It’s a common enough phrase, one that I haven’t thought much about since I first got to college. “Girls get in free.” I remember hearing it for the first time, understanding the reason behind it and immediately accepting it. Girls will go where drinks and parties are free, and boys will follow. At least that’s the implication.
Every once in a while I’ll hear a guy make an off-handed comment like, “equality should mean everyone pays.” There’s nothing inherently wrong with that comment, in terms of women being treated equally in society. Women should have to pay to get in somewhere if a man has to as well. I’m not particularly excited about that idea from the standpoint of a broke, female college student, but I understand the sentiment.
However, the business model behind letting girls into places for free isn’t going to change anytime soon because it’s a profitable one. I’ve never had much of a problem with the idea, but recently the Kavanaugh hearing had me thinking about parties and social gatherings in general and the atmosphere they breed — a place where drinking in excess and blacking out is the norm. I thought of Gainesville and the endless frat parties and nights out at Midtown. It began to feel more like a business than a source of entertainment, and that’s because it is.
Gainesville is a college town, meaning having a line of different bars and clubs along a street is not abnormal. Parties are not always thrown just for fun, they’re also thrown to make a profit. All you have to do is provide the place, the alcohol and the girls, and you can make money.
The problem with this idea is the exploitation of the girls who are getting in for ‘free.’ There’s an expectation that when a girl gets in for free, they’ll provide part of the entertainment for the real clientele: the men who are paying to be there. It happens on a larger scale in cities across the country where promoters enlist models and beautiful women to go to events. Those girls aren’t paid to be there, but they are gifted in free drinks and dinners. It creates a space where gender roles are enforced, and the men are held in a superior standing because they’re the ones who are paying.
I can’t blame men for paying to get in, or for women deciding to go where it’s free, because those are often the best or only options. People want to go out to have a good time, and that’s to be expected, even encouraged. I’m not going to play the “holier-than-thou” card and say that I haven’t taken advantage of things that are made free to women, because I have. My problem isn’t with the participants in the process, it’s with the society that thinks this is the only way you can make a profit, off the exploitation of men and women.
It’s shown in a smaller scale in Gainesville, where there aren’t many promoters, just the promise of a good, free time. Most clubs in Gainesville make it so everyone pays, but every once in a while there will be a ladies’ night. It’s the parties in Gainesville that continue to implement the policy of women get in for free and men have to pay.
I don’t believe men go to parties solely for the chance to see girls, and I don’t believe women only go for a free drink. There are a hundred reasons. I think the problem lies within these gendered ideas where women are sourced as free entertainment and men are the paying audience. It’s not the participants’ fault for falling into these gendered stereotypes, which they probably aren’t even aware of. It’s the people who profit off of them.
It can be a situation that may lead to rampant problems, but its flaw is the objectification of women. It sees women as a product that they can sell. This isn’t to say you should never accept an invitation to a free party or you should never pay to get in somewhere. It’s a reminder that there are gendered roles that go with these parties, and it’s something to keep in mind.
Michaela Mulligan is a UF journalism sophomore. Her column appears on Wednesdays.
