According to "Generations" by William Strauss and Neil Howe, Prohibition was pushed through in the U.S. by an unlikely "out" coalition of social reformers, agrarian interests, and women. (The 18th and 19th Amendments came close together.) They formed a "majority," but it was as "non-mainstream" a majority as one can get.

Prior to Prohibition, American women drank a lot less than American men, which is why Prohibition was seen (and sold) as "protecting women." But it led to furtive drinking in "speakeasies" (rather than saloons), by "mixed" company. Prohibition was repealed when women got accustomed to drinking, undermining its core constituency.

According to "Generations" by William Strauss and Neil Howe, Prohibition was pushed through in the U.S. by an unlikely "out" coalition of social reformers, agrarian interests, and women. (The 18th and 19th Amendments came close together.) They formed a "majority," but it was as "non-mainstream" a majority as one can get. Prohibition barely passed.

Prior to Prohibition, American women drank a lot less than American men, which is why Prohibition was seen (and sold) as "protecting women." But it led to furtive drinking in "speakeasies" (rather than saloons), by "mixed" company. (Women originally went to speakeasies as "chaperones" so if a man was with a woman, the presumption was that he wasn't drinking, even though he was.) Prohibition was repealed when women got accustomed to drinking, undermining its core constituency.