Lifestyle

Patti Clark on Rising Alcohol Use and Health Risks for Women

NY Weekly Staff

• October 13, 2024

By: Patti Clark

“Women are drinking more than ever… And it’s killing us!” – Patti Clark 

“You’ve come a long way, Baby,

To get where you’ve got to today.

You’ve got your own cigarette now, Baby.

You’ve come a long, long way!”

– Philip Morris Tobacco Company; Virginia Slims Advertisement, 1968

I was ten years old when the commercial for Virginia Slims cigarettes came out on TV. I thought the ad and the women in it were so cool. I wanted to be that liberated, free woman in the ads with her own cigarette. My own mother smoked boring Lucky Strike cigarettes, and she looked nothing like those modern women in the commercial.

Little did I know, at ten years old, that cigarettes were toxic and deadly. However, it was four years earlier, in 1964, that the Surgeon General released a report that cigarette smoking causes chronic bronchitis and cancers of the lung and larynx. But the ads were so alluring and enticing, and who really reads a surgeon general’s report anyway?

I’m often reminded of that ad and my youthful innocence when I look at how alcohol advertising is targeting women now. 

Just spend a bit of time on Facebook or Instagram, and you’ll see groups like:

Mommy Needs Vodka (#VodSquad) with 5 million plus followers; Mommy Needs Some Wine; Mommy’s Gin Fund; Why Mommy Drinks Wine, Or all the merch and memes about women and booze: Moma needs some wine on a t-shirt or hoodie.

And there are the groups: Women wine and hiking, women wine and wealth, and, of course, women, wine and books, with too many links to count. There are so many jokes online that book groups are just an excuse to get together and drink. 

With memes like: 

• Our book club reads wine labels

• Come to my house for book club, and by book club, I mean wine

• Mommy started a book club to drink wine

• Not so loud kids, Mommy had book club last night

• Oh, you read important books at your book club; how sweet! We just drink wine

• My book club can drink your book club under the table

This might all be a bit of a laugh, just a bit of fun … if it wasn’t so deadly.

According to recent data, the number of women dying from alcohol-related causes in the United States has increased by more than 85% from 1999 to 2020.

There are many reasons for this rise, but a significant factor is the targeted advertising and the normalizing of heavy social and binge drinking for women.

Alcohol companies are designing ads that target women. They are making ads that associate drinking with empowerment, echoing those Virginia Slim Ads. This alcohol marketing emphasizes social bonding and has messages that resonate with women about self-care and stress relief. This new ad focus can be referred to as the feminization of alcohol marketing: 

One sector in particular has turned its eyes on female buyers: the alcohol industry. “Chick beer” comes in pink packaging with fewer calories. Pastel cocktails dazzle on Instagram to woo women drinkers. Booze, named “Mummy’s Time Out,” targets mums starved for happy hour. And even clothing stores are cashing in, offering T-shirts with slogans like “wine time” drawn in whimsical calligraphy.

So, how does alcohol impact women’s health, and why is it different for women than men? First, there is the difference between body composition and metabolism. Women usually have more body fat and less water content than men, and because alcohol is water soluble and not fat soluble, alcohol is more concentrated in a woman’s body, which leads to a higher blood alcohol concentration. Women also tend to have a slower metabolism, so they metabolize alcohol more slowly, so alcohol stays in a woman’s system longer, increasing its effects and its harm. Hormonal factors can also play a role in how women process alcohol. Higher estrogen levels can intensify alcohol’s impact.

The way that women’s bodies process alcohol leads to increased health risks. Women are more susceptible to alcohol-related liver damage than men. Women are at a greater risk of developing alcohol-induced cardiovascular diseases than men. Alcohol consumption also increases the risk of several types of cancer in women (including cancer of the mouth, throat, esophagus, liver and colon.) And drinking alcohol is associated with breast cancer in women, even at low levels of consumption.

And yet, with all of this information available, women continue to drink to excess, and the number of women dying from alcohol-related causes continues to rise … But who really wants to read all these medical journals about alcohol-related disease and cancer anyway?

Not when the ads and the memes are so fun, alluring and enticing! 

Hmmmm, have we really come such a long, long way after all?

NY Weekly Staff

Author Patti Clark has been described as a cross between Elizabeth Gilbert and Julia Cameron. As the author of This Way Up: Seven Tools for Unleashing Your Creative Self and Transforming Your Life, Patti has been featured on various TV shows and podcasts, including TVNZ’s Breakfast Show, and her work has been featured in numerous prominent publications. Her own experience as a middle-aged woman in recovery is deeply reflected in her new book, Recovery Road Trip. Patti was born and raised in Northern California, lived in New Zealand for many years, and is now living in Portugal.

Published by: Martin De Juan