More women are bellying up to the bar, and those who consume alcohol are consuming more than ever before, Alex Morris writes in New York. As men cut back, women are picking up the slack. The numbers of women drinking and those whose call themselves “moderate-to-heavy drinkers” have risen over the past decade, coinciding with Second Wave feminism.
"The closing of the gender gap isn’t about men—needing to compete with men or wanting to feel like men,” notes Morris. “It’s about women going after the things they want and feeling that alcohol, variously, can help them.” Unfortunately, alcohol’s reaction in the human body is separate, not equal. Before knocking back any more, women might consider that they're more apt to get addicted and that any boozing greatly increases their risk of breast cancer.
(More alcohol stories.)