Nighttime jello wrestlers

BY day Sandra Martinez works at a New York law firm, but by night she throws off her conservative image and becomes "Sandra Claws" - an amateur female jello wrestler.
At a grungy live music bar on New York's Lower East Side, she joins 11 other women to do battle - several for the first time - in a blue, blow-up kiddie pool decorated with orange fish and filled with warm, clear clumps of an unflavored version of the gelatin dessert.

"It (lets us do) things we probably want to do to women that we sometimes dislike, but we have a forum where we can express it in a fun and safe way," Ms Martinez, a 27-year-old business development specialist, said.

Her competitors, with day jobs including nanny and marketing manager, introduce each other by stage names - Tinsel the Bohemian Christmas Fairy, Parcel of Power, Chocolate Thunder and Backhand Betty.

"The show is done for the girls, put together by girls, as something that's a fun, friendly competition," Dana Sterling, 31, who has organised the "Amateur Female Jello Wrestling" competition once a month for the last three years, said.