Woman kicked out of bar for being overweight

[Katherine Brengle]

>> snip

Jenny Dionne started her night on the town in typical fashion a few weeks ago. It ended abruptly one drink later when she wasn’t allowed to re-enter a bar after stepping outside for a smoke because staff thought she was too big.

Ms. Dionne, 22, of Dartmouth, said staff at the Dome took the action because she’s overweight.

"They told me management didn’t want me back in there," Ms. Dionne said in an interview Thursday. "I kept asking why and he just kept saying, ‘I don’t feel comfortable repeating the reason so I’m not telling you.’ "

>>continued http://www.thechronicleherald.ca/Front/855004.html

Yes, this was in Canada, but it could have easily been in the US.

[youngdem]

1. My question is why anyone, especially a larger woman, would patronize a club with such a policy

I don't agree with the policy, of course, but clubs can have their own rules.

That's how clubs work.

I just don't understand people who seek to patronize and seek approval from such organizations, when they are the target of the club's hate.

Seems silly.

The club members are assholes, for sure. But this woman simply needs to find another watering hole.

[annabanana]

2. hoo-boy!

:hide:

[baldguy]

3. Its not a "club", its a bar - open to anyone who wishes to pay.

[tinrobot]

10. Tell that to Studio 54...

...and every other glorified bar since with a velvet rope.

[baldguy]

15. "The Dome" doesn't sound like Halifax's answer to Studio 54.

[Posteritatis]

35. The Dome is a hole

Anyone I know who's had any familiarity with it usually prefixes the name with "Ugh," aside from the ones who're still immature enough to consider the point of going to a bar to be waking up the next day with a hangover.

That said, it's Halifax. I can think of eleventeen trillion better places to go than that place. It's not like a port city with a half-dozen universities and God only knows how many colleges isn't going to have options. Just the Irish pubs alone...

(Edited: Also, it is more a bar than a club. No membership lists or whatnot, you just pay the cover and walk in.)

[rucky]

4. Glad the folks at the Woolworth's lunch counter thought differently.

eom

[Solon]

6. Can I label your post as the stupidest one of the day?

Just asking, because it qualifies. First, how the fuck was she to know they had this policy in the first place? it wasn't posted at all. Second, she was a regular for crying out loud. What the fuck was she supposed to be, psychic?

[wildhorses]

8. ahh...give it time. its early yet --

just sayin'

[SoCalDem]

9. Maybe they need to install a weigh-in scale at the door

"You must weigh less than...... to enter"

[treestar]

24. Who are you convincing with your insults?

Bet you haven't persuaded many people today.

Who are you to call someone else stupid? We're supposed to think you are smarter than us all, and if you label a post "stupid" that means the rest of us are to accept the argument as invalid?

Have a cup of coffee, geez. Or take your meds. People are just trying to have a discussion here and don't need your nastiness.

[Solon]

27. I didn't call the poster stupid, just the post...

In case you were wondering, I don't prettify my words just to satisfy some type of "honor" code that you seemed to have made up out of thin air. If a post is stupid, and based on ignorance, as the post by youngdem obviously was, I'll call them on it. I won't coddle ignorance, especially of a poster who couldn't even RTFA.

[Bluebear]

39. but, this poster has so many posts from which to choose.

:eyes:

[blondeatlast]

40. Ain't that the awful truth... nt

[Katherine Brengle]

7. From what I read, it sounded

like a place she had been before and there was no mention of a policy, was there?

If so, I missed it.

[Forrest Greene]

25. Yeah, & Why

...do those darn Negroes wanna eat at that lunch counter?!?

I just don't get it.

[youngdem]

34. Cute, offensive analogy.

Clubs can segregate. Not my rule.

Private clubs can say no blacks, no whites, no jews, no fatties, no whatever the hell they want. They are private.

Ever been to a club in New York or LA, especially in the 80's? They keep you roped off outside and pick through the crowd for what they are looking for, excluding minorities, or uglies, or whatever. No, it's not right, but PLEASE SPARE ME the Jim Crow analogy.

:eyes:

[Posteritatis]

37. The Dome's pretty damn un-private

Most of the time anyone with an ID or a reasonable facsimile thereof can waltz right in after giving 'em a few twonies for cover. It's just a fairly sleazy nightclub with delusions of adequacy, not some exclusive, Studio 54-type thing.

Their pulling that schtick isn't in the same range as, say, a McDonald's doing so, but it's not that far off either, and I'm not sure which of the two is the classier locale.

