News
Opinion
ENLARGE
OK, forget about prayer in public institutions for a moment and focus on the real news at hand here: Hooters is coming.
Readers may be surprised to learn that I’m actually looking forward to seeing that big orange owl staring down at me from some neon sign. Hooters has tried in the past to bill itself as a place for “family fun,” but while I think that claim is a bit disingenuous, I don’t dispute that Hooters can be a great place to hang out, whether you’re 14 or 114.
For starters, joking aside, the food really is worth the trip. It’s only in the last few years that I’ve started to tolerate chicken, but I’ve always loved wings. People have devoted so much attention to the “other” attractions the restaurant offers that they forget one of the real reasons why it’s so popular: The wings and fries are damn good. So when the question arises as to who really goes to Hooters for the food, I would say: Lots of people.
Of course, plenty of folks visit the establishment for the aforementioned “other” reason, but let’s be adults here: The only major difference between Hooters and, say, Chili’s or Olive Garden is that the “Hooters Girl” wears a different uniform. Sure, it consists of a tight T-shirt and even tighter shorts, but I daresay that cheerleaders in pro football matches — who are in full display at every single game — often wear much more provocative outfits, and in our nation’s favorite holiday entertainment, no less.
The restaurant strictly enforces a zero-tolerance policy against sexual harassment, and although I’ve only ever visited a handful of times, the Girls have never been anything less than friendly and professional. The only idiotic behavior I’ve ever seen exhibited in a Hooters has been by a small handful of clientele, and they’re dealt with expeditiously. If anything, the behavior says more about the customers than it does about the restaurant itself.
I’m neither an apologist nor an employee of Hooters, and don’t really care to be. But I do have a problem with so-called “concerned” community folks who like to take it upon themselves to police the morals of their neighbors, and especially those of the women in the community.
A frequent argument made against Hooters Girls is that of exploitation by the big, bad corporate suits, who will twist and manipulate the empowerment rhetoric of the modern feminist movement to justify hiring only women for their front-of-house positions.
Fair enough. A correspondence-course attorney can make that reasonable claim, although the court system has time and again sided with the Hooters lawyers on many lawsuits filed against the franchise chain. What often happens, however, is that in the clamor by community activists against the restaurant, they forget to ask the Hooters Girls themselves their opinion of their chosen employment.
Like many women everywhere, the Girls are ignored, their agency disregarded. They’re treated as children whose morals and innocence must be defended by those who “know what’s best for them.” They’re not considered mature individuals with minds of their own and with the right to determine for themselves for whom they’ll work. Hooters Girls are “mere” waitresses, to be seen and not heard, to serve others but not themselves.
Doesn’t our little community have enough to worry about, what with poor graduation rates, rising cost of living, development and growth issues, increased violent crimes and a serious drug trafficking problem, without having to waste scarce resources protesting a restaurant opening? Comparing the opening of Hooters to that of a strip club requires a major stretch of the imagination, and a rather suspicious imagination at that. Besides, we allow our kids to watch so-called PG-rated films with
unbelievable violence in them — including incredible violence against women — and yet we whine and get our chastity belts all a-twist because a restaurant chooses to outfit their wait staff in shorts? What kind of “morals” are we really advocating here?
Let the Hooters Girls do their job, because that’s all it really is: a job. Let’s all grow up and be the adults we like to think we are. Sexual harassment and violence against women are serious issues that have little to do with what your local Hooters Girl chooses to wear to work, and to equate them reveals a painful ignorance of a woman’s fundamental human rights.
If you’re uncomfortable with their presence, don’t patronize the place. Just please don’t argue that you’re somehow being the guardian of anyone’s morals, because frankly, no one’s asking for it. If you can, keep an open mind, lighten up and try the hot wings. They really are worth the trip.
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Marjorie R. Asturias is a freelance writer and weekly FP columnist living in Grand Junction. Reach her at marjorie.asturias@gmail.com.
Readers may be surprised to learn that I’m actually looking forward to seeing that big orange owl staring down at me from some neon sign. Hooters has tried in the past to bill itself as a place for “family fun,” but while I think that claim is a bit disingenuous, I don’t dispute that Hooters can be a great place to hang out, whether you’re 14 or 114.
For starters, joking aside, the food really is worth the trip. It’s only in the last few years that I’ve started to tolerate chicken, but I’ve always loved wings. People have devoted so much attention to the “other” attractions the restaurant offers that they forget one of the real reasons why it’s so popular: The wings and fries are damn good. So when the question arises as to who really goes to Hooters for the food, I would say: Lots of people.
Of course, plenty of folks visit the establishment for the aforementioned “other” reason, but let’s be adults here: The only major difference between Hooters and, say, Chili’s or Olive Garden is that the “Hooters Girl” wears a different uniform. Sure, it consists of a tight T-shirt and even tighter shorts, but I daresay that cheerleaders in pro football matches — who are in full display at every single game — often wear much more provocative outfits, and in our nation’s favorite holiday entertainment, no less.
The restaurant strictly enforces a zero-tolerance policy against sexual harassment, and although I’ve only ever visited a handful of times, the Girls have never been anything less than friendly and professional. The only idiotic behavior I’ve ever seen exhibited in a Hooters has been by a small handful of clientele, and they’re dealt with expeditiously. If anything, the behavior says more about the customers than it does about the restaurant itself.
I’m neither an apologist nor an employee of Hooters, and don’t really care to be. But I do have a problem with so-called “concerned” community folks who like to take it upon themselves to police the morals of their neighbors, and especially those of the women in the community.
A frequent argument made against Hooters Girls is that of exploitation by the big, bad corporate suits, who will twist and manipulate the empowerment rhetoric of the modern feminist movement to justify hiring only women for their front-of-house positions.
Fair enough. A correspondence-course attorney can make that reasonable claim, although the court system has time and again sided with the Hooters lawyers on many lawsuits filed against the franchise chain. What often happens, however, is that in the clamor by community activists against the restaurant, they forget to ask the Hooters Girls themselves their opinion of their chosen employment.
Like many women everywhere, the Girls are ignored, their agency disregarded. They’re treated as children whose morals and innocence must be defended by those who “know what’s best for them.” They’re not considered mature individuals with minds of their own and with the right to determine for themselves for whom they’ll work. Hooters Girls are “mere” waitresses, to be seen and not heard, to serve others but not themselves.
Doesn’t our little community have enough to worry about, what with poor graduation rates, rising cost of living, development and growth issues, increased violent crimes and a serious drug trafficking problem, without having to waste scarce resources protesting a restaurant opening? Comparing the opening of Hooters to that of a strip club requires a major stretch of the imagination, and a rather suspicious imagination at that. Besides, we allow our kids to watch so-called PG-rated films with
unbelievable violence in them — including incredible violence against women — and yet we whine and get our chastity belts all a-twist because a restaurant chooses to outfit their wait staff in shorts? What kind of “morals” are we really advocating here?
Let the Hooters Girls do their job, because that’s all it really is: a job. Let’s all grow up and be the adults we like to think we are. Sexual harassment and violence against women are serious issues that have little to do with what your local Hooters Girl chooses to wear to work, and to equate them reveals a painful ignorance of a woman’s fundamental human rights.
If you’re uncomfortable with their presence, don’t patronize the place. Just please don’t argue that you’re somehow being the guardian of anyone’s morals, because frankly, no one’s asking for it. If you can, keep an open mind, lighten up and try the hot wings. They really are worth the trip.
-------------------------------------------
Marjorie R. Asturias is a freelance writer and weekly FP columnist living in Grand Junction. Reach her at marjorie.asturias@gmail.com.
