Boy, have I been through this! I read this piece and then the link in the Ale House News. I have noticed the rapid effects of my drinking on myself, of course with variations on it depending, usually, on food intake, meanwhile watching my ex-boyfriend most likely try to kill himself with alcohol and not only survive, but, not puke. This same ex-boyfriend thought that he “saved” me from a life that he obviously thought was decadent, slutty, and improper – going out every weekend with a fun bunch of guys, one of whom I was in love with, and drinking too much. I have been sick enough to not want to ever have a hangover again, and, I haven’t. But after a period of time where my life and its complexities were seriously diminished by complete sobriety, I chose to drink again. I also read the statistics–what constitutes one drink and what more than one drink can do. Somehow it seems that the happy drinking I do now should not cause breast cancer, should not cause fertility problems, should not line me up for liver cirrhosis, because it increases my connections with friends, fulfills my interest in new places to go and see, and generally enlarges my life. But the facts are there. I don’t know if anyone has ever studied if these good things about a life including alcohol mitigate them. As far as Slate’s point: “Since when was feminism supposed to bring about selective equality, where women get to enjoy the benefits of being a man, but none of the liabilities?” not only is that plain common sense, but for anyone to lament women getting dead drunk and whatever behavior results is the same as applying some of the epithets that men usually apply to women when they show their anger. If women don’t want scorn, or an entire article, directed at them, they still have to watch their behavior, whereas men, what? It seems to me one of the most enviable things about being a man is not having to think about being yourself, fucked up or not.

p. gin