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The President's Club Annual Gala - "Men Behaving Badly"

(660 Posts)
TerriBull Thu 25-Jan-18 09:55:46

I expect this is going to divide opinion, but what's your take on the Men Only charity event that's all over the news. However, for those not familiar, a bevy of young women, many of them students, were recruited through an agency for this event, they had to be slim and good looking they were told to wear sexy shoes and black underwear to go under the very skimpy dresses provided.They also had to sign a five page disclaimer, which they didn't get to read and weren't given a copy of. A couple of female undercover FT journalists were also amoung these young women and testified to appalling behaviour by SOME of the male guests. To give a flavour of the offers guests were asked to bid for "Plastic surgery to spice up the Mrs" hmm Jess Phillips gave a very good speech in Parliament imo saying these young women who were expected to act as hostesses "were merely bait" Personally I find it sickening that the guise of charity is used as a way to negate the bad behaviour in this sort of evening. I believe some of the high profile charities such as GOSH have told the now defunct Presidents' Club, where to stick their money.

durhamjen Thu 01-Feb-18 22:08:14

My brother isn't a music teacher either, Annie.

Anniebach Thu 01-Feb-18 21:43:19

And rules are always strictly adhered to? Notes were put into their cleavage

trisher Thu 01-Feb-18 21:37:25

The rues for Bunnies were very strict Annie
At all Clubs, except New York Club (and Atlanta regarding #2) Bunnies may:
have their pictures taken with patrons, provided there is no physical contact whatsoever;
dance with patrons at the feature dance party, provided there is no close physical contact, (twist, watusi, bugaloo, etc., are examples of acceptable dances).
The rule against mingling prohibits dating, any physical contact, fraternizing or socializing with patrons or guests. Again, any violation of this rule will be grounds for immediate dismissal
The girls kept their money in the front of their costumes- there was nowhere else.

Bridgeit Thu 01-Feb-18 21:19:40

I guess if you don’t think about the hours, the lump sum sounds ok , I just hope they enjoyed some aspects of it ,especially if they managed to despise some of the sad old munters!

MissAdventure Thu 01-Feb-18 21:15:40

I don't class tall, thin and pretty as a huge skill set.

Anniebach Thu 01-Feb-18 21:13:19

Men were warned off? They use to place money notes between the girls boobs

trisher Thu 01-Feb-18 21:09:27

Scarcely even £15 per hour-^For those who met the three specific selection criteria (“tall, thin and pretty”) a job paying £150, plus £25 for a taxi home, began at 4pm^
As it didn't finish until the early hours, probably at least a 10 -12 hour shift. No breaks because it's contract work. I wonderr what you might be expected to do if you wanted a tip? (Bunny girls I seem to remember were untouchable, men who tried got warned off)

Bridgeit Thu 01-Feb-18 21:04:34

Well let’s hope so, for them especially and for us, we’ve all been battling away on here about the rights & wrongs & we don’t even know if they were paid well for their efforts.?

Anniebach Thu 01-Feb-18 20:55:46

Could it be they had lots of tips? It does seem low pay for London and for a hostess, I remember a Bunny Girl saying they made a lot of money from tips.

Bridgeit Thu 01-Feb-18 20:46:39

Well I am surprised to read that the pay was £15 per hour, & although that’s much more than the hourly rate for ‘normal jobs’ in a way it makes it worse because these girls wither or not anyone agrees with it definitely deserve more money than that !

Anniebach Thu 01-Feb-18 20:29:11

Oooops, my error , your brother in law earned his living in a supermarket, well I compliment him dj

Anniebach Thu 01-Feb-18 20:27:51

I give up. I said I complimented your brother for earning his living working in the supermarket, he could so easily have lived on the dole . And dj you did say your brother taught music when we discussed free musical instruments for all children.

durhamjen Thu 01-Feb-18 20:10:49

Annie, don't make things up about my family. Or at least do me the courtesy of reading/remembering properly.

durhamjen Thu 01-Feb-18 20:09:06

Read the link again, jalima.

Anniebach Thu 01-Feb-18 20:04:51

Jen, no idea why I thought with your private schooling etc your brother would have gone to university, good for him earning his living in a supermarket, more so with a sister teaching and another brother a music teacher.

Nothing wrong with working in a supermarket but I think it so easy for women to say this is what other woman can do if not gifted academically because being a hostess etc is not helping professional woman achieve equality.

