Podcast Episode Details

How Big Alcohol Hijacked the Feminist Movement - with Ann Dowsett Johnston

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Episode 78

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Tribe Sober - inspiring an alcohol-free life!

When I was contemplating sobriety I read a couple of books that really resonated with me – one was Caroline Knapp: Drinking a Love Story and the other one was Drink: The Intimate Relationship Between Women and Alcohol 

That book was published back in 2013 and it was a book that predicted the huge rise in risky drinking for women – a prediction that sadly has come true.

In her book Ann skilfully combines in-depth research with her own moving story of alcohol abuse.

She highlights the positive fact that women have closed the gender gap in their professional and educational lives BUT they have also achieved equality with men by drinking at unhealthy levels.

Unfortunately our bodies are not equal to a man’s body when it comes to metabolising alcohol – we get dependent quicker and it damages our health to a higher degree.

Ann explains how the alcohol industry had been ruthlessly targeting women for the last two decades – and how successful they have been

In this episode

• Anns drinking became problematic as she hit menopause – her son was going off to college and she had empty nest syndrome.
• She became depressed but didn’t want anti depressants (as her mom had fallen prey to the combination of cocktails and Valium) so she started to rely on wine to “take the edge off”
• In her 50’s Ann became so worried about her drinking that she took herself off to rehab. However it didn’t work. 
• Leaving rehab she had no idea how to navigate normal life and we agreed that this is a “missing piece” in some rehabs.
• She found herself sneaking drinks for 3 months and then began to feel suicidal – her ex husband suggested a meeting which was the beginning of her recovery
• For Ann her recovery meant she had to unpick her life and rebuild it so that it didn’t involve alcohol – this took years and year one was particularly hard.
• This got me reflecting on our Tribe Sober community. We sometimes get people saying "I haven’t had a drink for 2 weeks – why do I still feel rubbish?!"
• When we embark on this life changing journey I think we have to be patient and play the long game –  listen to Tribe Sober podcast number 61 and you will hear Dr Dawn explain that for every year that we drank we should allow a month of recovery.
• What I’ve observed after helping hundreds of people to get sober is that it takes a year for sobriety to stick – 6 months of focusing on changing your behaviour so that you no longer drink, followed by 6 months of reconfiguring your life so that you can create a life you don’t want to escape from.
• As we always say you have to “throw the book at it” and give it your all – you heard Ann say that this journey is not for the faint hearted but the rewards are huge and the rest of your life will be healthier and happier – you know you’re worth it (as the hair colour ad used to say!)
• We talked about my decade of moderation and Anne reminded me that in Caroline Knapps book she says that the average period of “negotiation” we do is about 12 years. There has been a more recent study by the Tempest that says that it usually takes someone about 11 years between recognising that they have a problem with alcohol and reaching out for help
• This is where the power of community comes in – if I had been in a sober community when I was trying (and failing) to moderate my drinking, they would have told me to stop wasting my time trying to control and addictive substance. 
• Of course now I know that once we have crossed a line with our drinking there is no going back – we just have to ditch the stuff and learn how to thrive in our alcohol free lives.
• So if you are in that period of “negotiation”, setting rules, tryin

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  Published on 3 years, 11 months ago