Alcoholics Anonymous (AA) is a global peer-led mutual aid fellowship begun in the United States dedicated to abstinence-based recovery from alcoholism through its spiritually inclined twelve-step program. AA's twelve traditions, besides stressing anonymity, establish it as non-professional, unaffiliated, non-denominational and apolitical with a public relations policy of attraction rather than promotion. In 2020 AA estimated a worldwide membership of over two million, with 75% of those in the US and Canada.
Sobriety token or "chip", given for specified lengths of sobriety. On the back is the Serenity Prayer. Here green is for six months of sobriety; purple is for nine months.
A regional service center for Alcoholics Anonymous
Headquarters of Alcohólicos Anónimos in Montevideo, Uruguay
Building for Spanish-speaking AA group in Westlake neighborhood, Los Angeles
Abstinence is the practice of self-enforced restraint from indulging in bodily activities that are widely experienced as giving pleasure. Most frequently, the term refers to sexual abstinence, but it can also mean abstinence from alcohol, drugs, food, or other comforts.
"Woman's Holy War. Grand Charge on the Enemy's Works". An allegorical 1874 political cartoon print, which somewhat unusually shows temperance campaigners (alcohol prohibition advocates) as virtuous armored women warriors (riding sidesaddle), wielding axes Carrie-Nation-style to destroy barrels of Beer, Whisky, Gin, Rum, Brandy, Wine and Liquors, under the banners of "In the name of God and humanity" and "Temperance League". The foremost woman bears the shield seen in the
