Gendered Members of Alcoholics Anonymous: Varieties of Spiritual Experiences in Recovery

Abstract

Women and men share similar as well as different strategies in developing their spirituality as part of their overall 12-Step experience. Special attention is paid to gender differences to account for a variety of spiritual experiences in recovery. The language and use of metaphors as women and men work the 12 Steps in achieving a “spiritual awakening” is explored, recognizing the predominantly male ethos of Alcoholics Anonymous since its inception. The influence of age in expressions of spirituality, distinguishing between young adults, middle-age adults, and older adults, is referenced. Need for further understanding of gender differences, with a focus on the spiritual dimensions of recovery, is recommended.

KEYWORDS:

• Alcoholics Anonymous
• gender
• metaphors
• spirituality

NOTE

Notes

1. Stephanie Covington's book A Woman's Way through the Twelve Steps (1996) offers a gendered approach toward working the 12 Steps. Additionally, William White and Rita Chaney offer their insight from the practice of addiction treatment in a paper titled Metaphors of Transformation: Feminine and Masculine (1992).