What we need to do is stop viewing men and women as separate entities that require different expectations and treatment. Hell, we should probably just chuck the entire construct of gender out the window as it serves no real purpose other than to pit groups of people against each other.
We can admit there are differences in biology, sex, and cultural expectations rather than live in fantasy land and paint with a brush so broad it covers literally everyone in existence.
How about we treat groups as individuals. Whether that be a man or woman. Chances are the problems effecting most men are issues other men face. Women that only women face. Then some that everyone does.
I'm my experience the only problems that affect any specific gender are either tied directly to biology or, much more commonly, are problems that we ourselves create because we insist on a difference between genders.
I think this is absolutely the way to go for future generations (think genderless preschools/kindergartens) but I really don't think we can just flip a switch and undo millennia of gendered expectations. Although I really do appreciate the folks that try.
How you gonna sell makeup and purses and shit unless they think they are not pretty? Gotta get them to sexualize themselves then get them to doubt their inherent beauty so they buy your products.
How you gonna sell guns and trucks and shit unless they think they are not manly.
But honestly there are differences between the sexes and genders and we shouldn't just ignore those. Especially not with gender roles still being so embedded and most people being raised/coded with them.
I grew up a hetero normative male and that shit is hard to let go of, even tho I'm definitely not straight and love queer stuff. Escaping that "programming" can be scary AF.
I'm more than happy to raise a new generation free of gender roles, but let's not forget those that were raised with them.
Yeah, it's definitely not something that is even remotely easy to change and it would probably take several generations to do so. I think it starts with separating the two concepts and recognizing that for the most part the differences are tied to sex, not gender. Also, I think it's perfectly fine for people to identify with a gender, but to tie the entire perception of them to the gender is where all the problems arise. Though maybe that necessarily complicates things.
Doesn't need to be anything as wild as peyote. Just get some psilocybin, some pals you haven't seen in a while, and have a talk. You'll come out of that with a deeper understanding of yourself. Fact is, for every toxic man that needs to do soul searching, there's a toxic woman. Perhaps, instead of pointing the finger at the opposite sex/gender/whatever, take people on a case by case basis. If they're important to you in your life, you can be the catalyst that causes them to take the first step towards self improvement. Empathy is extremely important.
Can I just realize I am a human with weaknesses and strengths, loves and hates, bias and judgements but knows that if I am aware that the judgements and bias are there that I can set them aside to be fair to all when needed?
I don't really want to do drugs, even if they will open my brain to the universe. I'm not ready to deal with my shit right now. I'd rather just be nice to everyone except obvious assholes, who I will just keep at a distance for my own sake.
But seriously I am not by any means advocating psychedelics as any sort of solution to anything. My own experiences with psychedelics have not always been good and if folks don't think it's right for them they should absolutely trust that feeling.
I hate to advocate drugs, alcohol, violence, or insanity to anyone, but they've always worked for me.
Hunter S Thompson
I didn't really develop a personality of my own until I went balls deep into psychedelics and dissociatives in my 20's, and even then it wasn't until I started having "bad" experiences. That first bad LSD trip was rough, but it changed how I saw myself and my place in the world in a fundamental way. So many molecules, so many memories.
I'm sure there are plenty of good ways to get high, I smoked a lot of weed back in the day but I'd rather just be completely sober now.
I spent 32 years of my life sleeping horribly, my brain literally doesn't tell my lungs to breathe, I got a CPAP at 32 and for the first time felt truly awake. It was probably the most clarifying feeling I've ever felt in my life. I don't think I want to fuck with my brain now that I have it operating about as good as it ever will.
Drug-induced psychedelic experiences are certainly not the only path to self-reflection and developing deeper self-awareness (in fact, for some people, they may not have that effect at all). You're ok to pass on the peyote if you don't feel it would be beneficial.
Edit: I will say, though, that I think everyone should set trials to better understand themselves and push at their perceived limits and baselines. Drug-induced psychedelic experiences can be pretty accessible trials in this sense, again for some. Ain't the only way, though.
And then go to prison for being in possession of "narcotics" with "intent to distribute" because the police tested a bag of kitty litter and determined there was a trace of illegal drugs in it so the whole thing is cataloged as $10,000,000,000 USD worth of hardcord drugs.
With all the promising studies, I’ve really wanted to give it a go but I grew up sheltered and have zero clue where to start or get it. Not to mention the trust issues after that. I’m really hoping they legalize it.
Meh, I do think psychs should be legalized and do a ton myself, but this notion that all the shitty people in the world just need to have a good trip and they'll be better is silly and dangerous.
Tripping can make you confront shitty things you've been doing if you're a decent person, but it won't make someone who's a Nazi not a Nazi, it'll just make them weirder and sometimes more sure that they're enlightened and see the truth.
Agree 100% but ”humbled” is not the way to sell it.
How about “enlightened” or are we so deep in the ‘golden retriever male’ narrative that we’re actually not going to accept that some people are warriors just like others are shamans and others are carers?
Psychedelics can help you identify, understand, come to terms with accepting, and managing, the things about yourself you wouldn't otherwise. That begets the healthy self aware gentleman
Yeah, I don't want to down play the effects that properly administered psychedelics seem to be having in clinical trials.
But I've got a couple buddies who lost themselves to drugs. Specifically thinking of a pair of close friends who fell off the rails in college after getting really into pot and then LSD. I don't care how much people say it doesn't meet the clinical definition of addictive, weed will get you hooked and make you a lethargic POS if you let it.
