'I don't think there are great sex differences there': Processes of discursive bridging and othering in a discussion of gendered norms related to alcohol, sexual behaviour, and aggression

Abstract

Background: Existing research indicates that sexual behaviour and aggression are particularly important to the reproduction of gendered drinking norms, both in the media and in face-to-face interaction. However, research has yet to understand in more detail the discursive processes whereby actors negotiate gendered norms related to alcohol, sexual behaviour, and aggression. This article examines how actors make symbolic distinctions between themselves and others in discussing alcohol, aggression, and sexual desire, and analyses the similarities and differences within and across gender that they identify in this process.

Methods: The study relies on individual qualitative interviews with 25 Swedish women and men. To elicit participants' normative positions, we used a newspaper article as a probe during the interviews.

Results: Findings show that participants highlight similarities between women and men, and variation and individual differences among men and among women in discussing alcohol's effects on sexual desire and 'sexually active behaviour'. Differences, by contrast, are most salient when they discuss alcohol and aggression and seek to distance themselves from 'shabby bar men', rural men, and male football hooligans who drink and fight, outgroups that are marked as working-class in the participants' narratives.

Conclusion: Two general discursive patterns were identified: discursive bridging across gender and discursive othering across class. For the participants, drinking norms are not as much about general gender differences as they are about the 'dysfunctional' drinking of certain groups of working-class men. These findings contribute to a more specific understanding of the reconstitution of gender boundaries in relation to drinking norms.

Keywords: Bridging; Drinking norms; Gender; Media; Othering; Symbolic boundaries.