Ev’Yan Whitney! Cute critters and feral creatures!

Hey friends,

Hope you’re all hanging in there. I am feeling increasingly feral and decreasingly coherent, so that’s good probably.

(Writing that sentence made me remember this book I read repeatedly as a child where some kids crash on an island and get turned into animals by a freaky scientist (one becomes a manta ray!) and gradually lose human speech!? Did anyone else read this? The word “transgenic” is used a LOT and is only a few letters off from YOU KNOW, so make of that what you will).

ANYWAY. In this week’s ~season finale~ of Gender Reveal, I had the pleasure of chatting with sex educator Ev’Yan Whitney. Topics include being an asexual educator; cultivating sensuality when you’re dysphoric/in chronic pain/etc.; and whether it’s ok to dissociate our way through the pandemic. We also offer advice for one of our most common questions (“Should I transition if it means that my partner might no longer be sexually attracted to me?”), and discuss how we handle random people asking what we do for a living.

If you stick around for the post-credits scene, you’ll catch one of my favorite parts of the episode, in which Ev’Yan reveals a frankly shocking revelation about eating apples.

Photo ID: Ev'Yan sitting next to a large bouquet of flowers and greenery. They are wearing a pink top and matching pants, plus gold jewelry and lipstick.

This is the place where I typically tell you who is on the show next, but WHO CAN POSSIBLY KNOW? Jules and I are spending the week researching potential guests and reading so many trans books (at least theoretically — my stack of books is growing and I have so far only managed to read the one that’s 99% pictures) in an attempt to put some kind of lineup together. So, if you have a burning desire to see a particular person (or genre of person) on the show, be sure to reach out in the next few days or so.

This is the part of the newsletter where I share links that brought me joy this week. But first, did you see this breaking news??? What a time to be alive.

Anyway, here’s the stuff I liked:

• I will watch this extremely important Michelle Pfeiffer footage every time it shows up on my timeline forever.
• Groundhog Day (today!) has reminded me of the concept of pikas in general. I watched multiple videos of pikas and recommend that you also do this.

Photo ID: A pika with a bouquet of greenery in their mouth. 

• This article is exquisitely written from the title to the kicker. One of my favorite lines: “Shame, they say, is dangerous: it reinforces the behavior that caused it, trapping us in a loop. But I do not think this is that complicated. Plastic was just easy. Such a gentle, amusing way to drown.”
• Speaking of kickers… the closing quote of E. Alex Jung’s Mitski profile, holy smokes.

Photo ID: A panel from the graphic novel Stone Fruit, which is drawn entirely in black and white and shades of blue. A character sits on the street with their head in their hands. A speech bubble says "WHAT THE FUCK"

• The mostly-pictures book I mentioned a second ago is the graphic novel Stone Fruit by Lee Lai, which I actually read for pleasure but am now trying to turn into work (classic me!) because I’m completely in awe of its sad queer artistry.
• I leave you with a new classic in the Heartwarming Child/Animal Friendship genre.

That’s it for this week. Thanks for hanging out while we put the next season together for you. Luckily there’s like a zillion other podcasts of trans experience these days (hooray!), including the pair of trans elder pods we mentioned in the shownotes this week, so you’ve got plenty to tide you over.

Here’s your weekly Rhubarb. She has a little hotel now! I love this for her.

Photo ID: Ruby peeking out of a large Target box that has a door and windows cut out of it. 

Xo,
Yr resident gender detective