Mersmann: Are bars violating the Civil Rights Act?
The idea of ladies night is sexist, but not just because entry fees are based on gender.
By Dennis Mersmann (Contact)
Thursday, April 3rd, 2008
I recently went to Brothers and was discriminated against. I was charged $5 to enter, but the person behind me was waved through free of charge. Why? I’m a man, and she is a woman. It was ladies’ night at Brothers, and unfortunately I didn’t fit the profile of those who got to slide in free of charge.
Doesn’t the Civil Rights Act say discrimination is illegal?
Shouldn’t this apply to something as trivial as a cover charge? I wonder what would happen if a bar tried to have “white night” and charged black people $5 and $10 to Mexicans. That wouldn’t happen without a public uproar.
What if there was a “guys’ night” and girls had to pay a cover? There would be several disgruntled patrons at the door. But when men are charged and women are not, it is accepted as the natural order of nightlife.
We must stand up brothers (and sisters). This injustice must end. We must stop attending any ladies night at any bar.
We are all being duped by the very term “ladies’ night.” Women hear it and think that it will be a bar of mostly other women, a safer environment for them and their girls, to just dance and have a good time. No boys tonight!
Wrong.
They will be hounded, possibly swarmed. Guys hear “ladies’ night” and think of it like a freshly stocked trout pond.
The idea of ladies night is sexist, but not just because entry fees are based on gender. Bars use ladies’ night as a ploy to get more women to attend. If that weren’t the case then surely there would be “guys’ night.”
The idea is that more women will draw more men who are hoping to pick up chicks. The unspoken agreement that bars have with women states, “You don’t have to pay to get in, but you’ll be the worm on our hook to get paying customers in the door.”
What price can a person put on her dignity? Is a $5 cover enough to be bait for horny men looking to bump and grind next to the jukebox?
This is the reason ladies’ night exists. That being the case, I should be exempt from the cover charge. The girl I mentioned who didn’t have to pay was my girlfriend.
Even though I was at ladies’ night, I didn’t get the benefits of it. I didn’t get to chat up the women that Brothers lured through its doors. I wasn’t even supposed to look at them. I had to feign neck cramps anytime a halter top or miniskirt walked by. I had paid $5 to be tortured.
Don’t get me wrong: My girlfriend is a stone-cold fox (I love you, baby. Please don’t hurt me with your martial arts skills.), but I am still flesh and blood. A man can’t fight his natural instinct to seek out mates.
My solution to this unconstitutional and sleazy practice is to split the difference. Charge everyone $3. Look at that, Brothers (and other bars), I just made you an extra 50 cents per person. Chances are that girls who plan their evenings out around ladies’ night can find some dude to pay their cover for them anyway. Then I won’t resent my girlfriend for being $5 up on me for walking in the door.
Mersmann is a Lawrence senior in creative writing.
Discussion
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No, they are not violating the Civil Rights Act. . .it has nothing to do with private establishments. If bars want to charge dudes $20 and pay women $10 to come in they can.
Or maybe you just shouldn't go to Brother's...
Really, I mean really. You are really pulling the sex card on this one...that is just pathetic. If you have nothing to write about, don't waste newspaper space with worthless opinion columns....and don't go to brothers.
If youve already got a girlfriend like you claim (ipod touches with names dont count), then why waste your time going to a 'ladies night.'
Last time I checked, Lawrence has a few other bars that don't charge covers and are generally not as lame as brothers anyway.
You all are missing the point. Of course it's not illegal. Neither are the following: Senior discounts, charging men more for car insurance than women, charging smokers more for car insurance than nonsmokers, dress codes at any establishment, the list goes on.
It's a subtle commentary on our society's blatent hypocrisy. Most of us preach equality, but practice disparity. I'm guilty. We're all guilty. That's the point.
I apologize for not having citations at my fingertips, but there's actually been a lot of marketing research done around this, and what it comes down to is that single women are fine spending a night in or at non-bar locales with their friends, and men want to attend bars women attend. It's the same principle behind dating services that often offer reduced fees to women - men outnumber women on singles websites as well, and seem a bit more willing to shell out for that pursuit.
So how do singles websites, bars, and dance clubs get around this and lure women in? Reduced fees or free nights. Nothing sneaky or hidden about it, but like you note in your "well-stocked pond" analogy, ladies' nights attract women to clubs, and the men pay for a gender breakdown that doesn't resemble a VFW hall.
You know you had the choice not to pay the 5 dollars and to go somewhere else correct? No one held a gun to your head and made you go to this establishment on their ladie's night. Also, if they had drink specials for the women, did you take advantage of those as you paid for drinks for your girlfriend? That would be a bit hypocritical if you did would it not? Here's a cheese to go with your whine.
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