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A Day In the Life of a "Booth Babe"
jfruh writes "Booth babes," promotional models paid to showcase products, are ubiquitous figures at tech trade shows. Ever wonder what they think of their jobs? Well, it may not surprise you to learn that standing up for eight hours in heels isn't much fun. Some enjoy the work, while others don't enjoy being the subject of stares. And one model adds that 'The industry is now moving towards making models show more skin.'"
Why not quit their job?
These women have taken a job where their bodies will be used to manipulate the minds of lonely men by displaying their sexual atttributes, and then some of them have the gall to be upset that they're being regarded as sex objects? Wake me up when someone intelligent is interviewed. They oughta be happy that someone will pay them for something if standing around in heels is one of their finest talents.
"You're right," Fisheye says. "I should have set it on 'whip' or 'chop.'"
Nobody pays us for standing around. Imagine having to do actual work.
Ever wonder what they think of their jobs?
I couldn't care less. Why is this on Slashdot again?
These comments should be funny...
No sig today...
She said problems with sexism have been absent from her own work as a model. "I'm used to it," she said
Just because you are used to it doesn't mean that sexism is absent. There really needs to be a boycott of companies that use these tactics. The tech industry is probably the last major holdout in the understanding that women are not simply sex objects. Women refuse to work in the tech industry because of sexual harassment. Unfortunately, the field becomes dominated by men who don't understand it, which then perpetuates the alienation cycle.
"Her other part-time job as a dancer" ... dads, it's up to you to keep your daughters off the pole. 'Nuff said.
Breakfast served all day!
I usually avoid the booths in question, but if I have a specific need to find something out, I ignore the booth babe as they know nothing about the products or services.
I feel terrible for the women as they could easily be in our industry if they wanted, but instead all they do day in day out is be leered at by men who should know better. Why would they enter our industry if their only experience of it is to be objectified?
I don't do business with any firm that thinks so lowly of women in our industry. I make it absolutely clear to vendors that I do not buy from them if they have booth babes at conferences I attend. I will also strongly recommend against them to my clients. I am not the only one who does this.
It's 2012, not 1962. It's time to grow up.
Andrew van der Stock
This career is dead-end, 100% shallow (they don't even have to know what the fuck it is they are holding) and based on their looks.
It's also an obviously annoying work-place.
However, your reviews are based on your abilitiy to smile and how you look, meaning it only requires you to do exactly ONE thing.
And they complain?
Work in mcdonalds or any other no-skill job and see how funny it is.
Fucking whiners.
I'm sorry.These women take jobs that are sexist (their job is to arouse the customer and link sexiness and sensuality to some plastic product that isn't really sexy at all) by some sexist companies and then get ogled by the people who are supposed to ogle them.
No. Sympathy. At. All.
While I don't agree with the whole concept of booth babes (I would prefer having real people from the companies instead of models. Not scantily clad, just real people who know the product) it is very hard to sympathise with those who choose to take part in it. They knew what the job was about when they took it. If I take a job that entails wearing a Borat style Mankini then I know I will be the subject of stares (not for the same reasons as these women, but still, my crotch will garner some stares) and then it's my own stupidity to blame if I'm unhappy about being stared at...
But, again. Stupid companies. Stop using booth babes. It makes the industry look adolescent in nature, and is disrespectful to all women, and even more disrespectful to women in tech.
THIS kind of attitude is why many of us geeks can't get a date.. change it!
This one works too.
There is no better way to convince people that you were born yesterday than to be ignorant of history.
As someone who has seen a few generations of these girls go by, I can say that the BB's of around 15 years ago were less dressed than they are now
Democracy is a sheep and two wolves deciding what to have for lunch. Freedom is a well armed sheep contesting the issue
There's respect for achieving great things, and then there's respect for being a fellow member of our species. I'm guessing it's the latter that they want.
There's respect for achieving great things, and then there's respect for being a fellow member of our species. I'm guessing it's the latter that they want.
