March 19, 2020

"Stepping into a Wing location feels a little like being sealed inside a pop-feminist Biodome."

"It is pitched as a social experiment: what the world would look like if it were designed by and for women, or at least millennial women with meaningful employment and a cultivated Instagram aesthetic. The Wing looks beautiful and expensive, with curvy pink interiors that recall the womb. The thermostat hovers around 72 degrees, to satisfy women’s higher temperature needs. A color-coded library features books by female authors only. There are well-appointed pump rooms, as well as private phone booths named after Lisa Simpson, Anita Hill and Lady Macbeth. There is an in-house cafe, the Perch, serving wines sourced from female vintners, and an in-house babysitting annex, the Little Wing, where members’ children may be looked after. The vibe is a fusion of sisterly inclusion and exclusive luxury: Private memberships run up to $3,000 per year, and the wait-list is 9,000 names long."

From "The Wing Is a Women’s Utopia. Unless You Work There/The social club’s employees have a story to tell about the company that sold the world Instagram-ready feminism" by Amanda Hess (NYT).

This sounds really funny, like something in a movie. Lisa Simpson, Anita Hill and Lady Macbeth — that got a big laugh from my imaginary movie-theater audience.

Anyway, what's the problem with the staff?
Most Wing employees I spoke with had ambitions bigger than their starting positions... Some staff members hired to work the front desk or run events saw their job duties inflated to include scrubbing toilets, washing dishes and lint-rolling couches.... When staff members tried to exercise their membership privileges, on breaks or after their shifts, members would hand them dirty dishes or barge in on them in the phone booth. Some screamed at employees about crowding in the space and cried over insufficient swag. A common member refrain was that it was anti-feminist not to give her whatever perk she desired....
This is all so pre-coronavirus. But it's interesting to get a nudge to remember what would could be fretting about if we didn't have this plague infesting our consciousness.

And the name of that in-house babysitting annex, the Little Wing, makes me think of a circus mind that's running wild — butterflies and zebras and moonbeams... and fairy tales....

62 comments:

Darrell said...

$3,000 per year?
What can I get for $19.95?

Paul Snively said...

IMO, the best Little Wing.

Paul Zrimsek said...

So it turns out that if the world were designed by and for women, it would be dominated by high dudgeon and hurt feelings. Knock me over with a feather.

gilbar said...

Most Wing employees I spoke with had ambitions bigger than their starting positions...
Some staff members hired to work the front desk or run events saw their job duties inflated to include scrubbing toilets, washing dishes and lint-rolling couches....


Looks like their ambitions were fulfilled!
They started just answering phones, and moved up to washing dishes!
Soon, they'll be making samiches!

Seriously, BIG SURPRISE that lower caste females don't like working for Brahman females

I'll bet, if they got themselves a man, and stayed home "scrubbing toilets, washing dishes and lint-rolling couches"; along with making the occasional samich ...
They'd be
More appreciated
Get Hugs
Get the man's social security checks once he passes on

Marriage! it's a kinda good thing!!

I Have Misplaced My Pants said...

Curious as to whether any of the Althousian women would want to spend one minute inside such a place.

HoodlumDoodlum said...

72 degrees, curving pink walls, filled with entitled affluent Progressive women asserting their status by mistreating others and weaponizing whining and bad behavior?

$3k/year sounds like an absolute steal.

Keep pushing that "if women ran things there'd be no war/conflict" line, ladies. Funny stuff.

Birches said...

Hahaha. These women didn't know that women bosses can be terrible just like man bosses? Do tell. Women are often passive aggressive and catty? Really. Shocking!

I was interested to see if Vei Darling was born a woman or a man. Checked out the Instagram. NYC is crazy town.

Birches said...

@pants

Hell no

Mary Beth said...

With a 9,000 person waiting list, they don't have to put up with people who disrespect the staff. Allowing that to happen, and to continue, must be part of what they are selling the members. All that's left now is to rename it to House of Karens.

