It's silly on you too. If course we don't get a thrill having a homosexual of the opposite gender fondling our locks. So there's that.

Why would you intentionally get yourself all horny and distracted in a public place while you're trying to eat or get a haircut? It doesn't bother me that places like Hooters and Knockouts exist, but it does mystify me. Any guys here who can explain the desire to mix ogling beautiful, half-dressed women with mundane public activities?

I read once about a men's salon where manicures and pedicures were called "hand detailing" and "foot detailing," in an obvious attempt to make them sound more masculine.

Personally, having a hot babe cut my hair appeals to me more than some silly euphemism. (As long as she could actually cut hair.)

For most men, ogling beautiful women IS a mundane public activity.

I don't necessarily disagree with the Catherine Price's essay. Knockouts does sound kind of ridiculous. Personally I wouldn't go because I have a stylist (yes stylist) who has been cutting my hair for years. A)She is awesome at it. B)If I went to someone else it would be akin to cheating. C)She is wicked hot. So, regarding the sexualization of getting a haircut... men (and I'm sure some women) have been doing that for years. Oh yeah, not just haircutting professionals but also bartenders, dentists, police officers, lawyers, waitresses, astronauts, etc. Also, this is a non gender specific phenomenon. I have a female colleague who is always a-swoon after she comes back from seeing a certain Doctor (who is also allegedly a hunk).

...called Lady Jane's (nice brothelesque name there). From the website (ladyjanehaircuts.com) and the TV commercials that run (quite often) during Tigers, Lions, Pistons and Red Wings games, it does look like more of a sports bar than a salon, with big TVs and pool tables. I've never really understood the attraction, given that I usually schedule haircuts for times when a) there aren't any actual sporting events on TV and b) I don't have the time for a game of 8-ball with the other guy waiting to get his hair cut. I'm also far more interested in getting a decent-looking haircut than the looks/gender/orientation of whoever's holding the scissors (yeah, call me self-centered).

There are a couple of places like this in Chicago that have been in existence for at least 10 years! Yes, it's kind of tacky, but then again so are some ladies' salons featuring only or mostly male workers.

Men like having sexy service, it's a safe fantasy for them; and no-one gets hurt. The women are adults and can choose to take a job there or elsewhere. It strikes me as silly and faintly sad for the guys, but harmless.

Went to the site and I’m going to have to call sensationalism on broadsheet.

Barely any skin, models on site not ridiculously buxom, had to go digging to find an image of a massage which is not overt either.

Aside from FOX news pumping this business there’s hardly anything distasteful about it.

I on the other hand will be opening a full topless hair salon next week.

Villifying straight male sexuality is sexism.

You asked.

"Any guys here who can explain the desire to mix ogling beautiful, half-dressed women with mundane public activities?"

There isn't any place where men don't ogle naked, half dressed, or fully dressed women. It doesn't matter if you are in the office, at church, on the public bus, walking to the super market, or working out at the gym; if you are a woman (no matter how you look), and there are straight or bi men in the area, then at least one of them is ogling you. Sorry, it's just in our nature, but some of us are mature and sophisticated enough to realize that our arousal entitles us to nothing.

In the old days they use to say; if rape is inevitable, then best just lie back and enjoy it. Times have changed, and I never did support that if rape-is-inevitable notion (it is never inevitable), but today I often say; if you know you are being ogled, but the men are not touching or saying anything to you, then best just to take it as a compliment. Personally I am less enthralled by how women look, than I am by what they say or write.

"I on the other hand will be opening a full topless hair salon next week."

If the barbers/beauticians at your beauty salon/barber shop are all men, then I think your idea would be a huge success. My wife often goes to beauty salons for expensive makeovers, but she refuses to let a woman work on her (for her they must be men, preferably gay).

The thing I hate about these sorts of establishments is they’re so tacky and gross. I always feel sorry for the girls who have to be in that environment all day. If I knew a guy went to one my opinion of him world plummet. And it’s not that I begrudge him being pampered by pretty ladies – I would just expect him to not be so TGI Friday’s/strip club about it.

BTW – if I knew a woman who went a salon staffed by ‘hunky’ guys who wore a ridiculous uniform I’d think she was pretty low rent too.

Anne writes: "And it’s not that I begrudge him being pampered by pretty ladies – I would just expect him to not be so TGI Friday’s/strip club about it."

I.e.: Let the guys who can afford it get sexy haircuts/chicken wings/etc. The rest of you: screw off, poor folks.

when I went to main land China, and a lot of the barber shops there doubled as extremely discreet brothels (because the local girls could go jail for sleeping with foreigners), with hidden trap doors in the floors that led to below ground bedrooms (don't ask me how I know all this, but I never paid for prostitution). Never had I seen all my male coworkers so well groomed.