peefy
in
wtf_sexism
Perky Cups? Oh, I get it.
Last Summer, my partner and I were devastated when one of our favorite local coffee shops, Peaberry's Coffee, closed the majority of its locations. A few months later, in its place, a new shop opened called Perky Cups. We never went, as we had already found a new preferred non-Starbucks coffee location to frequent, and the only reason we ever went to that particular, out-of-the-way shop was because we liked the coffee a lot.
And silly me, I assumed the name was just a cute reference to coffee perking you up in the morning. I didn't give it much more thought until just this month, a big sign popped up closer to our neighborhood, advertising the opening of a new Perky Cups location, complete with a picture of a woman, awkwardly holding a cup of coffee just above her bikini-clad-cleavage.
Oh. Perky Cups. Now I get it.
From the reviews I've read, the coffee is pretty sub-par, and I absolutely refuse to support a coffee shop centered around its baristas being "hot women in bikinis." Have we as a culture really hit a level where in order to sell coffee, it needs to be sold by young women barely wearing clothes?
The sexist aspect of the shop is bad enough, but on top of that, the disregard for worker safety and hygiene also really gets me. I've managed a cafe, and our dress code was very strict about the types of clothes you could wear, largely to do with the fact that when you're working in a coffee shop, there's HOT LIQUID that could spill on you at any moment. I've gotten enough burns from coffee and steamed milk on my hands, and have had enough splatters and splashes all over my apron and pants to know that there's no way in hell I'd ever work around coffee with the majority of my breasts and stomach exposed. Ouch.
So, yes, let's let young women be exposed to harassment and unsafe working conditions all so the very few people I've seen in support of such a ridiculous atmosphere can get their jollies and the wow-does-he-come-off-as-skeevey manager can make money.
A Councilwoman in Aurora has even gone so far as to call for a boycott of the stores: here, and here. Though, the comments made by the Councilwoman and others in support of the boycott are a bit extreme.
In a letter sent to the shop's property manager, Shames-Makovsky Realty Co., Markert says the scantily clad workers are at risk of being "raped and murdered," the Sentinel reported.
We can't just boycott the shop because we don't agree with its marketing approach, no, because the girls are working in bikinis, they're going to be targets of rape in murder! While the Councilwoman has a point, and these girls probably face a higher level of on-the-job harassment and objectification, I'm really not comfortable with making the argument that because of their attire they're more open to rape and murder and that's why the shop should be closed.
I at least know that I and my partner, who was just as put-off by the idea as I was, will be avoiding the coffee shop because we'd rather not spend our money at a shop that makes mediocre coffee, especially not one that demeans women to do so.
And silly me, I assumed the name was just a cute reference to coffee perking you up in the morning. I didn't give it much more thought until just this month, a big sign popped up closer to our neighborhood, advertising the opening of a new Perky Cups location, complete with a picture of a woman, awkwardly holding a cup of coffee just above her bikini-clad-cleavage.
Oh. Perky Cups. Now I get it.
From the reviews I've read, the coffee is pretty sub-par, and I absolutely refuse to support a coffee shop centered around its baristas being "hot women in bikinis." Have we as a culture really hit a level where in order to sell coffee, it needs to be sold by young women barely wearing clothes?
The sexist aspect of the shop is bad enough, but on top of that, the disregard for worker safety and hygiene also really gets me. I've managed a cafe, and our dress code was very strict about the types of clothes you could wear, largely to do with the fact that when you're working in a coffee shop, there's HOT LIQUID that could spill on you at any moment. I've gotten enough burns from coffee and steamed milk on my hands, and have had enough splatters and splashes all over my apron and pants to know that there's no way in hell I'd ever work around coffee with the majority of my breasts and stomach exposed. Ouch.
So, yes, let's let young women be exposed to harassment and unsafe working conditions all so the very few people I've seen in support of such a ridiculous atmosphere can get their jollies and the wow-does-he-come-off-as-skeevey manager can make money.
A Councilwoman in Aurora has even gone so far as to call for a boycott of the stores: here, and here. Though, the comments made by the Councilwoman and others in support of the boycott are a bit extreme.
In a letter sent to the shop's property manager, Shames-Makovsky Realty Co., Markert says the scantily clad workers are at risk of being "raped and murdered," the Sentinel reported.
We can't just boycott the shop because we don't agree with its marketing approach, no, because the girls are working in bikinis, they're going to be targets of rape in murder! While the Councilwoman has a point, and these girls probably face a higher level of on-the-job harassment and objectification, I'm really not comfortable with making the argument that because of their attire they're more open to rape and murder and that's why the shop should be closed.
I at least know that I and my partner, who was just as put-off by the idea as I was, will be avoiding the coffee shop because we'd rather not spend our money at a shop that makes mediocre coffee, especially not one that demeans women to do so.