Gossip Girls: Tea Parties and the Sexist Slang They Inspired

Almost from the time tea was popularized in England in the 1600s by Charles II's Portuguese wife, Catherine of Braganza, tea drinking has been synonymous with female tittle-tattle. One reason for this was that "giving a tea" started out as an exclusively female ritual. But, mainly, it was good old sexism at work. Although men drank as much tea and gossiped as avidly as women, it was the latter who got stuck with the bad rap.
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