ABSTRACT
This chapter provides a brief overview of literature on women’s substance abuse and hair testing; then discusses two feminist perspectives, liberal feminism and poststructural feminism and the considerations these perspectives raise relative to hair testing women in research protocols. Women were likely to have an anxiety or affective disorder that antedated their drug use disorder but postdated their sexual abuse, suggesting that the high rates of sexual trauma and psychiatric morbidity may be etiologic to women’s illegal drug use and its negative consequences. A number of investigations have established the utility of self-reported information on illegal drug use. However, the validity of such data depends on the willingness of the participant to report drug use and the consciousness of the participant. Liberal feminist views emerged from liberal political theory and evolved with the growth of capitalism; it proposed equal rights and opportunities for women.
