Girly Drinks Quotes

“Boys will be boys, yet girls partying like boys might bring down all of society.”
― Mallory O'Meara, Girly Drinks: A World History of Women and Alcohol

“Why would you let a woman have a drink? She might start the apocalypse or something!”
― Mallory O'Meara, Girly Drinks: A World History of Women and Alcohol

“No matter what you're having, you can toast knowing that women had a part in its it's history. Saying that some types of alcohol are better, more noble, more masculine to drink than others is just outright silly. . . . All drinks are girly drinks.”
― Mallory O'Meara, Girly Drinks: A World History of Women and Alcohol

“It's commonplace today to make fun of women-centric book clubs, where there's more wine drinking than book discussion, but for hundreds of years, the only place women could gather, drink, relax and socialize was in a neighbor's kitchen, surrounded by other wives and mothers. There is a long-standing tradition of driving women to some sort of behavior, then mocking them for it. (Sort of like making beauty a women's most powerful and important currency, then laughing about how long it takes her to get ready.)”
― Mallory O'Meara, Girly Drinks: A World History of Women and Alcohol

“By the time the Victorian era began in 1837, women enjoying almost anything at all was associated with sinfulness. They were seen as the weaker sex who were more prey to temptation, so it was better for everyone involved if they just stayed at home. Maybe even closed inside a stockings drawer or hatbox. Just in case.”
― Mallory O'Meara, Girly Drinks: A World History of Women and Alcohol

“In both England and America, women were expected to be the angels of the home. Not only were they to practice strict moderation for themselves but they were also responsible for the moderation of everyone in the house. Victorian ideals created an impossible situation for women: have none of the power, yet all of the responsibility.”
― Mallory O'Meara, Girly Drinks: A World History of Women and Alcohol

“In recent years, an interesting ideal has developed, probably in response to centuries of straight whiskey being considered a man's drink: the whiskey-drinking woman. . . . many women bought into this idea, that cool drinks and girly drinks were mutually exclusive categories of beverages. She's not like other girls because she drinks whiskey. And yes, whiskey is cool. Whiskey is awesome. But drinking it doesn't make you cooler or more awesome than someone who drinks wine or beer or, yes, even vodka. Don't let the patriarchy influence you drink choices. Drink what you want!”
― Mallory O'Meara, Girly Drinks: A World History of Women and Alcohol

“Well into the 1960s, the supposed threat of B-girls was used to justify excluding women from bars. Better ban an entire gender to protect those fragile male egos! Better to deny women access to a public space than have a man realize that the only way a woman would listen to his stupid work stories is if she's being paid!”
― Mallory O'Meara, Girly Drinks: A World History of Women and Alcohol

“Advances in women's rights have marched forward, only to be dragged back by governments and systems that were frightened of their power and determined to oppress them. Women are still fighting and winning and losing and fighting again. The one constant is their resilience.”
― Mallory O'Meara, Girly Drinks: A World History of Women and Alcohol

“The middle class of 1920s America loved a cocktail party. Stores began selling tools and accessories for home mixology, like shakers, serving trays and cocktail glasses. Since middle-class Americans didn’t have the money for a bottle of champagne, they usually drank lower-quality bootleg liquor. These spirits really needed to be mixed into a cocktail to be palatable, a cocktail being the best way to mask the harsh flavor.”
― Mallory O'Meara, Girly Drinks: A World History of Women and Alcohol

“No matter what you're having, you can toast knowing that women had a part in its history. Saying that some types of alcohol are better, more noble, more masculine to drink than others is just outright silly. . . . All drinks are girly drinks.”
― Mallory O'Meara, Girly Drinks: A World History of Women and Alcohol

“Women of the Vine and Spirits,”
― Mallory O'Meara, Girly Drinks: A World History of Women and Alcohol

“Women’s Cocktail Collective”
― Mallory O'Meara, Girly Drinks: A World History of Women and Alcohol

“They made at least eight different styles of brew from barley, eight from wheat and three more from mixes of different grains.”
― Mallory O'Meara, Girly Drinks: A World History of Women and Alcohol

“When Mesopotamians wanted to celebrate beer itself, they did not dedicate their toasts to a god but rather a goddess. Her name was Ninkasi. Ninkasi was a Sumerian deity, the goddess who ruled over beer. This divine being knew how to party. It was believed that beer was imbued with the spirit of Ninkasi herself. The elated buzz you feel after a few beers? (Or if you’re a lightweight drinker like me, halfway through your first glass?) That was thought to be the essence of Ninkasi.4”
― Mallory O'Meara, Girly Drinks: A World History of Women and Alcohol

