The President's Club Dinner

[ella @ella Participant]

I am in no way condoning the grossly inappropriate behavior of some of the attendees which was completely unacceptable, but what the hell were the girls who went as “hostesses” doing by agreeing to go to an all male dinner under instructions to dress in skimpy black dresses in matching black underwear? What on earth were they expecting? A Bible reading gathering?

I’m glad to see that the “Club” is to be discontinued.

[cat @cat Participant]

Maybe they needed the cash and hoped in the UK that nothing illegal or inappropriate would happen. Or perhaps, they were used to working in city pubs and happy to put up with some abuse because they didn’t have any other way to make money. Life’s shit for some people, made worse by idiots misbehaving in the name of charity.

For what it’s worth, or wasnt a charity dinner. The charitable bit was the donations of prizes they were given. All the people at the dinner did was pay for their food, entertainment and anything they bought in an auction. If I give a bottle of whisky to a tombola and you pay to enter, we’re both giving something not in the expectation of a return. If it’s an auction you only pay if you win.

• This reply was modified 6 years, 7 months ago by cat .

[beckyE @beckye Participant]

I’d guess they were expecting to work in a safe environment, with clear boundaries about what was acceptable. There is a big difference between being expected to be leered while wearing skimpy clothes and paid for that, and being assaulted. If you go to strip bar it is very clear what the rules are and also clear what the bulky characters in cheap suits would do if they were broken.

[Fi @fi Participant]

Pretty obviously most of them are doing it for the money because most people on an agency list as a hostess won’t be on their first job. They know the gig is something closer to strippers/lap dancers than waitresses when the boss specifies what color of underwear to wear and pays them well over the odds. They also know that a bunch of drunk lecherous millionaires showing off to each other tip really well.

[Dave J @dave-j Participant]

All I know is that I wouldn’t have attended a function that specified it was men only, however tasteful the invitation card.

I once did attend a black tie event in Manchester that our senior partner didn’t fancy. It wasn’t men only but heavily weighted to alpha males and the occasional trophy wife. Scantily clad women were used liberally as decoration like a 1970s motor show. Ricky Hatton and Alan Sugar were there (not that I knew who Hatton was). I beat a hasty retreat as soon as could. I was relieved to find it was the 21st century outside and I wasn’t lying in a coma somewhere having an Ashes to Ashes experience.

[Emma @emma Participant]

It is impossible to condone their behavior but it’s interesting what is currently considered ok. Men are currently being held to account in every avenue at present, but what about the opposite… posh men’s charity dinner versus working class womens hen weekend where the young male waiter gets terrorised at their less formal evening meal. There needs to be some parity.

If folk think these men were bad, they should try crossing paths in a factory with a predominantly women only assembly line etc..

[Jack @jack Participant]

If folk think these men were bad, they should try crossing paths in a factory with a predominantly women only assembly line etc..

@emma I have thanks, many times, from the age of 16 to 24 and managed not to get groped, harassed, cat-called, grabbed or intimidated once.

Does every real case of sexual harassment of women have to be compared to a hypothetical case of sexual harassment of a man at the moment? It’s getting quite tiresome. If men are truly being terrorised as you suggest then we need to start reporting it to the police. I’ve never been assaulted or harassed by a woman or women and no male friends have told me they have, whereas I haven’t spoken to a female friend about this who *hasn’t* been.

[lovely @lovely Participant]

It is impossible to condone their behaviour but…

You’ll try anyway.

If folk think these men were bad, they should try crossing paths in a factory with a predominantly women only assembly line etc..

…revealed the 130 hostesses were told to wear skimpy black outfits with matching underwear and high heels, and made to sign a non-disclosure agreement before starting work.

It’s all about who has the power.

[Emma @emma Participant]

…revealed the 130 hostesses were told to wear skimpy black outfits with matching underwear and high heels, and made to sign a non-disclosure agreement before starting work.

@lovely Which would make you think it’s the kind of event you want to run a mile from… these are hardly subtle warning signs. If they couldn’t get anyone to work the event, that might have been a hint that they seriously need to change the format. It won’t be such a problem in the future though.

[lovely @lovely Participant]

Which would make you think it’s the kind of event you want to run a mile from… these are hardly subtle warning signs. If they couldn’t get anyone to work the event, that might have been a hint that they seriously need to change the format. It won’t be s problem in the future though.

@emma Another woman, 28, with experience of hostess work, observing the braying men around her said this was significantly different to previous black tie jobs. At other events, men occasionally would try to flirt with her, she said, but she had never felt uncomfortable or, indeed, frightened. She reported being repeatedly fondled on her bottom, hips, stomach and legs. One guest lunged at her to kiss her. Another invited her upstairs to his room.

I guess there are gigs and then there are gigs.

[SoccerGal @soccergal Participant]

The Presidents club was for the “masters of the universe” the “Alpha males” the “men of influence” or whatever phish they believed in to maintain their sense of entitlement.

Surely you can see that power gradient plays a part in how it is perceived and the reaction to it middle aged men of a certain place in the social ladder have a real blind spot in their perception of their attractiveness to the opposite youthful sex, so whoever thought it was a good idea to mix alcohol, middle age influential men, and young women in skimpy skirts in the midst of the %metoo campaign was something of a arse.

[Baron Weasel @baron-weasel Participant]

Yes it’s terrible , a shocking number of close female friends have had personal experience of sexual assault from the shockingly brutal and extreme to the deeply upsetting.

If I know this as a male think how much more women will know about the experience of their female friends

so for people to try and come up with some equivalent comparisons between the threat posed by hen parties and the scenario of the presidents club really probably have no real connection to the females in their circle. As serious sexual assault is something all women will have experienced in their close circle of friends.

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