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In this paper we argue that legal and technological shifts in cannabis marketing has a gendered impact, which research so far has ignored. Despite high variations in national criminal laws, US-based social media platforms like Instagram, Facebook, and Twitter play a huge role in enforcing certain social and political standpoints on a global scale. One example being the recent legalization and commercialization of cannabis in various states in the US. Young men with dark, anonymous profiles illegally dealing cannabis on social media are no longer the only visible traders, as today’s marketing of trademarked legal cannabis products also features women influencers, who post images exhibiting light colors, desirable environments, and beautiful landscapes. To understand this diversity, we compared 60 Instagram profiles of illegal Swedish cannabis sellers to 70 US-based cannabis influencers’ Instagram profiles. By applying theories and research from media scholars on influencing, we highlight various changes in the way cannabis is being presented and professionalized by a new group of actors. Our findings show that cannabis influencers on Instagram are changing the stereotypical characteristics of illegal cannabis culture as being almost entirely dominated by men, to one where cannabis is represented as a desirable accessory in certain feminine lifestyles. Influencers’ role in transforming cannabis culture to become more mainstream and acceptable for women could potentially effect cannabis cultures globally, as well as ongoing legalization debates.

With a starting point in women's studies, this article moves on to approach the nightclub as a place of embodiment for both genders by introducing neo-Lacanian insights combined with Baudrillardian concepts. We look at three young drug-experienced men interviewed for a Danish club study (2008-09). The article examines how the risks of losing masculinity, losing sexual opportunities, and losing friends are managed in nightlife. Since masculinity becomes invested in the fantasy of the drug and the utopian party, these young men can be perceived as risking their male position when the party does not work out as planned.

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Drawing on 17 qualitative interviews with women aged 18–22, this paper explores how sexting practices are related to views on and uses of pornography. While pornography was found to be an important reference point for participants in their sexting, sexted images were actively tailored to differentiate themselves from porn in three ways. First, private images were to be less explicit and more realistic in terms of content. Second, unlike pornography, which was seen as one-sided, sex- ting relied on reciprocity and intimacy. Third, participants were careful to explicitly state what they were consenting to when sexting and, although a few were turned on by coercive fantasies found in porn, they clearly demarcated such experiences from those they wanted in their sexting relationships. This paper examines women’s active engagement with pornography to extend our understanding of the relationship between sexting and mundane media use, specifically in this case pornography.