Debunking Goop Labs: Part 1
Before we get too far into this post, I wanted to take a moment to tell everyone that why I will be spending this post and the next advocating against everything Gwyneth Paltrow and Goop has to say, I am not inherently against non-traditional methods of health care. I have used acupuncture to help with chronic pain and headaches. I have gone to the chiropractor and use all-natural immune support supplements. There is no harm in using alternative health care methods. HOWEVER, Paltrow is not a doctor, has no doctors on the Goop team, and suggests things to people, mostly women, that have no backing in any kind of science or reality. A woman died after Goop suggested that bee sting acupuncture was more effective than regular acupuncture.
And let us not forget the great yoni egg controversy. This is perhaps the best-known controversy of Goop. They claimed that this $66 jade egg would improve orgasms, vaginal tightness, and would enhance “feminine energy” when inserted into the vagina. Gynecologists all over the place started explaining how the jade eggs were not anti-bacterial and could cause all sorts of infections, would certainly not improve anything, and could even harm the walls of the vagina. Some of her advice is harmful like the above examples, but other times Goop’s claims are simply wrong and insane. They once claimed that water could tell if you had negative energy, and if you were negative, you would not get as effectively hydrated. I am no scientist, but I am fairly certain even if you are feeling negative water will hydrate you.
Most recently Gwyneth and Goop have a new Netflix special called “Goop Labs” where they put this insanity out in a greater and more insane capacity. Before when it was just a website, it only reached people who knew about it and sought it out. Now, it pops up on every unsuspecting person’s Netflix to show a preview. So, I decided to watch this horrible show (and wow, it was even worse than I thought) to break it down, debunk it, and give you all the rundown without you having to watch it. It is all a mess, and I cannot believe this was authorized to be on Netflix. Let’s dive into the madness.
The Healing Trip- The show opened up with a little warning saying that this was not medical advice, and to make sure to contact a doctor before you do anything they recommend. I guess that is good, even though they do recommend so many things. The episodes are meant to be watched in whatever order the person wants, so I have just watched them in the order they are presented on Netflix and will be naming each episode as I did above to help everyone keep track of what episode I am talking about. The first episode is all about the Goop team going to the Bahamas to experience a psychedelic trip with mushrooms. The members that went all had specific ideas of what they wanted from this trip, and they did have professional psychologists there to help people along with their journey. I do commend them for this. There have been so many studies recently on whether or not micro-dosing with psychedelics can help with people who experience mental illness. All the important information we get in this episode is from the experts that come in that work with the organization MAPS, where they inform the viewer that if you wish to experiment with psychedelics, make sure you take the correct dosage and are in a safe and calming space with people you trust.
The Goop team does not micro-dose. They drink tea with 3 grams of mushrooms in it and then begin meditating to set a mellow tone for their trip. They then engage in therapy while these people are tripping and not consciously thinking about what they are going to say. However, there is no scientific basis yet for this kind of therapy. Micro-dosing is something that is very new and newly studied, and people taking that much to help with mental illness have not been studied. They did have people there to share their experiences that were outside of the Goop team who talked about their experience with working with MAPS in trials to treat anxiety and PTSD. This was actually a pretty mild episode and wasn’t full of misinformation or bad advice, and really just was there to give a view into this study going on about what micro-dosing can do for mental illness. Obviously, do not do this on your own. Do not experiment with micro-dosing on your own.
Cold Comfort-No matter where the show is being filmed, it is shown to be so glowy. The colors are bright and beautiful and the aesthetic experience is very pleasing. To me, this is a very pointed way they have filmed and created the show. The prettier it looks, the prettier the Goop employees look while they test these things are meant to show how amazing these people are and makes the link in someone’s head that if you do what they do, you can be hot and successful too.
In the psychedelic episode, they were consulting experts and real scientists. In this episode, they do not. They speak with a man named Wim Hof, who claims he has learned how to control his immune system and nervous system with his mind. Now, a quick Google search reveals that he has been discredited many times, and many people have said that even though they didn’t experience anything special they could be wrong. But that is it. The breathing technique he has discovered has been proven to help relieve anxiety and make people who suffer from anxiety more calm, even in the midst of an extreme panic attack. Breathing to help with anxiety is nothing new though, and even though it is great that he has developed a breathing method that helps people even more than previous techniques, it is a complete fallacy that you can simply will away disease with your mind. He claimed to be injected with E-Coli and was able to will it away and not be infected. There is no other science to back this up, and no other scientist has said this is true or works on any capacity. It also feels very dismissive for people who struggle with health issues and now are being told they can think away an infection. Tell me, Wim Hof, can I think away my endometriosis?
Wim Hof then tells a story about his first wife who went to psychiatrists and therapists to treat extreme mental illness and took medication to try and help these things. He said that those things do not work and that she killed herself because of those things. This is extremely harmful to anyone hearing this who has any mental health issues, and even though they gave their little disclaimer at the beginning, this man is spouting off about how the mental health field is pointless and what killed his mentally ill wife. What an extremely horrible thing to say. Mental illness is hard and when working with doctors, things can always go awry. But to me, encouraging people with mental health issues to not seek medical help is dangerous.
The last portion of Hof’s little program is that cold cures everything. This paired with the thinking of not getting sick or hurt is what allows the cold water to take over and heal all of your aliments. There have been some studies on how cold showers can make you feel more awake and energized, and people use ice baths all the time for sore muscles or to bring down crazy high fevers, but soaking yourself in cold water and using mind over matter, does not cure disease or mental illness. There is no research to suggest that by doing this all problems will go away. I am not here to tell people what does or does not work for them, but there is no actual science backing up anything this man has said and suggesting that you can think away disease, mental health experts can’t help you, and that the cold water will heal all problems is madness. That is so dangerous to spout off with no scientific backing other than what he has to say. Dangerous and harmful.
The Pleasure is Ours- While this is a very outlandish and non-traditional method to this specific issue, it is not a bad thing and it is not one specific thing that is absolutely batshit insane, like the man above. This episode is all about women learning to take their sexual pleasure into their own hands. Betty Dodson is a woman who has been teaching women about their sexuality and bodies since the 1970s and has now created a whole program around women learning to love their bodies and take their sexual pleasure into their own hands. It starts off with women talking about their body issues, shame around sex, and so many other issues that have to be taken seriously before women can take on their own sexual experiences. It starts with women taking portraits in whatever they feel sensual in; jeans and t-shirt, underwear, work out clothes, whatever it is! They use whatever props make them feel awesome, and the goal is to embrace themselves and how they look. Next, it is a basic anatomy lesson. She goes over what part is what, what other parts do, healthcare of your vagina, and so many other things. The last part of the workshop is letting women explore what feels good for them, and how to communicate with their partners of what feels good and what doesn’t, and how to not feel shame about asking a partner for what they need. She also gives the women the tools they need in order to figure out what they like sexually. She uses actual science and used actual scientific techniques to build her own technique in order to help women orgasm. She also focuses on creating intimacy and helping women learn to create that with their partners. Overall, extremely amazing advice. Looking at the titles of the rest of the episodes, I do not think I will have any more positive things to say about this show or Goop, so I am going to rejoice in the fact that this was a win for women and not them recommending something harmful to women.
I know this was a long-winded post, but nothing ticks me off more than a company who mainly markets to women, filling them with fallacies about how to be healthy. Talk to your doctor, do your own research, and for the love of God, don’t buy a yoni egg.
Tune in on Wednesday for the second part of why Goop is a load of crap!
Madey
Important links:
Cover Image found here
Goop Scandals here