Welcome to DU! The truly grassroots left-of-center political community where regular people, not algorithms, drive the discussions and set the standards. Join the community: Create a free account Support DU (and get rid of ads!): Become a Star Member All Forums Issue Forums Culture Forums Alliance Forums Region Forums Support Forums Help & Search

niyad

(112,434 posts)
Fri Feb 22, 2019, 02:48 PM Feb 2019

Malia Obama's rose-shaming is the latest in drinking double standards

Malia Obama’s rosé-shaming is the latest in drinking double standards


Women consuming alcohol is a favourite of moralising tabloids and right-wingers, despite the fact that men are far more likely to drink to excess


‘News that Malia Obama was enjoying herself propelled a number of Trump supporters into self-righteous outrage.’ Photograph: Josiah Kamau/Getty Images

Malia Obama, a 20-year-old Harvard student who happens to be the daughter of a former US president, recently enjoyed a glass of poolside rosé during a weekend with friends in Miami. We know about this unremarkable incident because the Daily Mail saw fit to publish a salacious article about “underage Malia” drinking, consisting of 23 creepy photos of her in a swimsuit. They also threw in a video. The UK may no longer rule the world, but its tabloids remain global leaders in shamelessness.News that an Obama was enjoying herself predictably propelled a number of Trump supporters into fits of self-righteous outrage. Andrew Wilkow, the host of a conservative radio show, tweeted: “Living like the 1%? Drinking underage? Let’s see the #democrats and media scream about ‘privilege’ here.” All right, Mr Wilkow, challenge accepted. I’m going to scream about “privilege”. More specifically, I’m going to scream about “drinking privilege” and how young women are judged more harshly than men when it comes to alcohol.

Obama getting rosé-shamed by the Mail is not an isolated incident; the media loves moralising about women and booze. A 2016 study by researchers at Glasgow University and Glasgow Caledonian University, for example, found women’s binge drinking is given more media coverage despite the fact that men are more likely to drink to excess. The study, which analysed 308 articles published over two years in seven UK national newspapers, noted that portrayals of women drinking were also unfairly stigmatising. Chris Patterson, from the public health sciences unit at the University of Glasgow, explained: “Media coverage of women’s binge drinking isn’t just about health or public disorder; it also performs a moralising, paternalistic role, reflecting broader social expectations about women’s public behaviour.”

While that study was about binge drinking, there is apparently no safe amount a woman can drink if she wants to avoid being judged. In 2016, for example, the US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) advised all women of childbearing age who weren’t using birth control to completely avoid alcohol, in case they got pregnant. This condescending guidance was based on a CDC estimate that “approximately 3.3 million US women aged 15-44 years … were at risk for an alcohol-exposed pregnancy during 2011-2013”. A study published last month in the journal Women’s Health Issues argues this was a massive overestimate, and cautioned that exaggerating the problem “can contribute to moral panic about alcohol use during pregnancy”. There is also, of course, no safe amount a woman can drink if she wants to avoid getting blamed for being raped. If you are a man, being drunk makes you somehow less culpable in society’s eyes for sexually assaulting someone; it was the booze that did it, not you! If you are a woman, however, drinking means you were irresponsible; you should have been more careful! Indeed, we seem to expend more energy telling women not to get drunk than we do telling men not to rape.

One of the most glaring examples of our double standards around drinking is sitting on the US supreme court. In his testimony to the Senate judiciary committee last year, Brett Kavanaugh talked at length about how much drinking he had done at high school. “I liked beer,” Kavanaugh said. “I still like beer.” It’s very hard to imagine a woman telling a room full of senators how much she loved boozing and then getting rewarded with one of the most powerful jobs in the world. Kavanaugh got a pass, however, because boys will be boys, after all. And girls will be publicly shamed.

https://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2019/feb/22/malia-obama-rose-shaming-is-the-latest-in-drinking-double-standards

