This is exactly what it says on the tin, starting with the shaming concept of "girly drinks" and how the author got interested in the history of alcohol. Upon noticing that guess what, books on books are mostly by men and they hardly mention women, she decided to do something about that.
"During my research, it was impossible not to notice how strong the correlation was between a culture that allowed women to drink and a culture that gave women their freedoms. In this book, you'll learn about women drinking, but also about when and why they couldn't. Patriarchal oppression and misogynistic societal expectations play the biggest roles in a culture's drinking habits. The double standard that drinking women face is deeply rooted in male anxieties about control and their fear of women acting like people, not property. If you want to know how a society treats its women, all you have to do is look into the bottom of a glass."
Memorable bits:
- "There was an affluent Egyptian woman named Chritiankh whose tomb inscription reads I was a mistress of drunkenness, one who loved a good day, who looked forward to [having sex] every day, anointed with myrrh and perfurmed with lotus scent. This is all we know about Chratiankh, but what else is there to know? Be the Chratiankh you wish to see in the world."
- She cites the Code of Hammurabi being "the very beginning of the gendering of alcohol" and how it ruined drinking safely for women. Ancient Greece, same.
- Mary Frith sounds like a fun lady, wearing men's clothing, getting drunk, and loving to perform. "London law enforcement chose the least effective punishment for someone who loved to perform. She was forced to stand in a public square and confess her crimes to a crowd, a silly punishment for someone who loved to perform."
- Catherine the Great certainly earned her name--and also used booze to secure her position. "On the night of the planned coup, Catherine promised the group of assembled soldiers a large distribution of vodka if they overthrew her husband. The men immediately proclaimed allegiance to her...That night, she was able to use her political prowess to secure her empire without a single drop of blood spilled. But quite a bit of booze was. As soon as she was crowned, Catherine made a declaration to open all the drinking establishments to her troops. She made the world's most beloved announcement: Drinks are on me!"
- "It's a terrible idea to underestimate the power of rich ladies and their parties."
- "Before Prohibition, men were absolutely happy to drink sweet, fruity cocktails with extravagant garnishes. It was common to see them tipping back cobblers and punches and juleps topped with a whole bouquet of fruit and herbs. Men loved a drink to give them the ol' razzle dazzle. After Prohibition, those cocktails wouldn't do any more. If men could no longer gender the space where they drank, they started gendering what they drank. This trick was thousands of years old. It was used all the way back in ancient Rome, when the women who were allowed into the convivium had to drink passum instead of wine. Generally, the gendering of alcohol is only found where women have access to a drinking space. If you can't keep women out of the space where drinking happens, you keep them out of the drinks themselves."
- I rather liked the whole history/concept of the tiki bar and how that was written up, but that would take me forever.
- "By the 1950's, almost every lesbian bar in New York City was owned and operated by the Mafia. Now, please don't think this was because the members of the New York City Mafia were staunch believers in gay rights. It was more that anytime anything illegal was happening and money was being made from it, the Mafia wanted in."
- I liked reading about Joy Perrine, the "Bad Girl of Bourbon," who took "masculine" drinks and used them to make "girly" ones to convert people to drinking it. She got a black widow spider tattoo on her hand to ensure that "no one fucks with me."
- On roofies: "Decades after it was launched, there still hasn't been a campaign to convince them to stop."
- As a Girly Drink aficionado, even I felt guilty reading about the invention of wine coolers ("a mix of poor-quality wine, poor-quality juice, sugar and soda") and "alcopops" (subbing in malt liquor for the wine). These weren't considered "real drinks" but catered to people who didn't like the taste of alcohol. "Alcopops were like sodas that made you drunk." The author is also unthrilled at the concept of Skinnygirl Cocktails but admits they are marketed specifically to women when most drinks aren't, and thus they fly off shelves.
- I also enjoyed reading about Julie Reiner, fighting back against a misogynist cocktail expert who claimed that women don't belong in bars. He ended up handing back his award, muahahahah.
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