Unseen Women in Psychedelic History

Summary

Women's contributions to psychedelic exploration and research in the twentieth century have been under-reported. Figures like Mabel Luhan and Valentina Wasson are known but their individual impacts are often overshadowed or simplified. Poet Mary Barnard's psychedelic writing is less celebrated than her other work, while therapists Gertrude Paltin and Kay Parley are nearly unknown. Many women's roles in spiritual development, personal discovery, and therapeutic use of psychedelics remain poorly recorded.

Study at a glance

Abstract

The drug experiences of women in Western society have been both sensationalized for their scandalous aspects and sterilized in clinical reports, but the role of women in the investigation of psychedelics in modern Western history is obscure, and the identities and activities of early women participants are often unknown. This paper explores some of the under-reported history of women’s contributions to psychedelic exploration and research in the twentieth century. Mabel Luhan and Valentina Wasson represent women whose stories have entered the canon of psychedelic history but have failed to fully represent their individual impact. Wasson’s work is often subsumed under that of her more well-known husband. Luhan is considered to be a psychedelic pioneer, but her pattern of interference in the politics of peyote in the Taos Pueblo is often overlooked. The poet Mary Barnard is well-known as a translator of Sappho, but her lyrical writing on psychedelics is less celebrated. Gertrude Paltin and Kay Parley are female therapists and authors whose valuable writing on psychedelics is almost unknown in the field. There remain many women whose significant contributions to the exploration and employment of psychedelics for spiritual development, personal discovery, individual betterment or therapeutic impact have not been well recorded.

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