The sign outside the Hostel Bar, a pub on Calgary’s 17 Avenue SW, is raising some concerns. On Wednesday, on its sandwich board, a staff member wrote, ‘Guys, no shirt, no service. Ladies no shirt no charge.’
Rebecca Sullivan, a University of Calgary professor whose work focuses on feminist media and cultural studies, said she was appalled.
“I was disgusted and angry. Women aren’t surprised or shocked. We are fed up,” Sullivan said.
Sullivan said there is a pervasive culture of sexual harassment within the bar industry and feels the message has no place.
“When there is this kind of joking comment returning to a belief that women’s bodies are available in bars. That by entering, you have signed some kind of unwritten social contract your body is now available for men’s pleasure. It’s not funny. It was never funny,” Sullivan said.
Others walking outside the establishment told Global News they are as equally offended, saying the sign isn’t inviting at all, but instead, just the opposite.
Jordan Berg and his girlfriend Caitlin Fryverger said they would never go inside.
“Doesn’t send the right message to women trying to come into the bar. It wouldn’t be a place I want my fiancée going if that’s what they’re pushing,” Berg said.
“I don’t think it’s funny at all,” Fryverger added. “It’s not somewhere I want to go.”
Global News reached out to the manager of the bar but he directed the request for comment to Hospitality Group 933 who he said runs the business.
A request for comment was not returned.