And so given the very niche usage of peyote, I would assume those who use it are more likely to fall into the latter type of drug users.
That said, if you've got scientific write ups you can link me to to the contrary, I'd love to learn more about it.
Everyone I know who's says utter garbage like this is a mega-weed-junkie who's ruined their life.
I've seen two friends lose themselves to weed, a drug that's so utterly normalized nowadays. I don't need to know what some other bullshit does to people.
Is this really a good idea with a mass unguided approach?
A small fraction of men today are facing their "deep cores of emptiness" and are totally unequipped to deal with that reality. They "don't return to the village humbled". They lash out in violent rage and frequently killing other people in the process.
I am not by any means advocating psychedelics as any sort of solution to anything. My own experiences with psychedelics have not always been good and if folks don't think it's right for them they should absolutely trust that feeling.
I’ve only done Peyote once and I wouldn’t consider it a strong psychedelic. Don’t even remember having any visions or heightened perception, just a lot energy and motivation.
Perhaps I dosed it too low since it was the first time, but I didn’t even find it interesting enough to do it again, although perhaps it might be useful for my ADHD.
Mushrooms are far stronger hallucinogens, yet in my experience they are also far more common.
That’s why you shouldn’t do these substances around people. Going alone, or better yet with a friend who stays sober, out into nature is the far better choice. The whole point is to reawaken your animal instincts that have been battered and bruised from society’s constant domestication, and to that end it helps to have some trees around.
What this lady is really saying is that most men are pussies because they don’t let their wild side out every once in a while. But you really don’t need to murder and kill people in order to do that, just going to play Tarzan in the jungle every now and then will do the trick.
What this lady is really saying is that most men are pussies because they don’t let their wild side out every once in a while.
I really really don't think that is what she's saying.
I think she's saying: "Grasp, for a moment, the concept that most of the things you hold dear and strive for are mere societal constructs that not only don't define your potential, but in fact can limit what you can achieve. Further, the achievements could be for intangibles instead of money, power, or fame. Realize how small you are to the universe, how insignificant. Be humbled by it. Be humbled by the concept of life, and that you have the gift of it, but not for long. Don't waste your few dozen years of existence on trifle things."
I'm saying that isn't a welcome message for many men that define themselves as the higher of a relationship of subjugation. Whether that subjugation is based on perceived superiority to another gender, race, or religion. To this small percentage of men, inferiority, in any form is considered a weakness, and only bold acts of depravity would wipe away that stain in their twisted minds.
I had a pretty bad trip which resulted in an ego death. I'm not sure how I kept my job after it, I was basically a walking zombie for a good 2 months. Took about 18 months to connect back to reality and even now 7 years later I'm not the same person.
I don't mean to invalidate your experience at all but I don't think that's what people commonly think of when referring to "ego death". In my experience it's shorter and fades with the trip. Experiences that long sounds like it triggerered something. Are you familiar with depersonalization and rerealization? I've experienced something similar to those, unrelated to a trip, that lasted a few months.
I'm really sorry you had to navigate that. I've had (mostly) positive experiences with psychedelics but this is a good reminder to not recommend them freely.
Same. I've had ego death before, tripped hundreds of times, I've always been, and will continue to be, an advocate for psychedelic drugs, mostly mushrooms. But that last trip (mushrooms) was so bad, I was begging my wife to call 911 (convinced I was dying of a heart attack). She was on even more than I was and handled it like a champ, reminding me I was on mushrooms and even slapped a Fitbit on my wrist (which I couldn't read lol) to show me I was not having a heart attack. I'll never know how she managed to deal with me in that state. But ever since that night, even if I smoke weed I start to get that panicked feeling from that trip. I realize of course now that I had a panic attack in the moments leading to the ego death and after it became so strong I could no longer panic, said my goodbyes (lol) and accepted my fate. It was pure hell.
I'm convinced my mind is too fragile to experience that ever again and I will not ever take that chance again. It took months to recover and I was even prescribed Klonopin to ease the continuing panic attacks during the following weeks.
Mushrooms can be an amazing, beautiful, life changing drug, but it can also kick your fucking ass so bad you'll be feeling the effects of that ass whooping for the rest of your life. In retrospect I'm glad I had that experience but do not wish to repeat it. I've had bad trips many times but that was straw that broke this camels back.
Long story short, trips can be a learning experience that can't be obtained anywhere else, but know that they can leave lasting effects (mostly positive, but not always) that will change you on a fundamental level.
Thanks, can. My partner is curious, so I'll probably take a baby dose at some point.
I'm pretty attached to my sobriety. If not for the mostly emphatic accounts of people's trips, I wouldn't have any interest. It's nice to hear a voice going a bit counter to that for once.
I can’t do hallucinogens anymore. Even ecstasy gives me a “bad trip”. I get all anxious and in my own head. I have to lock myself in a room by myself. I can’t smoke weed because it makes me super anxious. Micro-dosing is cool though.
I don’t know. I started smoking weed at like 12, and started taking acid and ecstasy at like 14 or 15. It used to be fun. I used to fucking love the way it made me feel. But somewhere around 19 or 20 weed started giving me really bad anxiety attacks. Hallucinogens started making me freak out. It is incredibly unpleasant and unfortunate. I know what it’s like to enjoy those things, but I just can’t anymore.