Is alcohol a feminist issue?

[mirialis]

I don't frequent the board much so I did do a quick search but couldn’t see a discussion on this - apologies if this has already been done to death.

It’s Dry January time and during the last week or so I’ve listened to a few audiobooks/podcasts about women and alcohol. One that is not available in the UK on audio seems to be:

In Drink: The Intimate Relationship Between Women and Alcohol, award-winning journalist Anne Dowsett Johnston combines in-depth research with her own personal story of recovery, and delivers a groundbreaking examination of a shocking yet little recognized epidemic threatening society today: the precipitous rise in risky drinking among women and girls

With the feminist revolution, women have closed the gender gap in their professional and educational lives. They have also achieved equality with men in more troubling areas as well. In the U.S. alone, the rates of alcohol abuse among women have skyrocketed in the past decade. DUIs, “drunkorexia”, and health problems connected to drinking are all rising—a problem exacerbated by the alcohol industry itself

Battling for women’s dollars and leisure time, corporations have developed marketing strategies and products targeted exclusively to women.

I’ve heard her talk before about how women's metabolic and hormonal difference makes us more prone to addiction after prolonged drinking, to alcohol-related heart disease and cancers (particularly, of course breast cancer), to drink alcohol as a result of anxiety and depression (which is ultimately counterproductive) and so on. Her problem began with her being out at work all day and then coming home and being the one to prepare the family's dinner and oversee the homework and that having one or two glasses of wine helped her make that transition, equally true of SAHM who view it as a relaxation tool after a relentless day of childcare and housework that does not stop at 5pm but continues well into the evening. And of course childfree women in careers where part of networking and keeping up with the boys involves drinking as much - if not more - than the men, but ultimately this can lead to women sabotaging their full potential.

The (male-dominated) drinks industry made a concerted effort to specifically target women and it has worked out extremely well for them (and the government’s tax intake which far outstrips the NHS cost) but seems to be having a devastating effect on women. On top of it all, women - particularly mothers and pregnant women - tend to experience a lot of shame around drinking and so hide it more, preventing them from asking for help when they need it.

Gloria Steinem apparently dismissed Dowsett Johnston’s claims saying, "drinking is not a women’s issue" but the more I read and listen, the more I think it IS a women’s issue and whilst I reject the idea that women shouldn’t drink so much because it’s not ladylike, makes us somehow more irresponsible then men, or we ask for sexual assault and so on, we have reached a point where women need to help and support each other to stop being sucked into the idea that alcohol is "the modern women’s steroid, enabling her to wear so many hats" because it’s both harming us and holding us back.

I think feminism must just turn out to be the thing that actually inspires me to become mindful of drinking.

I'm sorry that I can't stay and discuss.
I'm so brainwashed by advertising that I have no choice but to go and drink. I'm Female you see and I'm not able to make a choice

And yes seeing those emojis has me reaching for the Gin and red wine
immediately
Even though it's 9.47am

Ah ok stardust.

I'm having a wine, not epidemically tho. . Cheers

The (male-dominated) drinks industry made a concerted effort to specifically target women

Evidence for this? Alcohol advertising is strictly regulated in the UK. I go to the cinema regularly.. I can't think of any advert which was targeted at women or was promoting a "women's drink". The adverts for Foster's lager in fact seem to be directed at men.

i agree with Gloria Steinem. The parts of the article quoted had a nasty undertone to the hand wringing. A sort of "oh isn't women drinking terrible?' "

Some people have a problem with alcohol.

I think there’s something to it, definitely - not sure why the defensive reaction, Stardust

I gave up alcohol for DJ last year and am still sober (yay). I used it to cope with anxiety and the effects of being autistic and struggling socially, and also, as you mention, making the transition between day and evening. The narrative around female drinking is one of desperation/relief rather than fun and enjoyment. You don’t reach for the celebratory gin, do you.

This Naked Mind by Annie Grace is a good take on the issue and does have a feminist slant.

