Post: #1

http://theweek.com/article/index/261005/...en-unhappy

Quote:A few years ago, Desperate Housewives star Eva Longoria opened a steakhouse for women, aptly named SHe. In a press release, Longoria said the restaurant would "create a feeling of empowerment" for women and challenge the notion that steakhouses are a place for men.

But when SHe opened its doors on New Year's Eve 2012, all that talk of empowerment boiled down to smaller, "she-sized" steak portions, mirrors on the dessert menus so women could reapply their lipstick, and "sexy" décor. And let's not forget SHe's main attraction: a catwalk where women in scanty clothing perform for the restaurant's female and male guests.

SHe isn't the only restaurant that has drawn criticism for invoking gender stereotypes under the guise of being "female friendly." The international steakhouse chain STK received backlash after posting a female-friendly promotional video that featured sexist images of stilettoed women feeding each other steak. A pink sports bar in New York's Union Square hit every feminist's nerve when owner Ken Sturm told DNAinfo, "We did a softer design [because] we wanted to make it very inviting for women so that they don't feel like they're sitting a men's kind of club."

Last year, when The Bachelorette's Chris Bukowski opened the Bracket Room, a female-friendly sports bar in Arlington, Va., Washington City Paper reporter Jessica Sidman chided the bar and other similar restaurants, writing, "[S]mall plates and sexy décor? If this is what these restaurants believe women want, their target audience should be insulted."

"Female friendly" may be just a trivial restaurant trend, but at the heart of these criticisms are deep-rooted concerns about how women are viewed and treated.

As more women have come forward questioning the trend on blogs and in articles, restaurants have been less vocal about promoting themselves as female-friendly. When STK — which once touted itself as the premiere female-friendly steakhouse — opened another venue in Washington D.C.'s Dupont Circle in late April, the press release made no mention of the steakhouse being female-friendly, according to the dining blog Eater DC. There's no telling if STK's decision is in direct response to the criticism, but when I asked public relations manager Krystal Yoseph why the company made the choice, she said, "We're moving away from the female-friendly concept."

The debate over female-friendly restaurants has left at least one question unanswered: What do women want in a bar or restaurant? While critics haven't spelled out how establishments could serve women better, their response to the female-friendly trend gives some insight into what changes could be made. Women want to eat and drink in places where their safety is valued and their minds and bodies are respected.

This feedback is nothing to brush off, considering that, in the United States, women are the ones holding the wallet. She-conomy, a financial blog that calls itself "the guy's guide to marketing to women," reports that 85 percent of purchases are made by women, but that 91 percent of women feel that advertisers don't understand them.

Companies will come under increasing pressure to better understand what women are looking for, especially since women will have even more financial power in the coming years. Last year, Nielsen published a study showing that women control as much as $15 trillion of consumer and business spending. Over the next decade, they will hold over two thirds of consumer wealth.

In a time when women have tremendous buying power, many businesses will need to shift their old ways of thinking. It may be time to redefine "female friendly."

Post: #2

"Female-friendly" spaces are blue pill beta businessmen's attempts to please women by giving women what they think women want.

Compare "female-friendly" dating sites to what women actually use: Tinder. A restaurant that is actually female friendly is going to be just as radically different from what these guys are selling as Tinder is from websites with long chemistry quizes and algorithims for compatibility.

You know where women go for a female friendly experience? Clubs. Vegas. Ponder that for a second.

Post: #3

There's also the fact that women don't know what the fuck they want.

Post: #4

Beta males are female friendly. Look how well that works out.

I'll tell you what women want. They want to eat like pigs but not get fat, get fucked like whores and not feel ashamed and be treated like queens and not have to ever work.

Post: #5

Did that pink sports bar go out of business yet?

Post: #6

Quote:women control as much as $15 trillion of consumer and business credit debt.

