I can drink “like man”. I can match any of the lads drink for drink, and I’ll still be standing at the end of the night. Intoxicated, but standing. On occasion I’ve even out drank my male counterparts. The night ending with me holding their hair back instead of the other way around. For some warped reason, this is something I am strangely proud of. In the patriarchal society we live in today (Click here for “Don’t worry darling, you did n’t burn the beer” ) who wouldn’t want to have the ability to exert their capacity to exist as an equal, if only through alcohol?
When was the last time you saw a male clutching Bacardi Breezer?
When was the last time you saw a male clutching an alco pop? The neon blue of WKD or the sunset orange of a Bacardi Breezer doesn’t really match the male image. If you are what you eat, what does your drink say about you? A murky pint in a wide stocky pint glass is much more depictive of a tough, strong man. The dainty slender necked, intriguing west coast cooler bottle should be reserved for the feminine, classy, loving woman instead. Inadvertently we seem to be letting our drinking preferences typecast our roles and image.
I want to prove I’m on a par with the lads.
When I “prove my worth” doing rounds with the lads, I’m ordering pints on par with them. Even opting for a vodka and splash seems like a sign of weakness at times. Where have I gotten these notions from, that drinks themselves are gendered? The underlying notion of having my drink link into the image I want to project to the world is strangely intimidating. Are my beverage preferences really my own, or have they been shaped by society from the beginning?
I used to enjoy a Barcadi breezer
I used to enjoy a Bacadi Breezer. I thought my tastes were evolving, but was it just my personality adapting my taste buds to the image I want to project to the world? I didn’t want to be seen as “weak” by choosing the “girly” options, so is that why I transitioned to stronger drinks? Exploring this train of thought is making me wonder if I really actually enjoy drinking. There may be a part of me that is only drinking to match a persona, to fit in with societal norms.
Yet if my choice of poison says so much about me, what do my actual drinking habits say?
Wonderful blog and so very true, you are a wonderful writer! Thank you so much for writing and sharing this with us.
This is a great blog, very relevant and so funny. Makes me think about my own drinking when I was younger and before it became “under the sink drinking!”
I feel the alcohol industries “choose” the way we drink by the way they advertise to us. The same way the toy industries get us to play with dolls and wear pink…did you know that the colour for boys in Georgian times was pink, see how advertising has changed this!
Keep writing these blogs they are awesome xox