[Forrest Greene]

41. I'm Not Concerned About A Club's "Rights"

...to segregate, on any grounds whatsoever. I am interested in the fact of the segregation.

SO PLEASE SPARE ME YOUR OFFENSIVE DEFENSES OF BIGOTS, COMMERCIAL OR OTHERWISE.

You might consider not "shouting," too. It's boorish behavior.

[Honeycombe8]

26. That was the argument used to rationalize non-Jewish clubs......

The argument goes like this...."Yeah, that's a crummy policy. But why would a Jew want to go where he's not welcome? Best he find a place where there are others of his kind."

Whether this was legal or not depends on whether it was a "private" or "public" club. If private, you can set the rules of your club. If public, you must abide by the laws of the land, which include no discrimination of certain types of people under federal or state law (race, gender, disability, age). Being overweight could be considered to come under the "disability" provision, I suppose.

[Zookeeper]

30. It's not a club as in "private club."

It's a bar and she said she is a regular.

[Maine-ah]

5. here's their website.

http://www.thedome.ca/

[Katherine Brengle]

11. Thanks, I just sent them a message. nt

[Double T]

12. Looks like 'we' have identified the problem.........

[Jed Dilligan]

13. Thanks, I sent them some "choice" comments...

Be sure to make your subject line something like "cover charge?" so they won't throw it out without reading it.

This is really disgusting. Opening the article I was prepared to say, okay--like this person is so big they're going to be a hazard in hallways, on balconies etc.--but no, there's this normal, pretty girl who's just a bit wide in the middle. People are such assholes.

[rucky]

14. Check out "The Wingnuts"

just sayin'

[Donnachaidh]

16. check out the DJ link --

there seems to be baldies, and fatties, and oldies pictured there. Of course they are MEN, so that's okay?

[Honeycombe8]

28. The bar patrons look pretty normal to me. A few plump gals....

no plump guys. Some obviously "plain" gals and plain guys. The photos have more than their share of cute gals (AND guys), which is typical of most photographers (to zero in on attractive people).

This young woman said she and her friends were a "regulars" at the Dome, and that some of her friends were large like her. That means that the bar does not have a policy against large people.

This story is entirely from her. I am wondering if she was a problem for the bar in some other way, and the parting shot from the bouncer about her weight was just a comment in an altercation that had been going on between her and bar employees. Note that she wasn't going easily...she insisted on seeing the manager, she was persistent with teh door guy who told her to leave the premises. Not exactly a shy gal whose feelings were hurt.

Something about this story that isn't being told, I suspect.

[frustrated_lefty]

17. Perhaps it was the stench of cigarette smoke?

[devilgrrl]

18. Yep, not only was she the fattest patron, she was the only smoker too boot - the pig.

:sarcasm:

[frustrated_lefty]

20. Hey, don't hate. Not my fault the vigor with which

you anti-smokers have pushed the issue. In many states, smoking within 200 yards of a building is illegal. You set the laws up, don't expect sympathy for overweight people.

[treestar]

19. Great, let's just go to another bar

With a rule excluding unattractive men.

Time for us girls to pool our capital and open a bar into which only hottie men are allowed.

No baldies, unless they have a handsome face and a buff bod. Nobody with a gut overhanging. Nobody over 40 unless they are still in soap-opera actor shape.

[zagging]

21. Well, it wasn't in America.

It could have also easily been anywhere in the world, but it appears that attached to this act of discrimination there was an American just around the corner chuckling to himself. After all, Canadians are soooooo with it.

Maybe you could find a picture of some baby seals clubbed by Newfoundlanders and say, "It could have easily been in Alaska". Or maybe some hewn and burned out forest in South America and say "It could easily have been in Washington". How about some African woman persecuted just for being a woman, and you could say, "It could have easily been in my office."

America sucks.

Ya, I know, Canadians are Americans too.

[treestar]

23. There are similarities in the cultures

In fact, the obsession with weight has the British in thrall, too.

Maybe in non-British based cultures it is, but we'd have to find out about that, and being Americans, that's apparently tough to do. The MSM here acts as if there is no life outside the US.

I don't know about Canada - maybe they aren't obsessed with weight and this women got thrown out of the bar for some other reason that the article doesn't make clear.

[smokey nj]

22. I wonder if this bar has a similar policy for overweight men.

[undergroundpanther]

29. Fucking Health NAZIS

Body size obsessed health nut fascists.Fat is the new scapegoat.

