Women and Craft Beer

I know plenty of women who are big into craft beer. They don't advertise themselves as "craft beer chicks" and try to make a following out of it, but hell, I Instagram my beers now and again, so it's not like I have any room to criticize others who do - male or female.

But let's be real, this is the Internet. Sexism, racism, homophobia and stupidity abound. If you want to find examples of why humanity is awful, this is the place for it. I wouldn't take the comments of a bunch of jackwagons as indicative of anything beyond the Internet being a place for assholes.

 

I've posted one craft beer on social media. It was my pour of Haze from Treehouse. Okay, I also posted the 6 can assortment I got in a trade on Twitter. I don't take too much value in following beer social media, whether those posts come from a man or woman. I just find myself wanting to try more beer, which means I spend more money.

I will say, the person I follow on UnTappd who posts THE most out of anybody I follow (~10 folks) is a woman. She gets some good stuff though. Props to her.

 

Internet commentary in America currently consists disproportionately of curmudgeonly, retired, spiteful old men with a lot of time on their hands to subscribe to hate-fomenting news feeds and complain about all the things they think shouldn't exist because that's not how things were when they grew up (i.e. women being free thinking humans and enjoying beer like other free thinking humans). Hence the broader state of affairs we are living through right now.

I understand your sentiment, but this is actually contributing to the problem. The fact is hate has filled so much of the bandwidth of the internet, and a lot of mild mannered respectful people such as yourself have exited the conversation, never presenting an opposing point of view or offering alternative ways of thinking, because let's face it, many of us don't want the drama. But that echo chamber only reinforces the most extreme of speech.

 

Data to support this claim?

These data would suggest otherwise:

https://www.statista.com/statistics/266587/percentage-of-internet-users-by-age-groups-in-the-us/

 

Note that I didn't state the phrase "internet users." Do you see a lot of young people making long, drawn out hateful speech?

 

Yes I do sometimes see hateful speech from younger people. That's why I'm interested in your data source.

Yes you did not use the phrase "internet users," but what you did say was "internet commentary." One can not, however, make comentary on the internet without being an internet user.

 

Okay, guess we're veering then.

My "data source" is personal experience. YMMV. That being said, there is no study regarding the level of commentary by age group, including the mood of that commentary. However, this article isn't too bad, though I'd prefer far more numbers if I were constructing the thesis you seem to be demanding.

Here's the thing, feel free to ask Facebook and other social media companies for this data. The answer will either be denial that they track it, or denial to divulge it, considering that's the tactic they take with our own government.

In my experience, vitriol, especially of the sort in the article above, comes from older generations, whether from those I personally associate with or those I have never met. These are typically of the baby boomer variety. I'm not making this claim to incite, I'm just describing my experience.

In my experience, younger generations tend to use social media to post pictures, memes, and videos, follow celebrities, keep up to date on fads, businesses, and other such hobbies. They seem to find it much less of an outlet to push an agenda than do the older generations. They seem to avoid drawn out arguments or attacks on what is otherwise their outlet to present what they deem to be a positive image of themselves. Now, I'm not denying you will also see vitriol there, usually in cases where you see bullying occur, but I just don't run into it very often.

 

I'm not demanding data, just looking for it. Your original wording suggested you were going on the basis of more than just personal experience.

Thanks for the link, I'll go take a look at it.

 

Sexism in beer. Shocked.

I don't really post on social media, and I rarely post anything related to beer. The internet is FULL of sexism (and every other ism), so I am not surprised by the vitriol. That tends to happen whenever women become more involved in something traditionally considered "male."

I have experienced sexism in-person around beer, although it is more insidious than "fake nails/bud light," and nasty comments about beer bellies. Mostly people don't expect me to be there, or don't think I will know what I am talking about before opening my mouth. I also get hit on a lot, instead of just being able to talk about beer like everyone else in line is doing. And no... I am not asking for it, for anyone who would insinuate otherwise (which would also be sexist, so please don't).

 

Serious question: did this article just cherry-pick the cleavage pictures out of their Instagram feeds? Or are some of these women mostly posting "cheesecake" shots of themselves that happen to have a can of beer in them?

I'm not a big Instagram user, but I would think the ones posting knowledgeable stuff about beer are going to draw a different crowd of followers than any that just come across as "models". The former is likely to draw respectful comments. And the later, unfortunately probably not.

 

What is a "cheesecake" shot?

Additionally, and I may be off base here since I don't have an account, but I thought Instagram was to post pictures taken via smartphone and obtain followers via those pictures. "Knowledgeable stuff" about anything seems contrary to the mission of Instagram.

 

Not a user myself, but the service has expanded beyong the days when it was photos only.

E.G., comments can now be posted and linked to other social media services.

 

Sorry, it's a old slang term for pin-up shots.

Well, some accounts are "celebrity" types that try to get followers. Others are just sharing photos to friends.

 

Why should everyone on BA care about "good looks" when it comes to beer knowledge?

A list of prominent women in the brewing industry should be more interesting.

 

I'm not trying to justify any of the behavior thrown your way, but guys are probably just hitting on you because you have something in common with them and seem like a "cool" woman to date. Us men can still be very immature, and sometimes tested your beer knowledge is the only way some beer nerds know how to spark conversation (or spot out the mule).

 

That's not surprising. My wife works in a traditionally male-dominated industry, and has to deal with people constantly thinking that she isn't knowledgeable - or that she's the admin assistant, not the boss.