SODO Showgirls Invades Seattle Mag’s Space

The new Showgirls/Dream Girls is opening right next door to our office tomorrow... which we all foun

By Brangien Davis April 8, 2010

We’ve known for a long time that the latest incarnation of Showgirls was moving in next door to the Seattle mag offices in SoDo. We’ve joked about it (conference room full? let’s all go next door!) and complained about it (especially when it looked like h(o.o)ters was going to move in right below us… though now that business seems to have taken their “amazing wings” elsewhere). But today Showgirls turned on their gigantic digital signs—and the hilarity has turned to nausea and vague dread.

As you might guess, these Showgirls signs? They are not subtle. We were all expecting obnoxious text, which, whatever. But turns out the signs are rotating, glowing photos featuring girls in all kinds of classically slutty getups… We have slutty baseball girl, slutty soccer referee (cheeky nods to our nearby stadiums), slutty bikini aficionado, slutty girl in the shadows and of course, slutty twins (for 2-4-1 Tuesdays).

The folks at the Stranger have been having a fun time delighting in the proximity of Showgirls to the M’s Stadium (the Mariners tried and failed to block Showgirls from this location), and yes, there were some ironies to the M’s arguments. But when you’re a female working right next door to this place, there’s really no delight in its existence.

I don’t think it really hit any of us fully until the signs were lit up today. We’ll be walking into work right underneath the scantily clad, anything-goes images of women every day. And every night, when it’s already kinda creepy down here in SoDo, we’ll be making the walk from the office to our cars or the bus stop, past the signs and whatever skeezballs are hanging around all jacked up on the promise of 2-4-1 action. I’m not arguing that strip clubs (or their heinous signs) make men attack women, but I am saying they have the power to make women feel uneasy in a public space.

Since the Showgirls signs are invading our personal space in such a personal way—challenging our sense of safety on a daily basis—we’ve been brainstorming ways to invade their space right back. Perhaps a daily iPhone photo update of who’s entering the premises? What, is that illegal? Well, much like those always willing Dream Girls, we’re open to suggestions.

 

Follow Us