Darlinghurst venue Club 77 bans staring at strangers without ‘verbal consent’

Darlinghurst institution Club 77 has banned patrons from staring across the room at others without “verbal consent”, but its main demographic think the rules go too far.

A Sydney nightclub has banned patrons from “staring at someone from afar” without prior “verbal consent” in a bid to make the venue a safe space.

Darlinghurst institution Club 77 unveiled the new Safety and Harassment policy earlier this month which will see them dispatch a “Safety Officer” in a pink fluoro vest to deal with complaints which breach rules which also stipulate that any interaction between patrons should have prior verbal consent.

“This also applies if you are, for example, staring at someone from afar. If the attention you are giving someone is unwarranted, that is considered harassment,” the rules state.

The policy stipulates that security would kick out any patron who made another guest “feel uncomfortable” through their behaviour and also call the police.

“We adopt a policy of ‘always believe the report’ in cases of harassment and feeling unsafe.”

Club 77 owner Dane Gorrel. Picture: Richard Dobson

Club owner Dane Gorrel said there were no instances of harassment or assault the policy was directly responding to but he wanted to educate young people after the club extended its opening hours until 4am seven days a week earlier this year.

“There are a lot of young people starting to come to this venue, a lot more than we’ve seen in the past, basically it is our way of being able to educate new people coming to the venue about our values and what we stand for,” he said.

The doors of Sydney institution Club 77. Picture: Richard Dobson

“Someone could stare at someone and make them feel uncomfortable, they could be staring at them for quite some time.

“People want to go out, they want to feel safe, they don’t want people chasing after them, the response to it has been extremely positive.”

Clinical psychotherapist Melissa Ferrari welcomed discussions around consent but said making eye contact with someone was one of the most important steps in meeting a romantic partner.

“Realistically we fall in love through the eyes, when a whole lot of conditions are put on that it puts a lot of restrictions on how we meet somebody,” she said.

Club 77 in Darlinghurst has outlined the new safety procedures on its Instagram account.

“I think it is a question everyone is asking, are we going too far around consent?”

“If you can’t look across the room at someone to let them know you‘re interested, it means you have to go up to them physically, invade their space, it is a more kind of forward approach.

“It is always a more lovely story, when it is a more organic in person story of looking at someone across the bar, that is a much nicer story than meeting someone online.”

Dating expert Samantha Jayne said there has been a big generational shift when it came to meeting people and Gen Z were hyper aware of issues surrounding harassment.

“With the pandemic people have changed, they’re more anxious and less trusting of others,” she said.

“There is so much stalking being reported, the club is possibly just trying to protect their patrons.”

She said things had changed for Gen Z when it came to dating. “They don’t ask for phone numbers anymore, they want the social media handle instead, you can also block someone that way.

“They don’t like unexpected calls, they don’t like long text messages, they’re seen as impersonal, they prefer voice notes because you can’t screenshot a voice note.

Club 77 recently celebrate its 25th birthday.

For the youth of Sydney, many think that while well intentioned the move may be over the top. For students Eleonore Purvis and Armand Larche who moved to Sydney from France, it does not seem the best answer to make clubbing safer.

“If it’s a creepy stare I understand why you might want them to leave, but we can’t regulate everything,” Mr Larche said.

“I think people just need to be respectful.”

For Ms Purvis part of the reason for going out is to meet people and thinks these new rules may not make it easier, saying Sydney’s nightclubs felt safe already.

“I feel like the clubs are super safe already, compared to Paris,” she said.

Uni students Eleonore Purvis, Armand Larche and Charlotte Geoffroy. Armand and Eleonore see Club 77’s rules as overregulation – especially when Sydney’s clubs feel safer than those in Paris. Picture: Justin Lloyd.

Architectural student Zara Barrow thinks looks can easily be misconstrued.

“What if you’re zoning out and it’s not intentional?” she said.

“I think this is on the extreme but there should be rules that do make people feel safer.”

The rule changes also raise questions as to how it will be policed. For Jack, who did not give his surname, and who sometimes frequents Club 77, it sounds more like guidelines.

“It seems they want to send a message about the behaviour they want to encourage,” he said.

“It will probably be more like guidelines. There’s no club court checking staring quotas.”