Why Women Drink
There’s a Facebook page titled “Moms Who Need Wine.” Last time I looked it had 667,000 likes. Then there’s the Pinterest site that’s titled “OMG, I So Need a Glass of Wine or I’m Gonna Sell My Kids” And drinking wine is so much a part of the “Real Housewives” series, that some of the woman in the series have developed their own label of wine.
Sounds nice, but the statistics about women and drinking are scary. The Wine Institute reports that women buy most of the 800 million gallons of wine a year, and they drink most of it as well! According to various health surveys, over the last ten years, the number of women arrested for drunk driving increased by 30%, while the number for men decreased by 7%. During that same period of time, women appearing drunk in hospital emergency room rose by 52%. Drinking alcohol doesn’t seem to be working that well for women (or for men either). About 10% of the population are at risk for alcoholism.
This increase in the number of women drinking wine started back to the l960’s, when California wineries began an advertisement campaign focused on women. Sales women were planted in supermarkets to provide “tastings” for women. At that time, wine was considered off-limits for women, but that soon changed. Gradually, wine became the acceptable alcoholic drink for women. Three times as many women drink wine as their preferred alcoholic beverage than men–men still prefer beer.
Some see the rising use of wine by women as part of the changing role of women in our society. Included would be the rise in the number of women who have attended college, compared with the l960’s. Another part of the rise would include women who have stepped away from careers in order to raise a family, women who found that it wasn’t an easy task talking to children all day. It affects women of all ages, not just the college coed.
Getting help as a woman for alcohol problems is not very easy. How does a woman go into rehab for 30 days when she has kids? It’s not easy, and that’s probably part of the reason why alcoholism in women is one of our society’s worst kept secrets. Maybe becoming aware of the statistics has brought it out into the open, and fortunately, there are newer treatment options becoming available, especially for women.
Question: Do you know any women who have lost control of their drinking?
I have a sister who is a full-blown alcoholic and has lost her husband and two kids. She is about to be on the streets. Saddest thing ever. I am not opposed to drinking wine but so many of my mom friends when they get away want to drink wine even st church retreats. Just makes me say hmmm… Certainly freedom in Christ to do so… They aren’t getting drunk… Maybe buzzed… Hmmm.
I am a mother who lost control of my drinking. I drank moderately through two pregnancies and for my third pregnancy I kept myself clean. After my 3rd child was born I started drinking moderately again and over the course of 3-4 years my drinking increased until one day I recall making a choice to just drink and not care about the consequences(couldn’t beat him so I joined him). Before and during this leading up time my husband was an active drinker as well as being an angry man due to his parents and childhood.
I lost control for probably about 2years. Of course I thought I had control but didn’t really and had my husband not stopped (I think he did because he couldn’t stand my drinking) I’m not sure how I would have done. I was at the point and had been for about 6 months at that time knowing I needed help. Needless to say our home was hell for the kids as there were many fights with my husband and abusive behaviors were running rampant. After stopping the drinking I realized I’d lost my bond with them because I didn’t protect them or have their best interests first. I don’t expect I’ll ever get that back and I’m working very hard at building the relationships back up and it’s ok but will not be the same because the trust was broken and respect was lost. It’s been eight years since I stopped drinking and it makes me sad still that I allowed myself to put my children’s safety aside to take an active role in abuse to myself through alcohol and thinking I could be better friends with an angry man by getting drunk together. I will never get that time back and neither will the kids; it shames me to talk about it to this day.