Morning:
9°c
Poster warning for women who binge drink
Sophie Goodchild, Health Editor03.06.08
Women in London are being warned that binge-drinking will destroy their looks for good.
A new poster campaign launched today on the Underground depicts a woman with saggy skin and a blotchy nose. It carries the message: "If you drink like a man you might end up looking like one."
The aim is to appeal to women through their vanity by showing they risk bad skin, premature ageing and weight gain if they drink excessively.
The campaign has been devised by the Drug and Alcohol Service for London. Research by the charity revealed that two out of five women are worried about the physical impact of drink and only a third about health risks.
The Government has already launched its own £10million campaign to increase awareness about excessive drinking, which includes warnings to young women about the link between alcohol abuse and breast cancer. But alcohol service campaign spokesman Harrinder Dhillon said: "Women are clearly not reacting to the health warnings and drinking among females is getting worse year on year.
"Despite understanding the health dangers related to drinking, liver or heart disease seems a long way off. Our campaign strikes a chord with every woman around the country."
The service's research found that two out of five women felt getting fat would stop them from drinking too much compared with a third concerned about heart disease. Official figures show the number of women dying from alcohol abuse has nearly doubled over a decade.
Reader views (3)
The pendulum will eventually swing back to the middle and moderation will regain the important role in people's lives that it should. We as a global society will need to get past the excesses that have come to define equality. If we don't, we only leave a legacy of destruction (of our selves and of the planet) to future generations.
- Marie Nubia-Feliciano, Irvine, CA
So effeminate men should drink more!
- Tom, Watford
Drinking among women is increasing. Liberation did not create a picture of a successful and calm reassured female. With stress, family to raise and climbing the corporate ladder women drink more and too much . Taking the size and weight women also can drink much less before being inebriated. Its not relieving stress but in the long term leads to to more anger , stress , addiction, and problems at work and personal ones. University educated women drink, work hard , live hard and drink too much. Being now retired I experienced the failures, disasters , emotional problems , mistakes among nurses and female doctors. Sad picture and as the poster revealed destruction of femininity, beauty, and looks. They really look masculine, skin and face carries the stigma of drinking I was almost always able to see excesses in drinking and smoking and all the time it looked , sounded sad and ugly. With age it also carried an increasing load of medical problems. The most important ; it does not help sadness, depression,it increases it. If you cannot enjoy life and have a good time without a drink seek help . And about Young people- youth has it faults , mistakes, trespassings that with age change, improve , disappear, but not always and the not so young at later date carry it into their professional and personal life .The young drink too much and we as society do not oppose it enough.
- Joanna T Kawecki, orlando, USA
