Twitter rant: why does it matter that a drunk driver was a woman?

A set of tweets I did last week on the drunk driving of Jhanvi Gadkar. 


I didn't like the way the media was reporting it at all, so I wrote down a list of things I thought were relevant or not.

The way the wind is blowing in this drunk driving case is pissing me off, so I have a few thoughts.— Meenakshi Madhavan (@reddymadhavan) June 12, 2015

1) Drunk driving is stupid, & that should be the focus of it.— Meenakshi Madhavan (@reddymadhavan) June 12, 2015

2) Not relevant: women who drink “whiskey for fun” (Why else would you drink whiskey?)— Meenakshi Madhavan (@reddymadhavan) June 12, 2015

3) Not relevant: where she went, who she saw. A drunk is a drunk is a drunk.— Meenakshi Madhavan (@reddymadhavan) June 12, 2015

4) Not relevant: the make of her car. Fools drive all sorts.— Meenakshi Madhavan (@reddymadhavan) June 12, 2015

5) Relevant: is the media going to come down harder on her for going easier on other powerful drunk drivers?— Meenakshi Madhavan (@reddymadhavan) June 12, 2015

6) Relevant: are there going to be checks in place where they matter (before someone leaves a bar, for instance)?— Meenakshi Madhavan (@reddymadhavan) June 12, 2015

7) Relevant: is it always going to be easier to bribe your way out of shit & how can we make that the harder option?— Meenakshi Madhavan (@reddymadhavan) June 12, 2015

9) Not relevant: what kind of person she is, who she works for, what she does in her spare time.— Meenakshi Madhavan (@reddymadhavan) June 12, 2015

10) Not relevant: her gender.— Meenakshi Madhavan (@reddymadhavan) June 12, 2015