Why do young women in Britain drink themselves to oblivion?

The BBC just posted an article about binge drinking in the UK:

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/magazine-15265317

An excerpt from the article:

Over the past few decades the government, the drinks industry and schools have done exactly the opposite of what they should do to tackle our dysfunctional drinking. I remain perhaps stupidly optimistic that eventually they will find the courage to turn things around and start heading in the right direction.​



It's getting creepier, sometimes I think the BBC is stalking me, lol... j/k :eek:
 
kira said:
The BBC just posted an article about binge drinking in the UK:

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/magazine-15265317
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That article is spot on. Many people use alcohol as an excuse, and there are clear demographics. I see more trouble outside mainstream nightclubs that play popular music, than I ever saw when I frequented biker bars and heavy metal clubs. Metallers might get drunk and daft, but you are more likely to see them assemble themselves into a headbanging pyramid on the dancefloor, than get into a punch up.
 
Here the bars close at 2 am. And you can only buy beer and wine on Sundays. What are teh rules in teh UK?
 
billvon said:
True. But if you regularly see only 2% of the people out there really drunk, odds are most people spend most of their time not drunk.



Really? Wow, I must live in a different environment than you do. I can think of maybe two friends of mine who are NOT usually sensible with alcohol.
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Seems we may have to agree to disagree then, the drunken facebook photos and the encompassing stories are a common occurance in the lives of my friends - and they're a relatively mellow bunch!

Social dysfunction? While alcoholism in most countries is a pretty serious problem, I think that "social causes" are only one of the several underlying causes. (Others are genetic predisposition, familial influence, situational effects etc.)

I mean, is smoking an indication of "social dysfunction?"
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It's dysfunctional to have a society that sees destructive tendancies as the normal way for the young to behave.
Smoking would be dysfunctional if it's effects were on the same level as alcohol. How many people have a few smokes and decide it's a good idea to beat someone up? Heck they aren't going to run anyone down because they've had too many cigarettes. Although it should be banned while driving if we're banning mobiles.
As an aside smoking is also on the increase, again particularly among young women.

I agree - but again, I have noticed that is the exception, not the rule.
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Must come from different backgrounds then, although if you've been to university I find that hard to believe as students seem to be the worst - although they tend to venture into town centres less as booze is cheaper from the shops. The end behaviour however is rarely any different.
 
Orleander said:
Here the bars close at 2 am. And you can only buy beer and wine on Sundays. What are teh rules in teh UK?
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What rules? All night drinking is allowed, although not all pubs observe it. Alochol is far cheaper from a supermarket though, and generally they take it home(at least to start with) but there aren't enough police to patrol everywhere so seeing them wandering the streets bottle in hand is not unusual.
Heck I've done it myself before - but I've never acted the way others do, or even wanted to; so personally I just think they use alcohol as an excuse. Besides, they know the effects and it isn't like someone's pouring it down their throats.

They don't lack cognitive reasoning skills, they just like being stupid and don't take responsibility. :shrug:
 
Here, wandering the streets with an alcoholic beverage in hand will land you in the can if you are seen. :eek:

When I was a biker I hung out in biker bars. It was about loud conversation, decent food, pretty women, prettier motorcycles and 'tough guy' bullshit. Nobody got real drunk because that was dangerous. You get too wasted and somebody will move in on your woman, nick your burger or your bike or just beat the crap out of you for wearing the wrong colours. Or shoot you out back.

If you have a good life, you don't need to escape from it by getting so drunk you can't remember if you had a good time or not.
 
Orleander said:
Here the bars close at 2 am. And you can only buy beer and wine on Sundays. What are teh rules in teh UK?
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When you say that, do you mean that you cannot buy beer and wine on weekdays, or that on Sundays, you cannot buy spirits (malt liquor etc)?

In the UK, you can buy alcohol any time. Shops with licenses, all supermarket chains(many of which open 24x7) etc. Pubs can open whatever hours they choose, although few open 24 hours, 'cos it's just not worth it.

We have 'alcohol control zones' in town, where public drinking is prohibited, or to a lesser degree, alcohol can be confiscated if the citizen is inebriated and causing a disturbance (these rules are often in force in places where vagrants congregate). Other than that, we can pretty much booze anywhere. We never had prohibition, .. just some wartime measures intended to keep us productive citizens, so our laws are fairly relaxed.
 
phlogistician said:
When you say that, do you mean that you cannot buy beer and wine on weekdays, or that on Sundays, you cannot buy spirits (malt liquor etc)?

In the UK, you can buy alcohol any time. Shops with licenses, all supermarket chains(many of which open 24x7) etc. Pubs can open whatever hours they choose, although few open 24 hours, 'cos it's just not worth it.

