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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.'"
Aren't medical companies notorious for hiring hot ladies as product reps? The idea being middle-aged male doctors are easy to manipulate if the manipulator is young & pretty...
The sexism argument with computers doesn't make sense to me at all. There's a ton more sexism in other industries (try modelling in general, or Hollywood or around the boardrooms of big companies or merchant banking or even working in a bar when the drunks come in). The difference I guess is that nerds are seen as the bottom of the social pile by a lot of people and this perception of the geeks being tragic sleazes has immersed itself in our culture. I'm sure some nerds are sexist pigs, just as I'm sure some bankers are coke-snorting hooker-abusing vermin. However we tend to make TV & movies showing the bankers as kind of bad-boy cool and glamorous. Whereas the geek crowd get the world's best hacker played by Kevin Smith living in his mom's basement...
I live in Brazil, where booth babes are a fixture at any trade show. My daughter has been one of them. She's in college, speaks three languages and looks fantastic in a short, tight dress. She gets paid several hundred dollars a night to engage prospective customers outside the booth and qualify them as to whether to bring them into the booths for the salespeople to work them over. Speaking three languages, she's in demand for this job - she's tired at the end of a show, but it's good money and she meets interesting people. She's not a prostitute - she knows that she's being ogled, but she's worked hard on her looks and is proud of them. She gets propositioned occasionally, but she's a big girl and can handle herself. Next year, she'll graduate with a degree in Chemistry from University Federal do Rio de Janeiro, one of the best universities in Brazil, and will go into pharmaceutical research. She's not being degraded - she goes into her job with her eyes open and feels like this is a heck of a lot better than other jobs that she could get.
Jesus, I'm glad I don't live where people debate this shit endlessly.