Not All Girls Want to Go Wild
Aug. 6th, 2006 11:48 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
bonniegrrlLos Angeles Times reporter Claire Hoffman recently wrote an amazing piece on the "Girls Gone Wild" founder Joe Francis. It's the type of article that reminds me why I'm glad some journalists are still doing their job. She went inside the "Girls Gone Wild" franchise and uncovered the truth about its founder and how he's literally exploiting not just drunk women, but wasted underage girls who probably have no idea what signing that little waiver means.
Here's a sample of the intro paragraphs:
Joe Francis, the founder of the "Girls Gone Wild" empire, is humiliating me. He has my face pressed against the hood of a car, my arms twisted hard behind my back. He's pushing himself against me, shouting: "This is what they did to me in Panama City!"
It's after 3 a.m. and we're in a parking lot on the outskirts of Chicago. Electronic music is buzzing from the nightclub across the street, mixing easily with the laughter of the guys who are watching this, this me-pinned-and-helpless thing.
Francis isn't laughing.
He has turned on me, and I don't know why. He's going on and on about Panama City Beach, the spring break spot in northern Florida where Bay County sheriff's deputies arrested him three years ago on charges of racketeering, drug trafficking and promoting the sexual performance of a child. As he yells, I wonder if this is a flashback, or if he's punishing me for being the only blond in sight who's not wearing a thong. This much is certain: He's got at least 80 pounds on me and I'm thinking he's about to break my left arm. My eyes start to stream tears.
This is not what I anticipated when I signed up for a tour of Joe Francis' world. I've been with him nonstop since early afternoon, listening as he teases employees, flying on his private jet, eating fast food and watching young women hurl themselves against his 6-foot-2-inch frame, declaring, "We want to go wild!"
The reporter goes on to describe what really happens in those "Girls Gone Wild" tour busses parked conveniently outside clubs saturated with drunk barely-legal girls. She also gives a rather honest, and disgusting, portrayal of Francis.
Granted, as a journalist myself, I know that articles can be slanted, quotes misrepresented, and people misinterpreted, but in this case I feel like giving this reporter the benefit of the doubt. And I hope Hoffman realizes that her article might make a girl think twice before flashing a guy carrying a camcorder, or agreeing to take a trip in the "Girls Gone Wild" bus.
Do yourself a favor and read her article here:
'Baby, Give Me a Kiss'
Here's a sample of the intro paragraphs:
Joe Francis, the founder of the "Girls Gone Wild" empire, is humiliating me. He has my face pressed against the hood of a car, my arms twisted hard behind my back. He's pushing himself against me, shouting: "This is what they did to me in Panama City!"
It's after 3 a.m. and we're in a parking lot on the outskirts of Chicago. Electronic music is buzzing from the nightclub across the street, mixing easily with the laughter of the guys who are watching this, this me-pinned-and-helpless thing.
Francis isn't laughing.
He has turned on me, and I don't know why. He's going on and on about Panama City Beach, the spring break spot in northern Florida where Bay County sheriff's deputies arrested him three years ago on charges of racketeering, drug trafficking and promoting the sexual performance of a child. As he yells, I wonder if this is a flashback, or if he's punishing me for being the only blond in sight who's not wearing a thong. This much is certain: He's got at least 80 pounds on me and I'm thinking he's about to break my left arm. My eyes start to stream tears.
This is not what I anticipated when I signed up for a tour of Joe Francis' world. I've been with him nonstop since early afternoon, listening as he teases employees, flying on his private jet, eating fast food and watching young women hurl themselves against his 6-foot-2-inch frame, declaring, "We want to go wild!"
The reporter goes on to describe what really happens in those "Girls Gone Wild" tour busses parked conveniently outside clubs saturated with drunk barely-legal girls. She also gives a rather honest, and disgusting, portrayal of Francis.
Granted, as a journalist myself, I know that articles can be slanted, quotes misrepresented, and people misinterpreted, but in this case I feel like giving this reporter the benefit of the doubt. And I hope Hoffman realizes that her article might make a girl think twice before flashing a guy carrying a camcorder, or agreeing to take a trip in the "Girls Gone Wild" bus.
Do yourself a favor and read her article here:
'Baby, Give Me a Kiss'
