Kareem Abdul-Jabbar criticizes Hollywood for Glamorising Binge-drinking in Women

Kareem Abdul-Jabbar

Kareem Abdul-Jabbar‘s latest column on The Hollywood Reporter examines the portrayal of women in Hollywood lately.

Kareem complains that Hollywood’s portrayal of the modern woman involves too much drinking, citing movies that “feature women for whom alcohol is the obligatory catalyst to fun.”

He says, “Relax. This isn’t about booze-shaming or bringing back Tommy gun Prohibition. It’s about how, in the guise of empowerment — ‘Look, everyone, girls can drink just as hard and act just as stupid as guys’ — women are more consistently being portrayed as insecure and needy.”

He complains that this portrayal leads to destructive behavior that may even lead to death.

He concludes that, “It’s not that we can’t depict women drinking; it’s that we shouldn’t always associate their drinking with emergency stress relief or the sole gateway to being fun. This infantilizes them, implying they are incapable of dealing with life’s challenges as rational adults. Yes, they should eat, drink and be merry — just don’t have them drink because that’s the only way they can be merry.”

You can read the column HERE.

Photo Credit: Jamie McCarthy/Getty Images for TNT