The many themes that emerged from the data collection, participant
observation and in-depth interviews reflected the lived
experienced of Thai women injecting drugs, who face structural
violence. The narrative of Thai women using drugs in this
study articulates how structural violence perpetrated on women is
embedded in all environments in numerous social settings. These
narratives elucidate the interplay of social production in producing
and reproducing structural violence. Social environment, in particular
to the gender habitus, epitomized by the notion of Thai ‘good
women’, acts as a formalized code for regulating gender behaviour
and contributes to everyday violence among Thai women who
inject drugs. Moreover, the drug subculture/community revolves
around the drug using habitus, drugs careers, harassment and
violence. Because women have tried to adopt this lifestyle in combination
with their gender habitus, they find themselves pursuing
difficult and risky lives exacerbated by intimate partnerships. Habitus
refers to how human internalize social expectations; they ‘live
between two worlds’ as their drug use pulls these women in two
directions in the sense that drug use conflicts with gender norms
which also makes them vulnerable to abuse.