It’s officially Halloweekend eve. Soon, as throngs of college students finalize their costumes and prepare official plans for the festivities ahead, clubs all over the city will open their doors for one of their biggest nights of the year.
And club promoters, searching in a field of scantily clad college-age girls, will look for their prize calf of the weekend.
Clubbing culture today is scary—not necessarily because of its intoxicated and often disorderly clientele, but because of the club owners, and more specifically, their henchmen. In an attempt to attract the “right” crowd, clubs will often hire promoters whose sole purpose is to bolster the club’s image through planning events, offering service packages, and curating the perfect atmosphere by recruiting a loyal clientele. In layman’s terms, their job is to boost the club’s reputation by finding beautiful girls to decorate it with, who the wealthy owners or patrons will spend a pretty penny on once inside.
Recently, a club promoter from Miami shared his experiences recruiting women to populate the clubs he works for, laying out the “harsh reality” of clubbing in a major city. Through a now viral and controversial video, “Miami Nate” bluntly states, “If you’re not attractive enough to get into the club, I will just straight up tell you.”
He continues on, saying that the reason he asks for pictures of the entire party interested in attending his club is to check whether or not they’ll get in on that given night—because apparently, clubs have implemented standards akin to roller coaster height requirements. No adherence to traditional beauty standards, no skimpy dress and heels, no major following on social media? No entry.
“If you’re trying to go to Dom Dolla at Space, you better be an absolute freaking dime with 100,000 followers on Instagram or you’re not getting in,” Miami Nate adds.
Though his words sound extremely insensitive to anyone with ears, he insists that he’s revealing the truth behind clubbing, and that people must deal with it or be met with disappointment. In reality, Miami Nate is right; clubs are concerned with their image first and foremost, and the people they admit are a large part of it, so they try to ensure quality clientele through this vetting process facilitated by promoters.
Through a 2022 TikTok detailing the world of club promoters and models, influencer Logan Rae Hill outlines the world described by Miami Nate. In the video, Hill paints a picture: “Wealthy men will come from out of town or out of the country and they buy a table at a club. But they don’t know anyone, so promoters will bring hot girls to the table to drink their alcohol for free.”
Promoters, therefore, are mere service providers for the affluent men that frequent these clubs, and sometimes even for the club owners themselves.
Katherine Shepherd told The Lion about her experience clubbing in Los Angeles, which reinforced Miami Nate’s claims about the nightlife industry. Speaking of going out with older promoters, Shepherd says, “They would have us stand on tables, not let us leave the desired table that they had booked because they needed to look good for the club themselves.”
Once they agree to the free entrance and free drinks, these women—who are often sought out by promoters through social media—inadvertently agree to become the club’s property for the night, commodifying their presence and using their beauty to attract men who will spend as much money as possible to impress these girls.
“I felt like we were just being used and taken pictures and videos of because we were young and we were considered the demographics that the promoters would want—but it didn’t really make us feel good about ourselves,” Shepherd continues.
If this sounds objectifying, it’s because it is. In this regard, clubs and their promoters don’t view women as patrons, but rather as ornaments, or as a copy of a menu in a display case by the hostess stand at a restaurant. They become prey as these beautiful and often underage women are placed in vulnerable positions that make them susceptible to harassment.
According to a study conducted by the National Library of Medicine, women are four times more likely to experience sexual violence in nightlife than men. Therefore, it’s not a stretch to say that this promoter culture that surrounds clubbing contributes to this detrimental reality.
As disgusting as clubbing and promoter culture sounds, it definitely doesn’t deter crowds of both men and women from partaking in the clubbing scene every weekend. Most have assimilated to this behavior as an intrinsic part of the clubbing experience, and simply dismiss it for a couple of hours on a Saturday night. Clubgoers of all genders find themselves faced with the crude reality of a world where women are viewed as commodities as opposed to humans.
As the colorful lights flash in their eyes, the DJ plays their favorite songs, and the buzz of the night temporarily numbs their senses, people suspend their morals in exchange for one moment of reckless fun, thereby allowing clubs to continue turning their patrons into merchandise.
