May 4, 2014

Seattle Times: Study finds sexism in weed industry

From the Seattle Times in 2013:
Pot legalization is changing image of women and weed
Originally published Saturday, September 28, 2013 at 8:04 PM  
The marijuana industry and movement have long been a boys’ club. But a vanguard of women in Washington are breaking out of pot’s “pink collar ghetto,” the medical side. It’s important, advocates say, not only because women are key to reform and legalization, but also to* 
By Bob Young / 
Seattle Times staff reporter 
Aimée “Ah” Warner, CEO and founder of Cannabis Basics, cooks up a batch of topical medications for pain relief, all legal. She has convened a group called Women of Weed because the marijuana industry and movement have long been male dominated.
The female marijuana plant, sold for its sticky psychoactive chemicals, is where the value lies in the pot industry. 
But the industry has long been dominated by men and can be crassly sexist, particularly in underground pot commerce. Women are relegated to supporting roles and sometimes blatantly viewed as sex objects, according to a study published this year.
One Craigslist ad for pot trimmers posted by a grower in California sought a “good looking girl” willing to have sex. Another advertised that he’d pay extra for topless workers.
Legalization in Washington, though, should give women recourse for sexual harassment and withheld wages, and make the industry safer for women in general, said Lydia Ensley, a Seattle dispensary-operations manager.
She’s among a vanguard of women assuming prominent business and advocacy roles in what has long been a guys’ club. ...
Making women feel more comfortable about marijuana is key to ending prohibition, according to Wendy Chapkis, a University of Southern Maine sociology professor. Women vote more than men, and the gap is growing among younger voters. “While smoking may culturally be a ‘guy thing,’ voting is increasingly a ‘girl thing,’ ” Chapkis wrote in an academic article titled “The Trouble with Mary Jane’s Gender.”
The more that women influence pot culture, the more they make other women at ease with it. That was crucial, according to Chapkis, to last year’s voter-approved initiatives legalizing weed in Colorado and Washington.
Initiative 502 in Washington sought to close the gender gap at the polls by having women appeal to women in campaign ads. “Women are the secret weapon in this business,” said Neill Franklin, executive director of Law Enforcement Against Prohibition. “Now that women are really starting to become involved in marijuana reform, you see people listening.”
Men are more likely than women to use pot, according to surveys and polls.
That disparity has shaped the pot industry and reform movement.
The industry is “heavily testosterone-driven, no question about it,” said Carter, who owns a Seattle medical-marijuana clinic and plans to seek a state license to grow and process recreational pot. “Men are risk-takers,” she explained.
Few women have wanted to venture into the outlaw world of illegal dealing, with its guns and aggressive competition, said Carter, a grandmother, retired from a career in banking.
Instead, women with a passion for the plant tended to gravitate to medical marijuana. In turn, medical marijuana has become “something of a pink-collar ghetto,” as Chapkis put it.
As Washington state creates a legal recreational-marijuana industry, aspiring entrepreneurs appear to be overwhelmingly male, said Hilary Bricken, an attorney whose firm specializes in advising pot businesses.
“Almost everyone coming to see us are young white men,” Bricken said. And that gender imbalance is more pronounced, she said, than in other industries, such as entertainment, that her firm Harris & Moure specializes in.
That male dominance is also found in the advocacy movement, where the top three national groups — National Organization for the Reform of Marijuana Laws (NORML), the Marijuana Policy Project, and the Drug Policy Alliance — are headed by men, and their boards of directors have a masculine tilt....
Steph Sherer, head of a national medical-marijuana group, Americans for Safe Access, was stunned by the movement’s gender imbalance when she got involved over a decade ago.
Sherer recalled going to her first NORML conference in San Francisco, where almost half of the registrants were women but not a single one was a speaker. “I had never seen anything like that,” she said. “In San Francisco you have to try to not be diverse.”
With her background in criminal-justice activism, Sherer gathered a group of women in her hotel room. “They said, ‘Oh, it’s always like this,’ ” she recalled.
Sherer is still the only woman leading a national advocacy group. “I feel like I’ve been in ‘Mad Men’ a few times,” she said. “I literally had a donor at a meeting comment on my cleavage.”

From the Seattle Times' comments, FG writes:
I, for one, am appalled that the drug dealing industry could be so sexist. What a horrible glass ceiling. I thought this was a nice family-friendly and socially important industry for our state. This is what all the press has led me to believe.  I'm beginning to think that this whole marijuana thing is actually kind of shady. 

* "But also to" what? you may be asking. Don't ask. It's a dope article.
       

45 comments:

Auntie Analogue said...


Sexism, schmexism. Just don't Bogart, man.

Anonymous said...

Several months ago a dual MD dyke couple was arrested for dealing through Silk Road.

link

Anonymous said...

I would say that young men voting less would be something social activists should be interested in.

Oh wait...

Gordo

reiner Tor said...

Guys, did anyone check if The Seattle Times really exists? I mean, is it not something like The Onion?

Anonymous said...

