A new study questions how mainstream media portrays drinking alcoholic drinks between men and women. Researchers claim that there is sexism when it comes to reporting binge-drinking, and that women are portrayed "more-negatively" than men.
Compared To Men, Women's Drinking Are Given More Coverage
Researchers from The Universities of Glasgow and Glasgow Caledonian published a study about how men's and women's drinking habits are reported by the media. They analyzed at least 300 articles published in over two years in seven UK national newspapers, and found that women's binge drinking are given more coverage, despite the fact that men drink more, The Herald reported.
According to BBC, the articles collected by the investigators typically link women's binge-drinking to impacts on personal appearance and presented them as haggard, vulnerable, and a burden to their male drinking buddies. The researchers claim that these portrayals could give readers an inaccurate understanding of the meaning and effect of binge-drinking.
Media 'Influences How We Understand The World'
Dr. Carol Emslie from the school of health and life sciences at Glasgow Caledonian University said that too much drinking affects everyone in the population. However, media's "disproportionate focus" on women when it comes to binge-drinking makes people believe that it is primarily young females who have drinking problems.
Chris Patterson, from the Public Health Sciences Unit, Glasgow University, said: "Media coverage of women's binge-drinking isn't just about health or public disorder; it also performs a moralizing, paternalistic role, reflecting broader social expectations about women's public behavior."
Patterson added that it is important to define unhealthy behaviors so they can be addressed properly and that media may need to seek help in understanding what constitutes harmful drinking, without promoting stereotypes. Patterson concluded that media has a "big influence on how we understand the world, and therefore on how we behave."
