Her Culture Bi-Monthy Magazine August/September 2015 | Page 30

FEMINIST CLUBBING
Does it exist?
by Kara Price

On any given night the New York City clubs are
filled with young, beautiful woman. The streets
of the meat packing district wear down the
soles of hundreds of high heels. Girls arrive at
the velvet ropes whether by themselves, with a
friend or with a whole group, looking for the
person who will get them in past the rest of the
line. Promoters work for the club by finding and
inviting girls to come out. They get girls in for
free, get them a table with free drinks all night
and get paid by the club for making it look
popular and cool.
I was first introduced to this scene when I
moved to New York City for college. Too broke
to go out on my own dime and yet still dying to
have a piece of the city experience I quickly
learned about this system. Friends who had
already figured it out told me how it all worked,
insisting that I just had to show up looking good
and the rest would be taken care of. It only took
going out a couple times however before I

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realized how competitive the business I was
entering into was. Waiting online for the
promoter who invited me I would get
approached by another trying to convince me
how he was better. All of these promoters, I
might add were men, charming and often
attractive themselves. Some of them pitched
me the angle that they had the most power,
some used their looks and flirting, some of
them stood behind a company name, and
some of them simply tried to promised that they
were the most fun. It was clear they were all
desperate for more girls so they could make
more money. The transparency made it easy for
me to stay in control. Ultimately the girl was the
most important piece of the equation and every
girl counts when the club is counting heads.
While me and my friends realized that we were
essentially being commodified, we also got a
sense of empowerment. We were working the
system to get what we wanted.