I think that your post is really interesting, mirialis.

I wasn't aware that women are more prone to addiction after prolonged drinking and that women are more prone to alcohol-related heart disease and cancers.

and support each other to stop being sucked into the idea that alcohol is "the modern women’s steroid, enabling her to wear so many hats" because it’s both harming us and holding us back

is "modern women's steroid" a quote from the article or your own words?. Does not much matter as it's codswallop either way.

Sooo women who wear makeup and enjoy high heels are surely brainwashed by advertising, but women who enjoy gin and prosecco which is plastered across literally everything imaginable in sparkly letters and gendered advertising are not?

I can see the point of this, OP. I really can. For what it's worth, I enjoy my gin. But yep, the advertising of gin, and how it's all sparkly and 'glam', definitely influenced my drinking choices.

Perhaps it is a feminist issue after all... I'll have to have a think about it.

Interesting post. Wine and gin are really being pushed at women now, and condescending tat with alcohol-related slogans is everywhere, much of it implying the woman can't get through the day without it. At the same time, the alcohol content of wine has risen. This has alł happened as women's disposable income, therefore independence, has increased.

In social situations there can be a lot of pressure from men for women to drink, as their (often) higher tolerance gives them control.

I do worry about the way things are going and have more or less stopped drinking, as a way of not conforming. Probably gone too far the other way , OLD profiles that cite curling up on the sofa with a bottle of wine just sound threatening to me.

Of course some people have a problem with alcohol. But the fastest growing group of people with a problem are females - particularly in Britain.

The "codswallop" phrase is the journalist's, Marguerita Pink.

Coffee - I'm glad it's not just me who gets suckered by advertising and the like. During the SITC days, we were all on super strong cosmos and the like, whereas these days we drink 14% wine and prosecco by the bottle or gins by the double. I'm consuming more than my DH when we drink simply through our different choice of alcohol (he drinks beer) irrespective of how many drinks we choose to have.

Wits - yes, one of the things I was listening to was talking about how many greetings cards directed at women are all about alcohol and how it gets you through (particularly wine and gin).

I found this blog post which talks a bit about it:

www.hipsobriety.com/home/2017/8/11/yes-ros-culture-is-a-womens-issue

I don't think it's as much about women being incapable of making choices, as that the alcohol-related message is increasingly being targeted at women in terms of not being able to make it through the day without it, as noted by PP. The focus of this has moved from wine to prosecco and now to gin.

I've read the book and really liked it. The focus was much more on her journey of realisation about the impact drinking was having on her life overall, than on how terrible it is that women drink.

I enjoy a drink, but have cut back for MH-related reasons over the last year and have found I can manage social situations better than expected.

The Catherine Gray book (The Unexpected Joy of Being Sober) is also excellent about the impacts of alcohol on biological and mental health.

I actually hadn't seen that blog post before I posted my question here (it's Amercian but I think applies to the UK too).

Interesting topic. Thankyou OP.
I think you are right.
Alcohol is being marketed to women in a subtle and sophisticated way. It is being sold to us that we “deserve” alcohol , that it helps us unwind. That it is a “treat” becuase we juggle so much - work, children, partners... Actually the reality is that it increases our risks heart disease and cancers.itincreases our anxiety and depression.

I think it is a feminist concern, in the sense that DV is so heavily tied to alcohol use and clearly puts women at risk of harm in that sense.

I also know that I like the fact that I can go to a pub and sit down at the bar to have a beer on my own, with a mixed crowd. I like that I have that freedom.

A high level politician here told the media that one of her biggest learning curves was that all of the most useful conversations and negotiations were had at the member's bar after sitting days. I think that is definitely true. If women can't be part of those networks then they will continue to be held back from power, regardless of what anyone might think about drinking itself.

The Unexpected Joy of Sobriety was the one I listened to that got me into thinking about this. The second one I listed to was The Sober Diaries by Claire Pooley who had a blog "Mummy was a secret drinker" I think.

