A reader writes:
It has nothing to do with stereotypes, and everything to do with actual facts. I live in L.A., dispensaries are all over the place, and I partake occasionally. In all my years going, at least 95% of the patrons in a dispensary are men. You hardly ever see women buying weed at these places. Is it because of stereotypes? No, it's because a stoner is WAY more likely to be a dude than a chick. Lots of chicks smoke pot, but they're not stoners.
I wonder if Dawn at Feministing is mad at the stereotype in movies of serial killers being men? I mean, we have to be fair, right? Forget facts; we need 50% of all serial killers in films to be women.
Men are more than twice as likely to smoke pot than women. The Stranger explored the gender divide a few years back:
Fiona believes that media images have a lot to do with why so few women smoke pot, but says that fear of weight gain also plays a large role. "You get the munchies, you know?" says Fiona. "A lot of girls wouldn't want to sit on the couch and eat chips all night."
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 lazybeing stoned is part of their farting, pajama-wearing, video-game-playing pantheon of acceptable male relaxation techniques. ... 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 relaxand if women do relax, it has to be at a gym.