Drawing on an ethnographic study in Sweden, it uses cultural studies and queer phenomenology to analyse the women’s narratives of drug use relating to themes that encompass social, legal, cultural, embodied and gendered perspectives on drugs in the contemporary Western world.

1. Introduction.- 2. Drugs in historical and contemporary contexts: Legal, cultural, scientific, and geographical.- Drugs and medications.- 4. Meeting points.- 5. Possessing drugs.- 6. Avoiding The Junkie.- 7. Staying appropriate.- 8. Behaving with children.- 8. Behaving with children.- 10. Appropriate drugs.- 11. Negotiating addiction.- 12. Happy using drugs?.- 13. Conclusion.

“This book offers a fascinating insight into the everyday lives of women who use drugs in Sweden. Adopting a queer phenomenological perspective, Dr Eleonorasdotter brings a fresh perspective to debates about drug use and notions of ‘harm’. Well-researched and written, the book engages with gendered, classed and stigmatising constructions of women who use drugs represented in policy and practice. We are encouraged to think about what it means to be a woman who uses drugs living and working in Sweden today. An excellent addition to the literature.”-Michelle Addison, Associate Professor of Criminology, Durham University, UK"This is a thought-provoking and intelligent book, brushing aside the negativity which is continually connected with women who use any kind of mind altering substances. Eleonorasdotter is successful in challenging the one-dimensional view of using women as well as inoffering a feminist account of the lives of her respondents in the Swedish context. This is a must-read for everyone in the addiction field – users, treaters, researchers, and policymakers." -Elizabeth Ettorre, Professor of Sociology, University of Liverpool, UK. This open access book explores the everyday use of psychoactive substances in contemporary Sweden, focusing on women's use. Drawing on an ethnographic study, it uses critical theory such as queer phenomenology to analyse twelve women’s narratives of their use of drugs. The book also draws attention to the social, legal, cultural, embodied and gendered background of drugs and drug use in the contemporary global North, and how the meanings of drug use have shifted over time, with a specific focus on Sweden. It examines topics such as stigma, happiness, children, the body, gifts, the drug market, medication, sickness and health by directing attention to the women’s orientations towards objects and people, and how the women align or do not align with social and cultural norms. It discusses how drug-related spaces and directions can be analysed in terms of gender and class, and how, in turn, the directions of contemporary society and culture can be affected by drug use. It speaks to academics in Sociology, Criminology, Ethnology, Anthropology, Gender studies, Law and History. Emma Eleonorasdotter is a researcher and lecturer in Ethnology at Lund University, Sweden. She is an ethnologist and a cultural analyst interested in inequality and everyday lives, and has been part of the editorial team of the Swedish anti-racist cultural magazine Mana since 2008.  

“This book is a contribution to critical femininity studies and a nuanced discussion on taboo drug use. Thanks to Emma Eleonorasdotter's queer phenomenological reading of normative research, the question of women, class and drugs can now be reoriented and new questions about the feminine, shame and respectability can be raised.”-Ulrika Dahl is a writer, activist and Professor of Gender Studies at the Centre for Gender Research in Uppsala, Sweden. “This book offers a fascinating insight into the everyday lives of women who use drugs in Sweden. Adopting a queer phenomenological perspective, Dr Eleonorasdotter brings a fresh perspective to debates about drug use and notions of ‘harm’. Well-researched and written, the book engages with gendered, classed and stigmatising constructions of women who use drugs represented in policy and practice. We are encouraged to think about what it means to be a woman who uses drugs living andworking in Sweden today. An excellent addition to the literature.”-Michelle Addison, Associate Professor of Criminology, Durham University, UK"This is a thought-provoking and intelligent book, brushing aside the negativity which is continually connected with women who use any kind of mind altering substances. Eleonorasdotter is successful in challenging the one-dimensional view of using women as well as in offering a feminist account of the lives of her respondents in the Swedish context. This is a must-read for everyone in the addiction field – users, treaters, researchers, and policymakers." -Elizabeth Ettorre, Professor of Sociology, University of Liverpool, UK."Eleonorasdotter gives us a brilliant and original work that challenges established understandings of women using illegal substances. Based in queer phenomenology and an ethnographical fieldwork, she illustrates how the use of substances challenges the lines and orientations women in different class positions are supposed to follow. The use might bring joy and pleasure as well as pain and unhappiness and could be a way to alter class marked femininity positions."-Tina Mattsson, Senior Lecturer in Social Work, Lund University, Sweden"This book is an empathetic and nuanced dive into women’s lived experiences of drug use as an everyday practice. By adopting a queer phenomenological perspective, Emma Eleonorasdotter gives an important and unique contribution to the literature on drug use as it takes the next step in broadening and deepening our understanding of drug use, gender and class. A brilliant must-read book for social scientists, professionals and everyone interested in drug policy and practice." -Anette Skårner, Professor of Social Work, University of Gothenburg, Sweden

Fills a gap by focussing on the everyday life perspective Examine key themes around recreational drug use for a global audience Draws on ethnographic data This book is open access, which means that you have free and unlimited access

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