Ralph L said...

It would be in grass huts if unschooled, burly men hadn't built it.

Anonymous said...

Hmm, does Wings only hire CIS women? How's that work? And I did not know that one could do that?

What is the color/age/social-status balance? Do you have wealthy white women yelling at poor black non-binaries?

Oh, and is there popcorn?

-XC

TrespassersW said...

I work on a small team with three women, in a department staffed largely by women. Two of my teammates have said that they HATE working with women. (The third has only been on our team a short time, and the subject hasn't come up in conversation.)

Just a couple of data points.

Fritz said...

That's Stevie Ray Vaughn's version. But I agree with Paul.

Roger Sweeny said...

They will only buy wines produced by females? Call me crazy, but isn't that a violation of the Civil Rights Act of 1964? Could any organization avoid being sued if it said, "We only buy wine produced by whites."?

I Have Misplaced My Pants said...

I think the women authors thing bothers me the most. I hate that crap. Right now, on my nightstand, so being read in some fashion:

Men:
How to Fail at Almost Everything and Still Win Big, Scott Adams
The Overstory, Richard Powers
Being Christian: Baptism, Bible, Eucharist, Prayer, Rowan Williams
Searching for and Maintaining Peace, Father Jacques Philippe
The Shortest History of Germany, James Hawes
A Confederacy of Dunces, John Kennedy Toole
Mountains of the Mind, Robert MacFarlane
Tattoos on the Heart, Gregory Boyle
The Collapse of Parenting, Leonard Sax

Women:
True Feelings, Carolyn Mahaney
Mama Bear Apologetics, Hillary Ferrer

I Have Misplaced My Pants said...

I realize that the point of this is how this utopia for women is in fact not a utopia for women, but I can't get past how hideous I consider the whole project.

Flat Tire said...

@pants
How embarrassing. The article was to bizarre to finish and no, you couldn't pay me enough to spend one minute in there.

BarrySanders20 said...

The cafe should be called The Tuna. Or just Bearded Clam.

Reminiscent of a womb? So are the members ejected after nine months? Can others force an abortion and kick a particularly disagreeable sister out? What of those men who identify as female or the trannies — welcome or no?

MayBee said...

I'm trying to figure out why women would be more drawn to being back inside a womb than men would be. I guess "recall"ing the womb could mean it's an ode to their own womb.

Tom T. said...

The clients are entitled affluent people, and the staff is too young and inexperienced to understand that despite what they were told in school, class overrides sisterhood.

Anonymous said...

Pants: Curious as to whether any of the Althousian women would want to spend one minute inside such a place.

I'd immediately run away screaming from the pink walls, before I had a chance to experience any of the other unpleasantness.

I Have Misplaced My Pants said...

I'm so bewildered by this. I was raised -- and am raising my five daughters to take for granted -- that living in a post-suffrage world means that we are now eligible to experience, and contribute to, the best of what the world has to offer, as humans, not as vagina-owners. Why would you deliberately create and retreat to a pink ghetto? Why wouldn't you seek out the best books, the best interior design, the best everything, not rule out experiencing things that are of high quality because a man produced them?

I cringe using this illustration but remember Jo March telling Laurie I'd commit murder to go to college? She wanted to go to college to learn all the fine things that men thought and discovered and wrote down!

Todd said...

So, are men not allowed? Just asking cause I thought we (America) was no longer allowed to have "exclusive" clubs that denied membership to any specific gender or race.

If I "identify" as a woman, can I join and take part in all activities?

And I KNOW some of you would say "letting men in would CHANGE the structure and experience" of the place. That women NEED something uniquely and distinctly WOMAN.

I also remember those same exact arguments being made about the Citadel, West Point, the old Men's clubs, etc. so, is it "we are all equal" or more of the "some are more equal than others"?

Anonymous said...

Mary Beth: "With a 9,000 person waiting list, they don't have to put up with people who disrespect the staff. Allowing that to happen, and to continue, must be part of what they are selling the members. All that's left now is to rename it to House of Karens."

