All of the women are drug users involved in regular criminal activity: prostitution, burglary, shoplifting, robbery, drug- selling, petty theft, and various kinds of fraud. Four of the women are black; one is white and Puerto Rican. Although all five have been involved in same-sex relationships, three are primarily "straight" and two are primarily lesbian. They come from working- class or welfare families; some women characterize their mothers as strict, abusive, intolerant, and distant, but other mothers are characterized as concerned, religious, and loving. The women talk frankly about their drug use, their sexual and criminal activities, their childhoods, their school and work experiences, their neighborhoods, their personal relationships with their families of origin, children, partners, their fears and future goals, and the ordinary trappings of their lives. These women share a pattern of experiences that stem from race and ethnicity, sexual orientation, drug use, and urbanization. 106 references