On the one hand, gender justice!
On one hand, accepting a drink can be a no-brainer — especially for women. In a country where female employees are paid just 89 cents for every dollar their male counterparts earn, why wouldn’t you take a free drink from a stranger you hardly know? “Men spend more on drinks than women because women are, a lot of the time, getting bought drinks,” says economist, influencer, and self-described “financial pop star” Haley Sacks (better known by her alias Mrs. Dow Jones). “Which I’m all for because there is a wage gap. As long as you feel comfortable, I think that’s totally fine.”
So it's women, then, who get bought drinks? These champions of human equality don't buy men drinks?
In a VinePair study that polled dozens of subjects across the gender spectrum about their experiences buying and receiving drinks at bars, 83 percent of women and gender non-conforming respondents said they’d never bought a potential romantic interest a drink. When asked the reason, responses ranged from “drinks are expensive and I’m a girl,” to “because the patriarchy owes me” to “I hate men.”
If I'm following this discussion, 'gender non-conforming' has just been admitted to be a synonym for 'women,' and a large number of them don't buy drinks for potential romantic partners because they hate the entire opposite sex. That ought to work out well.
Lest you think this economic justice issue resolves the matter, though, there remains the injustice of the men thinking they might be buying a chance at some interest from the women accepting their free drinks. Well, "women" turns out to need more elaboration in the eyes of the author.
In a sense, accepting these drinks without reciprocating can act as a way for femme-presenting individuals to take power back.... With that in mind, a “free” drink can always come with a price — even those that haven’t been altered in any way. Some folks may see the act as a transactional one and therefore expect something in return, whether that be sex or simply prolonged chatting. “Just because you bought me a drink, I still don’t owe you a conversation,” Cockson says. “But there’s this weird pressure that sets in.”Our poll respondents tended to agree. “It just seems to place a weird expectation — even though I know I don’t owe the person anything in return beyond a ‘thank you,’ I’m never sure if they’ll be thinking the same way,” one woman commented. “It just feels awkward to carry on a conversation with a stranger out of obligation.”
Two things that strike me immediately about this bit:
1) "Femme-presenting" sounds like it entails a different set of ethical issues, especially insofar as this is seen as being a precursor or preliminary to some sort of romantic or sexual relationship. You may not be obligated to go down the path at all, not even as far as conversation; but some of you in the 'femme-presenting' category are going have an additional set of discussions you need to have with the man from the bar somewhere along the way.
2) Carrying on awkward, obligatory conversations with people who won't go away is one of the more difficult parts of life, but strangers are the easiest variation. Wait until it's your neighbor who just loves to bend your ear for hours at a time while not leaving your front porch, or that cousin you were trying to avoid who also wants to borrow more money.
The piece goes on after this to explore the duties of bartenders towards their guests and more fretting about feminism. It does end on some sensible advice, though:
If your gut is telling you “no,” consider heeding Cockson’s advice: “Pay for your own drinks.”
Generally you can't go far wrong in life if you're figuring out how to pay your own freight.
4 comments:
This article is insane. If someone offered to buy me a drink, of course I thought it was a pre-cursor to getting to know him with the implication that dating (define as you like) would follow if we enjoyed each other's company. When I was not interested in - at a minimum - 15 minutes of conversation, I said no.
I don't recall that anyone ever had a drink "sent over" without asking first, but if someone had done so, I would have declined it.
The whole "I'm a girl"/"patriarchy"/"I hate men" thing is just creepy. Some guy at a bar doesn't owe me anything because of my income, ideological stance, or emotional problems. Guys buy girls drinks rather than vice versa for the same reason guys buy girls flowers, jewelry, dinner, etc. - it's courtship. Somebody needs to read a little Jordan Peterson.
As for roofies, yeah. You take the drink from the bartender, not the guy; you keep an eye on it, out of the reach of someone you don't know; and you make sure you have a friend there to keep an eye on you. If you can't do that, then you don't say "yes" when someone offers to buy you a drink. And, by the way, you can be roofied even if you buy your own drinks - same cautions apply.
None of this is rocket science. I'm really glad I did my dating before all women were bitter victims and all courtship was political. Sheesh!
Women make 89 cents on the dollar men make? Are we going to have to start explaining the wage gap is actually an earnings gap again?
Echoing Deevs, people who believe the 89 cents idea is an uncomplicated truth are more likely to show poor logical reasoning about related issues as well.
My dating skills are now fifty years out of date, so I have no idea what I would do, and I hope never to find out.
A simple "No, thank you" would go a long way toward relieving all these hard-pressed femme-identifying life forms from the soul-deadening obligation of carrying on a polite conversation with an evil representative of the patriarchy.
Ditching the whole "I'm for sale" vibe will have lots of other side benefits, too, which frees one up to learning to accept minor generosities and courtesies with grace and possibly a genuine intention to reciprocate.
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