By Gramm and Gropes – The Feminine Experience in the Cannabis Industry

As a man, you would never really understand the “extra bullshit” a woman goes through on a daily basis.

For example, when I walk down the street in the middle of the night; I don’t keep thinking that some silly, grotesque idiot might jump out of a bush to rape me.

This doesn’t mean that men can’t be attacked by other goofy bastards, but in the context of personal space, self-confidence, and even within industry, being a man is just a little bit easier.

When it comes to the cannabis industry – it apparently does too. At least one Reddit post asking women in the cannabis industry if they have experienced sexual assault / harassment / and general creepiness.

While being scary isn’t a crime like the other two mentioned in the post – it’s still uncomfortable and not something you’d like to experience repeatedly.

My aim here is not to get my article across on the subject as I usually do in my Op-Eds, mainly because I have no experience from this perspective of life.

So I use my platform to give the women who responded to the post a voice to reach more people. I’m not trying to start a witch hunt or any other me too movement. I don’t think that would solve everything.

I am trying to raise awareness of the issues and shout out some bullshit. I never understood the need to abuse people because of their race, gender, religion, or any other quality imaginable.

I have long since given up any notion that I am the owner of a truth other than my own. Hence, it seems to me to be an irrational position to subscribe to an idea or paradigm that uses any of these above metrics to judge a person.

It is much easier to accept our differences than to fight them all.

Here is the OG post

SOURCE: Purple_Performer_336

A little later came the horror stories.

For example, one Redditor said sssupsucca;

In 6 months, 3 clients asked me out on a date (although one of them was super understanding / not rude after saying thank you but was already dating someone right now) an old guy got super creepy after finding out that we had THC-infused lube (luckily my “refuses to be shamed / sneaked up” took over the lead immediately), and another older guy asked about ingestible THC oil and literally asked me, “So if I buy this and.. give you something, will you come to my house and clean it naked? ” In front of 2 employees, another customer and a person who came for maintenance. Blanko just said “No, there is no way I will!” We all laughed about it afterwards, but still so damn gross

It must be difficult to be constantly hammered by guys who can’t read clues. Usually it’s the dumbest and most looking motherfuckers who say shit so blatantly.

Just reading this experience put a bad taste in my mouth.

One breeder also agreed with their experience – said the user “Kgetit”;

Yes. Edit: I didn’t want to go into any of my stories, they are all problematic. I work in California, I’ve worked north and south. It’s like traveling back in time with men in the industry. They don’t respect us as breeders, they don’t respect us as someone who knows their stuff, and especially the old Skol boys want to keep us objective. Brands use women’s bodies to sell their products … just like a fertilizer manufacturer hired a number of models for its stand at a convention. The crazy thing for me is that this plant is feminine. These men worship a female plant, but they do not honor a human woman.

I think people should respect knowledge and results. If someone is growing horny bud, that should be all that matters.

Unfortunately, sex sells are more about how advertisers use our basic reproductive instincts against us to buy their products. You may not even know, but regarding the last part – this is actually a calculated marketing strategy.

How do we change that?

We probably can’t – but what we can do is pay our respects to the woman who runs the stores and grows horny buds … just focus on the results, damn it!

User MichelleHR802 also shared her experiences as a business owner in the cannabis space;

I own a cannabis business with my husband so I didn’t have to deal with sexual harassment. I think the reason I didn’t deal directly with sexual harassment is because everyone knows my husband and I own the company, so it should be from other business owners. However, I have to say that it has been difficult to gain respect as a woman in the cannabis industry. I purposely bring my husband to every meeting because for some reason people take me more seriously, even though I run the company on a daily basis. Somebody shook my husband’s hand, then I hold out mine and they just don’t shake mine. It’s very uncomfortable and rather sad. I couldn’t imagine being a normal female employee in the cannabis industry.

I’ve seen this kind of misogyny in action against my wife. I had to quit the deal and tell the guy I can’t work with someone who can’t treat my partner as an equal and had to take a decent amount of money away.

Why, because fuck this guy!

It baffles the mind to think that just because someone is a different gender than you is somehow “less able” to do shit.

Michelle, you go ahead and use your husband as a proxy to tear down the walls of “the stupid Oafish Fucks”!

Another Redditor named “Thehazyspider” wrote;

This is a big topic in the industry! I have a friend who quit her job after being harassed by subordinates and nothing management had to do about the problem. She returned to the bartender – seriously, working in a bar was a less harassing environment than the cannabis industry.

I was fired after publicly calling an owner promoting women based on who slept with them. They literally created a new department and job title just for her … after she signed an NDA and “love contract”. Another cannabis company I worked for had a manager who enjoyed touching the young girls who worked there. Elsewhere, a chef tried to follow a girl home, convinced that she was his perfect girl, and was sent there just for him. Management gave him several “warnings” – no specific punishment.

It’s definitely a boys club. Personally, I’m pretty burned out working for rich guys. I’m leaving the industry because it doesn’t seem like a good place for strong, independent women. Hopefully one day the regulations will become available for everyday use and I can open my own bakery.

When it comes to regulations that are accessible to ordinary people, I’ve written an article that I think might solve this problem. The government won’t like it – but fuck them for making weed illegal in the first place.

But we also have to consider that there are also trans people, as “Satyric_Esoteric” pointed out;

Not just cis women. I am trans (MtF) and therefore have a lot to do with flak. Just looking for a job was a nightmare. You could hear the disappointment in the voice of potential employers when they called me and found out I was trans (voice training is slow).

I hear a lot of transphobic stuff, if that doesn’t happen I’ll get the wrong gender or be stared at. I’m a temporary worker so I’m in a shitty position to speak up.

I recently had a colleague who quit because she kept getting advances from thirsty guys with bad boundaries. It’s not my first time seeing it, and it’s gross.

In an industry that doesn’t want me to fight for legitimacy is one thing. But representation is important, so I’ll stick with it.

Of course, this is not the experience of every woman in the industry – there are some who cannot endure all of this rigor, but that doesn’t mean that this type of behavior doesn’t happen.

Read a comment on the thread; “Name an industry where that doesn’t happen,” which is 100% true. This is not an issue about cannabis or the cannabis industry, although it is largely owned by “frat boys,” as many of the women called it.

But it’s the “frat boy mentality” that plagues society. Frat boys are beta males who pretend to be alphas when in reality their behavior is more like that of hyenas than that of lions.

If you work in the cannabis industry and are female, feel free to hook up on the reddit post or just write your experiences in the comments section to add to the conversation.

It’s time to bleed ladies! Come on, take the pressure off … we’re listening. ‘

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