Media reports of women who binge-drink ‘more negative’

Bias may mislead readers about problem, say experts

WOMEN who binge-drink are portrayed more negatively by the media than men who do the same thing, researchers have found.

The Universities of Glasgow and Glasgow Caledonian have published a study in BMJ Open about how the media report women’s and men’s drinking habits.

The study analysed 308 articles published over two years in seven UK national newspapers and found women’s binge-drinking was given more coverage, despite men drinking more in reality.

It also found that, as well as misrepresenting differences in the amount each gender drinks, articles depicted women’s and men’s binge drinking in different ways.

Academics say the articles typically linked women’s bingedrinking to impacts on personal appearance and presented them as haggard, vulnerable, socially transgressive and a burden to their male drinking companions.

Tabloids and middle-market papers are notorious for contrasting glamorous images of media stars with their private personas.

One paper contrasted the glossy magazine portrayal of Kate Moss, “all effortless grace and designer clothes”, with “the real thing: drunk in the afternoon, swearing, aggressive”.

“Friends” of TV presenter Zoe Ball reportedly told one newspaper she dumped her “boring” husband Norman Cook, better known as Fatboy Slim, because “she just wanted to drink and have sex with a new younger lover”.

And former Catatonia “ladette” Cerys Matthews, who has been open about her battles with drink and drugs, was described as “vulnerable” after she was reportedly spotted “making daily visits to pubs and boozing at home”.

Researchers suggest these portrayals could give readers an inaccurate understanding of what binge drinking is and what its effects are, and how to lower their own health risks.

Chris Patterson, from the MRC/ CSO Social and 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 moralising, paternalistic role. s well as unfairly stigmatising women, media coverage of binge-drinking is problematic in terms of communication information about a serious health issue to the public.

“Evidence suggests the public view binge-drinking as a masculine activity and statistics tell us men do drink more than women in reality, but the media are depicting a different story.

“The reason why this matters is that the media have a big influence on how we understand the world, and therefore on how we behave.

“If audiences take newspapers’ depictions of binge-drinking to heart, they could be led to believe that binge-drinking is primarily the domain of raucous young women, and that the main threats it presents are to our public appearance, rather than our long-term health.

“It’s vital to clearly define unhealthy behaviours so we can address them. If the media feel a responsibility to inform the public, they might seek to help us understand what constitutes harmful drinking, and what the risks of it are, without promoting harmful stereotypes.”

Dr Carol Emslie, Lead of the Substance Use & Misuse research group in the School of Health & Life Sciences at Glasgow Caledonian University, co-authored the research. She said “In the UK, men still drink more than women and are more likely to die from alcoholrelated causes. However, the media’s disproportionate focus on women’s drinking may lead the public to think that it is primarily young females who are the problem drinkers.

“Alcohol is more freely available, more affordable and more heavily marketed today than it has been for decades, and excessive drinking affects all sections of the population.”

‘‘ In the UK, men still drink more than women and are more likely to die from alcohol-related causes

PAUL Musgrove, a member of staff, looks in the Green Sidestep, a blown and cut-class vase by Monica Guggisberg and Philip Baldwin that is on display at Gallery Ten in Edinburgh.

The couple have been exhibiting their latest collection at the gallery since September. Guggisnurg and Baldwin have been working together for more than 35 years and have become internationallyrenowned artists and master glass makers. Their speciality is using the techniques of glass to develop pieces using colour and form mastered by light. Picture: Gordon Terris