Usually called the doctor. Or the caretaker.

Ugh. I just watched a CNN segment that enraged me. I'm not going to link because I don't want to up their hits, but I have a few questions.

If someone asked you how many drinks in a sitting is a binge, what number would you give?

Now, would you ask them what they meant, specifically, by binge?

Would you ask them to define "a sitting"?

Would you ask them where that sitting would occur, how long it would last, and what the social context of that sitting would be?

If I ask you what is "a sitting" as it relates to a "binge", what is your response?


The CNN segment defined a "binge" as "5 drinks in a sitting". They didn't specify where that "sitting" was, how long the "sitting" was, or in what context it was occurring. There was also absolutely no adjustment for individual tolerance of alcohol. (Five ciders for me is about enough to get me lit, but if I don't keep drinking I'm sober again within an hour after I stop, and I won't have any ill effects the next morning, even if I don't drink water before bed. Five mixed drinks will have even less of an effect. Though either way, I will definitely want my coffee in the morning.)

Here's my irritation: The CNN segment is positing this as a faux-feminist ideological movement, and it makes me angry for two reasons. First, when you say "Third wave of feminism the potty-mouthed hard-drinking bad girl?", you ignore the fact that there is already a third wave of feminism out there. Second, I get really irritated when supposedly enlightened people clutch their pearls over women's behaviour, and then criticise it by saying that we're "acting like men". I'm sorry, what? If being female is intrinsically a bar to having fun, there is something hugely, hugely wrong with our society (not that that's news). I reject your attempts to impose "ladylike" behaviour on me. I will go on doing exactly what I want, and if you don't like it, fuck you.

That's just me being sensible, and feeling like I have the same rights as any other person regardless of plumbing. Which, come to think of it, is feminism.