It used to be that boys consumed more alcohol than girls. But adolescent girls are catching up to teenage boys – and fast. Recent studies have found that girls in high school – especially those in lower grades – now drink almost as much as high school boys. In Ontario, close to seven out of ten students in Grades 7-12 have tried alcohol over the past year, with close to one in three having participated in binge drinking.1 (In the U.S., nearly half of girls in high school drink, and more than one quarter binge drink.)2

For both girls and boys, offers to drink are most likely to come from a friend,
acquaintance or older relative of the same sex. Girls are more likely than
boys to be offered a drink in a private setting and to be offered alcohol by
someone they're dating. Boys, on the other hand, are more likely than girls
to receive offers of drinks from parents or strangers.3

The "friend factor" plays a significant role in whether or not adolescent boys
and girls drink. Studies have shown that teens with five closest friends who
drink are nine times more likely to drink than those with non-drinking friends. 

There are other factors as well. Researchers and child development experts have cited several reasons why adolescents may drink alcohol:

• to experiment
• to socialize
• to test limits
• to belong to a peer group
• societal and media influence
• genetic influence
• to deal with problems
• to give their lives meaning
• to deal with the trials of adolescence4

Specifically, teenage girls say they use alcohol to improve mood, increase
confidence, reduce tension, cope with problems, lose inhibitions, feel sexy
or lose weight. Teenage boys, on the other hand, are more likely to use
alcohol or other drugs to experience getting high or to enhance their social
status.5

Other factors that play a role in whether or not a young person drinks
include genetics, personality, psychiatric disorders, suicidal behaviour,
expectancies about alcohol, the environment in which they live and
traumatic experiences.6

Overall, adolescents between the ages of 12 and 14 believe that the
positive benefits of drinking (feeling good, fitting in with peers) are more
likely to happen than the negative effects of drinking.7 However, despite
this optimism, there can be no denying the negative cost of drinking by
teens. Alcohol is a factor in the leading causes of death among young
people: accidental injury, suicide and murder.8 Other consequences include
addiction, poor performance in school, hampered memory and learning
ability, risky behaviour, sexual vulnerability and victimization.

In a study conducted by the Missouri Alcoholism Research Center in the
United States, researchers compared the alcohol use and problem-drinking
behaviour of students between ages 12 and 18. When they asked students
about consequences of drinking, they learned that boys were more likely
to have experienced trouble with parents, problems at school, problems in
romantic relationships and physical fights. Girls were more likely to report
having problems with friends and doing something they regretted as a
result of drinking (although both sexes were equal in reporting being caught
in regrettable sexual situations due to alcohol).9 

Of greater concern, 16-18-year-old boys were nearly twice as likely as girls their age to report driving while intoxicated and were five times more likely to report carrying a weapon when drinking. Girls and boys aged 12-18 were equally matched in reporting mixing drugs and alcohol, with responses for girls ranging from 21 to 41 per cent and boys ranging from 18 to 45 per cent.10

The long-term health costs of drinking – brain damage, cardiac problems and liver disease – are significant for both sexes, but alcohol poses a particular risk for women and, especially, young girls.

Generally, puberty is considered a high-risk time for alcohol abuse for both
sexes. But adolescent girls who are "early bloomers" are particularly at risk
of using alcohol sooner – and in greater amounts – than their "later-blooming"
peers. Girls are also more likely than boys to experience depression, eating
disorders or sexual abuse – all of which increase the risk for substance
abuse. And finally, women and girls metabolize alcohol differently, which
means that alcohol passes more quickly into their bloodstreams. As a result,
they get drunk faster, hooked more easily, and suffer consequences of
drinking more severely than males.

Added to this mix of increased alcohol use by young people is a media culture
that glamorizes and promotes drinking. In five Canadian provinces, there are
restrictions on portraying alcohol as important for "sexuality or sexual
opportunity." Yet there is no shortage of ads that use sex to promote
beer and liquor. In countless ads, girls and boys alike are bombarded by
messages that build and reinforce positive associations between drinking
and sex appeal, as well as independence, rebellion, maturity, fun, success
and freedom – attributes that are particularly attractive to teens.

In addition to messages about drinking, these highly engaging ads also deliver messages about gender roles. Because most alcohol ads are primarily targeted at young males, women in them are generally portrayed within the limiting stereotypes of "sexpot," "man-eater," "angel/temptress," "rebel," "prize" and "party girl." The ideal "beer babe" is highly sexualized and impossibly attractive. She – and/or her body parts – is sold to consumers along with the beverage. Being a babe, she's non-threatening, sexually available and subservient. Girls in alcohol ads are permitted to be rebellious, as long as they do so in a cute and flirty manner. They are allowed to be "naughty," but not bad.

