Be Weary of Stats When it Comes from a Product Company

A recent study about women, alcohol and sex has been making a lot of noise on the blog and news circuit. The statistics are shocking, with such sound bites as: “75 per cent of women liked to drink before getting into bed with their husband or boyfriend, and 6 per cent had never had sex sober” among others. The lead researcher on this, Kathryn Lakeland, said the results demonstrated that women lacked confidence when it comes to getting down.
"The fact alcohol plays an integral role in their love lives shows that women are looking for a boost in self-esteem when it comes to their bedroom antics.” While I have many concerns with this result- the idea that women only drink to forget about their bodies, the lack of distinction between one drink and five and its effects on women, and so forth, what the article and all the other news reports and blogs fail to mention is the fact that this research was conducted by FemFresh, a UK based Feminine Hygiene products line. That’s right, the makers of specific soaps, wipes and sprays for women’s private areas are telling women they lack self confidence, and that is why they drink to have sex. Really? I wonder where this epidemic of women’s lack of self confidence comes from. Perhaps it is from multi-million dollar companies that profit from a culturally manufactured insecurity women have with everything associated with their bodies. Maybe it’s due to the fact that we are inundated with advertising that makes even the most confident woman want to shrink from the spotlight when she notices a little extra weight, a pimple or a wrinkle. Rather than shake our heads in disapproval of women for having a drink or two and then hooking up, perhaps we should think what is it about our culture that encourages the use of a judgement inhibitor to facilitate the act of physical intimacy.