Why do women get drunk faster? Why can’t we drink as much as the guy sitting next to us at the bar? Yes, we weigh less, are shorter and just normally smaller than most males, but that’s not the only reason why. According to David J. Hanson, Ph. D., women have a “higher proportion of body fat than men.” Because fat does not absorb alcohol, it is concentrated at higher levels in our bodies. We also have less enzymes in our stomach, so we “absorb up to nearly 30% more alcohol into [our] bloodstream than men of the same height and weight who drink the same amount of alcohol.”
This is not all. Have you ever noticed that if you don’t eat dinner before you go out to the bar, you get drunk quicker? Or if ‘flow’ is visiting for the week, you feel like one beer already made you tipsy? There are many factors that contribute to why we can not and should not drink as much as our men. “The bottom line is that a woman who hopes to ‘hold her own’ in drinking against a man is putting herself at great risk,” said Hanson.
So why do women go out and try to drink more than men? Could it be to impress them? According to an article titled, “Women on a Binge” from time.com, a college student said her two main goals of the year are to drive a stick shift and ‘drink a guy under the table.’ The student in the article states, “I know it’s juvenile, but I’ve had boys comment how impressed they are at the amount of alcohol I’ve consumed… To be able to drink like a guy is kind of a badge of honor. For me, it’s a feminism thing.”
Why do women feel this way? Why do we always think we need to prove ourselves to men? Why would we get ourselves sick or have the worst hang over in the morning to make a man think we can drink more than him? Why do we have to prove anything?
Females will always be different than males. We are made differently, and this is a good thing! Let’s embrace the ‘different’ and stop trying to ‘get to’ the man’s level. Our level is more than enough!
