I saw this the other day and I couldn’t help posting on it. Well, correction: My boyfriend saw this the other day and pointed out how ridiculous it was to me. Yay! The grasshopper is learning. Here’s the gist of things: Police are starting to investigate whether or not it should be legal for an “establishment” called the “Booty Lounge” to park it’s bus outside the family tailgating area of Detroit Lions games where for only a $10 “donation” you can bop in, get a lap dance, and get back to grilling burgers with your kids.
Now, I’m not someone to say that a business should shut down because it’s the most repulsive thing in the world (which it is) and I’d rather eat dirt than have it exist (which I would); I genuinely think that in order for organizations that I care about to exist (you know, the ones that care about women’s rights), sadly the “Booty Lounge” must exist too. I don’t think it’s right for personal views, even those of the majority, to enter and monitor private enterprise unless some sort of human rights violation exists, etc. Whether or not the “Booty Lounge” actually does this is for another post. What I’m concerned about is in a world where football is now a family event and more and more women in general are watching and attending games, how does the Booty Lounge even exist? Wouldn’t there be some sort of backlash against it? Sadly, not.
I think a huge problem exists in the minds of most Americans today: it’s called complacency. Americans get complacent about everything nowadays. Marriages, work, family, bills, you name it. If it takes any amount of energy to work out an issue, we get complacent about it. Sure, we’ll raise holy hell and bitch about how everyone else is to blame for our troubles but when it comes down to inner reflection and responsibility, our tune changes. The “if they would just do what I want, then none of this would have happened”s come out. We become completely uncritical of ourselves, as if we’re entitled to judge but not be judged. When this happens, all self-respect diminishes. For, how can we love ourselves when we refuse to be honest to them?
Having this in mind, let’s go back to the lounge (ugh, so stupid…). It doesn’t take a feminist or someone with extensive knowledge of feminist literature to see there exists a problem here. At what point is it ok for the government to intervene? Is it ok for strip clubs to operate right next to a bunch of kids who think that dancing is the chicken dance? Does it make it ok because it’s a bus with blacked out windows so you can’t see in? Regardless of my views on the subject, issues like this raise pertinent questions about the brightline for regulating “normal” operations of businesses like this one.
To take things a step further, how is this:
Any different from this:
Or this:
I mean, I guess cheerleaders smile….
To be honest, I think it’s time we start using our heads to determine if things like this should surround anything, or as a first step: football. I love watching football. I have two fantasy teams and I go to the wing factory every Sunday to watch the 1 pm and sometimes the 4 pm games (and I still support the Colts!). But, every time I see a commercial like that, a flash to cheer boobs, or I hear some form of pirate/booty lounge joke, I want to throw my wings at someone (not actually because I love food, but you get me). So girls and guys, let me know what you think. Booty Lounge: yes or no? Are mobile strip clubs next to family sporting events as ridiculous as I think or are they, as some eloquent fan put it on profootballtalk.com, the next great combination of “boobs and football”?
ShoutOut! James Madison University 
Great post. The author really knows her stuff! I’m glad her boyfriend got credit for showing her the initial article 😉
The part connecting the booty lounge to cheerleading is absolutely true. Where do we draw the line? Is the reason that the booty lounge exists because the line is so fuzzy to being with?
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Haha. I’m glad you’re interested in taking all the credit. 😉 I think it’s very respectable that as a male, you are able to appreciate why something like this, or NFL cheerleading for that matter, are objectifying and not such a great idea. Is there a way to draw a line where cheerleading still exists? I’m not sure. The very idea that the only way women can get “involved” in football is by standing on the sidelines in a skimpy outfit irritates me. 1) And I know you agree with me here, If a woman were to ever be competitive enough to make a professional team, I see no reason why she shouldn’t be allowed in the league. 2) Why are women reduced to cheering on patriarchal displays of male aggression? It totally makes me want to go Cortland Finnegan on the NFL’s ass.
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Wow wow wow. I had no idea anything like this existed. I agree with you that we shouldn’t regulate this enterprise just because some may deem in inappropriate, just as strip clubs exist in the status quo. BUT, I do think it’s up to parents and even the football stadium to determine what is appropriate for a FAMILY sporting event. Just as you have pointed out, the cheerleaders are sporting a similar attire.
If this is a current trend, maybe football games should be an adult event, not a family one.
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Totally agreed. But, why should it be an adult only event? (I’m not disagreeing here. I’m just saying it shouldn’t be the current trend) It bothers me that sex infiltrates every arena. I’m an adult but that doesn’t mean I want to see anorexic bimbos hopping around the sidelines. To add to this, I love how the common response we’ll hear is, “Oh, you’re just insecure about your own body and jealous that those girls are prettier than you.” To that, I’ll preempt that 1) you don’t know what I look like or how comfortable I am in my own skin. 2) Even people comfortable in their own skin can feel that other women who dress/act like that perpetuate gender inequalities. I think the video clip on Miss Representation does a great job showing that both women and men further entrench us in this idea that the only thing women can bring to the table is good looks (and beer according to Miller Lite). This is not to say that we do this on purpose, but the fact that we don’t openly challenge these stereotypes and essentially condone them when we buy our girls Barbies and our boys G.I. Joes is the implicit acceptance. The one thing I will say in the defense of the NFL/television stations that air football games is I like their use of intelligent female sportscasters. Both Andrea Kremer and Pam Oliver are excellent football journalists and guess what, they’re both women! I think there are several elements that prove football is becoming more of an all-inclusive event and I think we should keep that momentum going. 🙂
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Well, I agree with you for the most part. But, I think that it’s probably unwise to stereotype these cheerleaders as “anorexic bimbos.” This not only homogenizes and stereotypes them, just as men are stereotyping them, as well as associating cheerleading, modeling, and things of this nature to eating disorders. I think this is worthy to comment on because I think it reifies the type of patriarchal norms we are attempting to break down.
And yes I do think that many times in advertising the world sees women as a propaganda mechanism, obviously I agree with you here.
As far as football goes, i think that either a) we should take out inappropriate things, such as the booty lounge, from games or b) make them an adult event.
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I like what you all are saying about football being a family event. I think businesses like The Booty Lounge not only take away from the “family” atmosphere of football games, but they also support the stereotype that football is strictly a male thing (more specifically a hetero male thing). When I see businesses like this one, coupled with sexed up cheerleaders I hear the message: “Hey ladies, that’s cool that you like football, but it’s a guy thing you can’t fully understand”. Booty Lounges and female cheerleaders are just tools to remind everyone that football is a male thing…gender stereotype much?
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