Panel discusses consequences for women who drink heavily

By Courtney Crimmins

For the Daily

Remembering her own college days, Carol Boyd does not preach abstinence from drinking. But Boyd, the director of the University's Substance Abuse Center, says "moderation, moderation, moderation" is the key to avoid the harmful consequences that women could face after drinking.

"The correlation between drinking and sexual harassment with women is that they are placing themselves in a position without power," Boyd said yesterday at a panel discussion about women's health.

Researchers in the past, Boyd said, have been reluctant to tie sexual assault with the presence of alcohol for fear it will take away from the act, but she said it "is important because of the heavy correlation." But she also cautions that there is a difference between "relationships and causations."

"You can't have drunk driving without alcohol but you can have assault without alcohol," Boyd said.

The discussion, titled "What's Hot and What Should Be in Women's Health Research," was held in the East Conference Room of the Rackham Building. The panel was hosted in celebration of the opening of Lane Hall, the newly renovated home of the women's studies department and the Institute for Research on Women and Gender.

The panel consisted of three specialists in the field of gender studies: Boyd, obstetrics and gynecology department Chair Timothy Johnson and psychology Prof. Susan Nolen-Hoeksema.

Abigail Stewart, director of the IRWG, said the goal of the panel was "to give students specific knowledge of the issues out there and to help them feel emboldened to ask the questions that matter."

Boyd presented information about binge drinking and its negative consequences for women.

"The more a student drinks, the more likely they are to suffer the negative consequences associated with drinking such as hangovers, drunk driving, disrupted studies and sleep and sexual assault," she said.

The University-sponsored Student Life Survey polled 2,041 undergraduate students in 1999 with the intent to find the attitudes and behaviors toward drug use.

The study found that most female students on campus were not binge drinkers but those involved in a sorority were more likely to drink and use drugs.

Of female binge drinkers, 48 percent had driven drunk in the previous year, 19 percent were harassed or molested, 14 percent were injured and 2 percent had considered suicide.

The study defines binge drinking as having four or more drinks in a row for women and five or more drinks in a row for men occurring once or twice in the previous two weeks.

"The survey is not inclusive of all victims and perpetrators of assault," said Sean McCabe, a research fellow in the Substance Abuse Center, but is merely highlighting one of the possible negative consequences involved in drinking for women.

In terms of education, Rackham student Zaje Harrell, a fellow of Boyd's, said the point of the survey was for women to be aware of "the issues around sexual assault and drunk driving and the implications and threats to the body associated with risky behavior."