Gender and psychedelic culture.

[Finarfin]

This topic is inspired by the questions Zezt posted in the psychonautdoc.com thread.
It is also inspired by a interview with Mariavittoria Mangini about gender and psychedelics (psychonautica podcast 90)
Dopefiend.co.uk : The Cannabis Podcast Network
In this interview Mariavittoria points out that psychedelic culture is dominated by males. A lot of known characters and speakers within psychedelic culture are male.
Female characters that are well known are often the partner of a male character that is well know. Miriavittoria calls this the i am with him thing.

The topic of this thread is: psychedelic culture is mostly dominated by males.
What do you think about this? How do we change this? How can we create more space for female speakers within psychedelic culture.

 

[Finarfin]

I think psychedelic culture is a sub culture and as a sub culture is part of the larger culture.
The psychedelic sub culture i think is a reflection of the larger culture just like other sub cultures.
In other sub cultures we often see the same thing (males being overrepresented).

I do believe that things are slowly changing in the larger culture and in the psychedelic sub culture.
over the years i have been hearing more and more female speakers on psychedelics.
i think it,s a good thing if the female male rate within the psychedelic culture is more balanced, so that we get both the male and the female perspective. And females and males will feel at home within the psychedelic culture.

 

[Abej^a G.]

in olden days (olden-olden) shamans were especially female, they knew herbs and their medical use; men went to hunt.
slowly male took possession of this culture.

mmm now I'm thinking maybe female are more pragmatic... but most of women that I know take psychedelics...

In other sub cultures we often see the same thing (males being overrepresented).

I do believe that things are slowly changing in the larger culture and in the psychedelic sub culture.

infact... but very slowly-slowly. about politics, I know only merkel, or the hated thatcher...
mmmm... we are books of castaneda, osho, lu tung-pin, mckenna, timothy leary, alan watts, thaddeus golas, and only now I'm knowing a woman, Mariavittoria Mangini.......

 

[zezt]

I think this is a very important subject. I did a blog few years back about this, and I suspected the reason could be that women still feel the reverberations of the savage attack on them by Church&State/ the patriarchy via thier 'Holy Inquisition' whereby women, especially poor old women had the most heinous propaganda said about them, and then persecution, being rounded up, tortured and mass murdered.
Now remember that women had then a lineage of plant knowledge stretching anciently into the past, because it is women who have always been closest the plants, and thus the mind-altering vegetal substances etc, and also mid-wifery and healing. But on the smouldering back of this terrible crime was the male-dominated medical establishment built.
Now please be aware that JUST to grow a natural plant like marijuana can get many people arrested, as can even picking nagic mushrooms etc etc. YET the medical establishment will expropriate the knowledge of plants for their patented drugs which they torture/test animals with and then push on the public, and children for physical and 'mental illness'

So when I wrote this blog, I asked Anne Bareing about this and she agreed with me, about the reverberations of the "Burning Times" possibly being a reason for the reluctance of women to publically speak and write about psychedelic healing!

The Church&State has never apologized for their unprecedented crime against women, etc! Actually the Inquisition is still with us to this day.

 

[Caduceus Mercurius]

The topic of this thread is: psychedelic culture is mostly dominated by males.
What do you think about this? How do we change this? How can we create more space for female speakers within psychedelic culture.

When I went to the World Psychedelic Forum in Basel, Switzerland, in 2008, I encountered (and interviewed) many female psychedelic 'celebrities'. They were mostly anthropologists, psychotherapists (for example involved in ibogaine treatment) and artists. Very few of them had published books, but were well known and respected for their work.

In the Netherlands we have an organization called OPEN, which for years has tried to promote the value of psychedelic research within academic circles. OPEN was founded by two men and a woman. The men were both students of philosophy, and the woman an anthropologist. I don't think Forkbender and Icelus were founders of OPEN, but they were enthusiastic supporters, and if I remember well, they were studying philosophy and psychology, respectively.

"How do we change this? How can we create more space..."

WE don't have to change anything. The space is already there. Anyone can get a PhD. Anyone can write books and get them published. Anyone can give lectures at psy festivals and psychedelic conferences and build up a reputation as an engaging speaker. There's no discrimination against women in these fields. The division of interests is natural and should be respected as it is.

 

[zezt]

many female psychedelic 'celebrities'

Names please? Then I will contact them and ask their opinion on this.

 

[Caduceus Mercurius]

Names please? Then I will contact them and ask their opinion on this.

The people I interviewed were Kathleen Harrison, Alysson Grey, Carolyn Garcia ("Mountain Girl") and Joanna Harcourt-Smith. The interviews can be seen here:

https://www.youtube.com/user/psychonautchannel/videos

The names of the other women speaking at the conference can be found here:

Welt Psychedelik Forum - World Psychedelic Forum

For example: Claudia Müller-Ebeling, Nana Nauwald, Amanda Feilding, Alicia Danforth, Cynthia Palmer, Anya Loizaga-Velder, Valerie Mojeiko, Beatriz Caiuby Labate, Diana Reed Slattery, Annie Mithoefer, Ann Shulgin, and Sylvia Thyssen.

