Alcohol is For the Big Boys

A phenomenon that appears in many different cultures is a rite of passage.  A rite of passage is a ceremony, event, act, etc. that marks an individual’s passage to a stage of life (such as adulthood) or received status in a community; for example, a ‘boy’ is given a task to complete in order to become a ‘man’.  Specific examples are the Jewish Bah Mitzvah and the Spanish Quinceañera (which I myself have done).  Dr. Michael Kimmel wrote in his book, “Guyland”, that an informally established rite of passage for college males is binge drinking (Kimmel, 2009, p. 97).  So how did Dr. Kimmel come to this conclusion?? Now, I should say that Dr. Kimmel is a sociologist, but his research can still be looked at with an anthropological point of view.  So now let’s go through his process.

First, he had to choose a phenomenon to research and pick a community.  Dr. Kimmel chose the phenomenon of binge drinking among the college age community, and more specifically, among males ages 16-26.  Dr. Kimmel’s next step was to plan out his research.  He travelled throughout the United States for four years, interviewing nearly 400 males ages 16-26; he also researched through several surveys.  In his book, Dr. Kimmel adds various stories that he gathered from his interviews.  Some stories consist of a 21^st birthday and ‘stumbling’ out of a bar (Kimmel, 2009, p. 95).  Other stories consist of fraternity hazing rituals coupled with binge drinking and vomiting pledges (Kimmel et al.).  These stories I have gathered from my own interviews and observations:

•        I asked a friend how his 21^st birthday went; his birthday just happened to be about four days ago.  He starts off the story, “Well, I blacked out at around 11:45.”  With this first sentence I can see that the importance of his story is placed on when he had already had too much to drink.  “I left the bar and walked around to this parking lot.” We are driving at this time and he is pointing to a parking lot near another bar.  “I remember I had to pee right here, and there was a cop close by, just staring at me.  After I peed, we went back into another bar.  ------ paid for all of my drinks.  He spent about $300 that night.”

•       A week or two after my own 21^st birthday, a few friends of mine took me to a bar.  Later that night, one of my male friend’s went to use the restroom.  He immediately came out and said, “Dude, there is someone puking in the sink.  I think it’s his 21^st birthday because some guys are in there with him.”  A few minutes later, the entire crew gathers their friend and carries him out; he is unconscious, his feet dragging on the floor.  “This baby can’t hold his liquor.  He ain’t a man yet.”

These stories all have a common theme: only a man drinks alcohol.  It is because of the recurring theme that Dr. Kimmel came to his conclusion: binge drinking is a rite of passage for young males to display their masculinity.

Resources:

Kimmel, M. (2009). Guyland. New York: HarperCollins Publishers. (Original work 
     published 2008)

For more about Dr. Michael Kimmel and his book “Guyland”, click here!