comments_image -

Readers Write: Women As Club Commodities

AlterNet readers sound off about risks young women face in bars and nightclubs, the "she-asked-for-it" mentality, and who, if anyone, is a victim.
 
 
LIKE THIS ARTICLE ?
Join our mailing list:

Sign up to stay up to date on the latest headlines via email.

 
 
 
 

Most people would probably agree that women, particularly young women, face certain risks in bars and nightclubs. What they can't agree on is why this happens, how big the risks are, and what the solution is. Most of our readers would probably also agree that empowering women is a good thing, but they have drastically different ideas of what empowerment means.

An article published Tuesday called "How Bars Exploit Underage Women as Commodities" drew a wide range of responses -- some quite heated -- from AlterNet readers.

Written by Liz Funk, the article asserts that some bar and nightclub tactics such as admitting underage women, offering women free drinks, and using women to attract business can put them at an increased risk for harassment or rape. Funk, who considers herself a feminist, quotes a source who says this is exploitation.

To that, some readers gave applause, calling it "empowering," while others recoiled and said it "reinforces myths" and is a "disservice to women."

Below are excerpts of their comments, with a response from the 18-year-old author herself at the end.

Some of the early responses suggested that nothing is wrong with the "special treatment" women receive in bars and clubs.

Women can enjoy their cheap drinks "without becoming victims," wrote one reader under the name ladyoracle:

Yes, the point of these promotions is to attract men to the bar because there's practically a guarantee of finding lots of drunk women there, whether they are underage or not. If that marketing works, it's because men fall for it. If women are willing to take that risk for some cheap drinks, then that's their choice.
But women can take advantage of the offers without becoming victims. And men can find other clubs with gender-neutral drink specials and covers.
In my years of clubbing (and I look like a Barbie), I've never been come onto by a guy who pressured me, or even attempted to pressure me into anything beyond perhaps a pathetic attempt because he had nothing to loose. Sometimes after being refused they call me a name, but, whatever. That's part of bar and clubbing culture. The time I was slipped the date rape drug, yeah that guy was a friend, not a stranger.
Some readers say debating the ethics of drink specials misses the point.

"That young women are getting free drinks is not the problem or what makes them "victims," wrote one reader under the name Zenobia. "It is WHY they are getting the illusory special treatment that is the problem. A rat gets free cheese from a rat trap, and yet we don't say, "But why is the rat complaining? He's getting food."

Zenobia's post continues:

The larger question, though, is why do so many women not get the TOOLS they need NOT to be victims? Why don't both girls AND boys get the tools they need to treat all their brothers and sisters with dignity and respect? ...
[F]or girls and women to choose -- as active agents not victims -- how to make smart choices and how to recognize when they are being exploited, they need to learn how to read situations and how to analyze the media sources that try to brainwash them into being products for someone else to get rich. They need access to strong, self-aware role models as they form their identities. They need to be empowered enough to realize that they do not have to follow pack-herd mentality to have worth. ...
Maybe if girls and young women were inundated with as many images of females as astronauts, professors, heads of socially responsible companies making a difference, contemplative poets, and athletes (celebrated for their ability rather than for their ability to turn shallow men's heads) as they were innundated with images of bimbos jiggling for male approval, they would think about themselves a little differently, and make more empowered choices. Likewise, maybe boys would treat young women like something other than the sex objects they see everywhere, conditioning them to think of all "girls" as hunks of meat.
Girls need to speak up and assert themselves against their own exploitation for the situation to ever change, and I applaud Liz for being one of those who has the guts to do it. That is how you say NO to being a victim and YES to being empowered.
By contrast, some readers argued that articles like this one are not empowering -- they're a part of the problem.

submit to reddit

-
Email
Print
Share
LIKED THIS ARTICLE? JOIN OUR EMAIL LIST
Stay up to date with the latest AlterNet headlines via email
See more stories tagged with: feminism, rape, underage, alcohol
Alternet Special Coverage - Occupy Wall Street
Advertisement
Most Read
Most Emailed
Most Discussed
On REDDIT
On DIGG
 
loading most read content ..
Advertisement
Montana Ban On Corporate Campaigning Heading To U.S. Supreme Court

By Steven Rosenfeld | AlterNet

 
 
$6.2 Million Settlement for Protesters Arrested at 2003 Iraq War Demonstration

By Staff | AlterNet

 
 
Running Out of Oxygen? Gingrich Loses Crucial Campaign Donor

By Ed Kilgore | Washington Monthly Political Animal

 
 
FBI File Chronicled Steve Jobs' LSD Use

By Hunter R. Slaton | The Fix

 
 
Will Millennials Back Obama in 2012?

By Bill Moyers | BillMoyers.com

 
 
Financial Services Committee Chair Rep. Bachus is Investigated for Insider Trading

By Staff | AlterNet

 
 
White House Announces Birth Control "Accommodations" for Religious Groups: Insurance Companies Will Pay, So Women Will Still be Covered

By Jodi Jacobson | RH Reality Check

 
 
Is the Catholic Church Just a Super PAC in Robes?

By Steve M. | No More Mister Nice Blog

 
 
Amid General Strike, 7,000 Protest Austerity in Greece, And Violence Erupts Between Demonstrators and Police

By AFP

 
 
Must-See Video: WA Republican Debates Gay Marriage with Profound, Personal Speech for Equality

By Kristen Gwynne | AlterNet

 
 
 
Reverend Billy Talen
 
 
 
loading ...
POWERED BY DIGG'S USERS
 
[ page served from web 2 ]