-Caveat Lector-
>From http://www.observer.co.uk/Print/0,3858,4389153,00.html
}}}>Begin
Liberated US girls hit the bottle
Young American women trying to keep up with men are binge drinking with a
vengeance - and falling prey to abuse
Ed Vulliamy in New York
Sunday April 7, 2002
The Observer
Two-thirty a.m. at Hogs and Heifers bar in Manhattan's meatpacking district, and the
scene is much as usual: the smell of blood and beef still hangs heavy in the air after
a day's business, but by night this is party town.
Tourists from the prairie states shifted gear from beers to hard liquor hours ago. The
high-heeled Jersey girls have missed the last train home under the river, are
emptying vodka glasses and pairing up with local boys; it's a fair trade - a bed for a
screw - whose complaining?
The barmaids, once they've finished their routine dancing on the bar in halter tops,
hot pants and cowboy hats, weave through the crowds selling shots in test tubes,
mixed drinks like 'buttery nipples' - Butterscotch and Bailey's. But there is a notable
difference between this scene and the equivalent a few years ago: most of the
drinking is being done by women or - often as not - teenaged girls.
The age ID checks at the door were strict enough until about 1.30 - by now no one
cares who the hell you are. It could be the binge-drinking scene from Britney Spears'
movie Crossroads, or the recent episode of Fox TV's Undeclared, in which a gang of
co-eds get smashed enough for one of them to start flashing her breasts. It could be
Sex and the City, only that's not Carrie Bradshaw over there, it's real-life Paula
Thornton from Brooklyn devouring another shot of tequila, with no idea how many
came before it.
Paula dropped out of college last year; she waitresses three nights a week and
makes beadwork for a living, which she sells along trendy Bedford Avenue. She is in
the middle of explaining how it works, but simply stops mid-sentence and glazes
over. Paula is 18; in three years time she will be allowed to drink legally in Hogs and
Heifers.
President George Bush's girls - Gemma and Barbara - have famously brushed with
the law for under-aged drinking, and Gemma is one strike away from a mandatory
prison sentence under her own father's rules in Texas. But they are mere emblems
that sound a national alarm.
Alcohol has now joined drugs, smoking, dangerous driving and violent crime as the
latest ingredient in the dark side of sexual equality in America. Today's 15-year-olds
are 15 times more likely to use drugs than their mothers. Fatal traffic accidents
involving women are up 30 per cent, as compared to 8 per cent involving men. Over
the past decade, the number of women arrested for assault has increased by a
staggering 46 per cent, while that for men has decreased by 10 per cent.
But the most alarming trend of all concerns alcohol.
The Journal of American College Health published a survey last week reporting that
between 1993 and 2001, all-women colleges saw an increase of 125 per cent in
'frequent binge drinking', and that such sessions were accompanied by a 150 per
cent in 'unplanned' sexual activity.
The figures came on the heels of another report by Columbia University's National
Centre on Addiction and Substance Abuse, showing that girls as young as 14 were
just as likely as boys to be drinking alcohol regularly. The scientific research shows
that while being drunk makes boys rowdy and boisterous, it tends to make girls
depressed and open to sexual abuse.
In the poor South Side of Chicago, a Baptist church group working with young
addicts reports that alcoholism is far outrunning drugs and violence as the ghetto's
curse, especially among young women.
Girls are coming for counselling having had their stomachs pumped in hospitals,
others with fractured bones after drunken fights, says the Rev. Dan Taylor; some
have been sexually assaulted while incapable of resistance.
However, the worst figures come not from the deprived inner cities, but from among
students, the suburbs and middle classes. Campuses across America report that the
days when 'Frat Brats' pushed the pace of drinking are over. Typically, twice as many
girls and women as boys and men are treated for chronic intoxication.
At the elite Georgetown University in Washington DC, there has been a 35 per cent
rise in the number of women sanctioned for alcohol violations over the past three
years. 'We are very worried about this,' says Patrick Kilcarr, director of the
university's Centre for Personal Development. 'Women are not just drinking more,
they are drinking ferociously'.
'Women are drinking one for one with men,' says Dessa Bergen Cico, the dean of
students at Syracuse University, 'but they are coming in much more damaged. We
are seeing a real shift going on here.'
The problems arising from female alcoholism are unwanted, unprotected sex and the
disease that comes with it. 'If you're drunk you'll have sex with someone you wouldn't
have lunch with,' reads a Colorado campaign poster. A treatment centre in Pittsburgh
recently found one in five of its clients had herpes; statistics connecting female
alcoholism and Aids have not yet been harvested.
Although girls like Paula Thornton say they drink in order to have fun with their
girlfriends it is not long before the aim of keeping up with the boys kicks in. 'They
associate drinking with power,' says Devon Jersild, who published a book about
women and alcohol. 'They think that if they drink like a guy, they will be like a guy.'
Time recently eavesdropped on a discussion group run by five San Diego high
schools. The magazine quotes girls talking about party drinking games like the 'Keg
Stand' whereby competitors are held by their ankles over a beer keg and made to
gulp as much ale as possible; 21-year-old Sarah boasts that 'there are girls who can
go longer than guys!' The guys' verdict: 'Hey, if a girl gets drunk, it's "you're
awesome".'
Guardian Unlimited © Guardian Newspapers Limited 2002
End<{{{
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Forwarded as information only; no automatic endorsement
+ + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + +
In accordance with Title 17 U.S.C. section 107, this material
is distributed without charge or profit to those who have
expressed a prior interest in receiving this type of information
for non-profit research and educational purposes only.
+ + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + +
"Do not believe in anything simply because you have heard it. Do not believe
simply because it has been handed down for many generations. Do not
believe in anything simply because it is spoken and rumored by many. Do
not believe in anything simply because it is written in Holy Scriptures. Do not
believe in anything merely on the authority of Teachers, elders or wise men.
Believe only after careful observation and analysis, when you find that it
agrees with reason and is conducive to the good and benefit of one and all.
Then accept it and live up to it."
The Buddha on Belief, from the Kalama Sutta
+ + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + +
"Always do sober what you said you'd do drunk. That will
teach you to keep your mouth shut."
--- Ernest Hemingway
<A HREF="http://www.ctrl.org/";>www.ctrl.org</A>
DECLARATION & DISCLAIMER
==========
CTRL is a discussion & informational exchange list. Proselytizing propagandic
screeds are unwelcomed. Substance—not soap-boxing—please! These are
sordid matters and 'conspiracy theory'—with its many half-truths, mis-
directions and outright frauds—is used politically by different groups with
major and minor effects spread throughout the spectrum of time and thought.
That being said, CTRLgives no endorsement to the validity of posts, and
always suggests to readers; be wary of what you read. CTRL gives no
credence to Holocaust denial and nazi's need not apply.
Let us please be civil and as always, Caveat Lector.
========================================================================
Archives Available at:
http://peach.ease.lsoft.com/archives/ctrl.html
<A HREF="http://peach.ease.lsoft.com/archives/ctrl.html";>Archives of
[EMAIL PROTECTED]</A>
http:[EMAIL PROTECTED]/
<A HREF="http:[EMAIL PROTECTED]/";>ctrl</A>
========================================================================
To subscribe to Conspiracy Theory Research List[CTRL] send email:
SUBSCRIBE CTRL [to:] [EMAIL PROTECTED]
To UNsubscribe to Conspiracy Theory Research List[CTRL] send email:
SIGNOFF CTRL [to:] [EMAIL PROTECTED]
Om
