In the 1999 Adam Sandler film Big Daddy, Sandler's character, Sonny, never interacts with Corinne (Leslie Mann) without bringing up the fact that she worked at Hooters. It doesn't matter that she's a doctor, a loving girlfriend to his best friend, or eventually becomes a great stepmom. The joke is that, while putting herself through medical school, she worked as a waitress at a restaurant that requires its employees to dress in orange booty shorts.

In Sonny's mind, Corinne sold her body with a side of fries, and that will be her defining characteristic no matter what else she does. And at the end of the film, when Sonny sees his cheating ex-girlfriend is now a Hooters waitress, it's supposed to feel like justice. As if the job is a fit punishment for her behavior. The point of Hooters is the hot women, and because they exist and are hot, they deserve to be demeaned.

As an institution Hooters trades in plausible deniability. While strip clubs, and the women who work in them, know exactly what they're selling (and ideally are able to do so in a safe, supportive environment that protects them from sexual harassment), Hooters continues to hide behind the image of a "family friendly" restaurant. "Throughout the years, we've been delighted to rescue millions from the ordinary with our one-of-a-kind hospitality and consistently good food," they write on their website. In their job descriptions for Hooters Girls, they just require that she be "fit & glamorous," and "entertain guests in a fun way." They're not selling sex, they say, they're just selling wings. And if you happen to read into the revealing outfits, or how the women are trained to sit and flirt with you, the calendars, pageants, or the logo that looks suspiciously like boobs, that's on you. Hooters is just trying to be your neighborhood friendly wing shop.

Hooters was founded in 1983, and though treating women like crap has long been a national pastime, it calcified a particular male fantasy of strip club lite. Who wouldn't want to be surrounded by hot women who bring you fried food and draw little hearts on your check? But now it's 2018, and while things for women are still largely shit—the ongoing pay gap, the attacks on reproductive health, a new story every day about men who have been getting away with sexual harassment for decades—it's hard to imagine someone successfully pitching a "breastaurant" today.

"It is an entire job based on sexual harassment. You are paid to be sexually harassed and objectified. Everyone at Hooters is aware," Brittanny Anderson, chef and owner of Metzger Bar and Butchery, told GQ. Anderson began her restaurant career as a Hooters girl in Richmond, VA in 2002. "I was in college and had dreams of becoming a writer, so I convinced myself that working at Hooters would provide me with lots of cool stories to write about and a little extra cash to blow at shitty bars," she said. Her interview consisted of filling out an application, and then modeling a uniform—a scoop-neck tank top, orange booty shorts, and thick, tan tights to keep your legs shapely and smooth—while the manager took polaroids.

Anderson's description of working at Hooters matches much of what's already been written about the protocol. Waitresses must wear their hair down and pass uniform inspections daily. They must sit and chat with each of their tables, and they're expected to sell Hooters merch as much as wings. But mostly, they were expected to sell themselves. "We were taught that our jobs were less about selling food and more about selling the fantasy of the Hooters Girl," said Anderson.