What they want is to not be treated like a sex object, after accepting a job as a sex object.
"You're right," Fisheye says. "I should have set it on 'whip' or 'chop.'"
Have any of your friends ever had to stick at a crap job because they needed the money? Are you this sympathetic? Are they still friends with you?
SJW n. One who posts facts.
Please tell me where a 40 yr old male or 50 yr old female can apply for the job as booth babe?
A model is no more a sex object than a store mannequin is a sex toy. They are selling products, they are not hookers. Get some perspective.
Tesla was a genius. Edison however was a overrated hack who liked to torture puppies.
"ook at my low user ID, I've been here for longer than some of you have been alive."
No one cares. I'm probably the same age as you but I don't go around pointing it out as if it somehow adds extra weight to the argument.
"I am literally white hot angry with whomever did it b"
You'll get over it.
"f you have a daughter, I expect you'll want her to be a geekgrrl. If you want that outcome, you will join me in boycotting booth babes."
Actually if I had a daughter I'd let her do whatever she wanted. Unfortunately you obviously don't realise it but you're just another one of those self righteous prudish males who seem to think that women should only do the jobs YOU approve of. Newsflash pal - its the WOMEN who get to decide whether to do it , not people like you.
I suspect in another century you'd be at the pulpit foaming at the mouth and damning any woman who dared go out with an unmarried man or wear a short skirt or speak before a man gave her permission.
You know what - Fuck you and your kind.
It's all in the mind
If you think that you have less options, you _will_ have less options
Oh very much so. But the thing to remember that modifying your thought process is right up there with some of the hardest things in life.
Low self-esteem is something that feeds off of itself and just gets worse with time. Depression is not far behind, which puts the person into real trouble because that kills any motivation to try to improve yourself.
The sad part is that there is still this common misconception that low self-esteem and depression are easily overcome. The sufferer just simply can't "Start feeling better". Without professional help, there is really no way out, thus limiting his/her options for life and careers.
'He who conquers others is strong; He who conquers himself is mighty.' -Lao Tse
Blah blah blah feminism blah blah blah don't exploit women blah blah blah if I had a daughter blah blah blah.
In fact most of us didn't read it because there weren't enough pictures.
-Styopa
It's simple really. So simple, I'm surprised you don't get it. Women want to be stared at by attractive men, and don't want attention from fatties and goons.
A model is no more a sex object than a store mannequin is a sex toy.
Are you serious? That is so detached from reality, I'm not really sure where to start. Maybe you are quoting some feminist ideal?
W..w..W - Willy Waterloo washes Warren Wiggins who is washing Waldo Woo.
Plus, the Dunning-Kruger effect doesn't help.
Speaking as someone that's dealt with depression since I was a pre-teen along with the extreme lack of self-esteem, it's incredibly demoralizing and makes it difficult to advance. Every time a promotion came up, I would tell myself I was going to go for it and try and psych myself up but in the end my own fear of failure and disappointment kept me from even trying a lot of the time, and when I did actually manage to get promoted, due to the way I internalize everything, I was never able to let the "shit roll down hill"...it always stopped at me and compounded my neuroses and lack of self confidence.
Coupled with the stigma that still comes along with mental health issues, particularly in the work environment (you can miss a day if you wake up puking your guts up and nobody bats an eye...try and miss a day because you feel like you're a worthless piece of shit that ruins everything he touches, see how that goes over), it's really quite debilitating. This is why it makes me so fucking angry when people make glib comments about the subject, because it really is a handicap. It would be ridiculous to tell someone that lost an arm "just think positive and everything will be okay", but for some reason, when the subject of depression comes up, there are still a large number of people out there that think you can just turn it off.
God, I fucking wish I could just turn it off. I wish it was as simple as telling myself I'm awesome every morning while I'm staring at myself in the mirror, or reading a few self-help books.
Don't paint everyone with the brush that you've been painted with, some have less options.
