Readers Write: Women As Club Commodities

By Heather Gehlert, AlterNet. Posted January 4, 2007.

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.

"I am deeply troubled by the Liz Funk article," wrote karoblink:

The message and implication of the article was [that] women who go to bars and drink alcohol are putting themselves at risk for rape, period. I am astounded that a feminist website would be so irresponsible by reinforcing these rape myths.

I am a volunteer sexual abuse crisis counselor, and I can not tell you how many times women have been assaulted and blame themselves because they were at a bar drinking and felt that they were somehow responsible. Additionally, because fear of being blamed is common, the decision for a victim to report a sexual assault becomes more difficult. Ms. Funk's article only will confirm these fears by erroneously placing the fault onto to the victim.

See more stories tagged with: feminism, rape, underage, alcohol

Heather Gehlert is a managing editor at AlterNet.

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