 

[zezt]

Ok thanks, I will try and contact all of them and see what they have to say about this. I have always admired Claudia Müller-Ebeling but was pissed off to find many of her books are in German and not translated to English

 

[Caduceus Mercurius]

Many more names here:

Erowid Women & Psychoactives Vault

And very relevant to this topic:

Women and Psychoactives: A Brief Overview

 

[Abej^a G.]

maybe it's OT, but tonight I saw a interview to "Venerable Greath Master"/"Venerabile Gran Maestro" Stefano Bisi, the boss of "Great Orient"/"Grande Oriente", a masonic lodge), and he himself said that in italy we dont have woman-masons, or just, we have circles of women-massons, but they are nothing, they havent authority...

 

[Finarfin]

maybe it's OT, but tonight I saw a interview to "Venerable Greath Master"/"Venerabile Gran Maestro" Stefano Bisi, the boss of "Great Orient"/"Grande Oriente", a masonic lodge), and he himself said that in italy we dont have woman-masons, or just, we have circles of women-massons, but they are nothing, they havent authority...

I don,t see what this has to do with this topic. Masons are not psychonauts?
Yes it,s true classical lodges don,t allow females. There are (French) lodges that do allow females.
Freemasonry and women - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

 

[Mavraek]

Great subject. I have found the psychonaut realm to be dominated by males. I am female and only have one female friend (and she is actually a fiend) brave enough to join me in travels. I know an abundance of males ready to travel.

 

[Abej^a G.]

I don,t see what this has to do with this topic. Masons are not psychonauts?
Yes it,s true classical lodges don,t allow females. There are (French) lodges that do allow females.
Freemasonry and women - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

infact I wrote "maybe is OT"
(in French I don't know, but in Italy they don't have authority... I don't know too for the sovranity city of london...)

masons are not psychonauts?
yeah, why not? psychonauts are Enlightened/Illuminati... REAL Illuminati!

I am female and only have one female friend (and she is actually a fiend) brave enough to join me in travels.

:mrgreen:

 

[zezt]

Great subject. I have found the psychonaut realm to be dominated by males. I am female and only have one female friend (and she is actually a fiend) brave enough to join me in travels. I know an abundance of males ready to travel.

Why do you think this is?

 

[Finarfin]

I think the psychedelic scene is part of the larger general culture.
In the psychedelic culture we see the reverberations of the way the general culture treads the female perspective.
The real domination is in the general culture. The psychedelic scene is not unfriendly towards females.

Males and females are different. If they where not different this discussion would not make sense, because it would not matter if you where male or female if there where no difference.
there is a male and a female perspective. A male and female energy or whatever you want to call it.
If all people who talk about psychedelics are all males, you hear only one perspective (The male perspective).
Fortunately there are also woman who talk about psychedelics. It would suck if it where only man who spoke up about psychedelics.
diversity is a wonderful thing.

ultimately everybody is an individual and has her or his own individual energy,ideas,personality. The things that makes each of us unique.

 

[Abej^a G.]

mmm Finarfin, when we take psychedelics we go over the covering, our body. when we take psychedelics all of we have the same visions, the world who breathes, to be part of all.... energy is only one and cosmological.
where you put gay in this discussion?!

 

[Finarfin]

mmm Finarfin, when we take psychedelics we go over the covering, our body. when we take psychedelics all of we have the same visions, the world who breathes, to be part of all.... energy is only one and cosmological.
where you put gay in this discussion?!

What? Sorry but I do not understand what you are trying to say.

Where to put gay in this discussion?

As far as i know the psychedelic scene is not unfriendly towards gay people and/or other sexuality and gender minority,s.
psychedelic culture i think is not about excluding people.
The majority of the people are heterosexual so it only makes sense that most people in the psychedelic scene are heterosexual.

Personally i am very much a individualist. I like to tread people as individuals and not as part of a bigger group. As a self proclaimed individualist i dislike most forms of collectivism. To me personally it does not really matter that much if you are gay, straight, bisexual, asexual woman, man, trans gender, black, white,yellow. It,s not about what group you belong to or who you like to f*ck or what you believe. It,s about who you are as a individual. It,s about your actions as a person.
Sidenote: I think diversity is a good thing for the psychedelic scene. If it where only white male heterosexuals who talk about psychedelics we would only get that perspective and it would be boring. Diversity is the spice of life. It,s cool to see all kinds of different people. If everybody was the same the world would be a boring place wouldn't it? I see it as a rainbow full of colors.


I do not like collectivist ideas that aim to make everybody the same.

 

[zezt]

Yes me too, and I don't like mono theories, unless it is 'all reality is diverse' and then it isn't mono. But when words have mono as a prefix I am very wary, mono-culture, mono-gomy, mono-tone, mono-poly, mono-myth. mono-theism, ---all mono's do is force conformity, and trash diversity. This is why I love the action of questioning, because doing this threatens the rigid systems that demand you believe a certain way, or do things a certain way. Because really we all are unique and will have our own unique experiences. If we can understand this AND understandin nature and the body and our natures are sacred, this will be good
So what if someone questions that. Well then questioning happens....questioning is allowed

 

[Abej^a G.]

mmmm I thought in your opinion male and female are different to the sensibility... and gay person which sensibility they have? female or male??

nice the idea of rainbow; yes, we are unique, but the rainbow is formed by the same drops... I really think my energy is like energy of a woman.
we are unique with the same energy, maybe we are different in the way which we reflect our light....

 

[zezt]

but the rainbow is formed by the same drops

yes but they are not mono-drops or clone drops.

Every pebble on a beach is unique. So is same for every drop...?