Tori seems OK to me.

[Bug]

I emailed Tori to get her take on things. I am very impressed. Here is her response.

 

Hello,

Thanks for thinking of letting me respond to the questions. The problem is that I have found that no matter how much I say the truth, people want to believe the worst-maybe it makes them feel better about their own lives, maybe they just don't like to see others succeed or be happy, maybe they have just never learned that if you can't say somethng nice don't say it at all...whatever it is, I have decided to let others live their lives and if they want to use their time trying to live mine too, all I can hope is that they will eventually meet me and will find something positive to take away from the experience. As for why I climb, I just plain love it. That is it. There is nothing more or less. Yes, I win and get money, that is cool. I lose too but I would climb even if I lost all the time. As for my parents, my "career" is really not easy on my family and we'd be a lot better off if I was a normal teen. My mom is a full time student getting certified to be a high school teacher and she is a full time substitute teacher too. She is a mom to me and my brother who is a normal teen and my french"sister" for the year. My dad owns two small businesses and tries to really be there for my brother. so he doesn' t feel short changed due to my crazy life and schedule. They have a life that invovles a lot more important things than just "being famous" or having a daughter who is. Anyone who ACTUALLY knows them (funny how many forum people say they know my parents but don't) can tell you that they are completely laid back and totally indifferent to my climbing decisions. My parents are currently planning their life around the day when my brother goes to college and they can go back overseas and work helping people there(in si x years). Why would people who live their life serving others all of a sudden become money hungry, fame seeking, kid pushing, psychos? It doesn't make sense. They are the last people to care about the things climbing has brought me. They just want me to grow up to be a good person-and honestly, from what they have seen and experienced in the climbing world, I doubt they would consider climbers to be "good" people at the moment. The funny thing about the opportunities that climbing has brought me is that I have gotten mostly opportunities to speak to youth across the nation and just be a role model. I am very proud of that. I am honored that people outside of climbing see the kind of person I try to be and they encourage me to keep on striving to be that person. My goals in life are so much bigger than climbing. I want to go to college and be an advocate for the rights of young female athletes and be a teacher and a wife and mother and coach and, and, and....I wish people out there criticizing me would use their energy to go and do something good for someone who needs encouragement or a helping hand or kind word. Imagine if all that negative energy was put to a positive use. Then climbers would really have good reputations. Unfortunately, as long as climbers sit around and criticize kids and do drugs and complain...then they will continue to not be respected by the mainstream world. I kind of think that is the point, though, they don't want to be mainstream and that is why they criticize me.

 

Sorry to go on so long, It was so kind of you to ask for my perspective. I hope your little girls grow up to be their own heroes- confident, happy, strong, dedicated, and smart no matter what they do in life.

 

Sincerely,

Tori Allen

[lummox]

bug. you a stalker or what? leave the girl alone already.

[Bug]

lummox said:

bug. you a stalker or what? leave the girl alone already.

[Necronomicon]

[RuMR]

Necronomicon said:

 

Necro...i rarely insult, but you, my "friend", are a huge raging dick...in fact why don't you eat a bag of dicks...FUCKING PUNTER...

 

Nice dancing, sucker...

Edited October 28, 2003 by RuMR

[thelawgoddess]

bug, have you read tori's book? she wrote it when she was 13 and i thought it was a great kid's book.

 

i put her huck doll up on the camp 4 board this summer after a long trip with it and it was gone quick!

[minx]

this is ridiculous. this girl is 15 yrs old. she hasn't done anything wrong, appalling or even anything in particular poor taste.

 

back off necro

[lummox]

thelawgoddess said:

bug, have you read tori's book? she wrote it when she was 13 and i thought it was a great kid's book.

 

i put her huck doll up on the camp 4 board this summer after a long trip with it and it was gone quick!

 

you gave up playing with dolls?

[cracked]

minx said:

this is ridiculous. this girl is 15 yrs old. she hasn't done anything wrong, appalling or even anything in particular poor taste.

 

True. We should rant against the media, then. But her website still doesn't appeal to me.

[E-rock]

Thumbs up, Bug. Thanks for going to the source and thanks for starting this thread. Kids her age with so much drive and ambition deserve all the praise and good fortune that comes to them.

 

[jkrueger]

She sounds wise beyond her years, and has a great attitude in general. She is out there climbing and loving it -- nothing wrong with that.

 

In her response, she comes across as rather humble and accepting of her talent for what it is on a personal level, which is a refreshing contrast to the egos here who trashed on her to begin with.

[MysticNacho]

Why, I love her site. I can't wait to receive my Tori Allen action figure!

 

[specialed]

Child porn.

[Dru]

tori is overhyped to the max by her agent and one of these days she's gonna overload and quit climbing for basket weaving or whatever like katie brown.

 

is she the best woman climber? no way.

 

is she the most marketed woman climber? yup. except maybe destivelle

 

does her agent market her using claims of things she hasn't yet accomplished? yes.

