Women And Smoking - Health Links - 1/1/2003 - Health Asbestos Asbestosis Mesothelioma Lung Cancer

Women And Smoking

For many decades, tobacco companies have attempted to lure new female customers by associating smoking with a woman's independence and sophistication. Advertising campaigns such as Virginia Slims' "You've come a long way, baby" and the new "It's a woman thing" have presented smoking as signs of freedom and individuality. As early as 1916, Atlantic Monthly declared the cigarette "the symbol of emancipation, the temporary substitute for the ballot." ¹ Despite the now widely-known health risks-- including cancer, emphysema, heart disease, stroke, chronic bronchitis, low infant birth weight, and sudden infant death syndrome-- 22.7 million American women still smoke. ² 

In recent years, the glamour and independence once associated with cigarettes have been extended to cigars, which are now also considered symbols of power and social status. It is not uncommon to see lead female characters puffing on cigars, both in movies and on television. A growing number of these actors-- as well as fashion models and other celebrities-- have also taken up cigar smoking in real life, and are shown proudly smoking in magazines and on posters. This glamorization of cigars has exploded the habit, once limited primarily to wealthy men, into a trendy social activity, which sometimes takes place in private smoking clubs. 

Increasing numbers of girls are also becoming addicted to cigarette and cigar smoking. While massive public education efforts in the 1980s helped decrease the number of new smokers from their peak levels in the late 1970s, the number of teenagers smoking today is again on the rise. In 1996, more than one in five 8th-grade girls (21%) in America smoked, ³ while the proportion of 12th-graders who disapprove of smoking is at its lowest level since 1978. ⁴ Many believe the high percentage of underage female smokers is linked to the large number of popular young female celebrities smoking onscreen, new tobacco marketing campaigns (cigarette advertising is twice as influential to teens as peer pressure ⁵ ), and tobacco company promotional activities. 

One such promotion took place in early 1997 when Philip Morris, the world's largest cigarette maker, created its own record label, called Woman Thing Music (named after its Virginia Slims ad slogan). The company intended to launch new female performers by underwriting their albums and sponsoring live performances. CDs were available only with the purchase of two packs of cigarettes. ⁶ Many critics saw this promotion as an attempt to attract new underage female smokers. Due perhaps to public pressure and new FDA rules limiting tobacco marketing and promotion, Woman Thing Music CDs are no longer available. 

Smoking and Women's Health 

• Each year, cigarettes kill over 400,000 Americans, more people than are killed by AIDS, alcohol, car accidents, murders, illegal drugs, suicides and fires, combined. ⁷ Half of all women who smoke will die from tobacco-related causes. ⁸ 
• Since 1986, more women have died each year from lung cancer than from breast cancer. ⁹ 
• On average, a smoker loses 15 years of life. ¹⁰ 
• Death from tobacco-related illnesses is higher among black women than white women. ¹¹ 
• Despite the high risk of low birth weight and infant mortality, 20.4% of women smoke during pregnancy. ¹² 
• Smoking may cause infertility, early menopause, and increase a woman's risk of osteoporosis. ¹³ 
• Smokers are more likely than non-smokers to be heavy drinkers and illicit-drug users. ¹⁴ 
• Cancer death rates among cigar smokers are 34% higher than among nonsmokers. Cigar smokers have higher death rates from chronic obstructive pulmonary disease and are four to ten times more likely to die from laryngeal, oral and esophageal cancers than are nonsmokers. ¹⁵ 
• Secondhand smoke from cigars pose the same hazards as secondhand cigarette smoke. ¹⁶ 
• Among adolescents, smoking is most prevalent in white females (39.8% are current users) and least prevalent among black females (12.2% are current users). ¹⁷ 
• Among white teens who smoke, girls are three times likelier than boys to smoke to reduce their appetite. Women who smoke are more than twice as likely as men to cite weight concerns as a reason not to quit. ¹⁸ 
• Over time, "smoker's face"--including wrinkles and grayish skin--can be found among 46% of smokers. ¹⁹ 