“Old wine became a status symbol, right around the fourth century BCE.”
― Mallory O'Meara, Girly Drinks: A World History of Women and Alcohol

“The women who did join in the convivium were also not drinking the wine that the men were. They were drinking something called passum, a wine made from raisins. It was a sweeter wine and had a lower alcohol content. Passum was the world’s first girly drink. This was the moment that types of alcohol became gendered.”
― Mallory O'Meara, Girly Drinks: A World History of Women and Alcohol

“The two started their own drinking club with some close friends called the Inimitable Livers.”
― Mallory O'Meara, Girly Drinks: A World History of Women and Alcohol

“There was a common practice at the time for women to kiss their relatives so that the relatives could sniff their breath and make sure they hadn’t had any wine.”
― Mallory O'Meara, Girly Drinks: A World History of Women and Alcohol

“Ireland was never conquered by the Romans, so their commitment to beer was never interrupted by an obsession with wine.”
― Mallory O'Meara, Girly Drinks: A World History of Women and Alcohol

“Hildegard wrote in Physica that hops increased the melancholic in your system (too much of which could give you a melancholy mind). She was the first person to write scientifically about this, and she was correct. Today, we know that hops can relax the nervous system, have a calming, sedative effect and promote sleep. Hops in beer, however, had a much more important job to do. Hildegard wrote that “...its bitterness inhibits some spoilage in beverages to which it is added, making them last longer.” Again, she was correct. Hildegard was the first person to write scientifically about this, as well. The preservative property of hops was about to become the biggest beer innovation since Ninkasi’s hymn.”
― Mallory O'Meara, Girly Drinks: A World History of Women and Alcohol

“In 1692, the first woman to die as a result of the Salem witch hysteria was a tapster (a female taverner). Her name was Sarah Osborne, and she owned and operated the Ship, which was considered the best tavern in town.”
― Mallory O'Meara, Girly Drinks: A World History of Women and Alcohol

“Thomas Jefferson had a well-regarded brewery on his estate at Monticello, but it was his wife Martha who was in charge of it. She was a beer enthusiast. Before it was even up and running, Martha was involved in the planning and architecture of the building. Eventually, her daughter (also named Martha) took over and became an accomplished brewster.”
― Mallory O'Meara, Girly Drinks: A World History of Women and Alcohol

“The whiskey decanter, today the symbol for sophisticated masculine drinking, started out as a marker of feminized alcohol.”
― Mallory O'Meara, Girly Drinks: A World History of Women and Alcohol

“It wasn't a group of hard drinkers, bootleggers, smugglers or cocktail enthusiasts that had suddenly become Prohibition's most powerful opponents, it was a legion of mothers. Alcohol's greatest ally was a now formidable and elegantly coiffed host of mostly middle- and upper-class housewives.”
― Mallory O'Meara, Girly Drinks: A World History of Women and Alcohol

“The Western world entered a new era: medieval times.
Unfortunately, it wasn't anything like the themed restaurant. There were a lot less roasted turkey legs and a lot more open-air latrines.”
― Mallory O'Meara, Girly Drinks: A World History of Women and Alcohol

“Patriarchal oppression and misogynistic societal expectations play the biggest roles in a culture's drinking habits. The double standard that drinking women face is deeply rooted in male anxieties about control and their fear of women acting like people, not property.

If you want to know how a society treats its women, all you have to do is look into the bottom of a glass.”
― Mallory O'Meara, Girly Drinks: A World History of Women and Alcohol

“Cleopatra occupied a dangerous position in the ancient world, a position that is still dangerous in modern society: a powerful woman. Roman leaders launched a smear campaign against her, and its enduring success stained the image the world had of Cleopatra. Instead of brilliant and powerful, she was cast as evil, lustful and wild.”
― Mallory O'Meara, Girly Drinks: A World History of Women and Alcohol

“The power that the brewsters possessed made local authorities anxious, even hostile. Women who refused to submit to male control over their beer were marked as disobedient, noncompliant troublemakers.

Noncompliant women armed with knowledge and bargaining power who challenged the economic dominance of men? A recipe for trouble.”
― Mallory O'Meara, Girly Drinks: A World History of Women and Alcohol

“So many names and stories have been lost to time. Having a legacy is a privilege afforded only to a few. Often, it's about class. . . . sometimes it's just about when and were you were born.”
― Mallory O'Meara, Girly Drinks: A World History of Women and Alcohol