Posts
Sisters, We Should Smoke More Pot
By Izzy Grinspan / August 21, 2007
The Stranger’s article on the dearth of female stoners (via Gawker, via Feministing) is so right on — not about pot, but about the relationship between women and work:
Perhaps the obstacle to female toking is a fear of looking lazy. Getting stoned is, in effect, a great way to relax. Men are allowed to be lazy—being stoned is part of their farting, pajama-wearing, video-game-playing pantheon of acceptable male relaxation techniques. Since Jeff Spicoli made his debut in 1982's Fast Times at Ridgemont High, and continuing into the entire oeuvre of director Judd Apatow (The 40-Year-Old Virgin, Knocked Up), stonerdom is an accepted part of modern maleness. Their sloth is even kind of adorable. But modern women are not allowed to be lazy, adorable stoners. Women have to go to college (which they're now doing at higher rates than men), and then get their careers going quickly, before their biological clocks run out. Then they have to have kids and take them to all of their activities. There is no time for women to be slovenly and relax—and if women do relax, it has to be at a gym.
Dude, that’s not about the fear of looking lazy—that’s about the fear of being lazy. And laziness is a grand American tradition, one to which my gender should really be demanding access. We happen to live in a moment when female laziness is genuinely subversive. The conservative side of the cultural spectrum expects us to work tirelessly—and without pay—to maintain our households. 
The progressive side expects us to work equally hard to break the glass ceiling. Meanwhile, the ostensibly-apolitical forces of pop culture want us to weigh 93 pounds and wear full-on makeup whenever we leave the house, both of which require a hell of a lot of effort if you’re not attached at the hip to Rachel Zoe. At this point, there’s nothing more radical than a woman who doesn’t clean, doesn’t strive, and doesn’t work out. I’m being a bit provocative, obviously, but I’m also not entirely joking. Think for a moment about why people are lazy: because it’s pleasurable. Because lying around in front of a funny movie eating popcorn is more voluptuously enjoyable than either scrubbing the bathroom floor or sitting in a cubical or doing 45 minutes on the elliptical trainer. And female sensual pleasure is still a deeply threatening thing.
The Stranger sort of gets into this:
With all this social pressure on women not to be stoners, the gender divide is not surprising. Every aspect of getting stoned is banned from women's psyches—relaxing, eating, and feeling pleasure. It's reminiscent of old-school ideas about female sexuality—orgasms aren't ladylike so why would women want to have them?
How depressing is that final sentence? It's nice that we live in a society where female sexualty is (semi) accepted, but have we really swapped the old taboos against having orgasms with new taboos against, like, sitting down and having a nice meal? As if women are only entitled to pleasure if it's sexual? If so, maybe we do need a movement of feminist slackerdom. If you're with me, let's all get seven-layer burritos and go watch Daria DVDs. Take that, patriarchy!
POST A COMMENT
Yes, and we see marijuana use advertised everywhere…. If you’re worried about your health, buy a vaporizer. If you choose to believe a bunch of unsubstantiated scaremongering, don’t smoke pot. But for god’s sake, don’t start spitting out the tired lies and bullshit propaganda that America has been steeped in for the past century.
I hate to stoop to this level, but what with the "It’s illegal. Pot is TOO a gateway drug. Drug use is BAD for people", I’m sitting here questioning whether or not you are, in fact, a Jew. The cultural tradition of Jewishness that I know, love, and celebrate is a tradition of questioning authority and heresay, of being an independent minded intellectual and coming to conclusions on one’s own. But I suppose it is really not fair of me to question your Jewishness; after all, there’s plenty of you in the ADL……
Right. Let’s encourage drug use at Jewcy. It’s illegal. Pot is TOO a gateway drug. Drug use is bad for people. Whoever is running this website left their brains in their other pants. "Sisters" no – don’t. Take a nap.
Remember when getting women to smoke cigarettes was publicized as "torches of freedom"? You know how many cancers came out of that? At least that didn’t get you a police record.
If even one person takes a toke because of this piece………..
In my family, smoking pot is practically tradition. I was just visiting them in Maryland in late October and my grandfather told my aunt, uncle, mother, and I that he even got his mother (who is long deceased) into smoking. As he told us this, we were all smoking. It’s hilarious.
Also, I find smoking pot to be a deeply meditative experience which seems, when in effect, to increase intellectual/creative sensitivity and allow for insight that likely wouldn’t have been obtained otherwise. As a female, I’ve never really given a second thought to the notion of smoking pot being at variance with my gender. But it’s an interesting point. And I totally agree with your title.
This is sooo true. I am all in!
I'm all for lazy women. Let's see more common ground between genders!
From women:
- More public ass scratching. It itches, don't deny it.
- An appreciation for stupid comedies. Dude, Where's My Car? Genius. Super Troopers? Redefined the cop movie genre.
- Memorizing and regurgitating movie and TV quotes. Actually, maybe not. Then you might find out that none of us are actually original, or funny.
From the men:
- Wear skirts. They're breezier in the summer, and it's easier access for above-mentioned ass scratching. And if it's good enough for Scotland, it's good enough for you.
- Watch foreign films. The posibility of female (also, let's face it, male) nudity increases exponentially with the addition of subtitles.
- Exercise. You know where all the women are? The gym, you lazy ass. They also might be jogging (I think it's pronounced yogging, there might be a soft J).
I'll schedule this in.
Slattern
Definition 1: a person who is negligent of his appearance or surroundings, especially an untidy slovenly woman
Definition 2: slut, prostitute
That's straight from Webster's. Never heard the word used in US, but sometimes ran across it in Britain & Ireland. A woman without OCD is apparently also a woman of doubtful virtue. So I guess one who lazes around the house with her boy toking up and devouring everything in the fridge…well, god knows what that suggests. Don't know how this idea got started, but apparently it's been around for a bit.
I really don't have any interest in smoking pot. Being lazy, though, I'm all for. Feminist slackerdom forever!
Wanna post your own comments? Gotta log in first!