I could tell you a long, whiny story about why I haven't been blogging. In the end, it comes down to 2 major points:
1) I've been the fuck lazy, and
2) Blogs should have pictures
However! I am bored of being lazy, shit is slowing down for Ames, and I now have my very own camera (which I barely know how to use, yay!). So, more blogs to come.
Today, I want to talk a little about booze, sexism and stereotypes. Just a little, I promise.
I am perhaps the last person who would afford any legitimacy to gender issues. I come from a background of foggy gender roles and tough-as-nails matriarchy. I am also a bit of a misfit, intelligent and socially awkward: dealing with people has never come particularly easily. As my best and most wonderful friend put it, I have a tendency to "death-punch [my] way into your heart." Whatever it is that the world at large has expected of me, I've probably flounced it entirely without even knowing I've done so.
What bothers me, honestly, is being accommodated, pacified, or otherwise pigeon-holed.
I was poking around today on Women Enjoying Beer, which is in my estimation intended to teach brewers how to sell their product to women. Blog name aside (the clever, descriptive and searchable monikers are pretty well taken), I don't need to be marketed to as a subset: make a good product at a reasonable price, and I will probably buy it. If it is in fact good, I will likely continue to do so. If it is awesome, I will tell all of my friends. I will even train those motherfuckers in the fine art of drinking, if need be (blog on that later). That doesn't make me female, that makes me classy and generous.
This monkey sings Club Can't Handle Me. Indeed, tiny pirate simian.
Some espoused myths about women and beer:
Women need to pair beer with food: I am not going to bake a cake to serve with a bomber of stout. There is a massive gap in logistics and energy expended between drinking and entertaining. Will I eat while I am drinking? Bitch, yes. But it's pretty much always going to be nachos or steak and eggs.
Women are all about sustainability: Shit beer is shit beer, even if it's made of 3rd world sacred cow's blood and sold in thrice-recycled cans. Would I prefer a healthy and clean planet? Absolutely. That issue is much larger and more complex than I care to discuss here, but organic certs and and packaging are more feel-good fluff than solution.
Women are counting calories: This is partially true. I, and my beer-drinking chick friends, are going to drink delicious brew regardless of how fat it makes our asses. It would, however, be nice to have some kind of caloric guideline for when I jump on the elliptical to work it all off. In fact, beer makes exercise more awesome: it's pretty much the only reason I can stand Pilates.
Serve beer in clean glassware: What the actual fuck? This is not a marketing tactic, it's a Department of Health mandate.
Girls don't want pink beer: I don't give 2 shits what color it is, as long as it's awesome. If you're trying to sell me a Sam Adams lambic, your bitch ass can just keep walking.
Double Christmas tree, in my beer: what does it mean? Everybody's Brewing Sugar Daddy, winter ale, 7% ABV.
This is how I break it out to the neophytes: everything you can find in a great wine, you can find in a great beer. The complexities of wine are matters of terroir, barreling, aging and can be too subtle for an undeveloped palate. Beer, on the other hand, generally has complexity of flavor due to ingredients added during the brewing process, and is more accessible to a novice. This isn't girl stuff, and doesn't preclude getting wasted on Jaegerbombs. It's an option, if you choose to explore it.
In conclusion, sexism in marketing is counterproductive. Does it sometimes work? Of course: stereotypes aren't invented by accident. The risk run is in alienating genuine interest in pursuit of flirtation and dalliance.
