Women, Alcohol and Femininity A Discourse Analysis of Women Heavy Drinkers' Accounts

A Rolfe, Jim Orford, Susan Dalton

Research output: Contribution to journalArticle

56 Citations (Scopus)

Abstract

Qualitative interviews were conducted with 24 women who were heavy drinkers, as part of a larger, longitudinal study of heavy drinking in the West Midlands of England. Critical discourse analysis was used to analyse the interviews, and resulted in the identification of two main discursive constructions: drink as self-medication, and drink as pleasure and leisure. However. women need to resist and negotiate stigmatizing subject positions of the 'woman drinker' in order both to justify their drinking and to protect their moral status as 'good women'.
Original languageEnglish
Pages (from-to)326-335
Number of pages10
JournalJournal of Health Psychology
Volume14
Issue number2
DOIs
Publication statusPublished - 1 Mar 2009

Keywords

  • femininity
  • stigma
  • women's drinking
  • alcohol

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