Everybody else does it: Young British women, safety and risk

In a society characterised by global threats as well as individualised risks, why would young British women apparently court personal risk and ignore their individual safety by drinking to excess? Young women in a town in the north of England explored their personal ideas of safety and risk with a youth worker with whom they were well acquainted. Their apparently careless behaviours around alcohol actually were undertaken with practical safety measures in place. Moreover, the young women’s notions of safety included the need for a sense of security at home, suggesting the need for a secure base from to support risk taking outside the home. It is argued that their precautions helped to transform apparently negative risk taking outside the home into a more positive activity, notwithstanding long-term health implications.