Monday, March 3, 2008

Those nights when the toilet becomes your best friend...

There are many facebook groups that I've come across that are stupid, demeaning, and even slightly sexist. However, I've just recently stumbled upon a facebook group that made me extremely concerned.

"30 reasons girls should call it a night" has over 180,000 members. Sounds harmless, right? Kind of seems to promote stopping drinking before things get out of hand? No, on this groups page are many, many, many pictures that the girls of the group have posted of themselves or other girls puking, passed out, or just being completely stupid after drinking too much. Most of the pictures are girls passed out in positions that are extremely inappropriate and I'm sure they wouldn't want their grandmother seeing them.

This group gave me a sense that girls are no longer embarrassed by the act of drinking too much. In fact I'm almost positive they do it because they believe it's funny. I'm a college girl, and due to that am surrounded by alcohol and binge drinking. Now, I'm not making a speech against drinking. I think drinking can be a great thing if done correctly. I grew up in a house where I was allowed to have wine at dinner and possibly a beer with my dad if I asked, my senior year. I was always taught to drink in moderation and ALWAYS with a meal. I meet girls every weekend, that binge drink every weekend! I meet girls that drink too much at party's and pass out in the bathrooms, which is dangerous and they don't even know it. Alcohol isn't the problem it's the irresponsibility of the drinkers, it's these kids lack of knowledge about drinking and about how to drink. Learning how to drink may sound stupid but most college kids go out drinking to get drunk, which is a main part of the problem.

I don't know how many times Ive had to hold back some strange girls' hair and find her a safe ride home. Yet, all I think about is those girls that didn't have someone to help them, the girls that got raped and were so drunk they wake up the next morning and don't remember a thing. Educating yourself about alcohol and how much you can handle is the safest route aside from abstaining from it all together. I believe girls now days are trying to keep up with the guys and then it's all down hill from there. There should be a class everyone should have to take in high school all about alcohol and alcohol awareness. Just because the drinking age is 21 doesn't mean drinking at 18 doesn't happen, the more educated you become the less of a danger alcohol is. The media is so obsessed with educating the youth about sex but have yet to really educate them on alcohol and drinking, which is has a more deathly result then unsafe sex.