Great Moments in Journalism: Guess Who's Back
Great Moments in Journalism are submitted by readers, and can be sent to this address.End of the week, poll up later, you're familiar with the procedure. As to today's Moment: Okay, pulling something from a site called "Women's E-News" and labeling it journalism is probably a stretch, but, you know, whatever, it's Friday. In any event, did you know that underage girls are sometimes allowed into bars in sheer contravention of the law? Liz Funk offers a sizzling expose, and turns to an expert on the matter:
While there are no statistics or national studies about the incidence of bars breaking laws and doing what they can to attract young and underage women, Gary Miller, a senior at New York University, said it's an open secret. The secret burst into the New York City headlines, however, in July 2006. In a second homicide that summer in the city involving a young woman who had been drinking to excess, 18-year-old Jennifer Moore left one of the city's most exclusive lounges intoxicated. Walking alone in the early morning hours along the city's West Side Highway, she was abducted and raped. Two days later she was found disemboweled in a dumpster in Weehawken, N.J. "Bar and club owners definitely exploit women," said Miller, who wrote an article in November headlined "Girls exchange dignity for attention in trendy clubs" in the Washington Square News, New York University's student newspaper. "Women become a commodity of the establishment that owners use to draw male patrons in. I think the reason most men go to bars and clubs is to find women. This is why they'll pay a cover charge while women get in free; they're paying for the women inside. Bar and club owners know this. They know the success and appeal of their establishment depends on the quantity and attractiveness of the girls inside."
