Mother’s Ruin

Since the popularity of gin rose in the 17th century, when reduced taxes meant that women could drink alongside men, gin has always been a woman’s drink. Hogarth captured this in his engravings featuring women neglecting their maternal duties, hence the nickname for gin ‘Mother’s Ruin’. There has always been a double standard about women enjoying a drink. You could say that moral panic, gin and feminism go together: American evangelist Pat Robertson once said that feminism