"the labor of women goes invisible because it’s supposed to come naturally"

An alleged rapist is on the cusp of becoming a Supreme Court justice.  This is, of course, because life is awful and terrible since Trump took power.

But maybe, just maybe, things will be different this time and justice will be served.

Meanwhile, I found this article about the history and current decline of American "breastraunts" (e.g., Hooter's) to be surprisingly timely and even a little hopeful:

"I was a Hooters Girl in Santa Monica, California, for the better part of 2005, while I attended college. The hourly rate was about one dollar above the state’s minimum wage, but the tips covered enough of my expenses that I could work just three shifts per week, and spend the rest of my time studying. The job offered me a chance to monetize my youth and beauty—the sole marketable assets I possessed before obtaining a degree or meaningful work experience—in a way that was legal and safer than many parts of the actual sex industry.

The problem was only that my cut should have been bigger. Hooters made multiple demands of the girls; we had to do our hair and makeup in a particular style ('like you’re going out on a date with your boyfriend,' the manager explained) and dance on the wooden barstools a few times per shift. We also had to upsell branded merchandise like T-shirts, beer koozies, and swimsuit calendars, and act as a sort of therapist to the needy men who regularly came in seeking attention from women 30 years younger than them. We had to perform the emotional labor of pretending to find these men fascinating, while deflecting their bolder advances because Hooters is, after all, 'a family restaurant.' The gimmick was genius: give married dads hot wings, beer, and flesh to ogle, but with plausible deniability. Hooters is no strip club. It’s wholesome, peak America, where the labor of women goes invisible because it’s supposed to come naturally."

One of my few claims to immortality in this life is that for one year I lived behind the only Hooter's located in South Korea.  I walked past it many times, but never went in.