Maybe you can help me out here. My ten year-old grandson is in a baseball tournament near Wyomissing. After getting creamed in their first game on Saturday morning, they've won three straight. Coaches, pleased with the team's progress, decided everyone - boys, coaches, parents and fans - should treat themselves. But instead of Rita's ice cream or a slushy, they decided their reward was Sunday lunch at Hooters. I consider this an inappropriate atmosphere for these young boys and refused to join in the fun. True, they're too young to get any prurient ideas, but are plenty old enough to learn how to objectify and degrade women. Just the name "Hooters", a euphemism for Tits, obviously does that, before these kids even walk in the door.
I am the only person who thought this was wrong.
What do you think? The picture of the scantily clad serving wench with an old geezer is from the Hooters these boys visited.
51 comments:
Bernie,
I've found we disagree a lot lately but this 22 year old thinks you are spot on here. Of course I'm just a crazy Conservative who wears 3 piece suits to bed ;)
Sorry Bernie--But you are being kind of a prude here. There is nothing sexual about Hooters. You can see woman revealing more during the halftime show at any professional sporting event.
Hooters (this may be hard to believe for anyone who has not been) is actually a family atmosphere.
I have personally taken my wife and daughters (ages 10, 6, 4, and 3) several times. Its one of our favorite places to eat when we stay in Bristol on weekend trips to Sesame Place. Always lots of families with kids of all ages and have never, ever seen anything that was inappropriate.
If you have never been, do yourself a favor and try the food. You might be the only person not enjoying the food and instead focusing on their own impure thoughts is you. :)
Honestly, its a great place, with awesome food---super service---lots of families---and the Hooters girls---other than their form fitting shirts---do not wear anything that reveals anything at all.
This was a bad decision and the coaches should be thrown out. You are wrong about the boys not noticing. Sexual maturity is faster today than it was forty years ago. These young boys are whacking off and I am sure they were sore by the time they fell asleep.
Stupid place to take kids. This was for the adults and not the kids. Hooters is a sports "Bar" with a "sexual" theme.
I think it is great but to take young boys is crazy. The parents who think this is great will be asking, "Why?, when their kids are banging each other in five years.
Dumb is as Dumb does. This was dumb.
The Tock
Bernie:
Good call. Your assumptions re sexuality and youth are spot on. You have my respect.
The commentor who said that Hooters is not sexual must be severly site impaired or simply too old to notice.
But then perhaps Hooters is really targeted on owl watchers who like hamburgers.. Especially those who are of the Horny Owl type.
Thank you Bernie! You are spot on! I am amazed that after women woeked so hard a few decades ago to be taken seriuosly, we have again become valued for our "hooters", Objectified and useful only in youth and with cartoon like (usually man made) anatomies. Recently a London department store was selling toddler sized bikins with padded bra tops.
I suppose it could have been worse. The coaches could have taken little girls there, so that when they reacht he age of 13 they can feel completely inadequet.
It is just plain wrong, and thse places are NOT for children. Hooters is meant for Guys night out not for relatonship training for ten year olds..
I also point to the Hooters ad on TV for "More than a moutful Monday!" refering to the gigantic burgers offered at a special price on Mondays..."Yeah right"
I am no prude, but taking young kids to Hooters is inappropriate.
You are right and thank you for staning up for what should be obvious to those charges with training our youth.
Bernie, you are absolutely correct and our society hates kids. It talks a good game. But society hates kids and wants them to quickly move through childhood. It despises their innocence and readily accommodates kids' exposure to shallow, adult situations in order to make it less uncomfortable with its sins. Responsible adults should fight for their kids' lives when it comes to protecting their innocence for those precious few years. Sadly, most don't. You're right to speak out.
You are off base Bernie. Hooters really is not that bad. The woman there don't wear anything less revealing than alot of other restaurants.
Of the Hooters I have been in, the women who work their are very nice and sweet girls...and do not allow themselves to be objectified.
Bernie,
Parents must set an example and a standard of behavior for their children. It really is that simple yet too many adults don’t understand this basic tenet of good parenting.
Scott Armstrong
Bernie, Scott said it best, and you did the right thing.
The Banker
I can see why the coaches would want to go to Hooters. But to take a team of 10 year olds is in seriously bad taste and shows incredibly poor judgement.
It is one thing to take your OWN kids to Hooters, as anon 3:30 AM apparently does. Parents are allowed to make their own calls with their own kids. But, to take a team of OTHER people's kids is over the line. I can't imagine there wasn't one other restaurant to go to celebrate.
