Yesterday morning, while driving to my part-time job, I tuned into Z100 and they were playing an older episode of Elvis Duran and the Morning Show. If the topics are good I’ll usually listen in instead of turning on some music, and this time the topic was “ladies nights.”
Elvis thought that the whole idea of having ladies nights (a special promotion some places, usually bars, hold that offer a discount to women just for being women) was unfair. Nobody else on the show, aside from a few callers, agreed with him though. The female DJs actually went so far as to say that it’s doing men a favor because drinks are expensive and it brings in more women, since most of the guys there are single and looking.
Which is, in my opinion, absolutely horrifying. Personally, as a gay man, the whole idea of having a ladies night is utterly ridiculous. The show touched on this thought of non-heterosexual clientele by providing some very distasteful discussion on how the discounts would apply to lesbians (kudos to Elvis for explaining how immature that was to his cohosts). I believe that the true purpose of these promotions are merely what was implied on the show: doing a favor to single heterosexuals (non-heterosexual women just luck out).
There should be a men’s night, or no ladies night at all. When I was still in college, there were times when my friends and I would go bowling some nights. Most times, it was ladies night. Okay, some of the people we were with would get a discount because they were female. But why? It never made sense to me (and still doesn’t). Being gay, this discount doesn’t benefit me in the slightest. Sure, my friends don’t have to spend as much, but why should I have to spend more?
Are all of these places so desperate for customers that they need to have a night where women get discounts?
One of the DJs on the show mentioned how women statistically make less than men do and that in itself is one good reason why ladies nights should exist. But doesn’t that just promote inequality, rather than counter it? Either everyone gets a discount or nobody should. What do you think? Let me know in the comments below!
