In a true and selfless demonstration of anti-sexism, Ashville resident Liam Dessen just drank a glass of white wine without making a self-deprecating joke about it.
“It was incredible,” says one witness, Jennifer Ruiz. “A few of us were having dinner in our friend Willa’s yard, and I brought over a bottle of pinot grigio. When I asked who would like some, Liam said that he would, and then he sort of just drank it as one would any beverage.”
“He didn’t make a comment about getting white girl wasted, he didn’t do an offensive impression of a woman, he didn’t even joke in a pseudo-self-aware way about, like, ‘What if I were the type of guy to be emasculated by this?’” Jennifer says. “It was really brave.”
And Jennifer wasn’t the only one to take notice of Liam’s feminist praxis.
“I thought for sure that Liam would go for one of the lagers we had on ice out of obligation, or at least feel compelled to address the fact that he was drinking white wine in a really annoying and unnecessary way,” says the host, Willa. “Maybe because he was the only man at our dinner there was just no one he felt he had to perform masculinity for.”
We stan a man who doesn’t become insecure from a place of sexism and then funnel that insecurity into subtly sexist self-effacing humor!
“This is what doing the work looks like,” says Jennifer. “I’m not saying, ‘Not All Men’, but definitely Not Liam.”
But ever the true ally, Liam isn’t centering himself in his act of gender liberation.
“Oh yeah, the wine I just had with dinner?” Liam says. “It was good. It went really well with the fish and corn. Nice summery meal.”
Wow. This guy is like a shero but the man version of that, if there were such a thing.
“I never thought of it as brave or feminist,” says Liam. “It’s just wine. But you know, I did grow up with sisters, so it makes sense that I would—“
Okay, we’re cutting him off there because clearly it went to his head and we’re not trying to create a monster.
Thank you, Liam!
