Stories and Counter-Stories: Narratives of Resistance among Mothers Who Use Meth

• In Event: The Experience of Motherhood for Women Who Break the Law: Alternative Perspectives

Abstract

Women who use drugs face greater stigma and social control than their male counterparts. This is especially true for women who are mothers. The present study examines the narratives of 30 female active users who are mothers in the rural south. Ethnographic field work and qualitative interviews allowed for insight into the ways in which these women attempt to make sense of the state’s presence in their lives and how they submit or attempt to resist state power.

Author

• Karen Holt, Michigan State University