Snappy newsletters. Simple Facebook sharing. Spirited comments. Sweet features are waiting… GET THEM NOW!

Hot on Facebook

Uproar After NC State Agent 'Fixes' Girl's Lunch Preschooler has to eat chicken nuggets instead of mom's meal »

Women Drink Men Under Table

Alcohol consumption by the once-mostly teetotaling crowd is closing gender gap

By Rebecca Smith Hurd, Newser User

Posted Dec 8, 2008 12:04 PM CST

(Newser) – More women are bellying up to the bar, and those who consume alcohol are consuming more than ever before, Alex Morris writes in New York. As men cut back, women are picking up the slack. The numbers of women drinking and those whose call themselves “moderate-to-heavy drinkers” have risen over the past decade, coinciding with Second Wave feminism.

"The closing of the gender gap isn’t about men—needing to compete with men or wanting to feel like men,” notes Morris. “It’s about women going after the things they want and feeling that alcohol, variously, can help them.” Unfortunately, alcohol’s reaction in the human body is separate, not equal. Before knocking back any more, women might consider that they're more apt to get addicted and that any boozing greatly increases their risk of breast cancer.

[Images (2)]

[Quotes (2)]

A woman tastes the 2008 edition of a Beaujolais Nouveau wine in a wine shop in Paris, Thursday, Nov. 20, 2008. Vintners hope the festive atmosphere surrounding Beaujolais Nouveau's release will bring... (AP Photo/Francois Mori)

Two women share a joke over beers in London. As a global recession looms, not everyone is prepared to give up life's little treats. Alcohol, cigarette and candy makers are all reporting healthy sales. (AP Photo/Joel Ryan)

« Prev« Prev | Next »Next » Slideshow

The trend is so pronounced that in Britain, health officials launched an ad campaign picturing a grizzled man in drag with the caption: 'If you drink like a man, you might end up looking like one.' "
- Alex Morris, New York magazine

As women ‘immigrated’ into the culture that was once unique to men, they picked up a lot of the same mores and attitudes and behaviors and ideas about what is socially acceptable that men had previously held.
- Epidemiologist Dr. Richard Grucza

« Prev« Prev | Next »Next » Slideshow

To report an error on this story, notify our editors.

More Newser Stories

1 in 6 Americans Is a Binge Drinker

Nation's heaviest boozers are in Wisconsin, study finds

(NEWSER) - Federal health officials have released their most detailed study yet of America's binge drinkers—and if you're a college-educated, high-earning young white man from Wisconsin, you may already be drunk by the time you read this. Researchers found that 38 million Americans, roughly a sixth of the adult population, are binge drinkers who over-indulge an average of 4.4 times a month, Bloomberg reports. A binge was defined as five or more drinks in the space of two hours for men, and four or more drinks for women. More»

Do Your Brain a Favor: Meditate

Other coping mechanisms do more harm than good: research

(NEWSER) - Humankind has developed plenty of coping mechanisms over the centuries, from long walks to hard drugs. While many of these methods have endured, not all of them are in our brains’ best interests, writes Alice Walton at Forbes . Smoking and drinking, for example, can lead to a vicious cycle of craving. Meditation, on the other hand, has long helped us get away from ourselves—and now there’s hard data showing it works. More»

Arizona Prof's Research: Getting Students Drunk

They're paid $60 for night at the 'bar'

(NEWSER) - An Arizona State professor wants his students to get smashed—and he’s willing to pay them to do it. That’s because William Corbin is researching the effects of alcohol on behavior, and ASU students are his subjects. Several nights a week, he converts his lab into a bar, complete with top 40 music and jeans-clad research assistants as bartenders, the Arizona Republic reports. Only one kind of drink is served, vodka mixed with 7UP and juice, whose strength is adjusted according to the subject’s weight and sex. More»

Daniel Radcliffe: Why I Had to Quit Drinking

Actor says he started partying way too much at age 18

(NEWSER) - He's only 21, but Daniel Radcliffe is off the booze for good. In an interview with British GQ as reported by the Telegraph , the actor explains that he started partying too much at age 18, during the filming of Harry Potter and The Half-Blood Prince. His drink of choice? Whisky. Lady luck? On his side. "I really got away with that because there were many instances when a shot like that could have been taken," he says of the paparazzi somehow missing his alcohol-filled days. More»

To Cut Cancer Risk, Stop Drinking So Much

Sticking to advised limits would prevent thousands of cases

(NEWSER) - Drinking leads to at least 13,000 cases of cancer in Britain each year, a study finds—and thousands could be avoided if people would stick to alcohol guidelines. That UK-centric finding comes from a study that examined the tie between diet and cancer in eight European countries. Researchers discovered that among men, more than half of the cases of cancer of the upper digestive tract, colorectum, and liver attributed to alcohol in 2008 resulted from having more than two drinks daily; in women, more than 80% resulted from having more than one drink per day, the Guardian reports. More»

NEWS FROM OUR PARTNERS

What is Newser?

Face it: there's too much news. At Newser, we choose the most thought-provoking and entertaining stories from hundreds of US and international sources and reduce them to a headline, picture, and two paragraphs. And we do it 24/7—you can come back morning, noon, night (and in between) for something new that matters. Read less, know more.

Learn more »

Partnering with: Slate

View Newser on the mobile website

Women Drink Men Under Table