The word «gender» has now become a milestone in human and social sciences and its use has been pervading in mass media and amongst the general public for some years. However, its different uses vary and obscure its meaning. There are two ways of looking at the idea of gender: the first one focusses on social differences between men and women, the second one on the hierarchy between two sexual groups. This text shows how these two ways of conceptualising gender can serve as a key to understand a phenomenon such as alcohol consumption. First, it examines the interactions between alcohol consumption and violence against people and then, between alcohol consumption and road accidents.