For some reason, there still are people who feel the need to needlessly gender things that realistically can be enjoyed by anyone. Even worse, these folks will push their outdated and frankly useless opinions on the rest of society. But every once in a while, a sharp wit and quick tongue can flip the script on judgemental folks.

So one man concocted a bit of revenge on a bartender who snickered at his drink order for not being quite manly enough. Readers enjoyed his quick thinking and also had a discussion about weird societal standards, particularly for men who like things that aren’t seen as masculine.

For some reason, society deems certain drinks as un-manly

Image credits: Craig Bonsignore (not the actual photo)

So one person got revenge on a judgmental bartender after she laughed at him for ordering a piña colada

Image credits: ELEVATE (not the actual photo)

Image credits: hovis_mavis

Image credits: cottonbro studio (not the actual photo)

There is little logic in how people see certain drinks

Despite not being a “manly” drink, the piña colada’s origin story, while possibly a myth, involves pirates, which places it firmly in the realm of what a thirteen-year-old boy would find cool. This tale, like most involving pirates, is probably apocryphal, but still gives the cocktail a certain charm.

Indeed, the norms around what a man “should” drink are very strangely skewed. For example, no one would bat an eye at a man enjoying a beer, but a glass of white wine might appear, to some, as effeminate. Despite the fact that wine in nearly all shapes and forms is significantly stronger than beer. Somehow, a simple, cheap, and very light beer became the staple of “manly men” while red wine is associated with women. It doesn’t take an expert to know which beverage is sometimes two or even three times as strong as the other.

As strange as it seems, studies have shown that there is still a “visible” gender gap in the sorts of drinks people order or profess to like. The most baseline stereotypes still exist, with sweet and fruity drinks being “for women,” while stronger, bitter drinks would be for men. So OP was laughed at for getting a very normal cocktail simply because it had some fruit juice in it.

Image credits: Engin Akyurt (not the actual photo)

Both men and women alike enjoy sweet drinks

Despite the existence of this gap, the reality is that people from both genders enjoy sweet cocktails equally. Indeed, sweet was the overall most popular flavor, followed by fruity in a survey done by Mixer. In other words, OP’s cocktail wasn’t even among the most popular options. However, it seems the bartender was simply not aware of the drink’s origins in piracy on the seven seas.

In the aforementioned survey, the one main difference between male and female cocktail preferences was just how strong they liked their drinks. Men did seem to favor stronger drinks, while women preferred lighter beverages. However, this is hardly any reason to judge a person, since tastes, if you will pardon the pun, can and will differ.

It’s probably telling that both men and women share the same favorite cocktail to make at home. By a clear margin, the margarita is the most popular mixed drink. While perhaps not the sweetest drink in the world, it’s also not exactly a whiskey, neat. This is all to say that these norms don’t seem to serve any function as people are going to like what they like.

Image credits: cottonbro studio (not the actual photo)

Gendering consumer goods is downright silly

Unfortunately, it’s not just drinks that end up being shoved towards one gender or another. There are whole internet communities dedicated to sharing and shaming companies that seem to want to gender their items for no good reason. While there is no doubt some marketing team that believes it works, it seems a bit strange to try and exclude half the human population from using your product.

So overall, OP is making a step in the right direction. Perhaps after this interaction, the barmaid will think twice about mocking a drink order. And the story serves as a reminder of just how dumb and pointless gatekeeping a cocktail (or really anything else) can be.

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