A Montreal nightclub angered patrons by posting “NO FAT GIRLS ALLOWED!” on its Facebook page. But promoters say it’s far from the only club to discriminate based on appearance. According to the Montréal Gazette, party planners for the club Muzique posted the message “NO FAT GIRLS ALLOWED!!!!!!!!!!” followed by a winky face as part of a Facebook invitation to a party Saturday. John Jay, who’s in charge of Muzique’s communications and marketing, says, “It was not an intentional thing. It was actually an accident. It was someone thinking he was funny.” The last two statements contradict each other, but the “accident” defense doesn’t hold water anyway — what, did the planners accidentally hit the “NO FAT GIRLS ALLOWED!!!!!!!!!!” key? Equally unconvincingly, Jay explained that the line was “an inside joke.” We’re sure it has some secret meaning that isn’t offensive at all. Some of Muzique’s Facebook friends are outraged, but another club promoter, Stefano Apostolakos, says this kind of discrimination happens all the time, albeit tacitly. He explains to the Gazette that “a nightclub that wants to attract a certain kind of crowd will never openly turn people away based on weight […] but if people don’t fit in with the club’s look, a bouncer can still find some excuse to turn them away -whether it’s a long wait time, an expensive bottle service fee or claiming the club is at capacity.” But another promoter, Shant Kojakian, says most clubs don’t turn people away because of their weight — instead, “race tends to be more of a factor.” Earlier this year, an Illinois nightclub was sued for alleged racial discrimination, and last year students at Washington University in St. Louis filed a complaint against another nightclub for the same reason. But while a few US cities have laws against weight discrimination, there’s little record of clubs being successfully sued on those grounds — and appearance discrimination, in general, may be harder to prove than racism. On the plus side, Muzique seems pretty embarrassed by its’ planners little “inside joke” — and with the advent of plus-size clubs, maybe the kind of venue that screens its patrons based on a Hollywood idea of hotness is finally on the way out. Article by Jezebel * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * This is honestly pretty horrible. Not even for weight discrimination – for any discrimination (as the article implies, race is another prejudice). It’s not just that, though – I recently saw a Real World episode where one of the males on the show was removed from a club because he was homosexual. When he went to argue with the bouncers, they denied that his sexuality was the reason that he was kicked out, but it was pretty obvious that they were lying (I think he was removed right after kissing a guy at the club). The cast member wasn’t allowed back into the club until his other cast mates argued with the club owner. The point is, discrimination of any type is wrong – it’s not funny and it shouldn’t be taken lightly or be make into an “inside joke.” I hope that club takes some heat for this. Have you every been discriminated against, or perhaps prohibited from going somewhere because of appearance, race, or any other personal factor?
About The Author
Patricia Colli, Editor of Beutiful Magazine, is a human rights activist, equality advocate, and promoter of health, acceptance and wellbeing. Having experienced disordered eating, unhealthy exercise patterns and poor body image, she is especially passionate about shedding light on eating disorders and the power of body acceptance.
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