The gals who work at Hooters have chosen to work there, so good for them. Who am I to judge? And the men and women who visit are choosing to visit, too. That's the free market for ya. Kids, on the other hand, don't get choices. They do what we tell them. Telling a 10 year old boy to hang out at Hooters is, in my opinion, quite stupid. Ten year olds are not babies, and they know damn well what "HOOTERS" means as a double entendre. As a parent, I'd be VERY upset to hear of this team visit. I wouldn't be surprised if your grandson's team's coaches don't have some explaining to do in the days ahead.
Ditto to Scott, Banker, & Monkey Momma...
The picture of the scantily clad serving wench with an old geezer is from the Hooters these boys visited.
.
Old geezers need love too!
There was nothing wrong with it. It is a public restaurant without an age limit.
Great job by the coaches. Now had they gone to Erv's thats a different story.
It is interesting how Americans have clung to some Victorian sense of culture for as long as it has. BO, you would probably also admonish Europeans for going topless on the Mediteranean Sea because of some prudish upbringing. Some commentators have already condemned the kids as sexual deviants. You've got to be kidding me! They went to a restaurant, wherein the waitresses are dressed with a little reveal. Did any employee of the restaurant do anything inappropriate to any boy? If not, the problem lies with you BO, not the kids or the restaurant.
Bernie, get a grip. The only complaint about Hooters you should have is that the food is marginal at best. This is a bar/resturant just like Applebees, TGI Fridays Outback, etc. Yes, the servers wear more revealing clothing than they do at Applebees. But to make the connection to objectifying women is absurd, unless dad was making inappropriate gestures towards the servers.
I attended an urban high school in NJ where drugs were easily obtainable and I graduated with more than one classmate who had a child of their own. But what my parents taught me kept me from making stupid choices and from thinking like a scumbag. As long as your child is teaching your grandchild the right things, you have nothing to worry about.
And the reality is that if you shelter your children too much they will have trouble coping when they get into the real world.
15 years ago... I would agree with you Bernie on this one. However, was in the LV Mall this afternoon and the help in many of the stores dressed more risque than those at Hooters. I would not get excited about taking family to Hooters. PS: Was at TGIF in Bethlehem Township yesterday and the wait staff over there consisted of what they call hot girls dressed scantily too.
To clarify a point. The boys who did go to Hooters went there with their parents. It was a casual suggestion, a spur of the moment thing.
These parents are good parents and would not expose their child to this if they agreed with me. But they didn't. It amazes me that I am the only one who thought this was inappropriate.
I told Dat's mom I thought it was inappropriate and she overruled me. She's the mom. She later told me exactly what some of you here are saying. The girls are no more scantily clad than in other restaurants.
But I still feel the same way.
I understand the points about the LV Mall or TGIF, but those places are not named after a female body part, which by itself encourages the objectification and degradation of women. I am by no means clinging to a Victorian culture and am in fact condemning a situation in which women are identified by their body parts.
I also don't get the rush here. Just 2 weeks ago, Dat and one of his teammmates spent 4 hours at Chuck-E-Cheez. I think kids should be allowed to be kids.
Bernie, you just said what I was going to say. You are right. Sure a person can overlook the obvious, can say it's everywhere, can make excuses. But in the end that's just what they are doing, making excuses.
I think kids already know women have breasts. What degradation did you personally see at the restaurant BO? None. Did you even go in the restaurant? No. I'm sure Dat, by the grace of his mother, will not be harmed in any manner that you suggest.
Of course, kids know women have breasts. That's not the point. The point is a restaurant that objectifies that female body part, which is degrading to women. The point is a chain that furnishes skimpy outfits to its waiteresses, and refuses to hire men. The point is a chain that has a "beauty pageant" reciting the measurements of the participants. All this places women in the category of playthings for men.
Would you object to your daughter working there?
All of this is fine for consenting adults. But I do not think it is approporiate for 10 year old boys. I do think the hidden lesson here is that women are beneath them.
So yes, I did refuse to go.
Go ahead and take your boys to Hooters. Act like it’s no big deal. They will know better and view the parents’ action as a moral equivocation.
Secondly, why would any parent want to involve their children in an activity that objectifies women?
Scott Armstrong
Bernie, you are absolutely correct that Hooters was inappropriate. As a woman, let's just start with being offended by the name. I don't care how "family-friendly" they try to make it. People who follow that logic will fall for anything.
I have just deleted an anonymous personal attack launched at one of the parents. Let's get something striaght. These are good parents who care enough about their kids to stand besdie them for three days in the seltering heat, far from home. Many of the mothers have no interest in baseball and were theere only because their sons were there. The same for a few grandmothers and aunts and step moms.
