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hardcore_gamer

Why is fruity alcohol seen as girly?

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I don't get it. I hear this all the time. "This kind of drink is girly. It has like a fruit taste and is all orange of pink". This would include things like fruit beers and breezers.

Being someone who likes to explore new kinds of alcohol, I have never understood this point of view. If fruity drinks are girly then why do men find nothing wrong with drinking orange juice, or eating pizza? Why is fruit bad only when it is in alcohol?

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I wouldn't consider sangria to be "girly" drink. The alcohol get saturated into the fruit, and it gets you trashed when you eat it. Its actually a nice drink to share with with a woman, when you're on a date at a restaurant for example. Also, wine comes from grapes, which is fruit. I consider that drink to be more for sophisticated, than "girly". There's also grapa, which comes from the grape vine. That by no means is a girly drink; it knocks people on their ass like vodka.

My cousin, who makes his own moonshine, gave me a strawberry saturated in it. It was like eating double shot; it got me pretty buzzed.

At any rate, I dislike fruit flavored beer or vodka, because I don't like the taste. Also, all that sweet garbage in it will make your stomach turn worse than straight-up alcohol.

EDIT: I take back that last statement, because there are good hard apple ciders as well.

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I think the importance isn't so much in distinguishing those drinks as girly, as it is that by extension, non-fruity alcohol must be manly, and so there's a perception of reinforcing male identity through beverage choice. Ya get this macho bullcrap about "Only REAL men can drink this stuff," simply because it serves as a form of validation. "Yeah, I may not have done anything impressive or manly today, but at least I had a MAN'S drink!"

Really though, aside from weird psychological speculation, I really have no idea what the problem is with fruity drinks. Never have, never will. Drink whatever the hell you want, and take pride in it, that's my motto. But then, that's just an extension of my larger philosophy of life, which is in general, make the choices you want, not because you're living up to the expectations of others, but because you want to make those choices. Better to be different and own up to it than to conform out of fear of judgment.

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Contrary to what the society at large suggests, some of the heaviest drinkers I've ever known were women. Growing up, I knew this older girl that could house 4-5 22s of Steele Reserve (nasty high alcohol % malt liquor) a day. Another girl i knew would house a whole liter of Smirnoff vodka, straight, daily. She used to refer to the bottle as her "boyfriend".

These skinny little girls drank like men from the gutter.

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Kontra Kommando said:

Contrary to what the society at large suggests, some of the heaviest drinkers I've ever known were women. Growing up, I knew this older girl that could house 4-5 22s of Steele Reserve (nasty high alcohol % malt liquor) a day. Another girl i knew would house a whole liter of Smirnoff vodka, straight, daily. She used to refer to the bottle as her "boyfriend".

These skinny little girls drank like men from the gutter.


I bet soon their livers started to look like they came from the gutter too :)

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Kontra Kommando said:

Contrary to what the society at large suggests, some of the heaviest drinkers I've ever known were women. Growing up, I knew this older girl that could house 4-5 22s of Steele Reserve (nasty high alcohol % malt liquor) a day. Another girl i knew would house a whole liter of Smirnoff vodka, straight, daily. She used to refer to the bottle as her "boyfriend".

These skinny little girls drank like men from the gutter.


Isn't a female drinker called a lush? Yeah they drink more alcohol content. Wine coolers have more alcohol in them even if people think they don't.

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"Girly drink" is such an offensive and sexist term. I know society likes its outdated gender binaries but this one is particularly ridiculous.

The reason they're called that is because of the stereotype that women want to drink sweet, colorful stuff that might as well be perfume and men should only drink stiff stuff you use to strip paint with. In other words, WOMEN WEAK, MEN STRONG.

It's bull. Wine is often considered a girly drink and yet a lot of rock musicians have their own wine labels or even run wineries. Dave Mustaine got into the act just a couple months ago.

But think about this -- we tend to look favorably upon women who drink "manly" drinks like whiskey or rubbing alcohol, but we make fun of the guy who drinks a Mike's Hard Lemonade. Double standards, anyone?

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dethtoll said:

"Girly drink" is such an offensive and sexist term. I know society likes its outdated gender binaries but this one is particularly ridiculous.

Heh. You should be declared holy by the pope of tumblr.

Wine is often considered a girly drink-

WHAT THE FUCK?! Yeah, uh, what kind of backwards asshole country do you live in? This is incredibly ignorant. If you want girly drinks, try something targeted heavily at women, like radlers or wine spritzers.

I should also point out that hardcore_gamer already made this exact topic once in the past.

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dew said:

Heh. You should be declared holy by the pope of tumblr.


Ha ha ha. "Oh, you're talking about feminism, tumblr must love you." As if pointing out ridiculous gender double standards and other stupid social crap only belongs on some 3rd rate blogging site.

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I think pointing out sexism is warranted when it is clearly a form of disrespect that actually belittles the status of the gender. For instance, that 'sexist science shirt' is a form of disrespect. However, being associated with a particular kind of alcohol isn't really disrespect, just more of a cultural/marketing segregation at work. If anything, the majority of non-beer girly drinks are quite potent due to its 'easy to drink' nature and high alcoholic content, and have contributed to the majority of my hangovers, heh.

