According to Queensland psychologist and researcher Dr Gavan Palk Australian women are indulging in alcohol consumption and drunken violence more and more these days. One in five young Australian women taking part in a Queensland University of Technology (QUT) study has been involved in alcohol-induced aggression, which is at a similar rate to men.
Dr Palk, a senior lecturer in psychology at Queensland University of Technology, is one of the first experts to research the social motivations behind the increase in drinking among young women. He said, “Australia has a greater number of large-scale pubs and clubs which are providing a venue for ladette-style behavior. There have been attempts to reduce the incidences of violence, but over the long term it seems the only thing that works to reduce alcohol-related violence is to reduce the number of drinking hours.”
Dr Palk, who has also investigated attitudes to drinking among women and men aged 18 to 25, said men continued to out-drink women, but their rates of consumption were in decline. But young women were increasing their use of alcohol, and the social rituals around it. He said, “Australian men have traditionally gathered in bars, with friends and gained a sense of identity from this.” “In the last five years or so, women's consumption of alcohol has increased more than men. Our survey found around 35 per cent of women had admitted to binge drinking… There were more males binge drinking - about 50 per cent, but that number has decreased slightly. There is a rise in young females who equate alcohol and excessive alcohol with fun. They show a willingness to behave how men have traditionally done for 100-odd years. Interestingly, young males and females didn't see women getting drunk as unfeminine. But both sexes thought vomiting, getting in fights and aggressive behavior as unfeminine,” he said.
“Many of the self-confessed ladettes that we interviewed don't perceive that they are trying to act like men, but that they are taking advantage of the social freedoms of the past 20 or 30 years.” He added that these women’s idea of fun often “involves pre-drinks at home, to save money, and unfortunately studies show these are the drinkers likely to drink more in total, and at most risk of suffering injury or assault.”
Dr Palk will discuss his research titled Women, drinking and aggression on a night out: Do girls just wanna have fun? at the Australian Psychological Society College of Forensic Psychology National Conference in Noosa this weekend.
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