I warned about this shit before about how HATEFUL fat phobia is and the bigots ready to unleash it,on any fat person..There is a couple who are fat and can't adopt a child until they get THIN so the guy is getting a lap band,a risky surgery to be skinny enough to adopt a child.This kind of shit is size based hate.. but noooo,Every health nut intruded the topic spewing out unwanted advice mostly based in the same old propaganda said I was defending unhealthy habits..It isn't about that it's about fascist control over your body and that even in the name of health statistics and shit like"preventable deaths" it is WRONG.

Where did the national obsession about EVERYONE having fit bodies come from? Who gave the state a mandate to tell everyone what and how much they are permitted to eat?And demand bodies of other people must weigh within a narrow range or they are second class citizens,declared unfit and socially sanctioned to be treated like scapegoats?

It is the socially sanctioned HATE no different from racism,sexism ,homophobia.

Young girls in the States are more afraid of becoming fat, than they are of nuclear war, cancer or losing their parents.

“If shame could cure obesity there wouldn’t be a fat woman in the world” Susan Wooley, PhD, Past President, American Academy for Eating Disorders.

Question: In the States how much does the average fat women earn each year compared to her thin peers?

Answer: Nearly $7000 less.
http://www.urge.co.nz/Image/Image.asp?SECID=1&TID=8&StID=40

What would happen if a woman was kicked out of a bar for being black? There would be outrage and people would be very angry at thee barkeep, but if a fat woman is treated that way by bigot???
America the nation with many fat people, hates fat people..

well that's ALOT of people that are going to be the next scapegoat who already hate their bodies like our fat phobic culture tells them to.It's sizeism,or lookism, soul murder based on body size ,that's what this shit IS..
http://www.ejhs.org/volume5/Areton/03Background.htm
http://www.shs.uwo.ca/publications/mindbody/fphobia.htm

http://www.cbsnews.com/stories/2003/10/15/health/main578191.shtml
http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=view_all&address=364x1353956
http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=view_all&address=364x1576321
http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=view_all&address=364x1347695\
http://www.eatright.org/cps/rde/xchg/ada/hs.xsl/home_9302_ENU_HTML.htm

[Zookeeper]

31. I don't doubt her story...

My guess is that the owner(s) decided that they wanted to promote the image of "hot" girl customers at their bar to bring in younger male drinkers. She didn't fit the bill.

Very disturbing.

[undergroundpanther]

32. Size based HATE

is still hate and it always hurts it always crushes the soul. And it is always WRONG Beware the health nut NAZIS.and the Skinny Police.

size may very well become the new black. Except with our national fat phobia the undesired trait it is implied the fat person chooses to be fat. A black person cannot choose to have dark skin..In a country that DISPISES fat people like a contagion who would WANT to be the object of such hate,bigotry and scapegoating?

THINK people !!



Part of the reason is that the diet industry is a multi-billion dollar industry. It depends on people feeling bad about themselves to make money. In addition we are encouraged to be a certain size to be healthy and are warned about the dangers of gaining weight. There are lots of confusing messages about what is an ‘ideal’ weight and how we ‘should’ achieve it. These ‘ideals’ fail to acknowledge the huge diversity in body size and shape.

it's clear that fat phobia and the resulting self-hatred among fat people is primarily a **social phenomenon, not a medical one.** The desire on display is to be beautiful, not to be well. And, in her attempt to achieve self-love through self-mutilation, Carnie Wilson has consciously designated herself a role model for fat people everywhere -- hence the very public nature of her surgery

http://gastricbypass.netfirms.com/baddayforfat.htm

[Zookeeper]

33. You're right, but he could very well be discriminating against...

another female patron for being "too old" or "too ugly."

The real horror here is that a business owner feels justified in discriminating against a female customer because she doesn't meet his standard of "hotness." I'd like to see the tables turned on those men.

[LaPera]

36. "No Fat Chicks".

Is it any different than guys..driving around with that bumper sticker on their vehicles? No!

It's wrong & not much one can do about it...the simplest way to understand and get a feeling of what it's like (was for me to read) an interview with Gwyneth Paltrow when she was doing the movie "Shallow Hal" and it will enlighten those unaware of the disdain, insensitivity and superiority arrogant treatment towards those who are very overweight.

[Quantess]

38. Wow. She's not as big as I expected.

Her photo is in the article. In my mind I pictured someone morbidly obese....she's overweight, but she's not *that* huge.