27 replies = new reply since forum marked as read
Highlight: NoneDon't highlight anything 5 newestHighlight 5 most recent replies
Malia Obama's rose-shaming is the latest in drinking double standards (Original Post) niyad Feb 2019 OP
GEt back to me when 20 women come forward and accuse her of rape like with rump Eliot Rosewater Feb 2019 #1
exact;y!! niyad Feb 2019 #3
Malia Obama is not a public figure crazycatlady Feb 2019 #2
Many W people, (not always safe to use the full word) hate Malia because Eliot Rosewater Feb 2019 #4
Can we get the GOP some cheese for their whine? Blue Owl Feb 2019 #5
not sure I want to waste cheese on those rats. niyad Feb 2019 #6
Well... sheshe2 Feb 2019 #13
had not thought of that--you are correct!! niyad Feb 2019 #15
;) sheshe2 Feb 2019 #16
via twitter... progressoid Feb 2019 #7
precisely niyad Feb 2019 #9
Yep, Brett-I-Like-Beer-Kavanaugh was the first thing I thought of. TeapotInATempest Feb 2019 #17
At least the police weren't involved Revanchist Feb 2019 #8
Neither was the Moral Outrage crowd. GoCubsGo Feb 2019 #10
Just for the record, JennaBush supports Malia. LakeArenal Feb 2019 #19
Oh, I know. That wasn't meant to bash her or her sister. GoCubsGo Feb 2019 #23
That's what I was thinking. kag Feb 2019 #20
"Anything to keep the Russian-Republican-Rifle folk out of the news!" struggle4progress Feb 2019 #11
Don't make me drag out the pictures of GW Bush's daughters high school drinking pics TeamPooka Feb 2019 #12
do I remember correctly that (supposedly) that "gin" and "tonic" were their SS code names? niyad Feb 2019 #14
That's nothing! LuvNewcastle Feb 2019 #18
obviously her parents didn't raise her very well Mosby Feb 2019 #21
And get Andrew Wilkow a 20 pound bag of sh*t RVN VET71 Feb 2019 #22
She's being used to tar LIBERALS as hypocrites. maxsolomon Feb 2019 #24
I say we COMPLETELY ruin the RW snowflakes' little lives jmowreader Feb 2019 #25
Good gawd. MontanaMama Feb 2019 #26
we are all so glad that you survivedat that episode of teenage stupidity, and are here with us niyad Feb 2019 #27

Eliot Rosewater

(31,097 posts)
1. GEt back to me when 20 women come forward and accuse her of rape like with rump
Fri Feb 22, 2019, 02:49 PM
Feb 2019

and kavanaugh.

This is so fucking stupid and it is just making me angrier. If only ALL Americans would get angry.

crazycatlady

(4,492 posts)
2. Malia Obama is not a public figure
Fri Feb 22, 2019, 02:52 PM
Feb 2019

She just happens to be the daughter of public figures. She's a private citizen and has not inserted herself into the spotlight. Even the fame-hungry Kardashians ask for their children's privacy to be respected.

If she were being confirmed to the Supreme Court, this would be a different story. But she's a college kid. Let her be a college student.

Eliot Rosewater

(31,097 posts)
4. Many W people, (not always safe to use the full word) hate Malia because
Fri Feb 22, 2019, 02:54 PM
Feb 2019

of her skin color and for absolutely no other reason.

TeapotInATempest

(804 posts)
17. Yep, Brett-I-Like-Beer-Kavanaugh was the first thing I thought of.
Fri Feb 22, 2019, 04:30 PM
Feb 2019

So, so tired of sexist and racist double standards.

GoCubsGo

(32,061 posts)
10. Neither was the Moral Outrage crowd.
Fri Feb 22, 2019, 03:19 PM
Feb 2019

They were strangely silent when the Tequila Twins went on their drunken escapade down in Paraguay, or wherever the hell it was. The twins were underage then, as well, IIRC.

LakeArenal

(28,729 posts)
19. Just for the record, JennaBush supports Malia.
Fri Feb 22, 2019, 05:30 PM
Feb 2019

As did Chelsea Clinton. I’m not standing up for anyone on this. Underage drinking is one of the most broken laws in America.

