Meanings of alcoholism in a women-only Alcoholics Anonymous in São Paulo, SP, Brazil (abstract: p. 15)

Abstract

The aim of this emic study of alcoholism was to understand how this problem is conceived and experienced by women attending a women-only Alcoholics Anonymous (AA) meeting. We conducted an ethnographic study with a women’s AA group in São Paulo, Brazil. Alcoholism is linked to gender asymmetries, which establish a difference between men and women in relation to drinking. Women-only AA meetings therefore possess a political dimension that counterposes AA’s patriarchal culture by providing women with a morally and politically unique gendered space that allows them to share and signify their experiences and, in this way, treat their alcoholism.