By Jess McCabe | 9 December 2006, 00:31

The BBC has chosen to publish yet another one of those hand-wringing features about how women are getting “lashed”.

Usually, these stories have some sort of news hook to them: at the very least, someone has done a report of more or less value. Not this time, though.

I could do a long analysis of why this story is so ridiculous, but I thought it would make the point better to put it through regender.com:

The days of men quietly sipping a gin and bitter lemon in the pub while the women knocked back pints are long gone. Men are drinking more, and getting violent with it.

Kirk Mark is bright, attractive and eloquent. He wants to study to be an underwater diving photographer. He is also on probation for ABH - actual bodily harm - after he rammed a bottle into a boy’s face.

And later…

It is not just that more men are drinking more; the liquor industry is courting the male pound with a vengeance, designing drinks and venues specifically to appeal to men and their increasing disposable income.

The now ubiquitous All Bar One chain was among the first, opening in Sutton, south London, in 1994. Two men came up with the concept for the Mitchells and Butlers Brewery - they wanted somewhere they’d feel comfortable going on their own. …

With more men in employment, there’s money to spend on going out for a good time. But that good time can fast turn sour, as Nathan, a 25-year-old father of one, can attest. He lost an eye when a drunk man threw a pint glass at him. A two-inch shard punctured his eyeball.

It’s not that this behavior is anything particularly brilliant. But you’d never see an article about male drinking framed this way.