On WOMEN-ONLY HOTEL FLOORS (a brief interlude)

I am not ignoring my male abortions debate. We will have it. I am still trying to collect a few more opinions and answers to the questions. If you haven't done so then please click on that entry (from August) and do so. We will continue the topic then. But in the meantime...

I was perusing some videos on YouTube.com the other day having to do with men's rights the other day. To my surprise there are actually several good videos on the site. There are montages, video blogs, news clips and even a few more mainstream things like stand-up comedy clips on the subject. Then I came across this...



Well just take a guess which side I'm on....

I have yet to talk to any woman who feels more at risk at hotels than at other places they may go to. The only person whose view seems to support this in my own life is Kelly who believes that hotel bars specifically carry a certain stigma about them and that women go to hotel bars specifically to be hit on. I'm not sure I agree with her there but I'll let you guys tell me whether or not that's true.

Women seem to still feel that men are the more likely sexual predators and that they are safer if they are on a hotel floor where men are not allowed. There are plenty of female sexual predators out there who would prey upon women who might be drinking in a hotel lounge area. I would argue that this possibility is MORE likely if we eliminate men from the equation all together. Does this contribute to the idea that women should be protected from men and that they are more likely to be victimized by a man? Yeah maybe. But only if the hotel chooses to market "Safety & Security " as a selling point. As an additional point here, if women are safe and secure on the women-only floor of a hotel, what exactly does it say about the rest of the place? I say just make the whole damn place feel safer with more cameras, locks and guards if safety is such a concern of hotel management.

Now if a hotel wants to re-model some of their rooms to cater to "a woman's needs" then I say go for it. If you can drum up more business for your hotel by providing bath salts, better mirror lighting for putting on make-up and copies of the Oprah magazine for reading then I am all in favor of that. But don't exclude men from the experience. I know that I for one would love better lighting for shaving purposes as well as flowers in the room. And while I haven't experienced any kinds of bath salts I'm sure they are quite pleasant. If we are to believe stereotypes, then there is a certain large group of men that would prefer to have just that kind of experience.

The sad truth is that I know some people who would feel much safer in a place that didn't allow blacks or hispanics because they are perceived to be more violent groups putting the rest of us at risk. I'm sure that if you asked them they would come back with the same two points we are making here: 1.) The majority of us are fine people but a few bad apples always seem to spoil the punch and 2.) Look out for your own group because there are plenty of bad apples there as well. We would very quickly call that discrimination and segregation but are resistant to do so in this case. We need to fix that.

THE SOLUTION: How about adding a MEN-ONLY floor as well. I'm pretty sure it wouldn't do nearly as much business and might be a losing proposition but it would certainly shut up the men's rights activists such as myself. Failing that, just make your more effeminate floors but allow anyone access to them. You should probably give them a different twist as well so as not to aggrivate the feminists. I mean, if you think I'M pushy.... Better idea: Just give this up! Let everyone be responsible for their own actions and safety. Is that so hard?

(An interesting post-script to this story... The hotel in Grand Rapids, MI that was the subject of this whole debate decided to scrap the idea of making the floor in question a women-only floor. The decision was made to go ahead with the renovations but to allow access to the rooms to anyone who preferred that kind of treatment. Apparently they did so "under pressure" from certain gender equality groups. Could it be that we won one?...)


Pleas stay tuned as I PROMISE that we will get into the male abortion discussion very soon. It's gonna' be quite a hot one so make sure not to miss it. Thanks for reading as always.--STEVE