I indicated I thought it was inapproporiate for them to all have lunch at Hooters, but people of good will can have different opinions on the this subject.
I will not tolerate anonymous personal attacks. Frankly, that just weakens the point I was trying to make. It reflects an intolerance for differing views.
I've got kids from high school to elementary, and I am baffled by the parents of "my generation". They let their kids do coed sleepovers at 14-16 years old, give them everything they want, and, yes, take their kids to Hooters.
Seems some parents don't want to be parents, they want to be friends with their kids. Others want to live vicariously through them. I have a hell of a time convincing mine that I'm not the lunatic because I won't just let my oldest engage in adult activities "Like my friends parents do". And I've witnessed it, they really do let them run wild.
Hold your ground here, Bern. You are spot on.
Clem, I made my point. Maybe gave them something to think about. I respect their choice, but still maintain it is inappropriate.
Hooters? Could you imagine if ASD rounded up all the unwed teen Moms in allentown and held a career day there?
I think King Ed should put a Hooters on Restaurant row!
Okay seriously, you don't take ten year olds to Hooters! Iron Pig Pen or Rascals? That I am fine with, but Hooters?
Can you imagine what the prizes mught be if you redeemed tickets at Hooters?!
Bernie -
Are there any openings on the team?
Seriously though, you made the right call since it involved kids.
Still, I can't help but wonder if attendance at council meetings would improve if they held their meetings there.
Council meetings would be much shorter so that the elected officials could watch the kids play.
Thank God we don't have gay marriage so children can learn that sexual objectification is sacred between a man and a woman just like Hooters 4:1-29 says in the Bible.
Incredibly poor taste and judgement by those parents. Hooters only makes money because of the scantily clad, well endowed women. Their menu is mainly wings and beer, and lousy wings to boot. Most patrons are guys who are there for the eye candy, not the food. Let's be real! 10 y.o boys in Hooters is about as appropriate as pole dancing lessons for little girls.
I have some old porn I was going to get rid of, if those kids are interested in watching after the game I can donate to the coaches.
Totally inappropriate. Not even a discussion.
"I have some old porn I was going to get rid of, if those kids are interested in watching after the game I can donate to the coaches."
That is not even close to the same thing!!!! Typical conservatives opinion. Get a life, porn and a public eating facility are not one in the same.
The parents took their kids to hooters....SO WHAT!!!! I am sure they watch much worse on TV or the internet.
Get with the times people!!!!!
"The parents took their kids to hooters....SO WHAT!!!! I am sure they watch much worse on TV or the internet.
Get with the times people!!!!!"
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There it is, it says it all! Don't control the TV or monitor where your children surf on the internet. Get with the times and join the moral decline...
June 1
Absolutely this was inappropriate. First of all, Hooters, recently showcased on
that TV show where the boss hides among his employees and in the case of Hooters, one can understand why he hides, the entire restaurant theme is sexism towards women. No way should your grandson have been there!
Are we to believe mothers also attended this lunch celebration?
You are right Bernie.
Next time it's Irv's!
Got to learn about the birds and bees someday! I wish my little league coaches took me to Hooters.
Got to learn about the birds and bees someday! I wish my little league coaches took me to Hooters.
Women should be proud of everything that makes them women. Whether it's their ability to foster new life into this world, or have a woman's prospective on issues. The women who work at these restaurants are celebrating the fact that they bring values to these places of employment that men cannot.
Vi Va La Fem Fatale!!!!
If women are proud of everything that makes them women, they should be outraged that someone would demean their body parts by naming a bar with a slang name. The women who work there are making a decision to allow themselvbes to be degraded, in exchange for good tips. That's their choice and I respect that. But I don't think it is appropriate for ten year old boys to be brought there.
Only if you would take 10 year old girls to a place called "Packages" or "Meat" with guys in tight skivies.
I would not approve of my children being taken to Hooters.
Hooray for Progressive Liberalism!
Wayne says it best :
Get with the times and join the moral decline!
Names? Named Restaurants? I just call mine the "Twins".
Boobs are for the very young (i.e. babies) and the old enough (i.e. consenting adults). There's nothing wrong with boobs. They made me the man I am today and I thoroughly enjoy them, still. Kids, however, should be permitted their boob-free years. They'll come soon enough.
Hooray for boobies!
Julian Stolz would not know what to do with boobs anyway.
Depends on the kids maturity
I love going to Hooters myself, might not have a problem with taking my 10 year old kids there, but definitely wouldn't feel comfortable taking someone else's. I like how you say "Hooters" objectifies women, but you referred to the girl in the photo as a "wench". Really?
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