For nearly 150 years, the term ‘bouncer’ has been a byword for the burly door staff who remove undesirables from their premises. But Britain’s first female exponent of the profession is among a growing number who believe the term should be shown the door – and she prefers the name ‘ejection technician’.
Delia El-Hosayny, a 57-year-old from the Derby suburb of Chaddesden, began her career in a small pub at the age of 18 and went on to become a bodyguard entrusted with the safety of high-profile figures like darts player Phil Taylor and the comedian Freddie Starr.
But El-Hosayny, who said she had witnessed many changes in the security industry in the three decades before her retirement in 2018, never referred to herself as a bouncer – a word that she believes calls to mind the image of ‘a gorilla with huge arms’.
‘It is an outdated word, said Baily. ‘People still use it, but it doesn’t describe the job well. It gives people the wrong impression.
‘I never used to call myself a bouncer. I used to say that I was an ejection technician. It sounded better.
‘It goes back to the days of it being a man’s world, like when I first started.
‘Bouncer means that, if there is a fight, the doorman would take you outside and bounce you to the floor. It wasn’t very nice. Those times are gone.
‘If they get rid of that word it will be better publicity for the job. People assume bouncers are thugs.
‘When people say bouncer, I imagine someone standing outside looking like a gorilla in a black suit with really big arms, ready to jump on you.’
That view is shared by Heather Baily, head of the government-sponsored Security Industry Authority, the agency responsible for regulating Britain’s private security profession.
Baily recently made headlines after suggesting the term belongs to a bygone era, one that existed before 11 per cent of the SIA’s 450-000-strong workforce consisted of women.
‘It goes back to times before regulation, before the SIA,’ Baily told the Times last week, adding that bouncer is a ‘macho’ term that ‘brings connotations of a large, muscular man’.
‘It doesn’t reflect the professionalism that today’s licensed operatives bring.’
Baily said she had canvassed opinion among female staff at the SIA, who agreed a shift of terminology was in order.
‘I’ve asked female licence holders how they feel about that term, and they don’t like it,’ she said.
A job title with which they feel comfortable is probably the least that staff working in the industry deserve.
In January, a model who attacked a fellow clubber, three police officers and two bouncers on a night out in Hanley was handed a hefty fine and a community order – and that is the thin end of the wedge. El-Hosayny said she was insulted, stabbed, bottled, and even shot at over the course of her 30-year career.
She also revealed that she was discriminated against because of her gender, with some men refusing to work with her when she became a security manager. Yet she is proud of the legacy she has created.
‘I think it is brilliant,’ said El-Hosayny. ‘There are loads of women in Derby now who work the security industry.
‘I am stocky, but I am only 5ft 3in. If I can do it, then other women can too.
‘Things have changed. When I first started, there was no such thing as the SIA. If you could fight and look after yourself, then you had a job.
‘The term bouncer doesn’t suit the future of the security industry. The generation now that are growing up call it door security.’