Yes Camilla, I think that is part of what is being recognised - women are drinking differently from men and women handle alcohol differently from men but still there are places of work where women need to be in the bar if they are going to successfully network and be in on the conversations that matter.

Wine and gin used to be for upper classes, the middle classes adopted them in the boom years after WW".
If you look at Victorian England, poor women used to drink a lot. Housewives in the 60's used to be given enormous does of valium to keep them tranquil.
In modern times, women in Afghanistan, they have serious problems with drug addiction.

The problem is not the drug women use to self medicate; its the fact that their lives under capitalist and patriarchal rule are unnatural and unsatisfying. Its the symptom not the dis-ease.

mirialis, it's hard not to get sucked in by this when you're bombarded with heavily gendered advertising that sells alcohol as something a little cheeky, a little naughty, but ultimately glamorous and indispensable. Everywhere I go, I see these messages printed on all sorts of items in pretty fonts, glittery writing, add to that the shades of pink and there you have it. It's pretty. It's eye-catching. It's appealing to vain magpies such as myself who love to be glamorous and love all things sparkly and pretty.

The memes and greeting cards were funny at first, but now they really raise my blood pressure. Mum bloggers (there's that one in particular that always go on about gin) also add to the idea that mums NEEEEED booze just to get through the day. It's done in a humorous way so it's seen as harmless.

schoozer - it's interesting as these days it is the middle classes who are drinking more than the poor in Britain.

Anything can be a feminist issue.

Alcohol can certainly be looked at through a feminist lens.

I'm sure this was discussed during the women's liberation conferences of the 1970s.

From memory, there were requests to have alcohol-free social spaces.

At the same time, women were 'invading' bars and insisting on being served beer.

I don't think there has ever been a monolithic perspective of alcohol=bad but it's certainly been discussed from different angles.

There's the way a man you date might encourage you to drink more than you otherwise would, in the hope you will lose inhibitions and be more interested in sex (or just so vulnerable you can't say no). The assumption within that - that women don't have a sexuality/aren't up for sex without alcohol - that's interesting. It forms the basis of quite a bit of advertising.

Does anyone remember 'ladette' culture - women drinking pints in the 90s was code for being 'one of the lads'.

Rich women didn't drink gin it was notorious in the east end for all the women to be drinking gin. Half of London drinking shops (including coffee and pubs) in the 17th and 18th century were gin bars! It was called "mothers ruin" and many women took it to try to abort pregnancies. Gin was actually the lowest price of all the spirits as the British government put taxes on foreign spirits such as brandy and de regulated gin.

It has now had a massive re marketing campaign and is a very middle class drink. My Nan is aghast that I drink gin as in her day only poor women drink gin!

I work in the addiction field and yes it absolutely is a women's issue. Moreover addiction services often fail to meet the needs of women, being male dominated spaces (some by design!). Help seeking women compounded by issues that affect them more than men, like family relationships and children, making getting help when they want to more difficult.
There are also the 'pink drinks' for anyone who hasn't seen any direct advertising of alcohol to women, take a look at the #dontpinkmydrink research. They have been researching patterns of passive advertising to women via social media trends like wine o clock & flooding the market with pink gins etc to target the female mark. You only have to walk into your local card shop to see prosecco & gin based gifting aimed at women. That's not to say this kind of passive marketing doesn't happen to men (see father's day and anything else on the alcohol calendar).

Working class people have less disposable income and are eating from soup kitchens food banks so it doesn't surprise me if they are drinking less as a group.

Women drank pints in pubs because they were told not to, they were expected to have a ladies drink, to be in the pub in the company of men. That was presented as 'being one of the lads'.
Any time women encroached into men's spaces or behaviours they have been accused of trying to be men.

Alcohol advertising has had so little effect on me that I had assumed that like tobacco it was banned on television. Is alcohol advertised on television? I can't think of any adverts.

Where are you seeing this bombardment of advertising?