It's all in the mind
If you think that you have less options, you _will_ have less options
“If you always put limit on everything you do, physical or anything else, it will spread into your work and into your life. There are no limits. There are only plateaus, and you must not stay there, you must go beyond them.” -- Bruce Lee
You know what I find sexist: Being seen as someone who is more driven by his libido than his rational thought processes, which is the premise of employing "booth babes". Those women are actively and willingly participating in this sexist (misandrist, in this case) type of advertising and have the nerve to complain about the cases where it succeeds.
The sad part is that there is still this common misconception that low self-esteem and depression are easily overcome. The sufferer just simply can't "Start feeling better". Without professional help, there is really no way out, thus limiting his/her options for life and careers.
The really depressing part is that there is no treatment for moderate depression that works significantly better than placebo. SSRIs only actually work on people with severe major depression. The most empirically supported type of talk therapy, CBT, is effective only in anxiety disorders.
There's really no effective treatment for depression, because depression isn't really an illness. It's a rational response to an abusive world. The real sickos are the ones who are ok with the way things are.
Give me Classic Slashdot or give me death!
I know at least two people who cannot advance in their careers because of the exact problems that you mention. They can hold a job, do the job, but their chances of improving themselves beyond that is nil. To advance, you need to be able to maintain a confident outlook for a long period of time, even through adverse conditions. This is not possible when you have devastating depressive moods that color your thinking and prevent any type of progressive forward thinking.
I object to power without constructive purpose. --Spock
No, not trolling, just kind of depressed at the reaction.
Note that the first quote you provide is in the reporter's voice, not any of the models. To some extent, this reads like the kind of story where the reporter started with an angle and wrote it regardless of what the actual subjects say. The direct quotes are all pretty down to earth: "But the work is pretty relaxed and you don't have to do a lot in order to get paid," "It's not a great feeling to see that, but there's nothing that can really be done. We work to promote products," "I'm used to it" and so on. Of the four women quoted, three don't say much more than that a job's a job, and standing and smiling all day is harder than it looks. Ellen Lee, the only woman who's quoted complaining about the job, is pointed out as looking for other work.
These all seem within the usual spectrum of responses when people are asked about their jobs. I guess the formula "You knew that [X] existed when you took the job, so you have no right to complain about it." just doesn't ring true for me. If X = {'carpal tunnel syndrome', 'stupid management', 'TPS reports'}, I suspect there'd be a supportive reaction from slashdoters. So why when X = 'sexisim' is there such a huge angry response?
In short, you have nothing to gain by assuming failure. It gains you nothing. If you glibly assume success, and then fail, you still are not in any worse a position than if you assumed failure from the outset and did nothing.
I remember in college someone on an IRC channel complaining that he couldn't get a date because asking girls out was hard. Thing is... there were obviously girls in the channel. The thing that struck me, other than being surprised to see a female in an IRC channel (this was like 1995) was that instead of trying chat them up, he was making himself into a pity party. Now, say what you will, but if a girl is willing to listen to you feel sorry for yourself, she's probably open to listening to you in general. Girls don't usually waste time listening to men be whiners unless they actually think well of them.
Needless to say, I felt that an obvious opportunity was being wasted. I berated him for allowing his waangst to override his ability to see opportunity, and then simply asked one of the girls out. I expected to fail, obviously, but I wanted to demonstrate that failure doesn't kill you. Instead she accepted and we ended up dating for a few months until the end of my senior year.
There is only really one set of characteristics that separates highly successful people from others: recognizing and acting on opportunity. While I admit, being reckless is not a good idea either, you would be surprised about the number of opportunities out there that are really pretty low risk. The catch with those is that they don't come regularly and you can't psych yourself up to take advantage of them, you have to just see them and go for it. Being smart enough to see the angles helps a lot, but that shouldn't be a problem in this forum.
You have to accept failure as a possibility of any action, but you have to understand that inaction is always worse than a failed action. Doing nothing ensures that you get nothing.