Columnist Dean Juipe: WNBA should distance itself from Playboy

Dean Juipe

Tuesday, July 17, 2001 | 10:15 a.m.

Dean Juipe's column appears Monday, Tuesday, Wednesday and Friday. His boxing notebook appears Thursday. Reach him at juipe@lasvegassun.com or 259-4084.

Being all for women's rights and very much opposed to any type of female exploitation, I've received some nice feedback over the years from NOW.

But I wonder how the organization feels about what's going on with Lisa Harrison.

Personally, I'm appalled that not only Harrison but the Women's National Basketball Association would allow itself to get into a situation where players could pose in various stages of undress for Playboy.

But the flip side needs to be addressed: Harrison, a forward with the Phoenix Mercury, has the right to do as she pleases, even if an old prude such as myself feels she's doing her profession and the women's movement a disservice.

Harrison, as you may have seen or been following, won a contest that concluded Monday in which website voters ranked her the "Sexiest Babe in the WNBA." The prize, if she is so inclined, is a substantial sum of money to pose in Playboy.

Last year's winner, Michelle Marciniak of the Seattle Storm, declined Playboy's offer.

Harrison, 30, is wavering, balancing the desire to supplement her $35,000 basketball salary with objections such as this and those of her mother. She has said she may do it.

Whether she does or doesn't, the WNBA should respond by inserting a clause in every player's contract by next season that blocks its employees from even considering such a thing.

The 3-year-old league fancies itself as family entertainment and presents its players as potential role models. With a very young audience that includes hundreds of thousands of both male and female preteens, it wants as wholesome an image as it can garner.

It does not need this type of publicity, nor does it need to have its players subjected to schemes that do little but add to Playboy's coffers.

Each of the 10 WNBA candidates in the Playboy survey gave their written approval, so Harrison -- and Marciniak last year, for that matter -- knew what this could lead to. In Marciniak's case, she says now that she didn't give it much thought until she won, after which she realized the negative impact it would have on her family.

She got out before any real damage was done, and hardly anyone noticed. There was no furor and barely anything written about it.

But Harrison, a starting forward who is averaging 9.1 points and 5.0 rebounds for the 7-12 Mercury, invited this attention by not only allowing herself to be part of the Playboy web site but by admitting she may take the magazine up on its offer. Yet her mother has expressed her disapproval and, hopefully, that accounts for something.

Maybe it's just me, but I think female athletes should distance themselves from all types of sexual exploitation. I didn't like it when Brandi Chastain ripped off her jersey to celebrate her World Cup-winning goal last year, even if it got the U.S. soccer player on the cover of Time, Newsweek and Sports Illustrated, and I didn't like it when Pro Beach Volleyball turned its players into grist for the titillation mill.

I don't like the SI swimsuit issue either.

To me, the female athlete has worked too hard to be treated like this, no matter how great the lure of money.