Neither Villain nor Victim: Empowerment and Agency among Women Substance Abusers
Female drug addicts are often stereotyped either as promiscuous, lazy, and selfish, or as weak, scared, and trapped into addiction. These depictions typify the "pathology and powerlessness" narrative that has historically characterized popular and academic conversations about female substance abusers. Neither Villain Nor Victim attempts to correct these polarizing perspectives by presenting a critical feminist analysis of the drug world. By shifting the discussion to one centered on women's agency and empowerment, this book reveals the complex experiences and social relationships of women addicts.

Essays explore a range of topics, including the many ways that women negotiate the illicit drug world, how former drug addicts manage the more intimate aspects of their lives as they try to achieve abstinence, how women tend to use intervention resources more positively than their male counterparts, and how society can improve its response to female substance abusers by moving away from social controls (such as the criminalization of prostitution) and rehabilitative programs that have been shown to fail women in the long term.

Advancing important new perspectives about the position of women in the drug world, this book is essential reading in courses on women and crime, feminist theory, and criminal justice.
1101800057
Neither Villain nor Victim: Empowerment and Agency among Women Substance Abusers
Female drug addicts are often stereotyped either as promiscuous, lazy, and selfish, or as weak, scared, and trapped into addiction. These depictions typify the "pathology and powerlessness" narrative that has historically characterized popular and academic conversations about female substance abusers. Neither Villain Nor Victim attempts to correct these polarizing perspectives by presenting a critical feminist analysis of the drug world. By shifting the discussion to one centered on women's agency and empowerment, this book reveals the complex experiences and social relationships of women addicts.

Essays explore a range of topics, including the many ways that women negotiate the illicit drug world, how former drug addicts manage the more intimate aspects of their lives as they try to achieve abstinence, how women tend to use intervention resources more positively than their male counterparts, and how society can improve its response to female substance abusers by moving away from social controls (such as the criminalization of prostitution) and rehabilitative programs that have been shown to fail women in the long term.

Advancing important new perspectives about the position of women in the drug world, this book is essential reading in courses on women and crime, feminist theory, and criminal justice.
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Neither Villain nor Victim: Empowerment and Agency among Women Substance Abusers

Neither Villain nor Victim: Empowerment and Agency among Women Substance Abusers

Neither Villain nor Victim: Empowerment and Agency among Women Substance Abusers

Neither Villain nor Victim: Empowerment and Agency among Women Substance Abusers

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Overview

Female drug addicts are often stereotyped either as promiscuous, lazy, and selfish, or as weak, scared, and trapped into addiction. These depictions typify the "pathology and powerlessness" narrative that has historically characterized popular and academic conversations about female substance abusers. Neither Villain Nor Victim attempts to correct these polarizing perspectives by presenting a critical feminist analysis of the drug world. By shifting the discussion to one centered on women's agency and empowerment, this book reveals the complex experiences and social relationships of women addicts.

Essays explore a range of topics, including the many ways that women negotiate the illicit drug world, how former drug addicts manage the more intimate aspects of their lives as they try to achieve abstinence, how women tend to use intervention resources more positively than their male counterparts, and how society can improve its response to female substance abusers by moving away from social controls (such as the criminalization of prostitution) and rehabilitative programs that have been shown to fail women in the long term.

Advancing important new perspectives about the position of women in the drug world, this book is essential reading in courses on women and crime, feminist theory, and criminal justice.

Product Details

ISBN-13: 9780813544632
Publisher: Rutgers University Press
Publication date: 01/22/2008
Sold by: Barnes & Noble
Format: eBook
Pages: 244
File size: 1 MB

About the Author

Tammy Anderson is an associate professor in the University of Delaware's department of sociology and criminal justice.

Table of Contents

Acknowledgments     ix
Foreword   Claire M. Renzetti     xiii
Introduction   Tammy L. Anderson     1
Empowered Negotiation of the Illicit Drug Economy     11
Dimensions of Women's Power in the Illicit Drug Economy   Tammy L. Anderson     15
Seeing Women, Power, and Drugs through the Lens of Embodiment   Elizabeth Ettorre     33
Demonstrating a Female-Specific Agency and Empowerment in Drug Selling   Deborah R. Baskin   Ira Sommers     49
Negotiating the Streets: Women, Power, and Resistance in Street-Life Social Networks   Christopher W. Mullins     65
Exercising Agency in Managing Drug Dependencies     85
Women's Agency in the Context of Drug Use   Yasmina Katsulis   Kim M. Blankenship     89
Facilitating Change for Women? Exploring the Role of Therapeutic Jurisprudence in Drug Court   Christine A. Saum   Alison R. Gray     102
Negotiating Gender for Couples in Methadone Maintenance Treatment   Margaret Kelley     117
Improved Responses to Drug-Related Problems     135
A Spoonful of Sugar? Treating Women in Prison   Margaret S. Malloch     139
More of a Danger to Myself: Community Reentry of Dually DiagnosedFemales Involved with the Criminal Justice System   Stephanie W. Hartwell     157
"Hustling" to Save Women's Lives: Empowerment Strategies of Recovering HIV-Positive Women   Michele Tracy Berger     174
Drug Use, Prostitution, and Globalization: A Modest Proposal for Rethinking Policy   Phyllis Coontz   Cate Greibel     192
Epilogue   Carol E. Tracy     212
Notes on Contributors     217
Index     223
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