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Jamie Lauren Keiles! KT Hoffman! Trans Day of Snack Recap!

Added 2024-04-05 19:08:33 +0000 UTC

Hey friends,

Hope you’re all hanging in there. I was really uh not hanging in there for a while there, but I have emerged from the Venmo Trenches (and am crawling out of the Illness Zone), and am now almost a human being!

As promised, here’s this week’s newsletter about last week’s episodes. Last week on Gender Reveal, we spoke with Jamie Lauren Keiles of sexchange.tbt! Y’all, I really loved this interview with Jamie. So much silliness, but also so much to think about! Here are a few moments that stood out to me:

“ I think we made some kind of mistake by making trans an identity category and not a series of decisions”
“I found people really doubling down on this idea that nonbinary has always been here. And while I appreciated the general sentiment that people have always been getting up to shit gender-wise forever, the category ‘nonbinary’ actually has not always been here. In my lifetime, I watched it go from something that wasn’t available to me, to a very specific paradigm that emerged in a very specific place with certain cultural norms, (and) that has a very specific and contentious relationship to the bigger category ‘trans’ that it’s allegedly within. So nonbinary is new and historically produced in some sense, and that’s ok; that still makes it legitimate. It can maybe even open up a space to ask questions like, ‘Ok, if it’s legitimate, to what extent is it effective in helping us achieve our goals of bodily autonomy or respect for basic dignity of human life?’”
“I just don’t think sexuality is a useful framing for how my sense of desire operates in the world.”
“If the cost of working at the NYT is that you have to make certain carveouts in your sense of your reality… why would you ever want to devote your life to that? I would much rather have any other job.”

Photo: a collage of images from the early trans internet (via @sexchange.tbt), including a three-way yin-yang and banners for websites called "Good Tranny Guide" "T-Girl Resources" "Gender Issues" "Transgender Universe" and "Above & Beyond"

Jamie also talks about how the New York Times doesn’t see trans people as a legitimate source on trans issues, which is very relevant to this report that came out last week!!!

Meanwhile, on Gender Conceal, we released a chat with romance novelist KT Hoffman. I really did try to talk with KT about his experience writing trans romance... and we did get into some of that, but we also talked a lot about baseball and the Portland suburbs. Sorry! (But also there are like eight of you who were really hyped about that episode, and I love you all very much.)

Photo: Fan art by Sarah Corrente of two baseball boys kissing, specifically the baseball boys from KT's book The Prospects

Finally, we put out a Gender Reveal bonus episode on Saturday that featured clips of the recent Shuli Branson Gender Conceal episode (not to be confused with the recent Shuli Branson Gender Reveal episode, lol) as well as an explanation of our Trans Day of Snack 2024 project. And speaking of, here’s where we ended up:

655 snack payments ($13.1K)
217 mutual aid payments ($21.7K)
320 donations ($16K)
11 Venmo volunteers to whom I am infinitely grateful

Thanks so much to anyone who participated in any capacity, including spreading the word or eating a snack! It’s such a treat to know that y’all are enjoying some nice treats. :)

Next week on the show, we’ve got Producer Ozzy speaking with Yin Q (of Red Canary Song) about the intersections of kink, gender, sex work, spirituality, and parenting! Exciting.

OK, here’s Links & Stuff:

A reminder that today is Bandcamp Friday, jic you’ve had your eye on some cool merch or vinyl or shiny mp3s or whatever
Another heartbreaking, horrifying interview with a doctor working in Gaza
Lots of articles popping up recently about my favorite solution(?)/reaction to the collapse of various industries: media co-ops!
Speaking of Defector and also the failures of journalism (lol), I really love Alex’s (of Normal Gossip fame!) thoughtful Defector review of Shocking Heartbreaking Transformative, a limited-run podcast series that tries (and ultimately fails) to imagine & enact a more ethical journalist framework
A little late on this but I still really enjoyed this recap of whatever the hell Irish Wish is

Photo: A screenshot of the article that includes a production still of Lindsay Lohan wearing glasses and a plaid blazer next to some type of Irish(?) bus(?).

This is admittedly niche but I really liked this dive into the causes of post-trail depression.
Jaya says to be normal about your groceries
Love a cheeky little Kara Swisher takedown
Last but certainly not least: Who will be cool and brave enough to buy the Full Tuck Cap?

That’s it for this week. Here’s your weekly Rhubarb. (The downstairs neighbors moved out so Ruby moved in.)