+++

Lol.

Gahrie said...

I also remember those same exact arguments being made about the Citadel, West Point, the old Men's clubs, etc. so, is it "we are all equal" or more of the "some are more equal than others"?

Four legs good, two legs better.

I Have Misplaced My Pants said...

I would genuinely like to ask these women what they are experiencing from men that they would like to escape from. Is this blue city, Tinder, post-Christian, just get an abortion, hookup culture kind of stuff? They just know shitty men who make them feel small and used? If so, I'm laughing again at how they are so certain that out here in flyover country women are so oppressed by those sexist Christianist pigs. If they only knew what it was like to be loved and respected as different-but-equal by a good man.

Ralph L said...

Are the private booths like those in men's clubs?

Gahrie said...

I'll bet, if they got themselves a man, and stayed home "scrubbing toilets, washing dishes and lint-rolling couches"; along with making the occasional samich …

They'd sue for divorced within five years.

Carter Wood said...

I'm partial to Wing, North Dakota.

Lots of Swedes up there, ya know.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wing,_North_Dakota

NotWhoIUsedtoBe said...

"Tips from the Perch were distributed among the staff, but Wing members tended to be poor tippers."

One sentence says it all.

exiledonmainstreet, green-eyed devil said...

I Have Misplaced My Pants said...
Curious as to whether any of the Althousian women would want to spend one minute inside such a place.

3/19/20, 7:09 AM

If the choice was work there or get Kung Flu, I believe I'd take my chances with the flu.

It sounds absolutely horrible.

RMc said...

Funny, I often go to a place that's similar, only for men. It's called "Buffalo Wild Wings".

JML said...

In the picture, I was immediately drawn to the woman’s dirty sole.

Gahrie said...

If they only knew what it was like to be loved and respected as different-but-equal by a good man.

Let's be honest. Most feminists don't want to be treated as equals, they want to be priveledged. They want their abortions and tampons to be paid for. They want equal pay for less effort and sacrifice. They want Affirmative Action even though they dominate college campuses. They want the ability to change their mind about consensual sex even years after the event. They want to eliminate all places set aside for men, while preserving and enlarging places set aside for women.

Bob Boyd said...

for women, or at least...women with meaningful employment

Meaningful employment.
These fucking people. How did they get so screwed up?

Bob Boyd said...

Most feminists don't want to be treated as equals, they want to be priveledged.

Most Progs. That's what Progressiveism is all about and has always been about. Status. Who gets ranked where and by whom. Status enshrined in the law. A political caste system. That's Progress don't cha know.

Phil 314 said...

PS the inside of the uterus is NOT pink, its red, red like the cloaks worn by the women of “The Handmaid’s Tale”.

Ignorance is Bliss said...

Anyway, what's the problem with the staff?

The problem with the staff is that they are having to deal with feminists. That is fine, as long as there are men around at whom to direct the rage. Remove the men, and the rage will need to find a new target.

Sebastian said...

"what the world would look like if it were designed by and for women"

Huh. Did they also do without lighting and power and clean water and sanitation and computers and internet--you know, all the stuff "designed" by men? Or does a feminist utopia in fact depend on the achievements and labor of men?

mtrobertslaw said...

So is this what feminists are really like when nobody is looking?

rcocean said...

I'm all for these sort of women self-segregating. Lets have more of it!

Will Cate said...

LOL... Little Wing in the feminist utopia. Much irony.

"It's alright, she said, it's alright... Take anything you want from me... Anything."

NorthOfTheOneOhOne said...

Paul Snively said...

IMO, the best Little Wing.

Right On!

Roughcoat said...

Best version of Little Wing: Derek and the Dominoes, hands down.

(I don't know how to link, otherwise I would)

Lnelson said...

Fritz is correct.
Stevie Ray Vaughn playing one of Jimi Hendrix's greatest compositions.

