The New Smoker is at once delightfully libertine and deeply sexist,” writes sociologist Wendy Chapkis (Humboldt Journal of Social Relations, 35, 2013). Indeed, one needs only to peruse the pages of High Times to see bongs nestled in faceless cleavage, or search Craigslist to find Northern California pot growers offering women more money to trim weed topless, to know that sexism is alive and well in the weed industry.
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LOOK BACK: We Be Pimpin’. Let’s start with a brief history lesson of what sociologists call “underground economies.” Whether your reference point is a textbook chapter about the Prohibition Era or reruns of The Wire, one thing is clear: from the ground up, women’s roles and experiences in drug culture are very different from men’s.
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istorically, the paradigm of the male outlaw as is a fact: “baller, shot-caller,” anyone? From the mob bosses of the 1920s to the dispensary owner of today, men almost exclusively fill the power roles in taboo economies. Intersectional feminists (read: scholars who investigate how social constructs perpetuate female inequality) have documented and analyzed gender division in deviant cultures for decades, but
it’s best summed up by sociologist Karen August, who writes, “Gender roles in drug economies have generally portrayed males as the center of power [ballin’] and decision-making [shot-callin’] and women in the industry as ineffective business operators, victims in their involvement or as powerless girlfriends enticed by the lavish and hedonistic lifestyles of male operators.”
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ROWING UP. Today, the weed industry is still saddled with these discrepancies, and it starts at the ground level, with the cultivation of the plant. Several northern California-based scholars have conducted in-depth studies of the local marijuana growing culture and have found women to be marginalized at this stage of the supply chain.
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n her study of rural marijuana production in northern California, August finds, “Women are generally pushed into the tedious jobs of growing, tending crops, trimming and clone work…none of these particular tasks bring high wages, prestige or positional power…The major players in the marijuana industry are males and the resultant market structure is not conducive to female success. Rarely are women encouraged to set up and maintain their own operations.” In a survey of Craigslist ads seeking marijuana trimmers at harvest time, August finds several of these ads to be sexually explicit in nature, often asking specifically for female trimmers, and offering them more money for working nude or for being willing to perform sexual favors.
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ere are a few examples, via August: Girl Trimmer needed. Date: 2011-11-02, 1:19PM PDT - Reply to: removed. “Need a good-looking trimmer that is Dtf*. And oPen minded, pay is great, lots of work, again need a good looking girls that’s Dtf*, mid 20’s guy here, good looking and athletic build, blue eyes, come work this week, worker needed asap Send pic and info or no response, also let me know availability next few days, thankx. “
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ady trimmers sought Date:2010-10-20, 4:02PM PDT. Reply to: removed. “Hello thereseeking new trim ladies. previous help got greedy and lazy... maybe over-endulged. looking for new help, topless extra. haha great pay otherwise......2-3 per depending on exp.. but may train the right girls. call call now will only be in town for a few. or leave
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