Life

Every Woman Who Loves Beer Understands This

by Eliza Castile

Ladies who love beer, this one's for you. "#WeAllLoveBeer," a hidden-camera video released by Anheuser Busch's digital beer-appreciation campaign Let's Grab a Beer, reveals a situation that will no doubt be familiar to many women who prefer beer: People still labor under the misapprehension that it is a "manly" drink. Research shows that women account for a quarter of beer consumption in the United States, and that number only appears to be growing — especially in the increasingly popular craft beer market. Clearly, women enjoy a brew at the end of the day just as much as men, yet any woman who frequently drinks beer can tell you that most people still think it is just for men.

Let's Grab a Beer decided to illustrate this stereotype in the form of "#WeAllLoveBeer." The video uses footage from hidden cameras at bars and restaurants, where various heterosexual couples were filmed ordering their usual drinks. The catch? The women all ordered beer, whereas the men all ordered drinks traditionally thought to be "girly," like sparkling rosé. If you have ever been in this situation, you can guess what happened next: Each woman was given the supposedly "feminine" drink, while the men were served the beer.

"What happened in the bar is what happens every time we go to a bar," one man explained. "[The bartender] always put the martini in front of her, and... the beer in front of me."

The servers all apologize, of course, but it's easy to see how frustrating the women find the switch when it happens day after day. "What does a beer drinker look like?" one woman asks the camera after the server says she looks like a "cocktail drinker."

Of course, there are bigger things for women to worry about than having their drinks switched for their partner's: Body autonomy, the wage gap, street harassment, body shaming, objectification... The list of feminist issues goes on for quite some time before you get to being stereotyped as someone who likes apple martinis. However, the video is an indication of how pervasive gender stereotypes can be. After all, alcohol is definitively gender-neutral, at least in theory, but society turns it into yet another opportunity for the gender binary to assert itself. What's "girly" about wine, or "manly" about beer? Furthermore, why are "girly" drinks considered undesirable in the first place? (That's a rhetorical question, obviously. We know why.)

Although there are more pressing issues at hand, the video makes it clear how even the most minute aspects of our lives are affected by the gender binary. Check out it below:

Images: DisobeyArt/Fotolia, WE ALL LOVE BEER/YouTube (2)