ABSTRACT
This chapter discusses the importance of addressing sexuality issues in the treatment of chemically dependent women. It summarizes the research which has correlated chemical dependency in women to such areas as: sexual dissatisfaction/dysfunction, sex role conflicts, intimacy and interpersonal relationships, sexual orientation issues and sexual abuse/incest. The sexual concerns of chemically dependent women have been acknowledged for several decades, although early studies are scarce and reflect biases in sex role stereotyping. A number of researchers have found that chemically dependent women experience sex role confusion as a factor in their alcoholism. The rigid adherence to restrictive sex roles when taken to its extreme may well account for the high incidence of sexual abuse/incest among chemically dependent women. Often the physical effects of the drugs themselves preclude the possibility of chemically dependent women living up to the myth of promiscuity which continues to shroud their image.