Topless trimmers. No pay. As much as you can smoke and a HotBunk (TM) !

Gilbert P

DJF said...

""""Guys, did anyone check if The Seattle Times really exists? I mean, is it not something like The Onion?"""

I am starting to think that the only legitimate news source is the Onion, all the others are just parodies.

AMac said...

Steve, you are being beaten at your own game by the NYT and now by the Seattle Times as well.

Sokal as visionary rather than hoaxter.

There seems to be little room for parody in a society that is so focused on celebrations of stupidity.

Harry Baldwin said...

As Washington state creates a legal recreational-marijuana industry, aspiring entrepreneurs appear to be overwhelmingly male, said Hilary Bricken, an attorney whose firm specializes in advising pot businesses. “Almost everyone coming to see us are young white men,” Bricken said.

What American needs--more blacks and Hispanics in the drug business.

Chicago said...

The job of itinerant pot trimmer sounds like new careers are opening up in the new America. At last, something that's made in the US.

Anonymous said...

http://www.chicagotribune.com/news/columnists/kass/ct-kass-met-0504-20140504,0,582931,full.column

"The new emails were written by, White House deputy strategic communications adviser Ben Rhodes, whose brother is president of CBS News."

Anonymous said...

Walter Duranty all over again.

http://consortiumnews.com/2014/05/03/will-ukraine-be-nyts-waterloo/

TontoBubbaGoldstein said...

Maybe in weed...
Blow, on the other hand seems to have it's share of ladies shattering the glass ceiling.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Griselda_Blanco

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sandra_%C3%81vila_Beltr%C3%A1n

http://elitedaily.com/slideshows/baddest-female-gangsters-time/

Anonymous said...

"Making women feel more comfortable about marijuana is key to ending prohibition, according to Wendy Chapkis, a University of Southern Maine sociology professor."

Making women "feel more comfortable" with X is the key to any societal changes.

Maximo Macaroni said...

Does anyone seriously maintain that pot does not cause auto accidents? If tobacco smoke is a horrific poison, as is assumed, why is pot smoke not equally bad? Where's the science?
Are these pot dealers not setting themselves up for mega lawsuits, like the tobacco companies? Why does no one talk about the physical harm caused by addictive toking?

Anonymous said...

Guys, did anyone check if The Seattle Times really exists? I mean, is it not something like The Onion?

Yes, it is a real paper. But what is really sad is that the Seatle Times is one of the last private family owned papers in the country. The Blethen family has been in control for over 5 generations.

What is it about the newspaper business that guarantees that by the 4-5th generation that the ownership are bunch of spineless dimwitted
Cultural Marxists?

Still one would hope that private ownership might distinguish a paper from the PC mindset of the NYT, Gannet, McClatchy... and the rest.

That is why I only read CM2 articles through the "defilter" of isteve, takimag, MRC, Newsbusters, DailyCaller, conservativetreehouse, vdare, amren ... etc.

Anonymous said...

http://alternative-right.blogspot.com/2014/05/antifa-update.html

Anonymous said...

Sez outraged marijuana entrepreneur: “I literally had a donor at a meeting comment on my cleavage.”

Lady, if you don't put'em on display, no one can see'em.

Joe Schmoe said...

Wow. The Seattle Times article is serious. It is written without a hint of irony.

BurplesonAFB said...

something about tokenism

Anonymous said...

Cue all the girl-hating comments, but seriously this is a good sign. Switching from 'is marijuana wrong and should we be throwing people in jail for it?' to 'is there sexism in the marijuana industry?' means that debate about the former question is dying down. And journalists need to write about *something*.

kudzu bob said...

Sexism in the dope industry. How awful. I'd love to help, but the pizza just got here.

PropagandistHacker said...

What, you don't like feminism? You don't like political correctness, affirmative action, disparate impact, strict scrutiny, etc?

Don't you want to expand the pool of available labor? Don't you want to keep wages low? Don't you want to expand the pool of consumers? Don't you want to grow the GDP? Don't you want to grow corporate revenues?

Feminism and multiculturalism and political correctness and mass immigration is just the next phase of western capitalism.

Need I point out that multiculturalism, white race guilt, affirmative action, all in combination with mass immigration is perfectly suited to growing the available pool of labor and consumers?

Are you a capitalist or a commie? If you are a true blue, red blooded american capitalist you would welcome all this politically correct propaganda that just so happens to help grow the supply of labor and consumers in america. But if you are a pinko commie who hates america you would try to stop immigration and be against multiculturalism and mass immigration.


If you love america and want to increase the GDP and corporate profits you would welcome the nonwhite immigrants in their millions and even make them feel welcome by converting to their religions and adopting their folkways. Are you a redblooded capitalist who loves america or not? If you are, then be inclusive! Welcome the transexuals into your home and even into your bedroom. Admit that straight white males are the pits.

Persuade your daughter to marry an african or mexican immigration. Be cool, be multiculturalist!


David said...

You would be hard-pressed to find a woman-positive firm, business, or sector that isn't a pink-collar ghetto. That's what a pink-collar ghetto is - lots of women.

