Staring at Someone Without Obtaining Their Verbal Consent Will Get You Booted from an Australian Nightclub

Oh Australia. . . you always exceed my wildest expectations in the “WTF” department.

Apparently, we’re now filing staring at people under the sexual harassment column.

From Fox News:

An Australian nightclub is implementing a policy that bans individuals from staring at each other without prior consent of the person being stared at. 

Club 77, a nightclub located in Sydney’s Darlinghurst neighborhood, posted on its website that it is considered “harassment” to stare at someone without their consent and that law enforcement may be called if patrons engage in that behavior, The New York Post reported. 

“We operate a zero-tolerance policy on harassment of any kind,” the club’s website says. “Club 77 is not a place to come to if your sole purpose is to ‘pick up’. If you do come in and are approaching multiple people or giving unwanted attention to someone, you are going to attract the attention of our security, who have been instructed to stop this kind of behaviour.”

The warning continues, “As a nightclub, we encourage you to interact with strangers, however any engagement MUST begin with verbal consent. This also applies if you are, for example, staring at someone from afar. If the attention you are giving someone is unwanted, that is considered harassment.”

The website states that a designated “Safety Officer” wearing a pink vest will be tasked with handling complaints and concerns related to the new policy and “offending individuals” will be removed from the club. 

I honestly find this to be a hilarious waste of time and energy. However, on a very tiny level. . . I get it. Looking across the room to see somebody staring at you is always a little weird (and can sometimes be totally creepy).

But what’s even creepier? Having some sex-deprived weirdo come up to you and ask you if it’s ok for them to stare at you. Maybe I’m the weird one, but I don’t think that question is ever going to get a “yes” from me. I don’t care how good looking you are. A question like that sets off the “ick” alarm in my brain. I can’t imagine anyone who has even the tiniest bit of respect for themselves answering “yes” to that question.

I’m also curious to see how many people get the boot from this place because some self-absorbed club hopper thinks someone’s looking at them when they’re really not. Sort of like when a stranger “waves at you,” but they’re really waving at their friend behind you.

At some point we’ll end up having to wear sleep masks over our eyes to avoid getting thrown out of nightclubs. Pair that with the new trend of each patron getting a pair of headphones instead of having music played over loudspeakers and we’ll have. . . a total waste of time. Welcome to the future! It makes ZERO sense.

On a side note, can you imagine the kind of low-life narc that’s gonna apply to wear the pink vest and police a nightclub for repeat staring offenders? LOL.