Reformers to Recovery Memoirists: Women and Alcohol in the 20th Century United States

Reformers to Recovery Memoirists: Women and Alcohol in the 20^th Century United States 

Historically, and at present, representations of alcoholics and addicts have been gendered, classed, and racialized to project an image of certain types of substance abusers while rendering others invisible. Arguably, during the long 20th century the “least likely” alcoholic in the collective imaginary was a white, middle-class, well-educated woman. In the early part of the century this was because such women claimed a public political presence as reformers who cast their gaze on the drinking habits of working-class, immigrant, and African American men. In sum, these women worked to address the deleterious drinking behaviors of others; they were interpreted (and understood themselves) as crusaders not tipplers and certainly not as problem drinkers. By the end of the 20^th century, however, one of the most public avowals of addiction occurred in the recovery memoir—a genre dominated by precisely that “unlikely” aforementioned demographic. This paper explores the ways in which various stake holders gendered alcoholism over the 20^th century and to what effect; examines how the United States transitioned from a culture that could not conceive of women drinkers to one that supports a robust literary genre dedicated to this reality; and argues that despite significant transformations in how alcoholic women are perceived, centuries-old stereotypes still inform their experiences.