Literotica is 22% Women (plus other stats)

[Comshaw]

It's all 50 states now. It's an interesting history.

In 1971 the 26th Amendment to the US Constitution lowered the national voting age to 18. At that time, a few states had drinking ages under 21, some allowed 18/19 year olds beer and wine only, others were open. My native state never had nor ever will go under 21.

Through the 1970s, a number of additional states lowered their drinking ages to 18 or 19. For my youth, that a neighboring state did this led to various interesting occurrences.[1] But it was only slightly over half of the states that had drinking ages under 21.

That said, the fact that Americans are unable to do anything moderately, there was a claimed uptick in drunk driving accidents amongst the 'young'. A constant drumbeat finally resulted in the passage of the National Minimum Drinking Age Act in 1984. Now... something like regulation of drinking ages is one of the things devolved to the states, this federal law couldn't actually raise the drinking ages.

Instead, it told the states that if you didn't raise your drinking ages to 21 by October, 1986, the state would lose federal highway funds. "Really nice roads ya got in your state, be a shame anything happened to them..." A few states kicked and screamed, but eventually all of them conformed by 1988.[2]

[1] In my youth, my state's Highway Patrol would sit at the border to a state that had an 18 year drinking age. They'd look for two sorts. Obviously drunk drivers (weaving, etc.) And cars full of 'young' people. The first they'd pull over for the usual. The latter they'd pull over for, oh, "looks like your taillight is out" or "didn't signal lane change." Then... they'd insist on checking the trunk (boot) and if they found, as they hoped, a few cases of beer, they wouldn't arrest anyone. They'd make the folks in the car pour it all out. Then say "have a nice day."

[2] Prior to the 1980s, US military bases in the US allowed 18 year old soldiers to drink. But, like the broader society, that was upped through the decade to 21. US military bases outside of the US generally follow local age laws but local commanders can decide to limit to 21.

There was a reason for the push to allow 18 YO's to vote and to drink. At the time the draft was taking 18 YO's and sending them over to get their asses shot off in southeast Asia. People saw it as only right if they could fight and die then they should be able to vote and drink.

Personally I don't disagree with the 21 YO drinking age. I don't think young people that age are mature enough (hell some of us ain't mature enough at 30 ) to drink. BUT I also believe no young person should be drafted OR allowed to join the military until they are 21 either. If you're going to ask them to fight and die for you, you should allow them equality of status. I felt that way in 1970 when they drafted me and I still feel that way. Anything else is being a hypocrite.

According to my dad, when he was a kid, women in Oklahoma over 18 but under 21 could buy beer. Guys of the same age range could not. Also, Oklahoma was wet by county, with many counties being dry. Moonshining was an old and honored tradition in the southeastern part of the state. Rumors abounded that much of the bourbon sold in Chicago, by none other than Al Capone, was purchased in Oklahoma. Aged in the barrel, just like Kentucky and Tennesee.

Yeah. My family is from Oklahoma, Muskogee to be exact. My grandfather was bootlegger who made whiskey in Oklahoma and ran it to Chicago. From him and my grandmother I learned he made a thousand dollars a week and in those times that was some really good money. Unfortunately I also learned from my grandmother that my granddad would spend the majority of that cash in Chicago partying and gambling. My grandmother mean wile stayed home taking care of 8 kids on what ever she could earn washing clothes and selling produce out of her garden and eggs from her hen house. Bootlegging (at least how it was done by my ancestor) wasn't a romantic thing like in the movies.

Comshaw

 

[KeithD]

That's a shame. Maybe we can do it again, with the rules clearly established that it's to meet other writers, not have an orgy. I mean, we're all adults here, and understand that Yes Means Yes and No Means No, and not have hard feelings either way.

I didn't regret when they stopped. They brought an inner clique to the AH with its secret handshakes and discussions.

 

[Beholders_Eye]

The 22-percent sounds about right to me, at least in the forums. The writing side? Doesn't matter. The chat room are heavily populated with fake accounts, bots, posers etc. Here, I can usually tell when a "woman" is really a guy. I think most of us can.

I agree. Something around 15-25% is my unscientific sense of females (somewhere) on Lit. Even allowing for those faking their gender. And I agree that you can often (but not always) tell if someone is faking it. This is especially true in the chat rooms. YMMV...

 

[PennameWombat]

Yeah. My family is from Oklahoma, Muskogee to be exact. My grandfather was bootlegger who made whiskey in Oklahoma and ran it to Chicago. From him and my grandmother I learned he made a thousand dollars a week and in those times that was some really good money. Unfortunately I also learned from my grandmother that my granddad would spend the majority of that cash in Chicago partying and gambling. My grandmother mean wile stayed home taking care of 8 kids on what ever she could earn washing clothes and selling produce out of her garden and eggs from her hen house. Bootlegging (at least how it was done by my ancestor) wasn't a romantic thing like in the movies.

Comshaw

My maternal grandfather was a bootlegger of much lower profile. No one in the family seemed to know about it, but in 1924 (his oldest child at that time was seven and the youngest was three) he was busted with a still. My niece was doing some genealogy checking and came across a newspaper article. Apparently he’d dug a pit beneath the pig pen and had a trap door. The article claimed they seized a still, fifty gallons of liquor and some barrels of fermenting mash. We assume he was selling it around the area (the area is suburban today, but at the time was quite rural). He apparently gave up the bootlegging (well, kinda) and neither he nor my grandmother ever spoke of the arrest . He apparently didn’t do jail time, but most everyone who might’ve known the full, real story is reachable only via seance.

At some point he sorta went back to it and started making his own wine (well, he was Italian). But that ended (in the early 1960s) when the vent hole on a wooden cask he was fermenting a batch in plugged up and it exploded. It was in the basement room where my grandmother stored all of her bottled preserves. Many were broken and any that weren’t were covered with must . She barred him making more wine.

For the non-Americans… Prohibition came into effect in in 1919, with the 18th Amendment to the US Constitution. It was finally repealed in 1933 by the 21st Amendment, but home brewing and wine making weren’t included. Thus, making your own beer, wine or mead for personal use remained illegal at a federal level until 1979. Most states quickly followed suit with beer, but a few continued to bar home wine making up through 2013. You’re limited to 100 gallons per each adult in a household. You can’t sell homemade wine or beer or mead (you can give it away or share it) and you don’t have to pay excise taxes on it.

But even today, home distilling spirits remains strictly against the law in the US. It’s not illegal to own a still, and it’s not illegal to distill alcohol to use for fuel… but it’s illegal to distill it for drinking.