The "ghetto" usage is interesting. We have black "ghettos," pink "ghettos," gay "ghettos." Pharaoh, set my people free!

Anonymous said...

The new economy. Pot for everyone?

Anonymous said...

So why isn't the medical side more lucrative than the recreational side?

Anonymous said...

That's why liberals pushed so hard for drug legalization: because of NAM "sexism". Hilariously, liberals are also the biggest "war on drugs" supporters (also targets NAM).

If liberals are for the law, why should they care about what criminals do? Don't they support NAM criminals?

Oh wait. That's not the reason.

Do they hate that White and Asian Criminals are the also group in the USA not intoxicated with feminism?

Mr. Anon said...

Women seemed to be largely on-board with the whole war on drugs. Roided-up bullet-headed swat-thugs kicking in people's doors in the wee-hours and the steady erosion of our civil liberties were AOK as long as it was couched as being "for the children".

Raekwon the Chiner Jew said...

Good news, everyone. You're not blocked on this military base's government computers yet!

Saw this fun stuff on the homepage.

http://news.msn.com/us/us-teachers-nowhere-as-diverse-as-their-students

My favorite part:

"Even in a place like North Dakota, where the students aren't particularly diverse relative to the rest of the country, it's important for our social fabric, for our sense as a nation, that students are engaging with people who think, talk and act differently than them but can also be just as effective at raising student achievement in the classroom," he said.

Anonymous said...

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=So4uCbwuIdc

The Nurse Ratched Strategy.

Electing a new majority so that the will of the existing majority won't mean anything.

Mindless drones should count too, says Nurse Ratched.
Illegals should be citizens too, say the elites.

Anonymous said...

World War Pothead?

Anonymous said...

Pot is a human right. Let's start WWP against any nation that doesn't allow pothead pride parade.

Anonymous said...

Women are an under represented [majority] minority is virtually all aspects of criminal activity. Except niche businesses like prostitution. And Facebook bullying.

They need mentoring. More time in higher criminal education in flagship state prisons.

Anonymous said...

God created Cheech and Chong; not Cheryl and Chong.

Gilbert P

Anonymous said...

I can no longer tell the difference between parody and real life!

DR said...

"If tobacco smoke is a horrific poison, as is assumed, why is pot smoke not equally bad? Where's the science?"

Neither nicotine or THC, the respective psychoactive components, have any serious health consequences. Almost all the negative health outcomes come from the smoldering organic material of the plant itself. Therefore it doesn't matter what you smoke, in so long as you're smoking a plant. If you smoked an equal weight of tobacco, marijuana or pine needles it would be equally bad for you.

The difference between tobacco and cigarettes though comes down to how much is regularly smoked. A normal tobacco smoker will smoke a pack of day. 1.2 grams a cig, times 20 a pack times 7 days a week comes out to 5.9 oz a week.

In contrast the heaviest marijuana smokers might smoke an ounce a week, on a heroic binge. And unlike tobacco smokers, most casual marijuana users don't smoke everyday. Also unlike tobacco it's quite common for marijuana users to take breaks from consumption. The average regular users almost assuredly average well less than 0.25 oz a week. That's the equivalent of less than 1 cigarette a day, which has zero statistical significant health consequences.

ben tillman said...

Men are more likely than women to use pot, according to surveys and polls.

Tuesday is the day after Monday, according to surveys and polls.

C. Van Carter said...

Dude, you're like, murdering the planet.

Eric said...

DR,
You make perfect sense to me. Talk to the anti-smoking zealots who claim that there is no safe level of second hand tobacco smoke.

Rob said...

Surely the potheads make up for it by only smoking the female plants.

David Davenport said...

Are these pot dealers not setting themselves up for mega lawsuits, like the tobacco companies? Why does no one talk about the physical harm caused by addictive toking?

They're pot smokers, so they haven't thought that far ahead.

Anonymous said...

http://www.theroot.com/articles/culture/2014/05/study_u_s_teachers_don_t_reflect_the_diversity_of_students.html

Anonymous said...

Just get enough cisgendered dudes to reclassify themselves as female and the problem, if it exists, disappears.

(Stop redlining cisgendered it is spelled correctly!)

Pat Boyle said...

When I was younger I was part of a touring opera company bringing culture to the yokels. We sang in some tiny towns up the coast.

We were welcomed everywhere but were warned by the locals to stay out of the woods. Guys who wandered into the wrong areas would later be found wired to a tree. That's a very slow way to die.

In those days the hippy-pot culture was a lot rougher than now. Too rough for girls.

Pat Boyle

Anonymous said...

If Koreans are so superior, why did they spent most of the past millenium under the thumbs of China, then Japan, then the US?

Even now, North Korea is ruled by a short, fat guy with a funny haircut, just like for the past 70 years. No rebellion? No martyrdom? All the while starving?

Anonymous said...

""""""""" "But also to" what? you may be asking. Don't ask. It's a dope article." """""""""

More like its a dopey article.