As I poke around teh interwebs, looking for my handy packets of information, I'm continually amazed at the sheer volume of information out there on any given topic. What gobsmacks me almost every day is how, with this enormous wealth of info, there's still such a clear narrative going on. Whatever the topic is, a solid 90% of the stories will tell it the same way, using the same images.
Take, if you will, the dangers of drinking. No matter how progressive we think ourselves, the media will continually remind us that boys will be boys and girls will be drunken sluts. In looking (not too hard, mind you) for examples, I ran across lots of articles that were written without a particularly gendered slant, but almost all of them used a single image of women and girls for their fear factor. Even the articles that were about teens/young adults making responsible decisions (i.e. not drinking, because alcohol is teh evil) pictured girls making these decisions.
It's not impossible to find pictures of men/boys making asses of themselves while drinking. But the majority of what I found were in funny stories on blogs or articles about "what to expect if you get drunk with your funny friends." When it comes to the stories about the dangers of drinking and all that it can lead to, we are almost inevitably given the image of the fallen woman. She's awfully pretty when the party gets started, but a few drinks later and she's acting like a fool or falling down in an alley, to cry her woes away, knowing that she's no longer a "good girl."
From a discussion on the Amethyst Initiative brought
by a coalition of college/university presidents.
Another on the Amethyst Initiative. Look at the crazy drunk girl!!
On binge drinking in the UK.
Australia's worried about mixed drinks vs bottled. I'm worried about
the sexy bartender trying to lure me into the depths of drinking hell.
Much like rape, it's up to the girls to control
themselves while the boys have all the fun.
Found this pic in a couple of places, but this quote from one of the stories is astounding. Damn those sluts for just wanting to have fun:
"They're not focused on protecting themselves, they're focused on having fun, hooking up, enjoying themselves."
Back to the UK. A study there focuses on rise in female violence along with the rise in binge drinking, rather than violence as a whole. Statistics at the end show that overall violence has increased as well—not by as much, but enough to warrant a more comprehensive approach.
Don't worry girls—even the older generation doesn't get out of it. If you're a baby boomer, you're much more likely to binge drink than other adults. But if you're lucky enough to be a man, probably no one will notice.
[Crossposted.]
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