Queers Podcast

At least, for now. Benjamin and Simon reflect on four years of discussion about queer politics and culture, wondering what’s changed, what we’ve learned, and whether all of this was worthwhile. Thanks everyone for listening and for your support—we’re sure we’ll be back at some point and in some form, so stay tuned.Subscribe (for free!), rate and review Queers on Apple Podcasts and Spotify.Follow Queers on Twitter at @queerspodcast, Instagram at @queerspodcast and Facebook at Queers Podcast.Queers is a Lipp Media podcast.  See acast.com/privacy for privacy and opt-out information.

Buckle up Sodomites! Sinister Sissies is your gateway to gay true crime, homoerotic horror and all things man-on-man and macabre!Listen on Apple Podcasts, Spotify, or wherever you get your podcasts.Sinister Sissies is a Lipp Media podcast.  See acast.com/privacy for privacy and opt-out information.

Benjamin took the opportunity of a recent beachside holiday to do some light reading with Sarah Schulman’s book Conflict Is Not Abuse, which Simon read (and loved) a while back. This episode is a discussion of Schulman’s critical, compassionate, and ultimately reparative take on the theme of conflict, the book offering insight into themes that run throughout the discussions of the podcast.Subscribe (for free!), rate and review Queers on Apple Podcasts and Spotify.Follow Queers on Twitter at @queerspodcast, Instagram at @queerspodcast and Facebook at Queers Podcast.Queers is a Lipp Media podcast.  See acast.com/privacy for privacy and opt-out information.

The Israel Folau sacking, campaigns to block far right activists from entering into Australia, the high court decision to uphold the sacking of the public servant Michaela Banerji. Free speech is everywhere in the news at the moment, yet despite it being central to both the politics of Benjamin and Simon we've never done an episode on it. This week we dive in head first. What even is free speech, why do we talk about it so much, and does it matter?Subscribe (for free!), rate and review Queers on Apple Podcasts and Spotify.Follow Queers on Twitter at @queerspodcast, Instagram at @queerspodcast and Facebook at Queers Podcast.Queers is a Lipp Media podcast.  See acast.com/privacy for privacy and opt-out information.

Simon interviews writer, lecturer and consultant Jarryd Bartle across a range of topics relating to sexual and criminal deviancy, queer and otherwise. Jarryd talks about the uses and limits of the criminal justice system, whether the current focus of queer politics is a useful path to social change, and why he no longer considers himself “queer”.Follow @SinisterSissies on Twitter to listen to Jarryd’s podcast, Sinister Sissies.Subscribe (for free!), rate and review Queers on Apple Podcasts and Spotify.Follow Queers on Twitter at @queerspodcast, Instagram at @queerspodcast and Facebook at Queers Podcast.Queers is a Lipp Media podcast.  See acast.com/privacy for privacy and opt-out information.

In the second part of our two-part discussion critiquing the role of sex in queer communities and politics, Benjamin and Simon get to the heart of the matter: is sexuality compulsory in queer movements and spaces? And if it isn’t, then what even is queerness?Subscribe (for free!), rate and review Queers on Apple Podcasts and Spotify.Follow Queers on Twitter at @queerspodcast, Instagram at @queerspodcast and Facebook at Queers Podcast.Queers is a Lipp Media podcast.  See acast.com/privacy for privacy and opt-out information.

Benjamin interviews writer and research Jaya Keaney about her work examining concepts of race in the stories of queer families who conceive kids using reproductive technologies, digging into what it means to re-imagine the queer family in the context of race.‘Grandma, 61, gives birth to own granddaughter so her son and his husband can be dads’, by Sonja Haller.Subscribe (for free!), rate and review Queers on Apple Podcasts and Spotify.Follow Queers on Twitter at @queerspodcast, Instagram at @queerspodcast and Facebook at Queers Podcast.Queers is a Lipp Media podcast  See acast.com/privacy for privacy and opt-out information.

We talk about sex a lot on the podcast, but what about people who don’t feel so comfortable about it? In the first episode of a two-part discussion challenging the role of sex in queer communities and politics, Benjamin and Simon talk sexual anxieties, how queers might overcome them, and whether that’s something we even want.Subscribe (for free!), rate and review Queers on Apple Podcasts and Spotify.Follow Queers on Twitter at @queerspodcast, Instagram at @queerspodcast and Facebook at Queers Podcast.  See acast.com/privacy for privacy and opt-out information.

With the announcement that Australia’s longest-running queer publication has effectively closed its doors, Benjamin and Simon reflect on the value of queer media in an age when queer news is increasingly covered by mainstream publications. The question at the heart of the issue: what do we lose when we lose community-controlled queer publications?‘Star Observer enters voluntary administration and is up for sale’Subscribe (for free!), rate and review Queers on Apple Podcasts and Spotify.Follow Queers on Twitter at @queerspodcast, Instagram at @queerspodcast and Facebook at Queers Podcast.  See acast.com/privacy for privacy and opt-out information.

