Women and Alcohol in America- Please do not bid before reading the requirement
Write a response to this question –
Discussion Question:
Clearly, both throughout American contemporary history and in modern day, women are rarely monolithic on any social, political, or cultural issues, despite a variety of attempts to imply a fabricated sense of unity in order to strengthen messaging. This is, of course, the goal of our emphasis on pluralism in feminisms and activisms. Quoting from Lynn Stuart Parramore in her think-piece (no pun intended, given the source of the article!) on COVID-era drinking, what do you think the impacts might be on these feminist-coded temperance movements in the 21st century? Do you feel like we may be seeing a revival of temperance ideology, amongst women or other populations, within the vein of COVID reactions as stated by the author?
The article:
https://www.nbcnews.com/think/opinion/promising-young-woman-covid-women-giving-alcohol-fight-patriarchy-ncna1256229
more explanation:
Summary:
The latter portion of Catherine Gilbert Murdocks Domesticating Drink: Women, Men, and Alcohol in America, 1870-1940 (1998) focuses on largely on how morality, feminism, and community evolved through, and after, the Prohibition movements of the early 20th century. In particular, Chapters 5, 6, and 7 discuss how, despite considerable associations between American women at large and temperance legislation, the responses to Prohibition legislation began to reveal fissures within womens groups, and as time went on, the perceived monolithic views on alcohol consumption and production of women were beginning to fade. These womens groups, like the WONPR in particular, struggled to continue the generalized history of gendered collectivity into the years of the Great Depression (135). This sentiment continued as America underwent a period of transition, and these tenuous associations of men with alcohol and women with abstinence began to fade entirely, and we can see movements of domestication and private acceptance of alcohol culture beginning to grow (158).
I want to turn my focus to Murdocks notes in the Epilogue, which often goes overlooked when reading books for class, but I found this section, along with the Introduction, to be some of Murdocks most compelling and engaged writing. Within the final 2 pages of the text, Murdock states boldly: The historic connection between drink and masculinity, while still present, has blessedly eased (173). This feels like a significant oversimplification; though she does qualify it with an analysis of underaged drinking as the growing problem in America, I wonder if she is perhaps eager to end with an air of optimism and closure, despite lacking the support to fully do so.