In defense of the sanctimonious women's studies set || First feminist blog on the internet

I learned how to binge-drink while Amy Winehouse was in diapers, thank you

zuzu

There’s really nothing that can’t be blamed on a woman, isn’t there? Here’s the latest: Amy Winehouse and Kate Moss are teaching young women to drink and have sex!

Amy “No Rehab” Winehouse and “Cocaine Kate” Moss may not be ideal role models, but are they really to blame for teenage binge drinking?

According to a report by British organization Women in Journalism, teenage girls find “encouragement” in “the soap opera-style lives of glamorous women,” even if those women are falling over drunk and look like hell.

Sure, teens (of both genders) are attracted to images of celebrities supposedly living it up. That doesn’t mean they want to replicate every aspect of their behavior. Why pin it on Winehouse? She’s far from the only celebrity disaster, and hers is a pretty clear-cut cautionary tale. It’s hard to believe that teens see her stumbling around with blood on her satin ballet flats and scratches all over her face and think, That should be me!

Gosh, how did anyone ever have drunken hook-ups before them? Oh, yeah: the usual way.

Teenagers are wrestling with all kinds of influences, but no one of these things is forcing them to become binge drinkers or drug addicts. In a recent study, the National Center on Addiction and Substance Abuse cites predictable factors like low self-esteem, peer pressure and concerns about weight and appearance as the top motivations for girls to drink. That these things aren’t sensational doesn’t make them any less troubling.

Not to mention, kids look to their friends for their cues for certain behaviors. If their friends drink, chances are they will, too. If someone they know who’s cool smokes, it might increase the allure. But I seriously doubt that any kid other than the most obsessed looks at a celebrity’s behavior and decides to imitate it, independent of any other influences.

Eryn Loeb also notes that the WIJ is particularly up in arms about the idea that Winehouse might lead girls to have s-e-x. Which, again, is a stupid concern. They’re going to have sex. The best you can do is prepare them by educating them about contraception, giving them access, and teaching them that they’re the ones in control of their sexuality, which means that no means no, yes is nothing to be ashamed about if it’s an enthusiastic yes, and that they don’t have to accept anyone trying to make them feel bad for either wanting or not wanting to have sex.

10 thoughts on I learned how to binge-drink while Amy Winehouse was in diapers, thank you

  1. While I agree the whole idea of this is stupid, and blaming “problems” like this on rather new starlety celebrities is kind of dumb (because, as you say, how did teen girls drink too much before there was Amy Winehouse???) I have to kind of take issue with the Broadsheet author when she says this:

    It’s hard to believe that teens see her stumbling around with blood on her satin ballet flats and scratches all over her face and think, That should be me!

    Honestly, the teenage me probably would have though bloody ballet flats and a scratched-up face were awesome. One should never underestimate the teenager’s amazing ability to romanticize the seriously fucked-up.

  2. I thought about getting married because Amy Winhouse is married and I like her music. But now that they say she’s such a bad rolemodel I will have pre-marital sex and never get married, hehe!

  4. You see, boys are much too sophisticated to get drunk, do drugs, and have unprotected sex by watching the rolemodels of Pete Doherty, Keith Richards, Jack White…and so on.

  5. I thought about getting married because Amy Winhouse is married and I like her music. But now that they say she’s such a bad rolemodel I will have pre-marital sex and never get married, hehe!

    HAHAHAHA! I was gonna say, she is MARRIED now. Are they even paying ATTENTION or do all the floozies look alike to them? Yeesh.

    (They can just lay off my diva! I think she’s the greatest, and like other great artists, should do whatever the hell she wants.)

  6. You know, I actually did used to look at pictures of Kate Moss for “encouragement” – not for encouragement to binge drink and do drugs, mind you. I had no idea at the time. No, it was for encouragement to starve myself. But I guess that’s far too patriarchy-approved to include in this study.

  7. HAHAHAHAHAHA. Oh, and also….HAHAHAHAHA.

    How old are these people? Even if you accepted the idea that show-business women “encourage” teenaged substance abuse, do they really think Winehouse and Moss are the first female British celebrities ever to publicly tie one on or take a snort? Haven’t they even heard of Dusty Springfield? Marianne Faithfull? Even Cass Elliot or Chrissie Hynde, who were Yanks but enormously popular in the U.K.? Those are just the ones who leap immediately to mind. I mean, pul-lease.

  9. I figure binge drinking started about the first time someone made enough hooch that was hard, in high volume and semi-drinkable. In other words, perhaps 5,500-6,000 years ago. But of course, for the history-free drones who get paid to Say Witty Things, binge-drinking was invented last week.

    That said, I have heard that alcohol abuse in much of the UK is a whole lot worse than in the States among teenagers.

  10. That said, I have heard that alcohol abuse in much of the UK is a whole lot worse than in the States among teenagers.

    The alcohol abuse among adults is a problem, too. But the UK has a unique drinking culture. Unlike for example France where people enjoy wine it’s all about getting hammered. And it’s not a recent phenomenon. Forcing pubs to close at 11pm had had no effect and now allowing them to serve alcohol all night again hasn’t made a difference, too.

Comments are currently closed.