Marks and Spencer support new 'Hooters' in Bristol

[JessinAvalon]

Dear all
This is my first post on here so I hope I am doing this right!

I live in Bristol and, last week, 'Hooters' was granted a licence to open in the city centre. The site is virtually opposite 3 apartment blocks, the lower floors of which are social housing and children are living in them.

What's most disappointing is that Marks and Spencer are leasing the site to 'Hooters'. They have been e-mailed by many concerned people to ask if they will reconsider leasing the building but they have just replied saying it is a "commercial decision" (as if that makes it ok!). In Sheffield, a 'Hooters' didn't even make it to application stage because the developer (Ask Pizza) realised that it would be better not to be associated with a company like 'Hooters'.

Marks and Spencer don't seem that concerned, however. Although they have signed up to the "Let Girls Be Girls" Mumsnet campaign they are not concerned about a company which sells merchandise including babygros which say "Future Hooters Girl" and "Does my butt look big in this?"

I have written to Marks and Spencer telling them that I won't be shopping in their stores again. If you feel strongly about this, please e-mail:

[email protected].

'Hooters' tries to sell itself as a family friendly restaurant but it is anything but. The Hooters in Nottingham attracts mainly stag parties and football fans. Hooters Girls take part in bikini contests and iced wet t-shirt competitions (the t-shirts are put in the freezers before the girls wear them). 'Hooters' has links to Playboy magazine....I could go on.....

I think Marks and Spencer should be shamed for facilitating this company's expansion into Bristol. They are selling women and girls down the river by leasing to this company and all just to make a "quick buck".

Thanks everyone.

I wanted to get some flowers in M&S tomorrow as a present for someone. Oh well, will have to find somewhere else.

It's a pain boycotting places I like. I can miss out on a few shops and not miss them.

But such is life. I won't be going in there again.

Nice to find a good local florist anyway Jess, they have nice paper

I know

I looked at my wardrobe yesterday and realised just how much of stuff is from M&S.

Has anyone else had any further responses from M&S? I have sent another reply asking for an apology at least for this cock up (that's presuming it was a cock up).

Was there any word back at MNHQ from the contact at M&S about the Let Girls Be Girls campaign?

The Prude Who Has Never Actually Stepped Foot Inside of a Hooters Restaurant
These crazy broads who have way too much time on their hands while the kiddies are in school blather on and on about protecting, "the children," bemoaning the male gender's supposed lack of any self control, and declaring all Hooters Girls to be strippers and prostitutes. Each time that I read one of these stuck up bitch's comments, I smile in anticipation of the day their precious little daughter comes home from middle school with a hickey and a sequined tube top.

• "What a sleazy operation. I would boycott them but I've never once patronized them to begin with. I'll be happy to spit on the guilty as they are dragged through the streets in chains."

• "That whole restaurant concept stinks to high heaven of sleaze....what else can be expected from a business that profits from the exploitation of women (and men)? How many men hang out like perverts oogling buxom barmaids while the wives and kids are at home? Many married men spend time there instead of being home with their families and helping kids with their homework or just being supportive husbands and fathers. I have no issue with single guys being there...even though it does seem sleazy; but such places should not be allowed to operate as restaurants but rather be zoned more like strip-clubs or massage parlors."

• "dumb, dear, these women are too stupid to get it. They will end up on Capp Street if they're lucky. I live on Broadway and many of these strippers are my neighbors. They aren't so much nice as broke down with no pride. They make bad choices and don't realize that they are playing a loser's game that the men will always win. In the sex industry, women get chump change at best, and men always get the big bucks. They validate all the sexist stereotypes that some men embrace."

I don't get why you have copied and pasted this?

thehootersgirl.blogspot.com/2009/05/anatomy-of-comment-regarding-hooters.html

Who on earth are you quoting from, mytyme? Not from this thread anyway.

It's all quoted from that link I posted. But I don't get why

mytyme is a new poster. Welcome to Mumsnet MyTyme! Do go to some of the other forums and introduce yourself.

other topics, I mean

I did find this interesting from the same blog: Objectification, A Note

It reminded me a bit of the thread where a lot of survivors were saying "I'd rather give it than have it taken from me". In this case, working at Hooters with its "protections" doesn't actually make her less likely to be harrassed in the street. But it sounds like it is a chance (for this woman at least) to feel a difference - when she's at work she has a) given consent for the ogling and b) can find ways to punish/tell off the offending men. Albeit in the context of not wanting to lose tips/her job.

This made me feel pretty sad: "In addition, working at Hooters is an interesting, if sobering, experience with real world gender relations. Trust me when I tell you that you learn quite a few new coping techniques while working there... ;)"

And this comment does nothing to put me off opposing Hooters: "In my opinion, Hooters is not inherently detrimental to how women are viewed. If anything, I think that the existence and popularity of Hooters simply says quite a lot about our culture and our society. They are a merely symptom of a much larger issue."

At least in the UK so far, the "existence and popularity of Hooters" is negligible, but if they spread they will be like a beacon making visible on every high street the way that women are viewed :(

Sorry should add those links are Not suitable for work, thanks to photos of arses in thongs etc.

Thanks for the warning, Elephants! How anyone can claim that it's family friendly when there are photos like that flying around I don't know (although I haven't seen them yet but arses in thongs are not generally regarded as family friendly, just man friendly).

I agree with you on this comment:
"In my opinion, Hooters is not inherently detrimental to how women are viewed. If anything, I think that the existence and popularity of Hooters simply says quite a lot about our culture and our society. They are a merely symptom of a much larger issue."