Following are several examples of attempts made by tobacco companies to attract new female smokers: 

1880s: The Kimball Tobacco Company sells the first cigarettes marketed to women. The perfumed Satin Straight Cuts, sold in small satin drawstring purses, fail due to society's disapproval of female smokers. ²⁰ 

Early 1900s: Tobacco poster art begins to depict women smoking--"but only scantily clad, dark, 'exotic' women." ²¹ 

1920s: Trying to attract new female customers, tobacco companies suggest a link between smoking and thinness. Cigarette ads featuring slender young models suggest, "Reach for a Lucky instead of a sweet." Lucky Strike sales triple within a year. ²² 

1928: Pilot Amelia Earhart, a nonsmoker, protests the use of her image in Lucky Strike ads which imply that she smoked Luckys during her transatlantic voyage. ²³ 

1952: A cigarette filter is invented in response to public concern over the health effects of smoking. The new, filtered Kent is marketed specifically to women. "The Greatest Health Protection in Cigarette History" is made partly out of a form of asbestos. ²⁴ 

1967: The first attempt to market king-length cigarettes to women fails when the American Tobacco Company advertises its new Silva Thins with the slogan: "Cigarettes are like girls. The best ones are thin and rich." ²⁵ 

1968: Philip Morris introduces Virginia Slims cigarettes and its "You've come a long way, baby" campaign. Within six years the percentage of teen girls smoking has doubled. ²⁶ 

1997: FDA rules go into effect to restrict access to and reduce the appeal of tobacco products for children and adolescents. These include prohibiting sales to children and adolescents under age 18, and limiting a wide range of tobacco marketing activities. ²⁷ 

Suggested Citation: 

Women and Smoking . 1997. Issue Briefs. Studio City, Calif.: Mediascope Press. 

References: 

1. Lerner, S., "Tobacco Stains," Ms. , November/December 1996. 
2. Doheny, K. "The Cold, Hard Facts: Who Smokes and Who Gets Hooked? What Are the Health Risks and Who Wants to Quit?" Los Angeles Times , September 18, 1996. 
3. Johnston, L., et al., Cigarette smoking continues to rise among American teenagers , University of Michigan, 1996. 
4. Ibid. 
5. Influence of Tobacco Marketing and Exposure to Smokers on Adolescent Susceptibility to Smoking , Journal of the National Cancer Institute, October, 1995. 
6. Farley, C.J., "C'mon, Baby, Light My Fire," Time , January 27, 1997. 
7. Growing Up Tobacco Free: Preventing Nicotine Addiction in Children and Youths , Institute of Medicine, 1994. 
8. Substance Abuse and the American Woman . The National Center on Addiction and Substance Abuse at Columbia University (CASA), 1996. 
9. Substance Abuse and the American Woman . op. cit. 
10. Doheny, K. op. cit. 
11. Substance Abuse and the American Woman . op. cit. 
12. Ibid. 
13. Ibid. 
14. Doheny, K. op. cit. 
15. The American Lung Association, The American Lung Association's Myths On Cigar , Press Release, May 9, 1996. 
16. Cosin, E.M. "Cigar chic clouds tobacco debate," Daily News , October 7, 1996. 
17. Ozer, E. M., et al., America's Adolescents: Are They Healthy? San Francisco, CA: University of California, San Francisco, National Adolescent Health Information Center, 1997. 
18. Substance Abuse and the American Woman . op. cit. 
19. Ibid. 
20. Lerner, S. op. cit. 
21. Ibid. 
22. Ibid. 
23. Ibid. 
24. Ibid. 
25. Ibid. 
26. Ibid. 
27. Reducing Children's Use of Tobacco: A Chronology , fact sheet, Washington, D.C.: Department of Health and Human Services, August 23, 1996.