Csonicgo said:

I knew a guy that called Fireball girly. Some dude knocked his lights out.

(It wasn't me)

Lol.

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dethtoll said:

Ha ha ha. "Oh, you're talking about feminism, tumblr must love you." As if pointing out ridiculous gender double standards and other stupid social crap only belongs on some 3rd rate blogging site.

Pointing out is okay, dude, go for it. But going as far as calling the term "girly drinks" offensive? You can't be serious. This unreal exaggeration is exactly why feminism is mocked so often nowadays. The very words must never be put together in that order, lest triggering occurs, no matter how predominantly a certain type of alcohol gets purchased by women.

Here's another idea: I think English language is sexist by referring to all ships as "she". Not to mention how belittling to men it is that there's not even one fathership.

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I often find this when I visit Canada and ask for cider*. Never quite understood it myself. Plenty of males drink cider here in the UK.

(* although I'm sure purists would argue the stuff I drink isn't "proper" cider, but that's a different argument)

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Why do they name boats anyways? It's a fuckin' boat. Boats don't need names. You don't name a car, do you? Okay maybe, but those people are strange. You might as well name a chair, or a fax machine. It's just a boat, man. Why name it?

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Joshy said:

I think pointing out sexism is warranted when it is clearly a form of disrespect that actually belittles the status of the gender. For instance, that 'sexist science shirt' is a form of disrespect. However, being associated with a particular kind of alcohol isn't really disrespect, just more of a cultural/marketing segregation at work. If anything, the majority of non-beer girly drinks are quite potent due to its 'easy to drink' nature and high alcoholic content, and have contributed to the majority of my hangovers, heh.


Lol.

dew said:

Pointing out is okay, dude, go for it. But going as far as calling the term "girly drinks" offensive? You can't be serious. This unreal exaggeration is exactly why feminism is mocked so often nowadays. The very words must never be put together in that order, lest triggering occurs, no matter how predominantly a certain type of alcohol gets purchased by women.


God dammit Doomworld.

Do you guys really not see the double standard of segregating drinks based on market-driven stereotypes?

"Girly drink" wouldn't be offensive if "girly" wasn't so often immediately equated with weak and incompetent. Unfortunately it is. Welcome to the world we live in, guys. Way to miss the point.

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dethtoll said:

God dammit Doomworld.

Do you guys really not see the double standard of segregating drinks based on market-driven stereotypes?

"Girly drink" wouldn't be offensive if "girly" wasn't so often immediately equated with weak and incompetent. Unfortunately it is. Welcome to the world we live in, guys. Way to miss the point.

I should mention that I've studied gender studies extensively before and I consider myself a male-feminist. The segregation is only particularly for marketing purposes. They wouldn't be able to sell more products unless they create a fictional/cultural division; the more targets they create, the more products they sell. In terms of marketing, everyone's an equal target and they especially love double standards. Two identical razor blades, but one branded a razor blade for women is somewhat more expensive than one manufactured for men. Why not just create one product for everyone else? It wouldn't sell as much then would it?

I've been outed by people for drinking girly drinks/lollie water but it hasn't stopped me from enjoying my drinks, I just say 'so what? It tastes good'. It doesn't and shouldn't stop anyone from drinking what they want, and people that stress that drinking girly drinks is something men shouldn't do should go drown themselves in ethanol. I wouldn't say that it's really offensive, it's more of an annoyance. Yes, it maintains a gender binary, but the binary isn't bad unless it borders on actual disrespect- like telling women they can't drink more than 2 because they're weak. I'm not saying that the gender binary is free of disrespect, there's a lot of work to do still but this girly drink thing is not a priority. Since most girly drinks are quite strong, I doubt it'd be associated with weakness; it's just illusionary stuff.

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Jaxxoon R said:

It's just a boat, man. Why name it?

It's a tradition that extends beyond cultures, empires and battles throughout human history. A crew is identified by it's vessel, collectively. A symbiont of one being. A vessel's name doesn't just signify it's identity as an individual, but it's status in it's given industry, collective excellence in battle and a crew's legacy.

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BEER IS FOR MEN, NONE OF THAT SISSY GIRLY SHIT

Seriously though some people really get offended over nothing, it's lulzworthy. As Joshy said, it mostly boils down to marketing ploys. If someone actually sees someone as "weak" because of the alcohol they drink, then... Wow, just wow. I guess it's "weak" to drink booze at all, if we're gonna get to that level.

Inkie said:

Does it really matter once you are drunk?

This.

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Joshy said:

I should mention that I've studied gender studies extensively before and I consider myself a male-feminist. The segregation is only particularly for marketing purposes. They wouldn't be able to sell more products unless they create a fictional/cultural division; the more targets they create, the more products they sell. In terms of marketing, everyone's an equal target and they especially love double standards. Two identical razor blades, but one branded a razor blade for women is somewhat more expensive than one manufactured for men. Why not just create one product for everyone else? It wouldn't sell as much then would it?

