Is there
a specific culture of heavy drinking amongst some lesbians and bisexual women?
Yes and no...
While
consulting Index New Zealand, I was fortunate enough to find one current
research project that specifically focused on LGBT substance abuse issues.
In
October 2007, Frank Pega (Whariki Research Group, Social and Health Outcomes
Research and Evaluation, Massey University) recorded the following outcomes.
Lesbian, gay and bisexual alcohol consumption is only slightly higher than
straight counterparts. However, we are more likely to smoke, use cannabis,
ecstacy, LSD and amphetamines than heterosexual New Zealanders.
Gay and
bisexual men were more likely to smoke and drink heavily, while lesbians and
bisexual women were more likelier to use drugs. Fewer takatapui and wahine
takatapui drank alcohol than their pakeha counterparts, but smoked more and
used some illicit drugs more.
From this
single research project then, it doesn't seem as if we have significantly worse
levels of alcohol abuse amongst lesbians and bisexual women compared to their
straight counterparts.
However, is the problem one of age cohorts rather than
sexual identity? In her recent biography, UK bisexual journalist Tania Glyde
talked about her experiences as a recovering alcoholic and noted that in
'postfeminist' 'lass' culture, it is more acceptable to be publically
inebriated than it was for earlier generations of women. While straight women
and lesbians alike have greater professional and economic opportunities and
sexual agency due to occupational feminism and lesbian/gay/bisexual-inclusive
antidiscrimination laws (in New Zealand), the same also applies to workplace
psychological stresses, recession anxieties about employment stability and that
perennial concern, wage inequality.
Pega's
findings are surprising, although considering that there are fewer lesbian pub
venues in New Zealand than gay male counterparts than elsewhere, perhaps not so
much. As for Glyde's book, she is correct about the 'closet' of female
alcoholism, although her own bisexuality doesn't merit a mention in this book,
other than incidental. There is no sense of identification with any organised
bisexual community, LGBT community or LGBT-specific health promotion and
addiction services, which is counter-intuitive, considering that she lives and
works in London.
That
said, there is a shortage
of targeted bi-specific research that focuses specifically
on particular issues that face bisexual women compared to lesbians, who often
have far more elaborated professional networks and academic and institutional
bases for sited research and design and implementation of health promotion and
substance abuse intervention projects.
For that
matter, though, apart from Alcoholics Anonymous, it seems that the New Right
benefit cuts of the nineties, occupational feminism and antidiscrimination laws
have resulted in a situation where lesbian voluntary community group
participation has dropped while lesbians are likelier to ascend the
professional ladder. Groups like Lesbian Alcohol and Drug Action and Straight
Dykes appear to have folded as a result, while New Zealand bisexual feminism
appears stuck at the assertive identity politics and inclusion demand stage,
rather than dealing with bi-specific or bi-related social and existential issues.
Is there
a heavy drinking culture amongst some lesbians and bisexual women in New
Zealand?
Put
simply, without supplementary research, we cannot tell.
Recommended:
Tania Glyde: Cleaning Up: How I Gave Up Drinking and Saved My Life:
London: Serpents Tail: 2009.
"Higher
use of alcohol, drugs and tobacco in gay, lesbian and bisexual population"
Massey Research (October 2007): 18.