Earlier I stumbled across the phrase "New York hostess" in a news article, and as I tend to be hypervigilant about sneaky new trends in language, I wondered precisely what the term meant. The hostess in question is a nightclub hostess named Rachel Uchitel. While "hostess" is not defined, it would see that it is to be distinguished from waitress (at least for the purpose of keeping track of who is allegedly involved with whom). I can remember when "hostess" was used to describe female airline flight attendants, but then they became "stewardesses" and finally the less sexist term "flight attendants." (I have to say, seeing the older terms described as "historic" makes me feel even older than I am!)

In Berkeley, "waitress" used to be considered a sexist term (and I do not remember a single "hostess" ever having existed when I lived in that town), but maybe we've regressed. Although it is arguable that maybe we haven't. I see that the rules are still there. Maybe they don't apply to journalists. But OTOH, maybe there's an exception to not using "gender specific job titles" when the job is only incidental to an alleged affair. It's like, if an important person were accused of having an affair with a "server" or a "waitperson," might the readers be wondering about the server or waitperson's sex? Or would that be an illegitimate subject to wonder about? (Somehow, sex with a server sounds cybersexual -- as if you've had sex with a web host or web hostess or something.)

I see that in San Francisco there are nightclub hostesses, and being a hostess can be dangerous work. From a bouncer's account:

when he started disrespecting a woman it was time to get his ass gone.

Our hostess girl comes out and she's a caucasion girl, so then he starts saying jungle fever whatever and telling her to suck his....whatevers. At this point I'm like you need to leave now, get away from the club. Then this dude gets in my face and straight pushes me trying to knock me over. Now I'm a thick guy so I lean back, ready myself, and throw a short right and then a left hook, but I just grazed his cheek. Thinking back I'm glad I just grazed him. So then I turn around and make sure the hostess girl is ok, and she screams "watch out behind you!", but I know he's coming. I had already grabbed the MACE that was in my pocket. This shit is potent, you need a license for the mace I used on this dude. So before he could connect I give it two squirts in his face. 5 seconds later, his ass is screaming on the ground wondering why he can't see. I then put him against the wall around the corner, call the police, file my report, and then take him away. All in all a shitty night, but I felt good getting the guy with mace, though not as good as I would've felt if my left hook would've connected.

The Wiki entry for the woman described in the Detroit Free Press as a "New York hostess" refers to her as a "nightclub manager" and as a "hostess" in a way which clearly implies these terms are interchangeable:

Rachel Uchitel (born 1975)[1] is a nightclub manager, who has managed the VIP section of "some of the most successful clubs in New York".[2] In 2006, she was the VIP hostess at Tao.[3]

Not that I would expect the New York hostess's lawyer to approve:

In 1981 she sued California State Senator John G. Schmitz for slander for $10 million for calling her a "slick butch lawyeress," but settled for $20,000 and an apology.

Another vital issue of the day is that Wiki is threatening to delete the entry for the New York hostess. Apparently, she might not meet their criteria for importance:

Newsworthy, but hardly a scandal. And if that's her only claim to fame, she does not merit an article on Wikipedia.

Yet according to Googleocracy, he is less important than a New York hostess.

I think Sherman would be the first to recognize that there's nothing fair about it.