Those bright guys at Hooters have finally started fighting the good fight for their "girls" in the right place. Instead of parading scantily-clad models around Capitol Hill (where the lawmakers were more than happy to stop by and, ahem, discuss the issues), the bigwigs in Atlanta have started a newspaper-writing campaign.
This is perfect. Any crank can write anything and a newspaper will publish it. Particularly if the letter says stuff that the editorial board is too wimpy to say itself. In the past couple of weeks some self-described "oldsters" have written in on behalf of the Hooters Girls' rights to wear tanktops and skimpy shorts while serving cheap food and bad beer.
Alright, fine. Sex and food is a time-honored tradition, and while I wish there were a few more waiters out there who could discuss the merits of Anna Quindlen, I'm not complaining about the outfits. But these folks went even further, repeating the old saw that whatever a woman wears, she still deserves respect. As one coot said, "Anything a patron sees other than a fine, upstanding young woman is the product of a dirty mind." Well said.
Of course, a couple counties over folks from this same demographic (white and old) acquitted a rapist because his victim was wearing "slutty clothes". She deserved to be raped, but Hooters Girls are merely examples of all-American charm.
Hell, the same logic goes into stuff like the Miss America Pageant. I've heard it all before, and the hypocrisy involved is self-explanatory. But that's not all I want to talk about.
Objectification. A real bugaboo, if you ask any member of NOW. I'm not slamming the group; I would be a member, but they ask for money and that's not my reality at the moment. But I don't share this fear of objectification. See, the logic goes like this: "If I dress real sexy, then any guy I meet will like me only for my body." This, of course, assumes that the woman even thinks she has a good body, and 99.9 percent don't.
So the woman dresses as dowdily as she can, and still, later that evening in a bar (often one known as a "meat market"), a guy pinches her ass or makes some lewd comment. The idea is that men objectify women's bodies to the exclusion of anything else. In the eyes of all men, we are nothing but vessels for their semen.
That particular thought is too creepy to even contemplate. Men, when sober, aren't generally that base. And face it, girls, we objectify men. Not necessarily in a physical way, but even there I think we do fairly well. In the end, even as we like to bitch about chauvinist pigs, men form relationships based on a general attraction to the whole person. I know plenty of objectively ugly men who never want for interest from females, just as we all know that girl who gets her guys not through any good looks but instead "the old-fashioned way" (can we ever get past this Madonna/slut complex?). Sure, availability for sex can improve almost anyone's social calendar, but even the most gorgeous man or woman wouldn't get a yes every time out. It takes more.
I've never been to Hooters, but my guess is that the most popular waitresses are the ones who are friendly, not necessarily the ones who are the prettiest. And I don't mean friendly in the "bend over--oops!" sorta way. I mean a pleasant smile, mildly interesting conversation and a willingness to help the customer. Stuff that scores points even at the Chattaway Drive-In.
Now, should Hooters get a few waiters? Yeah, probably. But then if the EEOC wants to jump on restaurants about unfair hiring practices, they should first target the tony bistros (the only places where a person can make a living wage as a waiter or waitress) that only hire waiters. No women need apply. How many haute cuisine spots have you visited that had a female maitre'd? Or even a waitress? Not many at all.
There are much bigger gender-equity problems out there for the government to focus on. Like getting a woman in charge of the White House (no dittohead jokes, please), or making a woman Speaker of the House or Senate Majority Leader. You realize that in 220 years, there's never been a chick in charge?
Where do I file my complaint?
Tyler Jane Barley lives in St. Petersburg, which is just minutes away from the original Hooters restaurant in Clearwater, Florida. Despite a penchant for food service history, she has never stopped by this landmark site.