Jalima1108 Thu 01-Feb-18 19:36:52

being available for men
That rather makes them sounds as if they were being offered for prostitution which they weren't.
According to one young woman who was employed on that evening, a whole group of other women arrived later after the main proceedings, she was only surmising why.

durhamjen Thu 01-Feb-18 19:20:43

The pay that these women got for being available for men who knew they were going to the most un-pc party of the year was £15 an hour.
I'd rather my granddaughters worked in shops than did that.
My brother in law has stacked shelves, as have two of my nephews.
You'd better stop before you insult too many other people, Annie.

Anniebach Thu 01-Feb-18 18:57:09

Eleothan, your support for women for one section of women is admirable but why should women who choose to be eye candy ,as you dismiss them, be ignored?

You want to take away freedom of choice from one section to strengthen another section.

Not every girl leaves school with A'levels , some with one or two GCSE's, what should they do? Serve in shops to the proffesional women? Clean their houses? stack supermarket shelves , yes all respectable jobs, but is it fair ?

durhamjen Thu 01-Feb-18 18:49:35

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www.ft.com/content/075d679e-0033-11e8-9650-9c0ad2d7c5b5

The uniform requirements also became more detailed: all hostesses should bring “BLACK sexy shoes”, black underwear, and do their hair and make-up as they would to go to a “smart sexy place”. Dresses and belts would be supplied on the day.

durhamjen Thu 01-Feb-18 18:46:02

The women dressed the way they did because it was uniform given to them by whoever organised the dinner.

Someone else who hasn't bothered to read the link.

Eloethan Thu 01-Feb-18 18:12:29

Probably if the women had made a big fuss, reported the behaviour to the police, etc, etc, the agency would be unlikely to give them further employment. Anyone who works for an agency - whatever the field of employment - learns very quickly that it is unwise to complain about anything.

This sort of portrayal of women does not just affect the women involved - it affects every woman - the way that women are viewed and treated by men, and by other women.

Statistics show that women are significantly under-represented in more senior work roles and in many instances, even if they achieve such roles, they have not received equal pay and equal treatment. I believe girls must, if only subliminally, notice this under-representation. They must also notice that another way for females to achieve success is to writhe around in pop videos with very little on (which many people on here have complained about) or to use what physical assets they have and take on overtly sexual roles in order to market newspapers, events, products, etc.

Of course, marketing companies are quite happy to use these sorts of methods because it helps them make a lot of money. But I think it is unwise to collude in this sort of objectification and marketisation of women. The end result, as was demonstrated in this particular event and as other gransnetters have reported, is that male/female relationships become even more unequal and lacking in mutual respect and kindness.

Do those who disagree with stopping young women being used as "eye candy" in F1, boxing and darts events, etc. also believe that it would be a good thing if we still had the Benny Hill Show, Miss World and page 3 photographs? Have a look on the internet at advertising posters from the 50's and 60's and I'm sure most of you will be shocked at the sexism and racism displayed. It is only because people started to question the ideas behind them that things changed.

Oldwoman70 Thu 01-Feb-18 17:32:00

dj I certainly did not wish to sound "demeaning". I had to leave school early in order to help with family finances as my father was injured in an industrial accident (this was before compensation claims). I would not condemn anyone for doing any job - no matter what the reason. My condemnation is for the way that some of the men acted. Are you not being unfair to these women by stating that because you wouldn't want your family to do it then they are not allowed to CHOOSE to do it? Should they not be allowed the freedom to make that choice?

Anniebach Thu 01-Feb-18 17:23:38

mmmm, students naive? Considering their choice of voting !

Jalima1108 Thu 01-Feb-18 17:22:26

I don't think anyone on here is justifying the way the men at the event treated the women.
There is no excuse for the way the men behaved but I doubt that they all behaved like that.

What posters are saying as far as I can tell is that women should not be condemning other women for the way they choose to earn money.

As someone upthread mentioned, each side was in fact exploiting the other, the women dressed provocatively to try to extract as much money from the diners for charity, and some of the men behaving badly and inappropriately.

Now, what about a campaign to ban cheerleaders? Their role always annoys me, I find them ridiculous. However, I don't think anyone is forcing them to do it, just as these women were not forced to take the hostess jobs.

durhamjen Thu 01-Feb-18 17:15:46

So you wouldn't like your granddaughters to have done it, but won't say so. It's okay for other people's grandchildren, though.
Why am I not surprised?

Oldwoman, many of them were doing it to supplement their money as students. Most of them were not as poor as you suggest. That sounded very demeaning, as demeaning as the work.