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Mallory O'Meara Biography

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“Despite [Cleo Lythogoe] being one of the world's most successful alcohol smugglers, reporters asked her the type of asinine interview questions women are still asked today. Instead of inquiring about her whiskey, they wanted to know why Cleo was single and what her love like was like. Silly reporters. Girls don't like boys, they like whiskey and money.”

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Book:Girly Drinks: A World History of Women and Alcohol
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“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.)”

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Book:Girly Drinks: A World History of Women and Alcohol
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“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!”

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Book:Girly Drinks: A World History of Women and Alcohol
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“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.”

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Book:Girly Drinks: A World History of Women and Alcohol
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“Work in the kitchen and in the home has been systemically devalued and outright dismissed for thousands of years. It's impossible to confine alcohol or cocktail history to the bar because so many types of people were not allowed to work or drink there until very recently in modern history. Alcohol was a deeply important part of the private home lives of people all over the world in the nineteenth century, not just the goings-on in the public taverns, hotels, saloons or pubs. Many of women's recipes and innovations are what various alcohol industries and companies are built on.”

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Book:Girly Drinks: A World History of Women and Alcohol
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“. . . just as alcohol is not the cause of capitalism's problems, it is also not the cure. Wine does not alleviate wage inequality or the lack of affordable childcare. If people mocking wine moms on Instagram were truly concerned about their health and welfare, they might instead try working toward getting women the support they desperately need.”

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Book:Girly Drinks: A World History of Women and Alcohol
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