"Some staff members hired to work the front desk or run events saw their job duties inflated to include scrubbing toilets, washing dishes and lint-rolling couches...."

If the sewer pipe under the building broke would they have to call a man?

Christy said...

Freedom of association is a wonderful American value. Good for them. Now they don't have to worry about the charity work all the traditional women's clubs do.

If I never cared about Augusta National, I'm not going to start dissing a feminist association which wants to self-select.

Lnelson said...

Fritz is correct.
Stevie Ray Vaughn playing Jimi Hendrix's great composition

"Some staff members hired to work the front desk or run events saw their job duties inflated to include scrubbing toilets, washing dishes and lint-rolling couches...."

If the sewer pipe under the building broke, would they have to call a man?

The Cracker Emcee Refulgent said...

The problem with Identity utopias is that, outside the utopia, either no one cares or they're derisive. White woman actively hope to inspire envy but, generally, outsiders won't touch their silly shit with a ten-foot pole.

Jamie said...

shudder

This sounds like hell. For the patrons. I can't imagine what it must be for the employees...

Pants, I have no idea what would make a woman, even a rich woman, decide that $3k a month to be treated like a literal baby is a worthwhile expenditure. My God,I can think of a thousand things off the top of my head that is rather do with my money.

Lnelson said...

Fritz is correct.
Stevie Ray Vaughn playing Jimi Hendrix's great composition.

"Some staff members hired to work the front desk or run events saw their job duties inflated to include scrubbing toilets, washing dishes and lint-rolling couches...."

If the sewer pipe under the building broke, would a woman repair it or would a man repair it?

Lnelson said...

Sorry for multiple posts.
I'm inexperienced (unlike Jimi) at the delay in moderation

Big Mike said...

This is all so pre-coronavirus.

Nah. Just wealthy, privileged women acting like wealthy, privileged women have always acted. Wealthy, privileged men can be assholes, too.

chickelit said...

That is SRV in Althouse's link. A better, link is the the one with Eddie Kramer commentary: link. Kramer was Hendrix's sound engineer and actually recorded the sing. Kramer is still alive and has an amazing list of credits, most of which hit Althouse's favorite topics. He's still alive as far as I know. Why doesn't he have an Althouse tag while he's still with us?

Biff said...

So much needy narcissism; so little time.

The darker part of my soul thinks we are optimized for war, famine, and pestilence, so we are ill-equipped to handle the good times.

KellyM said...

Gak. It sounds wretched. And the last thing I want is to have some dippy broad extoling the virtues of Lisa Simpson...really?

I've worked for my share of female bosses and they were all nuts. Some were nearly in the "The Devil Wears Prada" category, but mostly they were of the "today is Tuesday and the rule I made yesterday was because it was Monday but now I'm going to change it because it's Tuesday." Yeesh. Male bosses are so much easier. If you bleeped up, they'll tell you, then move on. No drama, no whining.

AZ Bob said...

More Stratocaster!

PM said...

"...what the world would look like if it were designed by and for THESE women."
TIFI

tommyesq said...

There are well-appointed pump rooms, as well as private phone booths named after Lisa Simpson, Anita Hill and Lady Macbeth.

So two fictitious women and a third who is known solely for her fictitious story?

Howard said...

Love me some Jimi in the morning.

Nichevo said...

Imagine a male equivalent of this concept. Not a masculine club, but a consciously, determinedly chauvinistic one, that spurned female contributions and tarted itself up with penises or whatever. Just try to imagine it.

exiledonmainstreet, green-eyed devil said...

Not a masculine club, but a consciously, determinedly chauvinistic one, that spurned female contributions and tarted itself up with penises or whatever. Just try to imagine it.

3/19/20, 12:58 PM

I can easily imagine it. Bars catering to gay men.

Caligula said...

"Most Wing employees I spoke with had ambitions bigger than their starting positions..." And no men to blame when their ambitions fail, and they're asked to do shitwork?