Review of Support the Girls (2018) by Bob K — 19 Dec 2018

What does it mean to "support the girls"â"a title that is, at the same time, an ethical injunction? It depends on who has the power and means to support: For patrons at the boobs-and-beer/wings-and-breasts Double Whammies (a local, more family friendly Twin Peaks), to support the girls working their barely covered butts off means tipping extra well and keeping to a transactional relationship.

For the owners and managers of nationwide chain and competitor Man Caveâ"which puts its own patriarchal priority right in its nameâ"to support the girls means hiring a team of lawyers to protect (which is to say, claim property of) their bodies from groping hands (though not gazing eyes), keeping to a biopolitical framework.

Yet for the general manager of Whammies, Lisaâ"played to the hilt by an astoundingly dynamic Regina Hallâ"to support her (not merely "the") girls means treating them with respect: Yes, money is part of that, as are boundaries of consent, but above all it means never demeaning one another, accepting their humanity and femininity for all its foibles, treating these women (not "girls" at all) with dignity and care and strength.