Alcohol use, belonging and gender among young adults in rural Denmark

Abstract

On the basis of 140 qualitative in-depth interviews, this article investigates how alcohol related practices play out in the context of young people living in Rural Denmark, as well
as how their alcohol use relates to notions of gender and experiences of belonging to their rural home areas. Thus, the article illustrates how ‘place’ and ‘gender’, conceptualized as
identity-related social categories, intersect and co-constitute how young people in rural Denmark use alcohol, - and vice versa, how some forms of youth alcohol use form a (rural) everyday life practice of importance to rural youth’s locally embedded possibilities and experiences of themselves as gendered beings. The conclusion emphasizes that national discourses on ‘peripheral Denmark’ as well as structural differences between rural and urban areas are important to consider in a nuanced understanding of drinking practices among young people in rural Denmark.