Aye, it’s good,” he said, handing the goblet back. “It’s also double strength. Colum takes it at night because his legs pain him. How much of it have you had?” he asked, eyeing me narrowly.
“Two, no, three glasses,” I said, with some dignity. “Are you implying that I’m intoxicated?”
“No,” he said, brows still raised, “I’m impressed that you’re not. Most folks that drink wi’ Colum are under the table after the second glass.”
-Outlander
I don’t typically read books written specifically for a female audience.
Because they make me feel bad.
Emotionally.
For example, the above quoted scene from Outlander, where the main character holds her liquor better than most men. High five, girl power, etc, etc, etc.
But me, being a real woman in real life, can’t handle booze for the life of me. It’s a bit of a joke between my husband and me, but the one time I attempted to get drunk, I ended up hunched over the toilet pretty quick. I based this scene in The Scion Suit off of my irl experience.
And, of course, the fact that I’m usually pregnant or nursing means that I’m borderline teetotaler anyway.
Back to my point: the female characters in per se “women’s fiction” are completely and thoroughly unrelatable to me.
I don’t have any fantasies about being able to out-drink a man … I don’t understand why one would want to. I don’t want to show anyone up or cut anyone down, because, well, that’s mean. I don’t like hurting people.
I’m not ambitious, and I don’t want to slave away for the sake of some job. I like having the freedom of dressing like a hippie and going to the park on the spur of the moment. I’m terrible at handling external pressure, and numbers never meant much of anything to me.
I like the color pink.
Yet if one were to go off of books, movies, TV, video games, etc, women like me don’t exist. Wow. Fantastic. I feel so accepted.
“Target audience: women” doesn’t include me. In fact, it seems to go out of its way to deliberately exclude me.
Why am I not allowed to read about relatable female characters? Why must I always feel like society is out to punish me for not living up to its expectations? Why am I not allowed to just be myself?
Sometimes I wonder if it’s gotten to the point where most women feel alienated in one way or another.
Or maybe it’s just me.
By Autumn Rain 
And that’s why you write your own stories! I remember reading some writing advice a long time ago and it said to write what you want to see the one shelves. Unfortunately, there’s a certain gatekeeper to get to those shelves that determines what is acceptable in the book world, but at least there’s shelf-publishing these days. My biggest issue with books is why must there be so much drinking?? I’d be lucky to choke down a sip, haha.
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Ah, that gatekeeper. If only “high quality” was the criteria they were using to filter by…
Alcohol is a complicated topic. I write about drinking because I like to keep an element of realism, but that also means not portraying it as being more glamorous than it really is.
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Eh, in my reality, I know extremely few people who actually drink or enjoy drinking, so I always puzzle over how people in fantasy novels can go from drinking mug after mug of heavy spirits to being incredibly accurate when using weapons or waking up bright and bushy tailed in the morning. Then again, maybe they’re just used to it.
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The only people I personally know who don’t drink at all are mormons, and I’ve been blacklisted by them, lol.
Alcohol is definitely one of those things where the effects change based on what you’re drinking, how accustomed you are to drinking, and individual biology. I’ve put in a lot of research into the topic to maintain scientific accuracy, but I often don’t get the feeling that other writers have done the same thing.
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With how often people casually mention going out for drinks or having a glass of wine or writing while downing a bottle, I usually get the feeling the author must be writing from experience instead of research.
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