ABSTRACT
Until relatively recently women drinkers' and drug users' experiences have been largely ignored or misunderstood. Although feminist work, particularly Elizabeth Ettorre's research (1989a, 1989b, 1992, 1994a, 1994b, 1997), has begun to explore their experiences, feminism has had a limited impact on how substance use/misuse is understood and managed. The main aim of my research, and this book, therefore, has been to explore those aspects of the experience of alcohol and drug problems which are specific to women, focusing specifically on those areas of experience where the dimension of gender has the greatest impact. Alcohol and drug misuse is inextricably bound up with issues of gender inequality, both in public and private. A main theme of this book, therefore, is that of power differentials between men and women, both at a personal level, in heterosexual relationships, and within the wider social sphere; and how these affect women's lives as drinkers and drug users, and as 'survivors' of substance misuse.
