Martha Burk is at it again

Remember Martha Burk?

Sure you do. She's the lady who staged what she thought would be a mammoth protest at the Masters golf tournament in Augusta GA a few years ago. She thought it was horribly unfair that the private Augusta National Golf Club had no women as members. She envisioned some "million woman march" on Augusta where they would lock arms and hold the tournament hostage. The "protest" amounted to about 40 people hanging out in trees, waving signs and whatnot. Few people took her seriously.

She then took it upon herself to go after some of the corporate sponsors of the event. Some got scared while the likes of Coca-Cola didn't bat an eyelash. She's worked really hard trying to get Augusta to change their policy, but they won't and they refuse to be intimidated by a few protesters.

Now she's "protesting" the NHL because of its new "My NHL" ad campaign, which features an attractive and relatively scantily clad woman helping her warrior get dressed and ready for action. Burk says this is demeaning and sexist and all this other stuff. She plans to write letters to the NHL and NBC, begging them to abort the ad campaign, which is scheduled to begin on NBC next week. She believes that the woman in the ad is nothing more than a "sexual ornament" and that the ad is sexually suggestive. NHL spokeswoman Bernadette Mansur begs to differ with her. Mansur claims that the woman represents the warrior's "spiritual trainer" and "his mentor".


When I watched the ad, I didn't think that much about the woman. She's not the focus of the ad. I certainly didn't think it was even remotely, as Dr. Burk suggests, a double entendre when she asks "Ready?". It's crystal clear (to me, anyway) that she means "are you ready for battle?" View it for yourself here and make up your own mind.

I'm not explicitly suggesting that anyone write Ms Burk to tell her how much of an idiot she is for trying to take the NHL down. In fact, she's too much of a coward to post her own email address anywhere that I've looked, but the following contact information is available from the NCWO website:

To contact or schedule an interview with Dr. Burk, please call 202-293-4505 or e-mail Dr. Burk's assistant, Amy Mulry, at amym@ncwo-online.org.

Do whatever you want to with that information.