'A growing vice': The Truth about Brisbane girls and drunkenness in the early twentieth century

Piper, Alana (2010) 'A growing vice': The Truth about Brisbane girls and drunkenness in the early twentieth century. Journal of Australian Studies, 34 4: 485-497.


Author Piper, Alana
Title 'A growing vice': The Truth about Brisbane girls and drunkenness in the early twentieth century
Formatted title 'A growing vice': The Truth about Brisbane girls and drunkenness in the early twentieth century
Journal name Journal of Australian Studies  (ERA 2012 Listed)    (ERA 2010 Rank B)   Check publisher's open access policy
Publication date 2010-12
Sub-type Article
DOI 10.1080/14443058.2010.519107
Volume number 34
Issue number 4
ISSN 1444-3058; 1835-6419
Start page 485
End page 497
Total pages 13
Place of publication Melbourne, Vic., Australia
Publisher Routledge
Collection year 2011
Language eng
Formatted abstract This article discusses the escalating concern about female drunkenness in early-twentieth century Brisbane. It argues that the tabloid Truth in particular created an image of the problem drinker as a teenage girl. In the process, the Truth constructed these adolescent girls or young women as if they were devoid of any personal responsibility for their drinking. It transferred the blame for this onto traditional adversaries of prevailing social values: the illicit lover, knowing woman and racial other. This denial of female agency negated the challenge that girls' drinking might otherwise have posed to the gender order by reinforcing belief in girls' presumed passivity. It also disguised the fact that young women were willingly deciding to drink as part of their membership in subcultures in which social drinking played a significant role.
© 2010 International Australian Studies Association.
Keyword Gender
Alcohol
Deviancy
Agency
Q-Index Code C1
Q-Index Status Confirmed Code
Institutional Status UQ

 
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Created: Sun, 27 Mar 2011, 00:08:39 EST