I am hesitant to post publicly on such a topic but wanted to relay my experience. I only got started in the wine collecting community with events and wine dinners about a year ago. I was stunned by the lack of diversity. One of the primary drivers for us to start the RieslingKenner charity was to hope to improve access and inclusion in the wine world. A question I get often from women in the business and wine community is –“will there be other women at the event/dinner/tasting ? ”. I found it super insightful and instructive to help improve and effectively organize an event that’s inclusive for women and BIPOC. There is so much knowledge and experience and generosity in this community. I make mistakes often and hope to become more aware and helpful whenever possible. We can all be better in how we engage and help others if we recognize where we may fall short and work to make it a little better. Thank you.
we are among the initiates of an arcane order,
intimately acquainted with the workings and inner machinations of the Deepe Stayte
what doth rule & watch over the precious world of wine-related media
I’ve been unable to locate the PDF now that the link to the second blog post was taken down, and understandably the people involved probably don’t want to post rude things about themselves and their colleagues.
The above links work to get you access to the posts about the issue – including the archived link. I think it is probably pretty easy to then find the rest.
Yup, Sean… just read that article by Julia Moskin. Some famous names accused: BobBath/FredDame/GeoffKnuth.
Things do not look good on the Court of MasterSommeliers. Really sad situation.
Tom
Some seriously disturbing accusations. Very unfortunate that these women had to go through that.
As I read all of these stories I also started to wonder: how the hell does someone think doing these things is appropriate? Some of the actions described in the article are so absurd, you’d think they’re coming out of the 1950s not the 2010s.
When you have an insular organization made up almost entirely of Men of a Certain Age(™) with zero accountability or incentive to change, this is what you get.
The organizational structure and rank-and-file membership IS something out of the 1950s.
Totally unfamiliar with the issue you raise and hopefully not part of the problem. I haven’t personally witnessed behavior I’d call sexist on the board. But, I haven’t had that lens on.
How about speaking in terms the common man can understand, what is a certain age? Are you of a more enlightened generation, just say what you are implying so we can all be learned like you obviously are. Thanks
I’m talking about the widespread attitudes towards women held by men aged, give or take, 50-80 or so that currently hold most of the institutional power and wealth both in the wine world and the world at large. I’m also talking about the “good” men their age that get defensive or, worse, see and hear these things happen and ignore it. The average MS is over the age of 40 and ~90% are male. Like I said; institutions that lack diversity and women in leadership positions are far more likely to have these endemic issues. See: the entire MeToo phenomenon.
Sean Sydney in post #38 assigns guilt to a group with certain inherent (i.e., born with) characteristics for the bad behavior of individuals. There used to be a term for that. Then by inclusion of defensiveness he attempts to ensure that any dissent renders one also guilty. Obviously flawed in intent and thought. And repugnant.
Post #35 is deplorable and the moderator should delete for the racism it represents.
Don’t waste your time responding. Signing off WB permanently. I came here for the interest in wine. Not this BS. Peace.
Christ, imagine if the women who actually have to deal with this stuff were this thin-skinned.
EDIT: I want to make it clear that the choice to target colleagues and specifically women with sexist language is just that: a choice. Choices made by this man and other men in power who could and should do better but instead use their positions and power to denigrate and, as the NYT article reveals, do much worse.