Читать книгу Mapping the Social Landscape - Группа авторов - Страница 76

Women who dress to get attention, to show off their bodies, to look or feel “sexy” in our society, often end up getting labeled “whore,’’ or “slut,” and may be seen as “asking for it.” Many of the Bazooms waitresses were concerned that their provocative outfits would force them into one of these sexualized roles. In response to a sexual slogan printed on the back of every T-shirt and tank, one Bazooms girl stated: My hair covers the slogan, and we’re not those kind of girls anyway. Nonetheless, Bazooms girls are associated with “those kind of girls,” that is, sex workers or prostitutes working in a sexually charged environment where sex appeal is part of the product commodified and sold in the marketplace to men. The girls I worked with became aware of these associations early on, and they spent much time sharing and reacting to these negative associations….

Some of the women who work at Bazooms attempt to counteract these negative associations. One Bazooms girl remarked: We need to educate men. Just because you are wearing this uniform doesn’t mean that you are asking for anything, doesn’t mean that you want anything more than a job. Several Bazooms girls made a point of telling customers that they were college students, or mothers, waitressing in order to save up money for education or family expenses. In this way the “girls” challenge the Bazooms girl (ditzy, sexual pawn) image most customers have and try to make the role more personal and respectable by sharing their own stories.

Some of the women, on the other hand, do not resist the negative associations but use them to achieve their own ends. In co-opting the “bad girl” role, some hope to appeal to customers by using sex appeal to their advantage, hoping to get bigger tips (or more attention) this way. To Katy, “learning to deal with people more sexually” is to be able to control the situation in order to avoid embarrassment. Although it is harder to get people to admit to using the sexualized image for their own ends, once in a while stories fly among customers and waitresses about “what some [Bazooms] girls will do for money.” Playing up the sexualized Bazooms girl role can be a serious money-making strategy:

I’ve seen girls hula-hoop and get money thrown at them. Then they lean over and give the cleavage shot to the men. And at the downtown store the girls do things with pitchers of beer to make it look like a wet T-shirt contest. These things just do not work for me at all….

There appears to be a split among these women: those who try to resist the Bazooms girl role, downplaying the sexualized, flirty image, and those who co-opt it, embellishing it as their own. One employee rejects the company’s expectation; another turns it to her own ends….