“Teenage Girls Say They Drink for Vibes. But the Morning After Costs More Than a Hangover”
Bhekisisa Centre for Health Journalism reports:
“The girls and women we spoke with told us how alcohol is woven into the fabric of everyday life, from funerals and traditional ceremonies to Friday nights at the tavern. Many say their generation drinks more than adults and that bingeing has become “fashion” and “trendy”, especially for young women. Yet along with the “vibes”, drinking comes with headaches, liver pain, crushing regret, missed school and even financial debt.”
Other Articles on Same Topic
- Poll: teen alcohol use is spiralling – are we failing our youth? (TimesLive)
Assessment
The Bhekisisa feature, authored by socio-behavioural researcher Zoe Duby of the South African Medical Research Council, is based on qualitative interviews conducted in isiZulu, Sesotho, Setswana, Afrikaans, isiXhosa, and English. What emerges is an intimate portrait of how alcohol use among young South African women has become normalised – even expected – and how social and economic pressures sustain that cycle. The research describes young women who experience hangovers, liver pain, regret, missed school, and financial debt, yet continue to use alcohol because abstaining carries a social cost.
The alcohol availability dimension is striking. Girls in the study describe taverns, shebeens, and liquor shops as a short walk away, with age limit signs serving as little more than decoration. This underscores the case for common-sense limits on alcohol availability – one of the WHO’s recommended best buys. South Africa’s ongoing debates around trading hours, outlet density, and the recently published budget’s below-inflation alcohol excise tax adjustment all bear directly on alcohol availability, affordability, and appeal to youth in South Africa.
Research consistently shows that alcohol harm among women is rising globally, and young women face unique social vulnerabilities. When alcohol use becomes a prerequisite for social belonging – as this research documents – it is clearly no matter of individual decisions. It reflects social norms, conditions, and environments shaped by decades of alcohol marketing that has systematically normalised alcohol use as part of feminine identity and social participation.
This research underscores the urgency of policy action to promote the health and rights of women and girls – and makes the 2026 budget’s inflation-only alcohol excise tax increases all the more disappointing.
When young women describe taverns and shebeens as a short walk away with age limits routinely ignored, the case for population-level measures is clear: above-inflation pro-health taxes that reduce affordability, comprehensive advertising bans, and enforcement of existing age-of-purchase laws would protect and promote the health and rights of women and girls.