It's that old argument of - worse things happen so ignore this, when actually this makes objectification acceptable on the high street and goes some way to making every thing on the spectrum slightly more acceptable.

And women being complicit in these businesses gives men an excuse to continue objectifying - after all, they reason, if it was so bad, women wouldn't choose to be objectified.

And if it was that bad, companies like Marks and Spencer wouldn't be supporting them.

OMG - this is one of the comments on that blog

"Donna said...
I am the wife of a Hooters Manager. I hate going there, I hate that my husband has decided to work there, and I am a self confident, very attractive woman that has been offered jobs at Hooters. I saw first hand what most Hooters waitresses are willing to do for the large tips. I have witnessed one waitress sit down with a lonely man and exploit him by sad stories of how she wasn't able to afford to buy christmas for her son. Hooters waitresses have been fired for selling sexual favors to guests. Hooters waitresses sit on guests laps, bend over revealing whatever it takes, stand with their a leg hung over a stool spreading her legs for the guests. I have seen it and will be glad when the economy is better so that my college educated marketing director of a husband can work somewhere more deserving of his talents. He has stated to me that most of the waitresses don't care how they make their tips as long as they make lots of them"

Jess - the photos are posted by the Hooters Girl who writes the blog and are not (I am fairly sure!) what happens in Hooters. Just illustrations of the points she is making about stripclubs etc. Sorry for confusion.

That quote is from the blog author as well.

BIWI - That's shocking but in a way not surprising if it's true. The whole work environment is built on women being willing to be leered at/propositioned/put up with sexual innuendo and "suggestions", and all the while simulating delight in order to make the money they need. Not surprising if sometimes one of them takes a bloke saying "how about sitting on my lap?" and possibly proffering money at face value and goes for it. Must be hard to know where to draw the line.

Plus, although I'm sure many of the hosts are perfectly fine in their mental state, Hooters must also have more than its fair share of women with low self-esteem, merely to be willing to put with that shit at work. For those women it must be hard to say "no" to something you have been taugh to see as a compliment.

And for others they must just get to the "fuck it" stage - if I can earn $10 tip for serving beer and being leered at, and I can earn $20 for serving beer and bending over and being leered at, why the hell would I engage self-respect at this point?

Apparently the big orange Hooters sign is now up.

Thanks to the Chair of the licensing committee for allowing Hooters to open in Bristol.

And thanks to Marks and Spencer for facilitating their expansion.

Bristol won't forget this!

Hope you're not giving up Jess? Signs can come down.

What's next?

BTW this thread will stop working at 1000 posts so if we get close you might want to start a new one and link it in here.

What riles me with all of this is that one man (this William McTaggart) decides that it would be a good idea to have a Hooters in Bristol.

So he goes ahead with buying the franchise and starts setting one up in Bristol.

Another man on the licensing committee decides that his "hands were tied" when it came to making the decision (then admits later that the decision could have been different if the committee had been made up of different members because it's all subjective!).

Many people (15/20) took time out of their day to attend the initial licensing committee hearing to at least make their presence felt, given that they couldn't officially object. The meeting was unfortunately delayed by more 2 hours and, by the time that part of the meeting was started after lunch, a significant number of those had had to leave. I don't think anyone turned up in favour of the breastaurant except for the applicant and his team. The police were there objecting, strongly, and their concerns were dismissed.

Many people turned up to the Full Council meeting (around 30-40) at which the petition (now numbering at least 950 signatures was presented) to protest. Again, there was no-one there in favour of the breastaurant that I know of.

Many more people have since expressed their concerns by e-mailing Marks and Spencer to protest at their decision to allow this place to open.

No one was clamouring to have a Hooters here in Bristol. There wasn't a petition of 950 people asking for this breastaurant to open. I doubt anyone has e-mailed Marks and Spencer to thank them for facilitating Hooters expansion in Bristol.

But one man decides it's a good idea. Another man decides he can't say no to the application (no comment there but there is a lot I would like to say).

So the actions of 2 men - facilitated by property managers at Marks and Spencer - have led to Bristol getting a Hooters.

Just what is going on here? How can 2 men have such power that this licence is granted despite huge local opposition and strong objections from the police?

This is not a democratic system. Flawed at best. I won't say what the worst is.

Can you tell I'm angry?!

Hi Elephants
There is lots planned but I don't want to make it too public as I don't know who is reading this.

Can you pm me or I will you later.
JIA

As for a vocal minority - it seems the vocal minority are those who wanted it open. The vocal majority are those protesting.

And in the middle we have those who don't know about it, are apathetic or don't know what they think about it. No one is actively campaigning to have this place in Bristol other than a handful of people who will benefit financially from it.

If nobody wants Hooters in Bristol, then you have nothing to fear - it will open to a deathly absence of punters.

William MtTaggart will be sat alone (well, apart from the poor marginalised souls he has coerced into working for him) in his 'breastaurant' contemplating how stupid he could have been to suppose than anyone might want a Hooters in Bristol

Of course I could be wrong, and the picture may look slightly different come opening night.

Oh, please tell me what stunts you have planned? I was looking forward to urAnus Family Café in particular.

That was my idea actually DSH, keep off.

Why are you still posting?

"I'll leave you to your cosy, cult-like consensus; mutual back-slapping, and the passive solidarity of your boycott."

Promises promises.

Told you, I'm off the clock now. I find this thread rather amusing. don't want to hang around too ling in case some of the stupid rubs off on me though.