11 year olds eating at Hooters. Really?

I probably should let this turn over in my brain for a bit before blogging about it, but I listened to the story on NPR today and have since read the man's blog who took his 11 year old son to Hooters for lunch. The title of his post might say it all: "My 11 year old son's first trip to Hooters" - the implication seems to be he knows there will be more. Maybe with him, maybe on the kid's own.

On NPR it sounded like the dad did it as a way of addressing the objectification of women in society. That sounded like a weak argument to me. You don't need to go to Hooters to find that. Just walk into the checkout aisle at the grocery store and look at the cover of Cosmo. Go to the movies and see how actresses are dressed and promoted. Look at any advertising on TV and see how sex is used to sell everything with one standard for women and another for men.

When I read the blog it sounds more like he and a friend just decided to take their sons to Hooters for lunch and the prospect of seeing how their kids reacted to women who were scantily clad was a secondary idea (perhaps a justification?), contemplated as he blogged. He says in his post that there were many families dining at Hooters....as though that would make his choice more okay.

I have to say I disagree with taking your pre-pubescent child to a place like Hooters. Well, bottom line is I disagree with the existence of a place like Hooters. A visit to their website confirms my thoughts. On first pass the largest text on the home page says "Making buns look good for years." Going back to the homepage it says "Hooters, more than a mouthful," with a young woman with large boobs in a little Hooters uniform, proclaiming perkily, "Wow, I've never seen anything that big before". Ahhh, the not so subtle double entendre. It seems as though Hooters fundamentally contributes to the objectification of women and promotion of sex selling anything and everything, including hamburgers. We don't even need to go to the discussion of what the food is probably like nutritionally.

You might remember an earlier post I wrote about people who don't teach their kids the right names for their genitalia. I don't mean this post to contradict that at all. I just don't think the emotional maturity of an 11 year old is going to lend itself to a productive conversation about the ramifications of women working at a place like Hooters. What's next? Going to a strip club with your 15 year old and saying you're doing it so he won't be tempted to get a fake ID and try to get in?

I do agree with the blogger that sex is hard wired into DNA. Denying it doesn't do anyone any good, but how about demonstrating to your son in the way you treat your wife and female co-workers respectfully or using teach-able moments in real life to communicate that objectifying women is wrong? Why not talk with him about loving someone when you choose to be sexual with them (seems age appropriate for 11) and empowering him with information about how babies are made and how to prevent them when you are ready. In fact, you could begin that education when he is a young child and asks where he came from. Why approach it by helping to perpetuate objectification by supporting a place that has women parade around in tight fitting uniforms that emphasize their physical being?