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Use of Mutual Support to Counteract the Effects of Socially Constructed Stigma: Gender and Drug Addiction

This article describes the stigma women perceive as drug addicts and the strategies used to confront that stigma once they become members of a mutual support group, Narcotics Anonymous (NA). Stigma is heavily associated with being a drug addict and even more pronounced for the female drug addict. Public policy and media continue to focus on women's reproductive roles, igniting and perpetuating the stigmata associated with being female and addicted. The heavy emphasis on women's reproductive roles contributes to a double standard that women perceive it as unique to them as compared with their male counterparts. This study surveys a sample of women in NA that represents a potentially highly stigmatized group by race and class and uncovers the extent to which women perceive stigma both in their active addiction and once in recovery. Unexpectedly, women from a more socially disadvantaged background do not necessarily experience more stigma than their more privileged White, middle-class counterparts. Not surprisingly, women who have been involved in NA for longer periods of time and have completed the 12 steps perceive the least amount of stigma.