This is in sharp contrast to portrayals of men. While women are generally
trivialized in alcohol ads, men are more likely to be depicted as powerful,
aggressive, and in control: "the big shot," "the action hero," "the strong
silent type," and "the jock" are all mainstays of this kind of advertising.
"Jokers" are permitted, but as attitude-laden rebels, rather than buffoons.11

Alcohol ads also deliver messages about relationships. Seldom are
friendships between women positively portrayed. In fact, when "the girls"
get together, it's usually to gossip or ensnare an unsuspecting male.
Instead, these ads focus on the "buddy culture" of men and boys,
where beer and alcohol are part and parcel of humour, friendship and
good times.

Alcohol advertising has much to say about relationships between men and women. In the world of booze, women are sexual prizes that can be won by drinking the right beverage – or they are the "ball and chain" that men and their buddies escape from through alcohol. Happy couples do exist, but only in a fantasy world of yachts, beaches and exotic locations. Casual sex in a party setting is presented as the norm, with taglines such as "names optional" and "nice finish." Author and educator Jean Kilbourne notes that sex in the media is often condemned "from a puritanical perspective – there's too much of it, it's too blatant, it will encourage kids to be promiscuous, etc." But, she concludes, in reality, sex in the media "has far more to do with trivializing sex than with promoting it. The problem is not that it is sinful but that it is synthetic and cynical. We are offered a pseudo-sexuality that makes it far more difficult to discover our own unique and authentic sexuality." 12

Gender stereotypes in alcohol ads are not unique to the industry and
are reinforced through similar stereotypes in other media. Combine the
gender messages in the thousands of commercials for alcohol and other
products that kids see yearly, with gender messaging on television and
billboards and, in magazines, movies, music and music videos, and there
is considerable cause for concern – particularly when it comes to young
people who are beginning to develop their sexual identities and
expectations about relationships. Kilbourne notes that "adolescents are
new and inexperienced consumers. They are in the process of learning
their values and roles and developing their self-concepts. Most teenagers
are sensitive to peer pressure and find it difficult to resist or even to
question the dominant cultural messages perpetuated and reinforced by
the media." 13 Other researchers have voiced concerns about the way
in which sexist concepts are being heavily promoted through advertising
to the alcohol industry's "youngest customers." They note that the
danger here is twofold: "promoting minors to drink, and doing so in a way
that demeans women or implies a promise of sex."14

In the past few decades, concerns have been raised regarding exposure
of young people to alcohol ads. These concerns are well founded, given
that constant exposure to alcohol products – especially at an early age
– is the first step toward acceptance of positive expectations about
drinking. However, more research is needed on the messaging within the
ads themselves: messages about drinking and relationships and messages
about how men and women are expected to behave. Given the increase
in alcohol use by young people – especially binge drinking – and the
particular vulnerability of young women when it comes to sexual
victimization, we need to better understand how adolescent boys and
girls are interpreting and acting on these messages. ___________________________________________________

1 D. McKenzie. "Under the Influence? The Impact of Alcohol Advertising on Youth," 2000. Association to Reduce Alcohol Promotion in Ontario. http://www.apolnet.ca/resources/pubs/rpt_AdImpactYouth.pdf (PDF)

2 R. Bonnie and M. O'Connell (eds.), "Reducing Underage Drinking: A Collective Responsibility," 2003. Institute of Medicine National Research Council of the National Academies. Washington, D.C.: National Academies Press.

3 Ibid.

4 "Adolescents & Alcohol-Other-Drug Issues," 2002. The Governor’s Prevention Partnership.

6 National Survey Results on Drug Use from The Monitoring the Future Study, 1975-1997, Volume I: Secondary School Students, 1998. National Institute on Drug Abuse, Rockville, MD: Department of Health and Human Services.

7 "Youth and Underage Drinking: An Overview, Highlights from SAMHSA’s National Household Survey on Drug Abuse,” 1999. U.S. Department of Health and Services.  http://www.health.org/govpubs/RPO990

8 " Summary: Youth Exposure to Alcohol Advertising," 2003. Center on Alcohol Marketing and Youth.  http://camy.org/factsheets/print.php?FactsheetID=18

9 K. Bucholz, G. Banks, and S. Ryan, "Descriptive Epidemiology of Alcohol Use and Problem Drinking During Adolescence: Data From a School-Based National Sample," Missouri Alcoholism Research Center. Washington University School of Medicine.  http://web.missouri.edu/~umcasadorg/Poster%206%20-%20Bucholz.pdf (PDF)

10 Ibid.

11 Boys to Men: Media Messages About Masculinity, 1999. Children Now.

12 Jean Kilbourne. Deadly Persuasion: Why Women and Girls Must Fight the Addictive Power of Advertising, 1999. New York: The Free Press.

13 Ibid.

14 L. Greenfield, Alcohol and Crime: An Analysis of National Data on the Prevalence of Alcohol Involvement in Crime, 1998. U.S. Department of Justice.