Based on conceptual frameworks from the feminist intellectual field, this article discusses the moral and sexist foundations of the treatment model of alcohol and drug abuse known as the therapeutic community. From the analysis of the experience of a group of women in treatment at an open public service (CAPS-AD), we suggest the creation of a space for the politicization of the intimacy of the women who use drugs. Finally, we show that, beyond the drug abuse treatment, the work with these women increased the questioning of their gender condition, through the group discussion about the relations of subordination and oppression to which they are submitted and the increased awareness of the situation of vulnerability and insufficiency historically assigned to them.
women; drug abuse; therapeutic community; feminism; politicization of intimacy