In our past few classes, we’ve discussed some exceptionally sad, and very telling, facts about women and alcohol. I will be sharing my views on women’s motivations for drinking (1), the relatively fewer benefits that drinking brings to women (compared to men) (2), and the alarming societal normalization of extremely risky drinking practices (3).
- In the video we watched last week, Dr. Koob, the Director of the National Institute on Alcohol Abuse and Alcoholism at the NIH, explained that women’s drinking is generally motivated by negative reinforcement (whereas men are motivated by positive reinforcement). This means that instead of choosing to drink because they want to feel good, or have fun (like men), women are more likely to drink as a way to relieve stress and anxiety. In other words, women aren’t drinking to have fun, they’re drinking to escape. How heartbreaking is that? Perhaps even more upsetting is the fact that this is not at all surprising. This isn’t surprising to anyone…is it? As someone who has to face every single day as a woman, I am well aware of the significantly higher levels of constant duress, mental illnesses, chronic illness, extreme stress, exhaustion women face– coupled with the much LOWER levels of political, social, cultural, and personal support that women also deal with. I am not surprised by women being motivated by seeking to alleviate some of the daily struggle they face. I am deeply disturbed (as I am every waking moment of my life) by the way women are treated and strongly believe that gender equity and women’s drinking levels are inversely, and causally, related. Make women’s lives less of a constant struggle, and their desire to drink might fade away.
- Another interesting, and depressing fact, also shared by Dr. Koob in Alcohol and the Female Brain is that women experience less of a positive effect of alcohol. Women have a lower dopamine response from alcohol consumption than men do–biology is cruel, I suppose. This could mean that women experience drinking differently than men. This makes sense to me (though I feel like I may be alone on this), because the commercialized idea of drinking looks really fun, but in reality it has really fallen far short. Not because of any bad drinking experiences, but it just is not that great. I’ve been confused in reading “Drink” because alcohol seems to have a profoundly positive emotional response on a lot of women, and it’s been pretty neutral for me. I wonder what the comparative dopamine responses are between people who are vulnerable to alcoholism versus people for whom alcohol never has much draw?
How the media makes drinking look
vs. how anticlimactic drinking usually is
- Finally, I’d like to discuss the societal normalization of dangerous drinking. Many friends in undergrad proudly gloated that they’d had 15, 16, or 17 shots the night before and didn’t throw up. I hear girls fondly share vague stories of nights they blacked out, laughing about how they remember nothing. I hear about a lot of women ‘saving their calories’ for the day so they can drink. This is terrifying to me. Let’s revisit why we think these are acceptable, and change the narrative. This is a problem.
