Trains rights on Drag Race & nonbinary Popeye confirmed?

Hey friends,

Hope you’ve all been hanging in there. Completely understand if you’re not, tbh!!! But here we are.

This week, we released two bonus episodes in the main Gender Reveal feed:

• A crosspost of my March 2023 conversation with Babette Thomas and Ally Beardsley, which recently aired on Gender Spiral (a podcast that’s essentially the younger cousin of Gender Reveal! So cute!)
• A much shorter version of the Gender Conceal episode with Rax Will, in case you didn’t/can’t listen to the full version. (Actually, I’m pretty sure that several of y’all joined the Patreon specifically to hear Rax; if that’s you, WELCOME and THANKS for being here!!)

Next week, we’ll be launching our new (12th!!!) season via a chat with Lamya H. And speaking of, it’s been great to see the enthusiasm for a little informal book club! Gender Detective Sadie is scheduling a chat in the book club channel of the Slack — here’s a fresh link to join the Slack, by the way — and I also encourage y’all to share your thoughts in the comments of next week’s newsletter.

Did I mention last week that I restocked the merch shop? I restocked the merch shop. It’s mostly Palestinian solidarity stuff, but RuPaul baited me into restocking the trains flag design with his little outfit.

Photo: RuPaul wearing a full train conductor outfit on Drag Race for truly no apparent reason.

Otherwise, production on this season is finally chugging along. We continue to experience a major glitch with Reaper that causes huge problems on the weekly, so if you’re a DAW pro, hit me up lol. But otherwise, uh, here’s the report:

• Episodes recorded: 4 ( + 1 Gender Conceal)
• Episodes scheduled: 3
• Episodes mid-scheduling: 4ish ( + 1 Gender Conceal)

Feeling pretty good about where we’re at, finally! It helps that I’m not also making a book and planning live shows and doing all my other little jobs at the same time, for once. (Also, Ozzy is a hero and an icon at all times.)

Here’s Links & Stuff:

• I don’t have anything to say about the Horrors that hasn’t already been said, but I appreciated this multimedia reflection from Mira Jacob (gift link).
• That said, I was so inspired by the bravery of hundreds of pro-Palestinian protesters who blocked four major NYC bridges earlier this week.
• My friend Luca wrote about grief and family. (I didn’t know Fleetwood, but many of my friends did, and my heart goes out to everyone in his/our community. I’m so sorry for your loss.)
• Maddy’s back with more good sad dyke advice.
• Jules Gill-Peterson has a new book for pre-order!!! 
• I always try to leave this on a light note, so here’s a cat who loves skiing (his little goggles!!!) and hiking and other adventures.

That’s it for this week. Here’s your weekly Rhubarb.

Photo: Shallow-focus portrait of Ruby in profile. She's laying on a pillow and looking intently at something out of frame.

Xo,

Yr resident gender detective