For the last year, Brewdog—a Scottish brewpub and restaurant—has sold their Pink IPA at a 20% discount for women in an attempt to highlight the gender pay gap.
Now, in a truly stunning case of missing the point, a man has successfully sued them for gender discrimination.
Correct headline: “Court Case Reveals World’s Pettiest Man”
— Paul Anthony Jones (@paulanthjones) June 18, 2019
Unwilling to simply buy another beer or pay the extra pound charged to male clientele for the drink, Dr. Thomas Bower “felt forced to identify as female” in order to get the beer at the discounted price.
A real man wouldn't sue over this. "I felt forced to identify as female". Did ye aye? Forced were u? What's next, they bring out a rainbow beer & u see no alternative but to suck a cock. What a fuckin wankstain! 😂 #brewdog #smfh https://t.co/pvNWvNImMW
— Joycie Banachek (@JoycieBanachek) June 18, 2019
This was apparently humiliating for Bower and, unsatisfied with Brewdog’s explanation that this was national policy as part of a social awareness campaign, took them to small claims court.
Unfortunately for everyone, the judge found in his favor, awarding him more than $1,200 in damages and agreeing that fraudulently identifying as female in order to make use of a discount must have been humiliating and “an unpleasant experience for him.”
https://twitter.com/fruitdance/status/1140946068248678406
While the judge may be correct in that gender-based discounts do technically violate the Equalities Act, men and women on Twitter came together to celebrate the pettiness of a man suing over a campaign designed to combat gender equality.
In a unilateral act of sexual solidarity all men and all women think this fella is a 🔔🔚 who missed the whole point of the #brewdog discrimination exercise. (I hope he doesn't sue me for calling him a 🔔🔚) https://t.co/DohkGnkPGC
— GeordiePhil (@philrush74) June 18, 2019
wow imagine being such a fucking asshole that you sue a company who is making a statement against a very real, illegal and sexist issue of the gender pay gap all over £1. Just pay for your fucking beer with the extra money you get paid and get over it https://t.co/rgfpJE9JmD
— Mia (@_miacarter_) June 18, 2019
https://twitter.com/gasbaggrt/status/1140961366435651584
Let this be a warning to any companies wishing to raise awareness for an important social issue. Some utter cunt will ruin it.
— Ian Hill (@irhill) June 18, 2019
Tinder profile:
— Gayle Lefty Lewis🇪🇺🏴🏳️🌈 (@LewLewis1) June 18, 2019
Tom, 27, Software Engineer, 5 ft 11.5 in tall.
Educated to doctorate level, hobbies include mansplaining, manspreading, introducing himself as Doctor Bower, and starting sentences with " actually" and " I think you'll find ".
Others pointed out the irony of his win given the usual victims of gender discrimination
London clubs list includes several men only clubs: will the whinger who sued @BrewDog over its promotion highlighting the pay gap be fighting to get me into any of them? I know a rights campaigner from a self-serving opportunist, which is how I see him https://t.co/edaR0FvVP5
— Sue Kelly (@SueKelly10) June 18, 2019
Crikey. Imagine how fucked up the courts would be if every woman who had ever experienced gender discrimination (and for more than a sodding quid) decided to sue.
— Scheenagh Harrington (@Scheenagh) June 18, 2019
And the memes were out in force
— Pickle ❄️ (@genderpickle) June 18, 2019
https://twitter.com/samusisawesome/status/1140933586603913216
— Stewt 🌹 (@untemperedlink) June 18, 2019
And there were some truly scathing assessments of the man.
'Dr. Bower, single, from Cardiff'
— Trouble (@Droow) June 18, 2019
But when is it International Manbaby Day?
— BadgEUr Meinhof (@Badger5000) June 18, 2019
“When is straight pride?”
— Shaun Thee Plant Dad (@OhShaun) June 18, 2019
Man in ‘not getting the point and making it all about how unfair it is for him’ shocker
— 𝔐𝔬𝔱𝔥𝔢𝔯 𝔬𝔣 ℭ𝔞𝔱𝔰 🖤 (@mybadluckcharm) June 18, 2019
It’s not all fun and games however, as the idea of men falsely identifying as female to get what they want is a stick used to beat the trans community. Cases of people actually doing that are incredibly rare, but by creating one, he’s fed into that narrative regardless of his intentions.
Just had someone sealioning in my mentions asking how the Brewdog guy was transphobic but I'm not going to respond directly.
— The Impossible Girl (@actuallyalice) June 18, 2019
If people can't see how trivialising trans identities just to get a pound off a beer is transphobic then nothing I can say will ever reach them.
cool that he successfully sued for discrimination despite being a transphobe
— clem fandango (@scunnerfisk) June 18, 2019
IT'S A BEER. IT IS LITERALLY A DRINK THAT YOU DO NOT HAVE TO HAVE. Hope this bloke is ashamed of his sexist/transphobic pettiness.
— ❤️ Grace 🌹 (@GraceCREd) June 18, 2019
https://t.co/E8m9guihf6
Bizarrely, he’s gone on to donate half of his winnings to the Young Women’s Trust, a charity that attempts to tackle the wage gap, and the other half to male suicide prevention. Hopefully, this means he’s learned a thing or two about the issue.
READ MORE:
- Meet the home brewer turning beer into a case for net neutrality
- Budweiser UK faces backlash for advertising beer with Pride flags
- Video footage shows frat bros forcing beer down puppy’s throat
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