Publications

In Coming Out of the Psychedelic Closet: Psychedelics and Identity Politics, Nese Devenot posits a correlation between coming out as LGBTQ and coming out as a psychedelic user. In so doing, she proposes to map the identity of ‘psychedelic people’ and the movement toward legalization and social acceptance of psychedelics onto other identity-based claims for human rights protections and the civil rights movements coalesced through these claims. For her, ‘psychedelic people’ are doubly oppressed through drug war policies and social stigma against the psychedelic experience. She argues, psychedelic users can and must assume their rightful place in the fight against cultural hegemony and oppression.

Q: I had sex a couple weeks ago and the condom broke. We only figured it out after. When I talked to my friends about it a few days later, they told me I should have taken the morning after pill, but that now it’s too late. Now my body is feeling all weird, and I’m totally stressed I might be pregnant … but maybe I’m just being paranoid. Is there a way to know without going to the doctor? Are there, like, symptoms of early pregnancy you can detect before a missed period? I know I should go to the gyno to ake the test but I’m so nervous and I really don’t want to have to explain all this.

Q: My doctor just told me I tested positive for Hepatitis C. I’m in complete shock. How did this happen? He said that I need to see a specialist to get treatment, that I can get cured even, but I can’t wrap my head around this. I live such a safe life, how did I get this disease? Do I have to tell my sexual partners that I have it? I heard that the treatment feels terrible and you have to take it for a whole year, is that true? If I don’t get treated, is it going to kill me? I’m so freaked out right now.

Q: I got diagnosed with HPV a bit ago but just got my first bout of warts. I’m wondering what to do — do they go away on their own? Is there something I can do at home to take care of them, like something over the counter or a home remedy that makes genital warts disappear? My doctor said if I got any warts to come back to the clinic and she’d burn them off, which kinda freaks me out. I’d rather not go to the doctor if I can do this myself.

Q: My boyfriend and I love smoking weed. I personally love the way it makes me feel (particularly during sex). However, I read that smoking cigarettes can mess with women’s ability to get pregnant, and I’m wondering if marijuana is similarly bad for fertility. We’re not trying to have a kid right now, but we have discussed it for the future and I don’t want something we’re doing now to hinder that potential future goal.

Q: My mom sent me a scary email the other day about how her doctor friend told her if I get an STD I’ll never be able to have kids. That freaked me out because I definitely see being a mom in my future, and I don’t want my decisions now to impact that future. So is it true? Can STDs affect your fertility?

Q: I’ve been dealing with some intense itchiness for five days now. I have this rash all over my skin that has gross pimples and redness. I’m super worried it’s an STD because I slept with a new guy a few weeks ago and now I’m having an itchy gross freakout. I didn’t notice a rash on him but it was dark and I wasn’t really paying attention to his skin because, you know, I was hooking up. But now I feel terrible and it’s not going away. I Googled it and it looks like it might be scabies! What is that and what do I do?

I just got onto OKCupid in late December (I know, I’m late to the game, no judgment) and I’m fascinated by it — because it’s basically an unending menu of Brooklyn cuties, but also from a nerdy research perspective, there’s just so much data out there because of it. Anyway, I was lying in bed recently, mousing through profiles, when I realized something interesting: I was “liking” way more non-male-presenting folks than I had been a couple weeks earlier. (Background: I identify as queer and am excited by all gender presentations but am currently finding myself mostly with cis males.) And I had a thought — there’s all this research about how women are more attracted to more masculine men when they’re ovulating (whatever “more masculine” means; let’s fight about it in another article), but I haven’t seen any parallel research about whether human desire changes across gender throughout the month.

Q: I have questions about testing. I just got out of a long-term monogamous relationship where I didn’t really have to think about testing, but now that I’m single I realize I don’t know how often to get tested. I’m chatting with all these guys on dating sites and I want to get out there, but I also want to be safe and be able to tell them real information about being clean. Do I need to get tested before each new person if we’re using condoms?

Q: I’m newly single and loving it! However, I must confess I’m a bit rusty on how to protect myself from STDs. I was monogamous with my ex for five years and I’m on the pill, so after we got tested we stopped using condoms. Now I’m free and on the prowl, but I want to make sure I’m taking care of myself. Yes, I know I should use condoms, but if I’m hooking up with different people, is there anything else I should be doing to protect myself from STDs? I want to have fun but I don’t want to end up with baby or a disease!