Just what the world needs—another Game of Thrones take! But after sharing their thoughts on the end of this TV juggernaut, Benjamin and Simon dig into the episode’s big question: what political responsibility does pop culture have to depict the world in particular ways?‘The Real Reason Fans Hate the Last Season of Game of Thrones’, by Zeynep TufekciSubscribe (for free!), rate and review Queers on Apple Podcasts, Spotify and Google Podcasts. Follow Queers on Twitter at @queerspodcast, Instagram at @queerspodcast and Facebook at Queers Podcast.  See acast.com/privacy for privacy and opt-out information.

Simon interviews community advocate and educator Sally Goldner, discussing Sally’s advocacy for bisexual and trans folk, diversity education inside and outside LGBTIQ communities, and why we’re all so hung up on binaries.Subscribe (for free!), rate and review Queers on Apple Podcasts, Spotify and Google Podcasts. Follow Queers on Twitter at @queerspodcast, Instagram at @queerspodcast and Facebook at Queers Podcast.  See acast.com/privacy for privacy and opt-out information.

In the jumbo-sized Anzac Day episode you didn’t know you wanted, Benjamin and Simon ask why it’s okay to commemorate war in some ways but not others, and wonder what’s really at the heart of these taboos. Plus, a bonus discussion about loneliness and isolation in queer communities for Gay Star News’ Digital Pride.‘‘Lest We Forget!’: Strip club slammed for controversial Anzac-themed ‘women in uniform’ night’, by Stephanie Bedo‘Gay men post Grindr profile pictures from Berlin Holocaust memorial’, by Michael KoziolFor more about Digital Pride, visit Gay Star News.Subscribe (for free!), rate and review Queers on Apple Podcasts, Spotify and Google Podcasts. Follow Queers on Twitter at @queerspodcast, Instagram at @queerspodcast and Facebook at Queers Podcast.  See acast.com/privacy for privacy and opt-out information.

A chat about body image and gay men quickly spins out into a discussion of queer bodies more generally, as Benjamin and Simon ask: what does it mean to look like—or fail to look like—the right kind of queer?Subscribe (for free!), rate and review Queers on Apple Podcasts, Spotify and Google Podcasts. Follow Queers on Twitter at @queerspodcast, Instagram at @queerspodcast and Facebook at Queers Podcast.  See acast.com/privacy for privacy and opt-out information.

Benjamin interviews singer-songwriter Brendan Maclean about his new album And the Boyfriends, digging into the evolution of his music, what it means for gay men to work closely with women, and the complex relationship between queer artists and queer art.And the Boyfriends is available on iTunes, Spotify and Bandcamp: https://brendanmaclean.bandcamp.com/album/and-the-boyfriends.Subscribe (for free!), rate and review Queers on Apple Podcasts, Spotify and Google Podcasts. Follow Queers on Twitter at @queerspodcast and Facebook at Queers Podcast.  See acast.com/privacy for privacy and opt-out information.

Why isn’t sex a bigger part of public discourse around queerness? Looking at a classic essay about the revolutionary potential of gay sex, Benjamin and Simon get filthy and dig into the roles sex can play, in theory and in practice, when it comes to queer politics.‘Cocksucking as an Act of Revolution’, by Charles Shively  See acast.com/privacy for privacy and opt-out information.

Benjamin and Simon have another crack at figuring out what individuals can do in the face of structural problems, and while the conversation stays on track this time they still end up in the weeds. What’s the relationship between collective action and structural change? And is community-level activism an effective alternative?  See acast.com/privacy for privacy and opt-out information.

Simon interviews journalist Gay Alcorn, discussing recent articles she wrote about violence against women. In her analysis, Gay asks the question: is feminism too narrow a lens through which to examine gender-based violence? ‘It's a false comfort to say the murder and rape of women is caused by sexism’, by Gay Alcorn‘Let’s not use the murders of women to score ideological points’, by Gay Alcorn  See acast.com/privacy for privacy and opt-out information.

Benjamin and Simon sit down intending to record an episode about what individuals can do in the face of structural problems like homophobia, but an article about violence against women sparks a disagreement between the hosts over the question: to what extent can and should we examine individual participation within broad structures of oppression? It’s the most we’ve ever disagreed! ‘Men of Australia, it's time to pick your side’, by Clementine Ford  See acast.com/privacy for privacy and opt-out information.

Benjamin and Simon hit the world wide web to talk social media. It comes up a lot on the podcast, but what does social media mean for queer politics in 2019? Is it a place to find community, or is it bringing about community’s end?  See acast.com/privacy for privacy and opt-out information.

On a trip to Port Moresby, Benjamin interviews an advocate with Papua New Guinea’s only queer community organisation, Kapul Champions, to discuss the political priorities for queers in the country, and the impact of LGBTIQ political discourses in Australia.For more information about Kapul Champions, visit: https://rainbowpng.wordpress.com/2016/10/23/group-kapul-champions/  See acast.com/privacy for privacy and opt-out information.