Comments on: Dreams and the Gift of Masculinity

By: Ryan Hurd

Ryan Hurd — Sat, 20 Jun 2009 17:51:28 +0000

thanks for the feedback KMG. I don't mean to suggest that women can't be lucid dreamers - some of the most powerful lucid dreamers I know are women (pasQuale, Beverly D'Urso, Jayne Gackenbach, Fariba Bogzaran, and you KMG of course, the list goes on).

By: KMG

KMG — Sat, 20 Jun 2009 12:39:03 +0000

What an interesting perspective! I’ve never thought about gender in that way. I agree that in my experience, most lucid dreamers are men, though I’d say it’s more of a 60/40% split and I, a woman, have had more than 100 lucid dreams.

I remember an interview with Steve Kilbey, singer and bassist of the Church, in which an interviewer asked why he thought more men were technically great guitarists, while women tended to do simple strumming as a secondary component to singing. He said something like, “I think it’s because more young men have that insane drive to spend hours on hours practicing one thing to the exclusion of all else, which is what it takes to reach that level of proficiency. Women are more practical than that.”

I wonder if this could also apply to lucid dreaming, a skill that takes a lot of cultivating for most people.

By: Ryan Hurd

Ryan Hurd — Fri, 19 Jun 2009 18:28:02 +0000

Hey David – thanks for coming by – those numbers are very unscientific actually. They are based on my years of giving dream talks, attending workshops, etc and noticing who shows up. (I’m going to edit the post to reflect that and prevent further confusion). thanks for keeping me honest.

And, it was Robert Waggoner who commented to me recently that when he does a talk on lucid dreaming, the only people who raise their hand when he asks “who has had more than 100 lucid dreams” are YOUNG men. (the older men… not in the room).

By: David Sunfellow

David Sunfellow — Fri, 19 Jun 2009 05:42:05 +0000

Interesting article. Quick question: where do you get your information that women are more interested in dreams than men by a margin of 80 percent to 20 percent; and that men are more interested in women in lucid dreaming by a margin of 75 percent to 25 percent?

Thanks. And good to see an article encouraging men to use dreams to access and integrate the many dimensions of oneself that arise in the dreamworld.

By: Jeff VoVillia

Jeff VoVillia — Thu, 18 Jun 2009 15:10:37 +0000

I completely agree. I notice the male friends in my life are more likely to avoid the topic than females. It’s almost as if they have a secret that they feel will be accidentally shared if they share a dream. Women on the other hand seem to really enjoy sharing a dream – as if to get something out in the open, something they’ve been wanting to say for awhile. I guess that is why women are more likely to want to watch a sad movie than men – expression of emotion.