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Feminism: Sex and gender discussions

Join me, if you will, in envisaging the feminist pub

307 replies

LRDMaguliYaPomochTebeSRaboti · 17/09/2013 14:35

Inspired by the obvious thread, I feel we need a fictional pub that's as the same sort of mecca for feminists. The antidote to the classic sexist bloke pub, where the floor is sticky and you can't get to the bar without pushing past three Important Regulars peering at your boobs and making blonde jokes, while the barman asks 'are you sure' when you order real ale and the beer for ladies comes in comedy funny-shaped pint glasses for our wee delicate hands.

In the feminist pub, I want to outlaw stupid jokes, obviously. But I also think the bar needs to be at a height that doesn't put my boobs on pint-level for every bloke there. And I would like it if there were etiquette that, when you've got your pint, you don't sit chatting to the barman and taking up space, you move away (I have never seen a woman sit on the edge of a bar, alone).

And I fancy copies of classics like 'Letters from a fainthearted feminist' standing about dog-earned on the bookcases, in place of old back issues of Spectator or random leather-bound books by dead white men.

Shall I apply for a pub lease then? And what else do we want in the feminist pub?

OP posts:
kim147 · 17/09/2013 21:12

This reply has been deleted

Message withdrawn at poster's request.

CaptChaos · 17/09/2013 21:11

Sounds like a fantastic place. Can I bring the dogs in after their walk and sit for a while nursing a pint and reading? Would be lovely to have a local pub where you could relax by a fire and read and discuss in good company. What happened to pubs like that anyway?

MrsGeologist · 17/09/2013 21:10

There is nothing more relaxing than heading to the pub on Sunday afternoon, having a cooked breakfast/roast dinner (depending on how you feel) and going through the Sunday papers.

Whenever the children are stressing me out, I imagine that. It was my child free Sunday if I wasn't working (in a pub, ironically. It was like the relaxing Sunday bastards were rubbing it in my face.)

LRDMaguliYaPomochTebeSRaboti · 17/09/2013 20:49

I bow to your superior knowledge!

I do love reading in a pub. I think there's something very nice about reading in a quietly busy atmosphere. I'd read in cafes if they opened until midnight.

OP posts:
comingalongnicely · 17/09/2013 20:47

Dunno, I love reading - not sure that I'd like reading in a pub!! Maybe send the kids to the creche in the pub & stay at home reading with a glass of wine?

LRDMaguliYaPomochTebeSRaboti · 17/09/2013 20:37

Ahh, true. The creche bit is the idea for sad childless women like me - and it was only me who suggested it.

Love the books thing though, what's wrong with that?

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comingalongnicely · 17/09/2013 20:25

Creche? Books? Computer? Hmmm....

Do you not think there's a reason these places don't exist already??

'Cos no fecker would go in there - sounds dire!

CRECHE for Gods sake!! Confused

MrsGeologist · 17/09/2013 20:07

Bridget Christie does feminist stand up comedy. She had a very good radio four series a few moths ago. She would be great on a feminist open mic night.

LRDMaguliYaPomochTebeSRaboti · 17/09/2013 19:56

The Brewer's Bush. Perfect.

And yes, absolutely, we need proper cocktail names.

What the fuck is it with cocktail names that are just crap puns? Ok, they were funny for a moment in the late 80s. I get it. I was about 6 so really didn't appreciate the originality. By now ... not so original, and just crap.

I would also love stand-up feminist activism instead of (some of) the open-mic nights. I know lots of new musicians are great but how awesome would stand-up newbie feminism be?

OP posts:
EldritchCleavage · 17/09/2013 19:43

OK, I agree with you LRD: a chatting up zone and everywhere else is strictly 'no hassle'.

We need proper food, real fires, a book drop for pub-goers to leave books they've finished with for other customers to read, and film nights in the pub garden in the summer.

Proper spirits like Plymouth gin, single malts, good rum, aged tequila. If there are cocktails they don't have stupid names like 'Sex on the Beach'.

Gosh, I really want to go to this pub now.

MrsGeologist · 17/09/2013 19:41

It could be called The Brewers Bush?

LRDMaguliYaPomochTebeSRaboti · 17/09/2013 19:37

That must be where it comes from.

Our sign on the feminist pub must be a bush, then.

I have bad memories of the Stop the War march against Bush, but there we go!

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MrsGeologist · 17/09/2013 19:35

Women traditionally brewed the beer in the family, which was essential for the family as water wasn't always great to drink.

If your brew was particularly good, you stuck a branch of some tree (vague) in the eaves of your house, inviting others to come and try your fantastic beer.

LRDMaguliYaPomochTebeSRaboti · 17/09/2013 19:33

coo?

cool.

I'm not that bloody pigeon.

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LRDMaguliYaPomochTebeSRaboti · 17/09/2013 19:33

It's pretty coo. Smile

I am jealous, I don't think my name is feminist at all.

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WhoKnowsWhereTheTimeGoes · 17/09/2013 19:21

I'm descended from Brewsters, but I never knew that Smile

LRDMaguliYaPomochTebeSRaboti · 17/09/2013 19:13

Oh, yes, that would work nicely.

Brown Willy is a hill in Cornwall, isn't it? Fantastic name for an ale.

Btw, I may have yakked on about this before, but you know the surname Brewster? That is one of the few surnames that is etymologically feminine, so it means 'a female brewer'. So presumably at some stage in history, people called 'brewster' descend through a woman whose children were called after her. Rather nice, isn't it?

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ModeratelyObvious · 17/09/2013 19:13

George Eliot, for the same reason then?

Lovecat · 17/09/2013 19:08

Julian of Norwich (just to fool the MRA)

There used to be a female-run brewery in Cornwall but a quick google showed it closed in 1993 :( They did a lovely dark ale called Brown Willy :)

LRDMaguliYaPomochTebeSRaboti · 17/09/2013 19:06

Julia the Obscure is genius. Grin

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ModeratelyObvious · 17/09/2013 19:05

The Dainty Arms

The Full Bush

ModeratelyObvious · 17/09/2013 19:02

Julia the Obscure

LRDMaguliYaPomochTebeSRaboti · 17/09/2013 19:02
Grin

Didn't think about Scotch eggs, but now you mention them in this context, they will always have disturbing connotations for me. How come so many trad bar snacks are faintly testicular? Pickled onions/eggs, too.

I will go for Naice Ham.

OP posts:
ModeratelyObvious · 17/09/2013 19:01

The Test of Bechdel

MooncupGoddess · 17/09/2013 18:58

A presumption that women always get served first at the bar. Usually I'm not a great fan of positive discrimination but in this case it is only fair recompense for the hours of desperately trying to catch the eye of the bar staff.

And good bar snacks. There is something disturbingly patriarchal about Scotch eggs. We need hummus, nice bread and Naice Ham.