Marijuana And The Modern Lady

[Segami]

What it means that more women are defending pot as a natural form of relaxation

In January 1989, in the wake of the extreme measures passed by the Anti-Drug Abuse Act of 1988, the marijuana-centric magazine High Times ran an advertisement from a group calling itself the Freedom Fighters asking readers to join its “cannabis protest movement”:

“For three years we’ve been asking our readers to get involved in the cannabis reform movement,” the ad read. “During that time, we have witnessed the steady erosion of our civil rights. Now Congress has passed a truly reprehensible bill aimed at illegal drug users. Don’t you think it’s about time you stepped out of that cannabis closet you’re hiding in?”

The advertisement was primarily speaking to men. After all, the National Survey on Drug Use and Health reported that, even in 2012, men were nearly 50 percent more likely to smoke pot than women. High Times, with its centerfolds of scantily clad women and often boorish humor, has reflected those statistics for nearly 40 years. But, given the current softening of pot's political and social stigma, more women than ever are following the Freedom Fighters’ advice and are coming out of the “cannabis closet” by exposing themselves in public as marijuana users. From articles about closing the pot gender gap to sociological studies of “Mary Jane’s Gender,” women and weed are a hot topic. Discussions of "hot bud-tenders" (the women who work at marijuana dispensaries) and how pot gives women a better sex life are rife. Yet larger questions—about who these women are, how they’re being portrayed, and what the effects of their “coming out” might be—remain.



The image of the pothead has long been a male one. The stoner is a trope, a media fixture recognizable in Half Baked, Friday, The Big Lebowski, Pineapple Express, and This Is the End, among other works. As Wendy Chapkis, a sociologist at the University of Southern Maine, put it, the stoner’s slacker attitude “relies on a mismatch between expectation and condition; this is why it is most available to white heterosexual men with some measure of class privilege.” In other words, a stoner is usually a dude who can spend all day sitting in his underwear, smoking weed and eating Cheetos and Goldfish. A woman—especially a hardworking, college-educated adult woman—would more likely be portrayed as pathetic instead of funny. And yet, recently, more women are starting to use the internet to come out of the cannabis closet. Whether on Facebook, through online journals like Ladybud, or in the comments section of popular articles on Jezebel and The Stranger, women are exposing themselves as tokers—and as mothers, lovers, students, employees, taxpayers, voters, and otherwise upstanding citizens. Many of the comments following these articles voice an overwhelming sense of relief: “I finally felt like I wasn’t alone!” There’s an air of cognitive dissonance about it, that a woman, especially a nurturing professional woman, could both smoke pot and not be Jim Breuer in Half Baked was, to many, a revelation.



cont'


http://www.theatlantic.com/health/archive/2013/10/marijuana-and-the-modern-lady/280828/

[Segami]

1. "..For the first time in years, since the legacy of “Just Say No”..

...and the drug wars of the 1980s have faded into the past, women—regular, professional, adult women—are starting to admit that they smoke pot, not only because it helps those with cancer and AIDS and because taxing pot sales could fund struggling public schools, but because it’s something they simply enjoy..."

[Blue_In_AK]

2. Woman here, long-time toker,

never been in a "cannabis closet." Ahead of the times, I guess.

[seabeyond]

3. that a woman, especially a nurturing professional woman,

go figure.

[Luminous Animal]

4. WTF does that even mean?

[seabeyond]

6. mama's, the working woman, responsible women.... take a puff here and there. from what i got. nt

[Blue_In_AK]

7. That kind of cracked me up, too.

[Blue_In_AK]

5. I read somewhere recently that Alaska has the highest percentage of pot smokers

of any state, 16%. I guess it's been so accepted here that no one finds any shame in it.

[kestrel91316]

8. I use cannabis now. I used it recreationally in college,

then gave it up for decades out of concerns that it could harm my professional status, other than minor use about 15 years ago with a friend occasionally for a year or so.

Now 18 months use for medical purposes, with excellent results. I always hated how it made me sleepy, and now that is why I use it, lol, plus the excellent neuro pain control.

Chances in state law and federal policy made it unlikely that my professional status would be jeopardized by my extremely modest, judicious, non-recreational use.