thank you, Elise, especially for this. "Pick your path. Contend with your own feelings. But don’t deprecate or devalue the women in order to justify your decision to keep engaging with him. "
I was riveted by this article, mostly because it reflects what is happening in the collective field. I don’t play on social media (outside of Substack, which I consider something different entirely) but I did feel the need to post a comment on the Intelligencer site:
I can’t help but wonder: how conditioned are we, as women, by the patriarchy that we shame the women victims and debase the journalist who is trying to save us from ourselves? Yes, I am flawed, he is flawed, we are all flawed, but that’s very different from asking ourselves why we’d ever want someone, especially a man who professes to have all the answers about lasting change, tell us how to live our own life. Woman have listened to men—prophets, politicians, experts, corporate leaders—for so long, we’ve forgotten how to think and feel for ourselves. For anyone who’s done any real internal work, you know this piece isn’t about Huberman; it’s about a culture-gone-mad where immorality, a lack of integrity and manipulation are okay, as long as I get something I want and don’t have to look directly into the eyes of those who get hurt.
25 years ago my daughter Maya Rodale and I wrote a book called It’s My Pleasure, because we wanted to highlight stories of women who succeeded and busted the myths that woman who experienced pleasure had to die or be banished. What we uncovered by the end of writing it is that we women are our own worst enemies. It’s still true today but I’m so glad we have platforms to talk about it with each other. I could tell in an instant that Andrew Huberman was mostly full of shit. Any time a man spouts off statistics and scientific studies to impress people, it’s a smoke screen. I’ve seen it in business (I’m a former CEO of a publishing company). And I’ve seen it in the health, wellness and spirituality areas as well. But people fall for it because it feels good to surrender to someone else’s alleged expertise. I think the best explanations come from Frans de Wahls books on Apes. (May he rest in peace.) Basically we are all apes with finer fur. The question is are you more a chimp or a bonobo?
Thanks so much, Elise, for this. I saw him on Rich Roll and was turned off by his habit of making definitive statements based on little evidence. I'm a scientist, and it's not what scientists do. I never followed his podcast.
I'm sorry for all those women he has treated badly, and I'm glad they've found a way to help each other heal. I hope he gets the help he needs, although he would first have to admit he needs it. Alas, this shit is everywhere, with many men cosplaying this behavior because they believe it gives them prestige among their peers. For all our sakes, we need to change how we socialize men.
Thank you for thos article! I'm in the Option #1 category and do not support or encourage others to follow people who treat women terribly. I've met many men like this. They have brains, charisma and are articulate. But they use people, especially women, as nothing but surrogates to feed their egos and advance their agendas. No thanks.
Thank you for writing this. As someone who's been at the receiving end of behavior like this (and then seen as the villain while the main was/is still seen as the hero), this is all too common. I have to say that I'm not surprised in learning this about him!
Thank you for writing this piece and bringing the article to my attention. In both your writing and NYM, I had recognized a lot of his patterns during his podcasts, though had no concept of the magnitude of his issues. I also so a clear pattern of someone I dated briefly. I'm grateful for women like you, who can so eloquently put the pieces together to help us not repeat the conditioning that harms other women.
Your brilliance never ceases to amaze me--and I thank the old Goop podcasts for first putting you on my radar. This is an excellent essay--choose your path of what's important to you--but don't vilify the victims in the process. Amen to that.
As a former Huberman watcher, noticed something off about him long ago. His interaction style with those he interviews is fascinating. Even interviewing men, he interrupts frequently. He doesn’t allow them to move along their planned presentation. They appear to be annoyed by this though patient. You get the impression that even though the interview is ostensibly about the guest, H is letting us know it’s really all about him. So when I read the tell-all piece, I wasn’t surprised to hear that in his personal life, he interrupts his “partner” by giving attention to another “partner”, and that overall, while appearing to put the partner at the center, he sees the relationship as being really all about him. I also hope he gets the help he needs.
Thank you for this viewpoint. I saw he was a guest for Joe Rogan and paused my listening for a while as I wrestled with what that affiliation meant. I was afraid I was being judgmental and too quick to engage in a culture war mentality. My instinct was right that his participation with a harmful cultural voice was an indicator of an even larger harm.
I did not see that story about him, but it does not surprise me. Thank you so much for On Our Best Behavior. I read it while reading Unlearning Shame by Devon Price, The Myth of Normal by Gabor Maté, and White Women by Regina Jackson and Saira Rao. I am starting to see how my internalized biases (racism, sexism, ableism, consumerism, etc.) influence my behavior/self-image and encourage me to ignore/tolerate bad behavior of those with dominant identities. It feels like taking the sunglasses off in John Carpenter's They Live!
Elise, I just wanted to point out that Andrew Huberman’s attitude toward women must be a trained trait. I noticed that in his Wickapedia bio only listed his father. I scrolled to this father’s Wickapedia page and his father has decided to not mention a spouse. Maybe a learned trait.And I thought Andrew spend his nights alone in his lab!
