The patterns of addiction and drug use are different for women and men, and factors such as social class, ethnicity, employment, and education for both genders can have an impact in this regard. Unfortunately, in Iran, for various reasons, there has not been enough scientific research on this social phenomenon and this void is also evident in the field of publishing and books.

Women’s addiction

Abbas Mohammadi Asl’s writing is one of the few published books in recent years that specifically addresses the aforementioned phenomenon. His expertise is in the field of gender sociology and he has published several books aimed at explaining social phenomena from a gender perspective.

“In a section of this book, we read: “In female-centered civilizations such as Sumer in the prehistoric era, drugs were used in the Mesopotamian region to alleviate pains such as childbirth and other illnesses. However, these substances were also misused in the male-dominated paradigm and were used for exploitation of the body or others. When addiction was recognized among women in this paradigm, it added to their sufferings and especially highlighted their familial, economic, and political dependence on men. They, who rely on the will of men and are subject to their desires in the male-dominated paradigm, were shown to be completely independent in the realm of addiction and were frightened by the negative effects of addiction on future generations.”

According to the author of this book, men are more likely to become addicted to “recreation and sexual pleasure” and women mostly engage in this behavior out of “sorrow and distress”; even women’s addiction increases during crises such as war and unemployment. The author also discusses women’s addiction from the perspective that it is one of the reasons for their homelessness.

Women’s addiction encompasses a wide range of substance use, from cigarettes and alcohol to drugs and psychotropic substances, and is often associated with phenomena such as gambling, prostitution, and other issues. However, not all of these cases hold the same value and weight, and they do not affect women from different classes, cultures, ethnicities, and nationalities in the same way, and they do not all fit under the label of “deviant”. On the other hand, the distribution of addicted women throughout the history and geography of societies is not constant and uniform.

Abbas Mohammadi Asl refers to the importance of social participation in raising awareness in society, with reference to the statistics of thousands of addicted infants born to mothers with addiction. He discusses the types of addiction in women from a sociological perspective in adolescence, middle age, and old age, as well as patterns of addiction, drug use, and quitting addiction based on factors such as class, ethnicity, employment, and education in this book. He writes: “Part of the addictive behaviors of independent women and some are accompanied by other behaviors such as theft, gambling, and prostitution. The behaviors and thoughts of addicted women are not the same and cannot be generalized or simplified. These behaviors vary depending on age, ethnicity, cultural upbringing, employment, well-being, and feelings of social inequality and injustice. In fact, addiction is a reaction to social pressures and a way to escape from male oppression, and in this case, solving their addiction remains in the hands of solving the inequality of power relations.

The present book attempts to examine the history of human knowledge about women’s addiction from the past to the present. The theoretical explanation of women’s addiction, types of addiction in women, the most common addictions among women, addiction in adolescent girls, middle-aged and elderly women, specific social issues related to women’s addiction, and finally the treatment of women’s addiction are the main topics of this book. Presenting theoretical and clinical perspectives on the diagnosis, understanding, and confrontation of this phenomenon, along with relevant criticisms, can greatly assist in a more accurate understanding; especially since the issue of women’s addiction is not separate from men’s addiction and the overall state of society, and it is not possible to address them separately and work towards their resolution.

It is worth mentioning again that this book is one of the few published works in recent years on the subject of women’s addiction. Despite possible criticisms of the perspective or paradigm used by the author, it is recommended to read it with an open mind. Hopefully, in the future, researchers and sociologists will pay more attention to this phenomenon and analyze and examine its various dimensions more seriously.

Book Name:

Women’s addiction

Author: Abbas Mohammadi Asl

Publisher: Thought Publishing

Publication Year: 1397