10. Looking for Who Asked

Dunning-Kruger? I hardly know her.

But first, an acknowledgment and apology

Last month, I used the phrase “peanut gallery” in the newsletter. I am very grateful to one of my friends who emailed me this article on the racist origins of the term. I was not aware of its racist origins, but now that I am, I will no longer use it. I’m sorry for using the term.

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“May I have the smoked beer, please?” I ask the volunteer pouring beer at the Good Word tent at their Little Beer festival. 

Now, if you’re reading this, there is a pretty high likelihood that you know I am a smoked beer fanatic. A pyrograiniac, if you will, spreading the gospel of the versatility of smoked beers. They don’t all taste like bacon or campfire or (I really really hate this in beer) peat.

As I hand my sample glass to the guy pouring, I see it coming. Don’t fucking say it, I think internally. Don’t fucking say it. As he hands my glass back to me, he says it. He can’t help himself.

“Now this beer is smoky. I just want to make sure you know that.”

This smoked beer I specifically asked for is smoky?!? Get out of town. Thank you for trying to protect my lady palate, kind sir. /s/

“Yes, I know, thank you. I love smoked beer, that’s why I asked for it.” I say, smiling an irritated smile. I love smoked beer so much, in fact, that I was going to be presenting on smoked beer for Homebrew Con in a mere matter of days. Not that I expect every person I encounter in the beer scene to kNOw WHo i aM but frustrating nonetheless. Also of note, no one cautioned my husband about the beers he requested. Because why would they? That would be silly, of course he knows what to expect from the beer he just asked for.

I have legions of these stories. Every person who is not a white man in beer has these stories. It’s a daily occurrence. Miss me with the #notallmen because #everywomanyouknow. Seriously, turn to the nearest non-white dude and ask how someone has underestimated them today. Their response will either be to answer your question or to say something like “Surprisingly, no one has yet.”

Before we go any further, I also need to call back to my January newsletter in which I shared a few lessons I had learned the previous year. Namely, identities are not credentials. Women can uphold sexism and being a woman does not confer feminist credentials. In our Eurocolonial, white supremacist society, all of us can uphold systemic ideals, regardless of identity. 

ALLOCATED CREDIBILITY VS. INVITATION TO SILENCE

Men are afforded an assumption of skill that women are not. White people are afforded an assumption of credibility that non-white people are not. As Rebecca Solnit puts it: If you spend your life being assumed to be less competent, less qualified to speak, and less worthy of being listened to, more likely to be mocked, ignored, or insulted, it inhibits your willingness to speak up and participate.¹ If you’re unfamiliar with Rebecca Solnit, I highly recommend reading her 2008 essay “Men Explain Things to Me.” 

Creator credit: Sam Temple, https://www.samtemple.shop/

If you’ve seen me present on a topic, you may remember that not only do I include a list of the resources I used in preparing but I also spend a few moments explaining that my purpose for including my sources is twofold. First, I acquired this knowledge from somewhere and was not inherently born with it. Too much literature about beer states opinions as facts, repeats debunked information, contains no references, and involves circular citations, i.e. one author quoting another author who quotes the same material from the first author.

Second, I want to be held accountable for my research. Expertise does not mean perfection. One of my biggest fears is putting forth incorrect or mistaken information and no one feels safe to broach the subject with me. On the other hand, I also get mansplained to a lot about beer, brewing, my actual job that I do, the beer I order, etc. 

So where does the difference lie between accountability and mansplaining? Mansplaining entered our lexicon around 2010 (in response to “Men Explain Things to Me”) and occurs when someone (usually a man) provides an explanation (usually condescending) of something to someone who already understands it.

I’ve been rolling this around in my head for some time because it can be a difficult distinction. Like the “I know it when I see it” pornography argument, it seems impossibly subjective. It IS subjective to an extent, but not impossibly so. So when is it mansplaining and when is it explaining whilst being a man?

This chart truly summarizes it well:

Creator credit: Kim Goodwin

As an educator in beer, I get super excited when people are super excited about what they’re learning and I want to share in that excitement. Just learned about a new-to-you brewing concept? Awesome, tell me all about it.

Just learned more about foam because you read an article about it and think I should read it, too, despite the fact that I’m the one who wrote the article?²

Well, let’s unpack that a bit. Namely, when I say I’m the person who wrote the article, we can absolutely still continue the conversation about what you learned. What we can’t do is have you explain foam to me as if I know nothing about the subject, after you’ve learned that I do, indeed, know about the subject.

I’VE NEVER METACOGNITION I DIDN’T LIKE

Before we leave this topic, let’s touch on the Dunning-Kruger effect and its counterpart, metacognition. The Dunning-Kruger effect is a cognitive bias in which people wrongly overestimate their knowledge or ability in a specific area. In an individual exceptionalism culture such as ours, confidence is highly prized and far preferable to appearing uneducated or inadequate.

The beer industry scenario that immediately comes to mind for me is Homebrew Guy™ who just started brewing and all his buddies (always “buddies”) in his subdivision say his homebrew is good and he should open a brewery. He thinks owning a brewery will be “fun” and has access to capital to make this second career a reality. At Homebrew Con last year, I watched a large-ish group of homebrewers walk out of a beginners homebrewing basics session directly into an opening your own brewery session. Most homebrewers have this dream at first and then quickly disabuse themselves of it.³

As humans, we’re not great at accurately judging our own competence and the least skilled of us are often the most likely to underestimate ourselves. On the flip side, the more skilled you are, the more expertise you have, the more you realize what you don’t know and the less confidence you have. As someone who is studying for her Master Cicerone retake exam, I can tell you that I feel like I know nothing about beer when, in fact, I know a large amount about beer. I feel this way because I am more aware of my knowledge gaps and weaknesses (namely, that memorizing over 500 commercial examples is dumb). This feeling is known as metacognition, which involves knowing your strengths and weaknesses as a learner.

The last point I’ll make about the Dunning-Kruger effect is that some say its opposite is imposter syndrome.

Please everyone (especially women) stop giving credence to the concept of imposter syndrome. It is a misnomer. When do you get that feeling that is ascribed to imposter syndrome? You get it when you are trying to succeed within a system that was not only not designed with you in mind but also was not designed for you to succeed. Stop thinking of yourself as an imposter and start thinking of yourself as the accomplished person you are.

And Finally…

I am rapidly approaching the stage of my studying where my available brain space is dwindling almost as quickly as my time, so there is no sensory insight this month, sorry. Also, my schedule has been almost entirely cleared of any non-work obligations for the next two months, so if you are wondering what I’m up to these days, I’m just fucking studying. Or thinking that I need to be studying. Or watching hours of RuPaul’s Drag Race because my fight, flight, or freeze has kicked in and I’m incapable of motivating myself to study.

1. https://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2023/feb/09/mansplaining-word-problem-rebecca-solnit

2. Yes, this has happened.

3. Also, we can take a break from trying to monetize every hobby we have.