Just a note, Salem and Portland have the delightful Bikini Coffee Company. Just so you didn't think we were all good and liberal and immune. Love in the article where the owner guy says "it gives people something new to look at. My eyes are generally bearly open when I'm waiting for coffee!
Ack--I hate it when my righteous indignation is crushed by people being stupid. So, there's been some controversy recently near Seattle about an "Espresso Gone Wild" stand. Yup, you got it, bikinis, lingerie, or a lot less with your morning fix. Blech, tacky, and just generally offensive.
OK, I was not on the fence about that at all. Every time I think that we've managed to denigrate women and use sex to sell just about everything I am rudely awakened by some other trashy scheme where the men who own the stand make money and the girls working there don't (young appears to be a prerequisite for working there, along with over-the-top and obvious). What bothered me is that in response to residents complaints the stand was ruled exotic entertainment and closed because of zoning regulations.
Good, such a place should absolutely cease to exist, but instead of talking about the serious issues at hand--exploitation, safety, (employees have had to call 911 because of harassment) hyper-sexualization, discriminatory hiring practices (doubt they'd actually hire me, whatever they say, or anyone over 30) etc.--we pull the uptight morality clause. The same one that means that Fred Meyer had an issue of Cosmo with a woman wearing a dress (not underwear or a bathing suit, I checked) covered up.
And there's another problem I have. Fred Meyer's "family friendly" aisle is stuffed full of candy, just no magazines. With all the fuss over childhood obesity isn't the candy more dangerous in the long run?
But I digress. Residents of Gorst (and I suppose the people in the "family friendly" aisle) were calling for blackout curtains, complaining that their children might see something, and thinking about property values. As well as the above mentioned serious conversations that need to be had maybe we should stop demonizing, sexualizing, and objectifying the female body. If people understood the function and beauty of all kinds of bodies perhaps we could get over our national prurience about the body and stop removing breast feeding mothers from airplanes, restaurants, etc. The exact same arguments used by the people of Gorst to shut down "Espresso Gone Wild" were used by the Taliban to force women under the Burqua and by European Christians to burn women at the stake--protect the morality of everyone else.
Anyway, couldn't they really just get them on a health code violation or something?
7 comments:
My first reaction upon hearing that a coffee shop in Seattle needs women in bikinis to help sell their coffee, struck me as just downright sad. A Seattle native, myself, I can say from experience that just about everyone, except the newborns, in Seattle consider coffee one of the top necessities to surviving. My second reaction, however, was far more pragmatic to the situation and led on to the third reaction which was outrage. What is it with using women in bikinis to sell products? It seems to be the "back-up plan" for businesses when the economic stats have fallen a couple points. Understandable that sex sells--its compelling. It works. However, it's offensive and doesn't seem to be getting any better. Objectifying women is, in my opinion, the most commonly used tactic in media. Even if the media doesn't realize they are objectifying women. A magazine may not think that using all skinny women is objectifying them in any way, but it does because it is telling the fat women they are ugly and have no life. Women in bikinis have nothing to do with a good cup of coffee but it attracts attention and brings in the dough. It is a tactic and women have become tools. If women want to strut their stuff for products, that is certainly their own and rightful choice, however it is fair to stay they should be aware of the situation they are in, what impression they are making on society, and especially on themselves.
This reminds me of the guest speaker we had Wednesday in class, we watched a short slip about the objectification of women in the media. I just feel, every time I read/hear/see things about this, like our world is going in the toilet. The world tells us to "do what feels right" and to "live for the moment" and similar stories.
In class we also watched a video of some women being assaulted in NY some years ago. And the sad part is all the men that participated were just doing "what felt right." How can we rationalize the way our world is going when women have to dress in bikinis just to get a job? We, as women, should be respected - not treated like goddesses (although that would be nice :) - but at least fairly and equally. I highly doubt a man would be as often forced to dress in a speedo just to make ends meet (it's possible, but unlikely)
Like what Millie said, if a woman wants to make a living that way, then she has every right to. But more and more women are being forced into what is left, if not prostitution then some other form of selling their bodies (bikinis in a coffee stand) to support children and keep their life afloat. It's saddening.