 

do climbers typically call bullshit when people claim to have done things they haven't done, or chestbeat? yup.

 

if she was just climbing without the marketing hype would people have issues with her? dunno but i don't think so.

[lummox]

Dru said:

tori is overhyped to the max by her agent and one of these days she's gonna overload and quit climbing for basket weaving or whatever like katie brown.

 

is she the best woman climber? no way.

 

is she the most marketed woman climber? yup. except maybe destivelle

 

does her agent market her using claims of things she hasn't yet accomplished? yes.

 

do climbers typically call bullshit when people claim to have done things they haven't done, or chestbeat? yup.

 

if she was just climbing without the marketing hype would people have issues with her? dunno but i don't think so.

[specialed]

Kids are sometimes the best role-models for climbers, cause they climb for the pure joy of climbing and don't concern themselves with all the bullshit we do.

 

However, Tori Allen's purposefully knee-deep in the bullshit, so she doesn't get to join the "I'm just a little girl trying to have fun and have a good attitute" club.

[Bug]

specialed said:

Kids are sometimes the best role-models for climbers, cause they climb for the pure joy of climbing and don't concern themselves with all the bullshit we do.

 

However, Tori Allen's purposefully knee-deep in the bullshit, so she doesn't get to join the "I'm just a little girl trying to have fun and have a good attitute" club.

Hype is out there all over everything. She is probably mostly climbing and letting her agent handle the hype. Why not let it be for something like climbing? What is the "bad" that is going to come out of it? I am confused about where the anger is coming from.

[willstrickland]

Dru said:

tori is overhyped to the max by her agent and one of these days she's gonna overload and quit climbing for basket weaving or whatever like katie brown.

 

Actually, Katie started climbing again.....

[sk]

Bug-

 

frankly I couldn't give a rats ass. I don't realy even pay attention to professional climbing. That is not what I am interested in. Sure I hope she is happy, has a nice life whatever... but it has NOTHING to do with my life, except that I think she is a poor representation of WOMEN climbers.

[jkrueger]

Kids like toys. I would rather see girls playing with a Tori Allen doll that promotes active outdoor pursuits than a Barbi that promotes vanity and empty consumerism.

 

Why is it okay for The Rock to have an action figure and promote himself, but wrong for Tori Allen to do the same?

[Dr_Flash_Amazing]

Muffy_The_Wanker_Sprayer said:

except that I think she is a poor representation of WOMEN climbers.

 

Humble, polite, friendly, encouraging, intelligent, articulate, multitalented, motivated, successful ... by all accounts, a lousy representation of most women climbers, and a poor role-model to boot.

 

Right.

[specialed]

Bug said:

specialed said:

Kids are sometimes the best role-models for climbers, cause they climb for the pure joy of climbing and don't concern themselves with all the bullshit we do.

 

However, Tori Allen's purposefully knee-deep in the bullshit, so she doesn't get to join the "I'm just a little girl trying to have fun and have a good attitute" club.

Hype is out there all over everything. She is probably mostly climbing and letting her agent handle the hype. Why not let it be for something like climbing? What is the "bad" that is going to come out of it? I am confused about where the anger is coming from.

 

I ain't angry, just expressing an opinion.

I think the contrarians here feel that one of the attractive facets of climbing is that it falls outside the lines of mainstream sports. The vast majority of people who participate in it don't do it to compete with anyone but maybe themselves. And even the best climbers are usually normal people who you see at the crag and drink beer with after. The whole notion of competitions and agents runs contrary to what I enjoy about the sport/activity/lifestyle of climbing.

 

As far as sports go climbing is a more ascetic one. If Tori wants to be a rich and famous athlete, I wish she would have chosen a different sport like gymnastics or bowling. You don't see Deen Potter, Peter Croft, or Lynn Hill marketing themselves or garnering more attention to their activities than they need to get by. If they wanted to be flashy they might have taken up another activity.

 

I don't really care what Tori Allen does, though, I just think she's silly.

[jkrueger]

specialed said:

You don't see Deen Potter, Peter Croft, or Lynn Hill marketing themselves or garnering more attention to their activities than they need to get by. If they wanted to be flashy they might have taken up another activity.

Lynn Hill wrote a book. Dean Potter does magazine covers and Patagonia ads.

[MysticNacho]

I'm not all familiar with the exploits of Tori Allen. I know she's a sport climbing wonder girl, and that she has her own action figure, but thats about it. Has she been lying about her accomplishments or something?

[specialed]

jkrueger said:

specialed said:

You don't see Deen Potter, Peter Croft, or Lynn Hill marketing themselves or garnering more attention to their activities than they need to get by. If they wanted to be flashy they might have taken up another activity.

Lynn Hill wrote a book. Dean Potter does magazine covers and Patagonia ads.

 

Don't think Dean has an agent, homes.