GoCubsGo

(32,061 posts)
23. Oh, I know. That wasn't meant to bash her or her sister.
Fri Feb 22, 2019, 06:41 PM
Feb 2019

It was to point out they hypocrisy of the ones who are wagging their fingers at Malia, while looking the other way when it comes to their own. I have no doubt the vast majority of them broke those laws at that age, too.

kag

(4,076 posts)
20. That's what I was thinking.
Fri Feb 22, 2019, 05:31 PM
Feb 2019

It's not like she slipped her security detail and went out to get blinding drunk.

TeamPooka

(24,156 posts)
12. Don't make me drag out the pictures of GW Bush's daughters high school drinking pics
Fri Feb 22, 2019, 03:23 PM
Feb 2019

all the GOP said then was "leave them alone!"
As did Democrats.
That was the message to the media from both sides.
Fuck the GOP and their hypocritical bullshit
Fuck them all.

LuvNewcastle

(16,820 posts)
18. That's nothing!
Fri Feb 22, 2019, 04:59 PM
Feb 2019

If I were her, I'd tell them all to kiss my ass, but I'm sure she has too much class for that. I don't care if she goes to Mardi Gras and really raises hell; she doesn't owe anyone any explanations for what she does.

Mosby

(16,168 posts)
21. obviously her parents didn't raise her very well
Fri Feb 22, 2019, 05:54 PM
Feb 2019

I mean, rosé? seriously?

What's next, moscato?

They need to nip this shit in the bud, pronto.

Get that girl some Pinot or char FFS.

/sarc

maxsolomon

(32,989 posts)
24. She's being used to tar LIBERALS as hypocrites.
Fri Feb 22, 2019, 06:53 PM
Feb 2019

WE blame Kavanaugh for getting blackout drunk and assaulting Dr. Ford, yet we don't even care when Obama's underage kid drinks in public?

SUCH BLATANT HYPOCRISY! Dems are the worst, so everything bad that Trump has ever done is excusable.

jmowreader

(50,451 posts)
25. I say we COMPLETELY ruin the RW snowflakes' little lives
Fri Feb 22, 2019, 08:51 PM
Feb 2019

Let's wait until Malia turns 21, invite her to California where smoking weed is legal, and offer her (gasp! outrage! shudder!) a JOINT!

MontanaMama

(23,239 posts)
26. Good gawd.
Fri Feb 22, 2019, 09:15 PM
Feb 2019

This is the worst thing they can come up with for Malia?? Jesus, this is nothing.

This is embarrassing story BUT, here goes...I was 17 when I entered to college. I turned 18 the weekend before election day 1982...my first opportunity to vote. On my birthday weekend, I decided it was a good idea to drink myself under the table at a party in my dorm. I fell out of a second story window in a repelling contest (yeah, I know...) and was found unconscious on the ground. A friend of mine performed CPR and I was loaded into an ambulance and was in an alcohol induced coma for 36 hours. My dad was off the beam pissed off. When I was released from the hospital, tired, hungover and god knows what else, he drove me to my dorm to get my ID and then drove me to the polls so that I could vote for the first time and vote for John Melcher for Senate. Melcher was running a tight race against a republican and a libertarian candidate that I don't remember. Dad pulled up in front of the polling place and told me to get my ass inside and vote Democratic...then he drove me back to my dorm after I voted and didn't speak to me he was still so mad. Ironically, when I grew up, got married and bought a house, former Sentator John Melcher lived right around the corner from me until his passing just last year. I would see him at the grocery store and we'd visit about good wine and the Chicago Cubs. Kids do stupid stuff, Malia included, and people need to give her a break

niyad

(112,434 posts)
27. we are all so glad that you survivedat that episode of teenage stupidity, and are here with us
Mon Feb 25, 2019, 12:12 PM
Feb 2019

today.

Malia does not seem to have been doing more than sipping wine --not blackout stage, but yes, give her a break.

Latest Discussions»General Discussion»Malia Obama's rose-shamin...