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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:
LRDMaguliYaPomochTebeSRaboti · 17/09/2013 18:16

Good call geologist.

I couldn't take a flying leap over the average pub bar if I tried, FWIW.

Can we also outlaw ridiculous cutesy synonyms for men's/women's toilets? Especially themed ones. Hmm

I had to visit somewhere that thought it was cute to have 'Dongs' and 'Pussies' scribbled in by the management under the names.

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MrsGeologist · 17/09/2013 18:27

It needs to serve ale though, just feminist ale. I'm not sure there is any, so it may be to have a microbrewery attached to the feminist pub.

What would it be called?

LRDMaguliYaPomochTebeSRaboti · 17/09/2013 18:28

I want the feminist microbrewery.

No ideas for the name but I anticipate them eagerly.

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WhoKnowsWhereTheTimeGoes · 17/09/2013 18:42

This lot have a Feminist beer scroll down

MrsGeologist · 17/09/2013 18:43

The Braziered Brassiere

(Yes I know there were no bras burned)

ModeratelyObvious · 17/09/2013 18:45

The Germaine's Head?

St Cordelia's?

ModeratelyObvious · 17/09/2013 18:46

The Red Dragon

Grin
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.

ModeratelyObvious · 17/09/2013 19:01

The Test of Bechdel

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.

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ModeratelyObvious · 17/09/2013 19:02

Julia the Obscure

ModeratelyObvious · 17/09/2013 19:05

The Dainty Arms

The Full Bush

LRDMaguliYaPomochTebeSRaboti · 17/09/2013 19:06

Julia the Obscure is genius. Grin

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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 :)

ModeratelyObvious · 17/09/2013 19:13

George Eliot, for the same reason then?

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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WhoKnowsWhereTheTimeGoes · 17/09/2013 19:21

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

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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LRDMaguliYaPomochTebeSRaboti · 17/09/2013 19:33

coo?

cool.

I'm not that bloody pigeon.

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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 19:37

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 19:41

It could be called The Brewers Bush?

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.

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?

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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.

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