Thank you for your insight! This is so timely. My husband is very into this Peter Attia and Hubberman style biohacking, and he was just saying to me how disappointed he was to see men in this space feel more aligned with the Joe Rogan style messaging, and that he’d love to find more men in this space be less “machismo” and inclusive of women. I thought of you immediately.
thank you, Elise, especially for this. "Pick your path. Contend with your own feelings. But don’t deprecate or devalue the women in order to justify your decision to keep engaging with him. "
I was riveted by this article, mostly because it reflects what is happening in the collective field. I don’t play on social media (outside of Substack, which I consider something different entirely) but I did feel the need to post a comment on the Intelligencer site:
I can’t help but wonder: how conditioned are we, as women, by the patriarchy that we shame the women victims and debase the journalist who is trying to save us from ourselves? Yes, I am flawed, he is flawed, we are all flawed, but that’s very different from asking ourselves why we’d ever want someone, especially a man who professes to have all the answers about lasting change, tell us how to live our own life. Woman have listened to men—prophets, politicians, experts, corporate leaders—for so long, we’ve forgotten how to think and feel for ourselves. For anyone who’s done any real internal work, you know this piece isn’t about Huberman; it’s about a culture-gone-mad where immorality, a lack of integrity and manipulation are okay, as long as I get something I want and don’t have to look directly into the eyes of those who get hurt.
25 years ago my daughter Maya Rodale and I wrote a book called It’s My Pleasure, because we wanted to highlight stories of women who succeeded and busted the myths that woman who experienced pleasure had to die or be banished. What we uncovered by the end of writing it is that we women are our own worst enemies. It’s still true today but I’m so glad we have platforms to talk about it with each other. I could tell in an instant that Andrew Huberman was mostly full of shit. Any time a man spouts off statistics and scientific studies to impress people, it’s a smoke screen. I’ve seen it in business (I’m a former CEO of a publishing company). And I’ve seen it in the health, wellness and spirituality areas as well. But people fall for it because it feels good to surrender to someone else’s alleged expertise. I think the best explanations come from Frans de Wahls books on Apes. (May he rest in peace.) Basically we are all apes with finer fur. The question is are you more a chimp or a bonobo?
“I’m not saying that I’m not psychic” ❤️
Thanks so much, Elise, for this. I saw him on Rich Roll and was turned off by his habit of making definitive statements based on little evidence. I'm a scientist, and it's not what scientists do. I never followed his podcast.
I'm sorry for all those women he has treated badly, and I'm glad they've found a way to help each other heal. I hope he gets the help he needs, although he would first have to admit he needs it. Alas, this shit is everywhere, with many men cosplaying this behavior because they believe it gives them prestige among their peers. For all our sakes, we need to change how we socialize men.
I appreciate you.
Thank you for thos article! I'm in the Option #1 category and do not support or encourage others to follow people who treat women terribly. I've met many men like this. They have brains, charisma and are articulate. But they use people, especially women, as nothing but surrogates to feed their egos and advance their agendas. No thanks.
Thank you for writing this. As someone who's been at the receiving end of behavior like this (and then seen as the villain while the main was/is still seen as the hero), this is all too common. I have to say that I'm not surprised in learning this about him!
Thank you for writing this piece and bringing the article to my attention. In both your writing and NYM, I had recognized a lot of his patterns during his podcasts, though had no concept of the magnitude of his issues. I also so a clear pattern of someone I dated briefly. I'm grateful for women like you, who can so eloquently put the pieces together to help us not repeat the conditioning that harms other women.
Your brilliance never ceases to amaze me--and I thank the old Goop podcasts for first putting you on my radar. This is an excellent essay--choose your path of what's important to you--but don't vilify the victims in the process. Amen to that.
As a former Huberman watcher, noticed something off about him long ago. His interaction style with those he interviews is fascinating. Even interviewing men, he interrupts frequently. He doesn’t allow them to move along their planned presentation. They appear to be annoyed by this though patient. You get the impression that even though the interview is ostensibly about the guest, H is letting us know it’s really all about him. So when I read the tell-all piece, I wasn’t surprised to hear that in his personal life, he interrupts his “partner” by giving attention to another “partner”, and that overall, while appearing to put the partner at the center, he sees the relationship as being really all about him. I also hope he gets the help he needs.
Thank you for this viewpoint. I saw he was a guest for Joe Rogan and paused my listening for a while as I wrestled with what that affiliation meant. I was afraid I was being judgmental and too quick to engage in a culture war mentality. My instinct was right that his participation with a harmful cultural voice was an indicator of an even larger harm.
I did not see that story about him, but it does not surprise me. Thank you so much for On Our Best Behavior. I read it while reading Unlearning Shame by Devon Price, The Myth of Normal by Gabor Maté, and White Women by Regina Jackson and Saira Rao. I am starting to see how my internalized biases (racism, sexism, ableism, consumerism, etc.) influence my behavior/self-image and encourage me to ignore/tolerate bad behavior of those with dominant identities. It feels like taking the sunglasses off in John Carpenter's They Live!
Elise, I just wanted to point out that Andrew Huberman’s attitude toward women must be a trained trait. I noticed that in his Wickapedia bio only listed his father. I scrolled to this father’s Wickapedia page and his father has decided to not mention a spouse. Maybe a learned trait.And I thought Andrew spend his nights alone in his lab!
Thank you for your insight! This is so timely. My husband is very into this Peter Attia and Hubberman style biohacking, and he was just saying to me how disappointed he was to see men in this space feel more aligned with the Joe Rogan style messaging, and that he’d love to find more men in this space be less “machismo” and inclusive of women. I thought of you immediately.
🙏🏿🙏🏿🙏🏿 thank you for calling this out and not mincing your words.
I am sharing this with everyone I know! Thank you for this truly thoughtful piece 🙏🏼