Hooters is Under Fire for the Crime of Sponsoring a Youth Soccer Program

Call me an idealist, call me what you will. But I'm a big believer in the ages old bromide that "It takes a village to raise a child." That we all have a social contract to not only look after our own children, but our neighbors' as well. That you are making your own life better as well as those around you, every time you perform some type of community service. In whatever form it takes. Whether you donate to the food bank. Volunteer at your local school. Plant flowers at traffic islands. Work on the crew building a playground. Whatever. 

Personally, God has yet to put a plant species on Earth I'm incapable of killing. If I'd helped build the jungle gym my town put up, it would look like one of those MC Escher illustrations of the stair cases that have no end and defy gravity. So I coached my kids' sports. Just as a way to contribute to the greater good, and pay back all the dads who gave up their free time coaching young me. It's not heroic, just a noble way to serve the community. 

Sadly, not everyone sees it this way. A franchise that employs hard-working professionals not at all like the young women in that photo above has offered to help out its local youth sports program. And, I'm sorry to report, is being vilified for it:

Source - Hooters has caused outrage after it announced that it was sponsoring a children's under-10s team for the forthcoming season. 

The American-owned bar is infamous for the outfits its female staff members wear while working, with critics dubbing the bar 'degrading' to women. 

Many in the past have suggested that the bar is objectifying of women and have called for its franchises to either change their outfit regulations or close.

The bar has caused great controversy after it announced that it had begun sponsoring the under-10s team of local Nottinghamshire club Burton Joyce. ...

The news has led to an outcry online, with many declaring the news outrageous and suggesting a bar that is notorious for the outfits its employees wear during service not suitable to be associated with a children's football team. 

Outraged by the news, one user queried why Hooters was being 'allowed' to 'sexualise kids'. 

'Why are Hooters sexualising kids and who on earth allowed them?' they asked. 

One user, responding to a tweet that went viral publicising the news, said that it was 'not funny'. 

The complaints go on and on like that, but those are enough. You get the idea. We can all agree with one thing that's said here. And that this is "not funny." Would that it were. No, this is something else entirely.

An outrage. On the part of these loathsome, vile, pedantic, self-righteous, puritanical, uptight twats attacking a business for trying to do the right thing. 

I guarantee you anyone who's taken to the internet to express their indignation on this has, at some time or another, complained about greedy corporate interests not paying their fair share. Well here's a restaurant whose owners could've just stuck all their profits in their pockets, and they wouldn't be under attack right now. Instead, they put some of it back into the town. To use the cliche, they thought "about the children." They wanted them to have uniforms and equipment and fields to play on. So they did more than pay lip service; they gave actual service. Just like their legendary wait staff does when you sit down at one of their tables and place your order. 

And what exactly has Hooters done wrong here? Oh, their servers wear iconic orange shorts and t-shirts? Look good? Harmlessly flirt with middle-aged men? That disqualifies them from cutting a check and getting their names on the back of some 10-year-old's kit? When The Bad News Bears had Chico's Bail Bonds on the back of their uniforms, it was considered a punchline. Hooters does it and it's a crime against children? 

Wrong. Wrong, wrong, wrong. The real crime would be for them to stop sponsoring Burton Joyce's U10 teams. The real crime is these Nottingham witchhunters persecuting these working women for simply trying to earn an honest living in these difficult economic times. The real crime is the continued harassment of these servers, who showed up to the field in tracksuits, for crying out loud. If these uptight, repressed imbeciles are worried about "sexualization," they ought to stop committing it against Hooters workers. Especially as they're doing the right thing.