Official websites use. Share sensitive information only on official, secure websites. The intersection of drug use, sexual pleasure and sexual risk behavior is rarely explored when it comes to poor women who use drugs.
This paper explores the relationship between sexual behavior and methamphetamine use in a community-based sample of women, exploring not only risk, but also desire, pleasure and the challenges of overcoming trauma.
Data were integrated for mixed methods analysis. While many participants reported sexual risk behavior unprotected vaginal or anal intercourse in the quantitative survey, sexual risk was not the central narrative pertaining to sexual behavior and methamphetamine use in qualitative findings.
Rather, desire, pleasure and disinhibition arose as central themes. Women described feelings of power and agency related to sexual behavior while high on methamphetamine. Findings were mixed on whether methamphetamine use increased sexual risk behavior.
The use of mixed methods afforded important insights into the sexual behavior and priorities of methamphetamine-using women. Efforts to reduce sexual risk should recognize and valorize the positive aspects of methamphetamine use for some women, building on positive feelings of power and agency as an approach to harm minimization.