I've been outed by people for drinking girly drinks/lollie water but it hasn't stopped me from enjoying my drinks, I just say 'so what? It tastes good'. It doesn't and shouldn't stop anyone from drinking what they want, and people that stress that drinking girly drinks is something men shouldn't do should go drown themselves in ethanol. I wouldn't say that it's really offensive, it's more of an annoyance. Yes, it maintains a gender binary, but the binary isn't bad unless it borders on actual disrespect- like telling women they can't drink more than 2 because they're weak. I'm not saying that the gender binary is free of disrespect, there's a lot of work to do still but this girly drink thing is not a priority. Since most girly drinks are quite strong, I doubt it'd be associated with weakness; it's just illusionary stuff.


You're overstating how important I think this is to the overall feminism/equality movement. God forbid I bring it up in a topic about "girly drinks," right? What a shrieking, hysterical tumblrina I must be.

It's "not a priority" but it doesn't exist in a vacuum. None of this stuff does. It might be a relatively minor issue compared to the pay gap, the normalization of rape, reproductive rights, and so on and so forth, but it's still a symptom of a wider problem.

And marketing doesn't exist in a vacuum either. A lot of the social norms we have today are driven by advertising companies. They love double standards and society reinforces those double standards. Hence "no sissy girly drinks!"

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dethtoll said:

God dammit Doomworld.

Do you guys really not see the double standard of segregating drinks based on market-driven stereotypes?

"Girly drink" wouldn't be offensive if "girly" wasn't so often immediately equated with weak and incompetent. Unfortunately it is. Welcome to the world we live in, guys. Way to miss the point.

God dammit captain political.

I never thought I would see someone desperately try to push a feminist agenda in a thread about fucking alcohol.

Jesus dude, naming something "girly" is hardly an issue and the only fucker it is offending right now is you. "wouldn't be offensive if "girly" wasn't so often immediately equated with weak and incompetent", the only person making that stereotype is you:

Girly usually amounts to hormones that determine gender regardless of physical ability or intellectual capacity. Girly can be used to describe a highly intelligent woman, a obese ogre of a woman, a pencil of a woman, a thick as shit woman, a burly tank of a woman, a noodle armed woman ect. They are considered womanly by physical traits brought on by these hormones (Breast, widened hips ect) which isn't some sexist stereotype, it is biology 101.

"Girly" drinks are marketed as "girly" to sell the the majority of women (Which is the target audience of the drinks: women), is it stereotyping? Yes. Considerably sexist? Possibly. An effective marketing tactic? Hell yes, you think they would be doing it if it wasn't?

I would love to see you get a job at marketing and see how you would appeal to women, unisex advertisement doesn't sell like targeted advertisement does so deal with it.

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dethtoll said:

I'm not going to dignify that insulting shitpost with a response.

You just did.

But fine, dodge questions you can't answer.

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It's alrighty guys, we've come to a conclusion - Marketing loves to exploit stereotypes, and unless someone is being a real dickhead "You drink that girly shit?! Huhuhuh, you're so weak!" there is absolutely no reason to be offended and get your panties in a knot.

Wait, is saying "panties in a knot" sexist? I don't even know anymore.. (and secretly I don't care)

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dethtoll said:

You're overstating how important I think this is to the overall feminism/equality movement. God forbid I bring it up in a topic about "girly drinks," right? What a shrieking, hysterical tumblrina I must be.

It's "not a priority" but it doesn't exist in a vacuum. None of this stuff does. It might be a relatively minor issue compared to the pay gap, the normalization of rape, reproductive rights, and so on and so forth, but it's still a symptom of a wider problem.

And marketing doesn't exist in a vacuum either indeed. A lot of the social norms we have today are driven by advertising companies. They love double standards and society reinforces those double standards. Hence "no sissy girly drinks!"

I don't disagree with you here at all. I am certainly not a fan of marketing myself either and it goes without saying that their actions do reinforce the very stereotypes they are exploiting; yay capitalism.

But I guess the thing I'm trying to say is that it is easy to consider everything cultural cue a symptom of patriarchy (or a 'pathological social structure' that recreates inequality) and indeed everything is not in a vacuum. It's perfectly reasonable to think that, but where should we focus our energy then? Where and how do we draw the line between culture, tradition and sexism? Men wear blue, women wear pink, is this something that needs to be addressed? Priorities are extremely useful here in order to distinguish tradition and disrespect. It is my opinion that we strike at things that directly reek of disrespect before anything else. Like that scientist's shirt for example. But the girly drink issue has less substance to work with since it does not overtly alienate people compared to the other issues you've listed. And I'm quite sure the tide is changing in this respect anyway; as we can see within the responses in this thread, people don't give a shit about 'girly drinks', and people who think it's important to not 'drink like a girl' are naturally going to be pointed out as 'dickheads'. I think that's a pretty good start?

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hardcore_gamer said:
Why is fruity alcohol seen as girly?

Because it is sweet and colorful.

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I drink Mike's Hard Lemonade. Does that count as fruity? They're alcholish lemonades are the only alcoholic drinks that don't give me a splitting headache.

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