We have 'alcohol control zones' in town, where public drinking is prohibited, or to a lesser degree, alcohol can be confiscated if the citizen is inebriated and causing a disturbance (these rules are often in force in places where vagrants congregate). Other than that, we can pretty much booze anywhere. We never had prohibition, .. just some wartime measures intended to keep us productive citizens, so our laws are fairly relaxed.
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List of the alcohol sale hours in the US by state

chimpkin said:
They have cute, intelligent reporters, Kira. :p Perhaps this would be a hoped-for occurrence....
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Lol ;-)
 
It isn't until people start paying attention to the facts do they realize that the manufacture, distribution, transportation, sale, possession and usage of alcoholic beverages in the US is a highly regulated industry.

Lots of people look back at the era of national prohibition and laugh at it, but the fact is that more than half of the country lived under prohibition, that many states had their own prohibition, and that every state had to ratify the 18th amendment to the US Constitution for national prohibition to go into effect. It wasn't simply a few influential politicians in Washington ramming their law down America's throat. Most Americans wanted it, and they got it.
 
Cifo said:
Most Americans wanted [prohibition] and they got it.
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True. I think it was one of the best sales jobs ever performed by a group here in the US. Before alcohol was banned, it was blamed for "crime and misery" and it was claimed that "public health, the public morals, and public safety, may be endangered by the general use of intoxicating drinks." Drinking led directly to "idleness, disorder, pauperism and crime." It was even blamed for the federal government's budget problems. Eradicate alcohol, the drys claimed, and you'd eradicate all of the above.

Needless to say, when prohibition went into effect the opposite happened. People died in record numbers from bootleg (and government spiked!) methanol-containing whiskey, and crime rates soared as organized crime appeared to support the black market. Alcoholism rates tripled. Unemployment rose and tax income dropped as brewing/distilling jobs were lost, especially in places like St. Louis.
 
Cifo said:
Most Americans wanted it, and they got it.
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Thing is, it's a choice. What most Americans wanted it seems, is to remove the choice from other Americans. Now America really needs to fully repeal prohibition, local statutes with such draconian restrictions are anti freedom. Maybe those people should go live somewhere that doesn't purport to be free.
 
phlogistician said:
When you say that, do you mean that you cannot buy beer and wine on weekdays, or that on Sundays, you cannot buy spirits (malt liquor etc)?

In the UK, you can buy alcohol any time. Shops with licenses, all supermarket chains(many of which open 24x7) etc. Pubs can open whatever hours they choose, although few open 24 hours, 'cos it's just not worth it.

We have 'alcohol control zones' in town, where public drinking is prohibited, or to a lesser degree, alcohol can be confiscated if the citizen is inebriated and causing a disturbance (these rules are often in force in places where vagrants congregate). Other than that, we can pretty much booze anywhere. We never had prohibition, .. just some wartime measures intended to keep us productive citizens, so our laws are fairly relaxed.
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Here you cannot buy hard alcohol (whiskey, vodka, etc) on Sunday. You also cannot buy any booze from 2 am to 7 am.
Where my dad lived you couldn't buy any alcohol since it was a dry county. You could if you belonged to a club. Some club's sold 1 day memberships
list
 
Captain Kremmen said:
So, if you are carrying a can of beer, they will put you inside it?
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It will likely feel like that after they have done with you, sadly. :(

...it's time you told your religious, prohibitionist Taliban to mind their own business...
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Truer words have never been spoken. They are fearfully obnoxious in their assault on the rights an liberties of others and the level of hypocrisy in their ranks is incredible.
 
Question?

These women...what are their chances of really getting ahead, becoming entrepreneurs or highly-paid professionals? what kind of social opportunities are there if they work hard and sacrifice?
And I really am asking-I don't live in the UK.

If the answer is "not much," then why not get drunk and act an ass if it relieves the boredom and anomie?
 
billvon said:
People died in record numbers from bootleg (and government spiked!) methanol-containing whiskey, and crime rates soared as organized crime appeared to support the black market.
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I'm not a proponent of national prohibition, but it did redefine crime, and thus, new criminals suffered from new criminal activities. BTW, how/why did the govt spike whiskey with methanol? Please site.

phlogistician said:
Thing is, it's a choice.
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It could be argued that so is: owning fully-automatic machine guns if you ask the NRA, home brewing your own wine/beer/cider/moonshine/methamphetamine/etc if you ask the right people (FITA?), etc, so folks can complain about those restrictions as well. There's important differences between anarchy and democracy.
 
chimpkin said:
Question?

These women...what are their chances of really getting ahead, becoming entrepreneurs or highly-paid professionals? what kind of social opportunities are there if they work hard and sacrifice?
And I really am asking-I don't live in the UK.

If the answer is "not much," then why not get drunk and act an ass if it relieves the boredom and anomie?
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Mostly, these drunken youths are poorly educated 'townies', they listen to chart music, dress like chavs, and drink piss like Budweiser, and alcopops. So no, they aren't really destined for much, apart from a night in the cells.

I just think the penalties for drunken brawling should be stiffer, or even enforced. When they get away with these things effectively, it doesn't send the right message.
 
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