Fixed

Post: #7

(05-08-2014 06:57 PM)Renzy Wrote:  http://theweek.com/article/index/261005/...en-unhappy

Quote: She-conomy, a financial blog that calls itself "the guy's guide to marketing to women," reports that 85 percent of purchases are made by women, but that 91 percent of women feel that advertisers don't understand them.

So, if women still do such an incredible amount of spending (or debt accumulation) with almost never being understood, I guess understanding them isn't really required to take their money.

Post: #8

(05-08-2014 07:45 PM)Parlay44 Wrote:  Beta males are female friendly. Look how well that works out.

I'll tell you what women want. They want to eat like pigs but not get fat, get fucked like whores and not feel ashamed and be treated like queens and not have to ever work.

That's golden. I'm stealing that quote.

Post: #9

Since women believe they can do everything better than men can, now they are attempting to make women happy.

Good luck with that.

Post: #10

Almost everything makes women unhappy.

Post: #11

Sounds like a lesbian restaurant.

Post: #12

(05-08-2014 07:38 PM)HeyPete Wrote:  There's also the fact that women don't know what the fuck they want.

I know exactly what they want: What some other woman has, that they don't have. At that moment. The problem is, some woman somewhere always has SOMETHING your woman doesn't have. Hence she will NEVER. EVER. Be happy. Ever.

Post: #13

Well, in the interests of making money, I think this would be a great project for a group of university business students. Seriously - I work at one.

They could look at what current (male) steakhouses do, do some digging on the internet to find out what the "female-friendly" steakhouses tried to do, and then figure out what the fuck the magical formula is. Then, once they've done all the work for me, I'll open up a female friendly restaurant.

You know what I think HALF the fucking trick is?

NOT TELLING WOMEN THAT IT IS "WOMEN FRIENDLY"!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

People will come in and figure it out. You know what seems to screw women up? Pressure to BE a woman.

Post: #14

Quote:a financial blog that calls itself "the guy's guide to marketing to women," reports that 85 percent of purchases are made by women, but that 91 percent of women feel that advertisers don't understand them.

Quote:Nielsen published a study showing that women control as much as $15 trillion of consumer and business spending. Over the next decade, they will hold over two thirds of consumer wealth.[/b]

And yet, we're still supposed to be worried about "the wage gap"?

Post: #15

(05-08-2014 07:45 PM)Parlay44 Wrote:  Beta males are female friendly. Look how well that works out.

I'll tell you what women want. They want to eat like pigs but not get fat, get fucked like whores and not feel ashamed and be treated like queens and not have to ever work.

Seriously. Just this week, I've been arguing with this girl I've been banging. She's cheating on her BF and, for whatever reason, I told her I don't know why she even bothers with that guy because she obviously doesn't have high regard for him.

"What do you MEAN? ", she said.

I said "I mean that you've been sleeping with me for six months behind his back. I don't think he is the love of your life...you don't treat him with a lot of respect".

And her hamster argued with me for an hour that "relationships are all different" and that she was just "confused" and blah blah blah...everything except the truth: "I like him but he doesn't turn me on as much as you...I wanted some strange, wanted to ride the carousel, while I kept beta-boy on the side".

Nope. Never heard anything resembling the truth!

Post: #16

(05-08-2014 07:31 PM)runsonmagic Wrote:  You know where women go for a female friendly experience? Clubs. Vegas. Ponder that for a second.

Yeah, I was about to say that a female-friendly steak house would be one where women stand outside and wait for men to come in to pay their buy them dinner.

Lighting would also be maximized to improve the quality of selfies.

Post: #17

(05-08-2014 06:57 PM)Renzy Wrote:  85 percent of purchases are made by women, but that 91 percent of women feel that advertisers don't understand them.

91% of women don't know what they want.

91% of women want what they think all their friends want.

91% of women say they want something, but when given it, will say it wasn't what they wanted.

91% of women say they want something, but when given it, will instantly want something else.

91% of women want what they think they can't have, and its the not having that is their true motivation.

91% of women will hold a garage sale to discard of former wants.

Post: #18

True "Female Friendly " businesses:

Post: #19