“Going Hand-in-Hand”: Connections Between Women's Prostitution and Substance Use

Abstract

Little is known about the impact of prostitution involvement on women's substance use and recovery. Interpretive phenomenological data analysis was used to analyze transcribed, in-depth interviews conducted with 14 women recruited from a Midwestern program providing prostitution-specific services. Interviews focused on what it means to be a woman who has engaged in prostitution. Participants described patterns of using substances and exchanging sex as “going hand-in-hand,” highlighting unique ways women understand the relationships between these phenomena and how they construct meaning. What emerges is a deeper understanding of the complexity and impact of these relationships, an issue not adequately addressed in existing literature.