likeness on planes headed for war. a good looking distraction from home is a welcome sight, and helps morale. those women’s careers suffered little from those good works. and in those desperate days who would have, could have maligned them for it? and the nostalgia bit is sexy too.
imho you have to use the tools God gave you; and, if it helps the troops by lifting morale, it’s a good thing.
January 26th, 2008 at 11:40 am
forgot something. recently i heard that a lot of the funds for different “help veterans” funds were being spent on other things, and maybe lining the pockets of some nefarious individuals. not here i hope.
January 26th, 2008 at 12:00 pm
I wonder if Betsy Barton had any problem with the self-promotion angle of Oprah opening that girl’s school in Africa, or Madonna adopting kids from 3rd world countries?
January 27th, 2008 at 12:35 am
As a veteran with a 100% disability I wrote her a note – saying I have seen too many women hanging around the military for attention, ego needs. bothe overseas or on US bases. I asked her straight out what her goals were and why.
She wrote a very nice letter back to me and seems like a good person. I didn’t offer to buy a calendar, said I wasn’t interested in same. Asked if that music WWII stuff, – I like- but isn’t it a bit dated for the Iraq guys…
Anyway. She send a long personal reply and seemed decent, trustworthy, heart and (Body too) soul in the right place.
I guess I should have asked for an 8 by 10 autographed nude glossy – as long as she is going as far as she is… if she is serious about cheery up those who really need cheering up… Bugle boy from company C and shorts might need updating to rock, rape and Victoria’s secret looks… but she didn’t seem the type. Sooner or later some woman will claim she is going nude for the troops so buy my calendar and help make me rich and bring a smile to some crippled vet – and I won’t trust her either.
There have been too many who scam the troops from doughnut dollies, to loans at high rates of interest, to Halliburton… hate to mistrust a woman who looks so good, but… our boys are dying over there as local news people write about military women “kicking in the doors” in Iraq. Well, most must be kicking in the doors at the officers club because, comparatively speaking, I don’t see many women’s names on the death reports.
We all serve in different ways and if it’s a calender to make a few guys smile, that’s a start.
SD