Читать книгу The Invisible Woman - Joanne Belknap - Страница 85

Notably, nonmedical prescription drug (NMPD) use is a crime with little or no gender gap, and even some indication that it is female-crime related (Cutler, 2016; Lopez et al., 2009). This might be because women and girls disproportionately visit doctors (Ait-Daoud et al., 2019; Cutler, 2016) and are disproportionately diagnosed with certain conditions (e.g., anxiety, sleep, and depressive disorders) compared with men and boys (Cutler, 2016, p. 1135). Women’s increase in opioid overdose deaths has been at a far steeper slope than men’s since 1999, and at least in part, this may be due to women being more likely to have chronic pain and therefore “are prescribed opioids at higher doses and longer-term use compared to men” (Ait-Daoud et al., 2019, p. 701). In Cutler’s (2016) qualitative study of white college students’ NMPD use, three fifths (60.5%) were men, two fifths (41%) were in the Greek system, and almost a third (30%) lived on campus. Cutler found gender similarities regarding the most frequently misused NMPDs (i.e., Adderall, Ritalin, Concerta, Vyvanse, promethazine, and codeine). Among both females and males, friends were the primary source of acquiring and learning how and why to use NMPDs, and the primary incentive was to improve academically. In turn, because NMPDs were normalized across many campus students and students were using them for “betterment” goals, the NMPD users saw their use as legitimate/nondeviant and safe. Indeed, many linked their academic success to their NMPD use (Cutler, 2016, p. 1140).

The gender differences in NMPD use that Cutler (2016) found included men being more “open and forthcoming,” and in some cases, “arrogant” about their NMPD use; less likely to indicate guilt or remorse about NMPD use; and more risk-taking in terms of engaging in risky behaviors, pushing their limits, and mixing “copious amounts” of NMPDs or NMPDs with other drugs or alcohol (pp. 1140–1141). However, some men recognized lethal dangers and that they had addictions and were scared. Women had fewer NMPD “wild stories,” felt guiltier/more remorseful, and engaged in less risky behaviors. However, women were more likely than men to justify NMPD use by citing its legitimacy because others do it, doctors prescribe it to some people, and even that they were helping their friends or family members by giving them NMPDs, even in cases where it was clear some of these people were dangerously using NMPDs (p. 1142). Turning to the sexist body-image culture discussed in previous chapters, both men and women talked about women’s disproportionate use of Adderall to lose weight (pp. 1144–1145).