U of M researcher to take closer look at ‘wine mom’ culture

A glass of wine is poured at a vineyard in Chile on Jan. 25, 2014. (THE CANADIAN PRESS/AP, Luis Hidalgo)

It has become a common trope in films, TV shows, décor and even fashion.

A mother, dealing with the stress of parenting, opens a bottle of wine, pours a glass and gulps it down. Sometimes, she’s alone. Sometimes, she is with friends.

A search of the online marketplaces for “Wine Mom” reveals T-shirts, glasses and plaques emblazoned with “They whine. I Wine.”

There are even onesies for infants declaring, “I’m the reason mommy drinks.”

Now, a University of Manitoba professor is taking a closer look at “Wine mom culture” and seeing what impact it has had on alcohol use among women.

Natalie Riediger is an associate professor in the department of food and nutritional science. She said the term celebrates the acceptance of using alcohol to cope with parenting and life struggles.

“I’ve kind of always been interested in studying beverages from a public health perspective, because we’re kind of preoccupied with beverages in public health,” said Riediger. “I’m a mom myself, so I’ve seen the memes and wine mom culture circulating on social media. And I guess my interest really kind of started during the pandemic and the post-pandemic period.

“When the conversation around wine moms was starting to change, I thought it really deserved some attention and research.”

“It did initially have more of this celebratory, humorous tone; it wasn’t critiqued initially, and now I would say it’s more critiqued as potentially contributing to the normalization of drinking or might be seen or framed as promoting alcohol use.”

Dr. Erin Knight, an addictions physician in Winnipeg, said there is a risk with normalizing excessive alcohol use.

“We already see really substantial alcohol-related harms, and it’s already fairly well normalized within our society,” she said. “So, further increasing the acceptability of regular alcohol use had some risks in terms of making people not realize the risks, or underplaying the risks associated with alcohol use.”

In 2023, The Canadian Centre on Substance Use and Addiction released new guidelines on alcohol consumption. It said no amount of alcohol consumption is safe, changing its definition of low-risk alcohol consumption from two drinks a day down to two drinks per week. The centre said increased use of alcohol leads to increased rates of cardiovascular disease and hypertension, along with liver disease.

Although Statistics Canada data from 2023 showed men drinking more than women, Knight noted that more women were seeking treatment for alcohol-related harms during the pandemic and after. She added a worsening of alcohol-related liver disease in women was also observed, as women process alcohol differently compared to men.

“That’s one of the concerning trends we’re seeing,” she said.

Riediger said the study will examine how the discussion and framing around the culture has changed.

“We’re really looking to kind of understand wine mom culture in its fulsomeness,” Riediger said. “Why and how did it resonate with mothers initially, and how does that actually relate or influence mothers’ drinking?”

The study will gather data over the next five years, Riediger said.