Work

“Not a good look”: Impossible Dilemmas for Young Women Negotiating the Culture of Intoxication in the United Kingdom

Year: 2015

Type: article

Abstract: This paper investigates young women's alcohol consumption in the United Kingdom within a widespread culture of intoxication in relation to recent debates about postfeminism and contemporary femininity. Young women are faced with an "impossible dilemma," arising from the contradiction between a hedonistic discourse of alcohol consumption and postfeminist discourse around attaining and maintaining the "right" form of hypersexual heterosexual femininity. Drawing on a recent interview study with 24 young white working-class and middle-class women in the South-West of England, we explore how young women inhabit the dilemmas of contemporary femininity in youth drinking cultures, striving to achieve the "right" form of hypersexual femininity and an "optimum" level of drunkenness.

Source: Substance Use & Misuse

DOI: 10.3109/10826084.2015.978643

Authors: Lin Bailey, Christine Griffin, Avi Shankar

Institutions: Southampton Solent University, University of Bath

Language: English

Topic: Gender, Feminism, and Media

Subfield: Gender Studies

Field: Social Sciences

Domain: Social Sciences

SDGs: Gender equality, Good health and well-being

Open Access status: green

Funders: Medical Research Council, Economic and Social Research Council