I was shocked to hear that a coffee shop had their employees wear bikinis. Is their business so bad that they need to flaunt women around to make more money? As a heterosexual female, I wouldn’t be interested in seeing a woman in a bikini while I’m ordering my latte. Not only are these women being used for their bodies, I highly doubt that there’s a true representation of all women working at the coffee shop. Society has standards for who is beautiful, and what a woman should look like to wear a bikini. I have no idea who would want to serve coffee in such a skimpy outfit. Even if they like the attention they get, I’m sure that there would be harassment to some degree, which would get tiring. I understand that sex sells, and women are seen as sex objects, but isn’t there a better way of boosting their business?
Jennifer Pimm
There is a bikini coffee place by the turn onto highway 55 and they were interviewed by the local newspaper. Apparently, once, they had this guy drive by cat calling and saying rude comments five times. The sixth time he came around they got two cups of boiling hot water and poured it on him. When I heard this I thought to myself, good for them. The guy had tried to press charges on them for giving him burns but his claims were denied.
I think it so sad that the girls are the ones selling the coffee to terrible people and it is the owner of the store, probably a man, who is getting all the money.
Rebecca Huber
I am not surprised at all to find that yet another place like this exists. I have been a person to go to Hooters with the intention of being open-minded and judge the food. While they have great buffalo wings, I still could not get over the fact of the women they have working there (or more so their outfits). I understand that the place is known for that and I sound like the feminist stereotype, but is it really terrible of me to be at least a little annoyed? Then again, I’m not one of the girls who gets a kick out of going to strip bars with her guy friends, silly me. It just makes me wonder what the girls who work there think going to work every day, or the harassment they put up with on a daily basis…and why they would enjoy it. To me it would seem someone with dignity and self confidence would find the attention of men in a more sophisticated way, knowing that they don’t need to use their boobs to do it.
On a similar, and very disgusting note: http://www.heartattackgrill.com/photos.html Very unbelievable to me, make sure to look at the women in the photos that happen to work there.
Bottom line sex sells. So it’s not a surprise to me that these bothers in Salem came up with the idea to have women in bikinis making coffee. It also sounds like it is good for the women who work there because they get more tips. I agree that it is trashy but if a woman wants to work in that kind of environment with that kind of uniform I think that’s her choice. I think these women should be bale to protect themselves because working at a job like that I am sure there are a lot of creepy customer that harass them at a strip club the women have a bouncer to protect them here they don’t have that. Its kind of sad how they have to resort to this to sell coffee. Women bodies are a beautiful but they should be shown off to sell a cup of coffee that’s just not right.
Kirsten Wade
Hmm, lets see... how can I put into words what I'm feeling right now... oh yes, are you kidding me???!!! "Espresso Gone Wild???" Yeah right! First off, "hot" girls and coffee? Uh, ok... The point of drinking coffee in the morning for most people is to wake you up, give you a little boost of energy or alertness so that you don’t feel as tired when going about your morning routines. Generally, the majority of people who are up that early to need coffee to get them going are working people. People with jobs, real jobs that requires them to be up at 6 am, using their brains in some way. No one needs to go out half awake, usually dreading being awake that early or at all, and see naked or half naked girls walking around everywhere. It may be appealing... to MEN! But this takes me back to why they are up that early period. THEY HAVE JOBS! They need to be focused on going to work and getting things done, not on the hottie with the enormous jugs serving him a tall decaf latte--to go. People don’t need visual sex in the morning to get them started on their day! Come on! And it seems to me that it is almost a form of pimping. This coffee shop is pimping out these women to go and sell sex. It may not be actual intercourse, but they are promoting it, getting paid for it, accept no one ends up with an STI. Neat-o. Really though, sex in coffee shops? Who cares about boobs in the morning? Half of the working population takes them to the office everyday anyway. Who needs them to help get you there?
Brittany Garinger
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