On Tue, 28 Jul 2009 08:48:01 -0700, Annette Taylor wrote: > Sounds like the job of a cocktail waitress. I think they only still work in > casinos. I don't know how you define "cocktail waitress" but common usage defines it as a person who serves drinks and not someone who chats up or provides "relationship services" to a patron. For example, see: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cocktail_waitress
For the experience of a self-described Vegas cocktail waitress, see: http://www.cocktaildoll.com/faq.htm (best quote: "Who says there are no stupid questions?!") The closest thing to a Japanese hostess in American culture is, I think, represented by the old slang term "B-girl" or "Bar girl" (a staple from crime movies from the1940s and later) but B-girls either had the job of getting a male client to buy her drinks (for which she might get a commission) or to set up the client for some crime (e.g., robbery). Some of the academic literature on this point is provided by the following articles on Jstor.org: http://www.jstor.org/stable/3704611 and http://www.jstor.org/stable/1140594 -Mike Palij New York University [email protected] > ---- Original message ---- >>Date: Tue, 28 Jul 2009 10:10:41 -0400 >>From: "Mike Palij" <[email protected]> >>Subject: [tips] Give Me That Old Time Profession >>To: "Teaching in the Psychological Sciences (TIPS)" <[email protected]> >>Cc: "Mike Palij" <[email protected]> >> >>An article in today's NY Times reports on a growing profession >>among young Japanese women: hostessing. What is hostessing? >>Quoting the article: >> >>|The women who pour drinks in Japan's sleek gentlemen's clubs >>|were once shunned because their duties were considered immodest: >>|lavishing adoring (albeit nonsexual) attention on men for a hefty fee. >>See: >>http://www.nytimes.com/2009/07/28/business/global/28hostess.html?hp=&pagewanted=all >> >> >>In some ways, being a hostess is, I believe, comparable to the >>services that geisha's provided in the past but being a geisha involved >>extensive training, an apprenticeship, and development of some >>skill in entertainment (e.g., playing a musical instrument, singing, >>dancing, etc.). It seems that being a hostess only requires one >>to be a "pretty young thing", be able to make believe that one really >>cares about the man who is currently her client, and to hold one's >>liquor. Sex is typically not part of the package (unlike the "Girlfriend >>Experience" in the U.S., a subject of a recent Stephen Sonderbergh >>film, which means that a sex worker/prostitute provides "relationship >>services" in addition to "sex services"). Prostitution in Japan is >>illegal but it only became illegal in the late 1950s (see Kenji Mizoguichi's >>film "Street of Shame" about the women who worked in one house >>of prostitution in the Tokyo redlight district; it is said that Mizoguichi's >>film helped to get the anti-prostitution law passed). Thus, the types >>of services that women could provide were rather rigidly defined >>though not always obvious to westerners. >> >>The more basic issue involved with hostessing is summarized in the >>following quote: >> >>|Atsushi Miura, an expert on the issue, says hostessing will be popular >>|among Japanese women as long as other well-paying jobs are scarce. >>| >>|"Some people still say hostesses are wasting their life away," he said. >>|"But rather than criticizing them, Japan should create more jobs for >>|young women." >> --- To make changes to your subscription contact: Bill Southerly ([email protected])
