The Price of Eternal Vigilance: Women and Intoxication

Abstract

The Price of Eternal Vigilance: Women and Intoxication by Michelle McClellan. The author argues that the “cultural meaning of intoxication is shaped profoundly by the reality that we seem to only hear about it from women who have given it up.” This is a problem when it obscures the reasons why women seek out alcohol. Resisting the seemingly inevitable trajectory of addiction and recovery narratives, McClellan introduces the concepts of “dry” and “wet” feminism to draw attention to both the cultural expectations women face and the ways that intoxication might serve as a form of resistance. By refusing to see intoxication as a sort of false consciousness from which women must awake, McClellan demonstrates that it reflects female ambivalence about mothering, sexuality, and pleasure itself.

Keywords

• women
• intoxication
• wet feminism
• alcohol
• cultural expectations