Gender Stories

01/07/2024

We are so happy to have .damonc for our 75th episode of Gender Stories!

Damon is a q***r trans man and s*x nerd who loves being a dad, teaching and talking about q***r and trans pleasure, and growing plants as a way to connect with magic and the sacredness of the earth. He is trained as both a clinical social worker and a s*x therapist and has worked for more than 20 years in the fields of trans and q***r health. He owns a private therapy and coaching practice where he offers virtual groups and services to trans and q***r folks all over the world.

Damon is a trainer for the s*x therapy certificate program at the California Institute of Integral Studies and an adjunct progressor at Widener University. He is also the co-author of the book S*x Therapy for Erotically Marginalized Clients: Nine Principles of Clinical Support and his writing can also be found in the newest edition of Trans Bodies, Trans Selves. You can learn more about his work at www.drdamonc.com or on his IG .damonc.

17/06/2024

New episode alert! In this episode of Gender Stories, Alex interviews Laura Scarrone and Michael Beattie About the ways that trans and non-binary peoples’ stories support their own care and teach clinicians about care of others. Laura Scarrone Bonhomme (she/her), is a Consultant Clinical Psychologist who specialises in Gender, S*xual, and Relationship Diversity. She provides assessment, psychotherapy, and training to other professionals through www.affirm.lgbt.
https://www.linkedin.com/in/laura-scarrone-bonhomme-3749087a
laurascarrone.com

Skye Davies (she/they) is a Peer Support Worker at TransPlus, a gender dysphoria service. They also work as a Volunteer Counsellor at Metro, helping LGBTQ+ people.

Dr Michael Beattie (he/him) is a Counselling Psychologist in private practice with research interests in the psychology of men and masculinities. In addition to psychotherapy, Michael provides training in Gender, S*xual, and Relationship Diversity through www.affirm.lgbt.

Purchase the book at bookshop.org.
Social: https://www.linkedin.com/company/affirm-lgbt/

Support the Show.

03/06/2024

Happy Pride Month! We’re kicking off the month talking about pelvic heath support, kink-informed patient care, and more with Alex Papale PT, DPT (they/them) is a pelvic health physical therapist, consultant, s*x educator and international speaker based in Boston MA. They specialize in q***r and trans health, and treating patients of all genders at Flourish Physical Therapy.
Alex especially loves to help patients with pelvic pain, difficulties around s*x, peripartum care, pelvic floor support with HRT, orthopedic support for pain related to chest binding or ge***al tucking, and healing from gender affirming surgeries.
When they’re not in the treatment room, you can find them writing and teaching gender affirming, s*x positive, kink-informed courses for current/future healthcare providers, or for anyone who wants to learn more about s*xuality, their bodies, and pelvic health.
Alex has also created the course “Physical Therapy Care of Trans/Gender Diverse Patients: Multi-Day Con-Ed for Pelvic Health Providers”

20/05/2024

15/11/2023

had the absolute pleasure to interview their friend, fellow MFT & wonderful artist . They chatted about their beautiful, nonbinary tarot deck & how tarot and art can help us deepen our relationship to ourselves, including our gender journeys. They even drew a card from the deck & did a reading! Listen wherever you usually get your podcasts from or watch the episode on ’s YouTube channel. Also, go support the kickstarter! There are only 18 days left so make sure you get your own deck!

27/10/2023

It’s *xAwarenessDay! If you haven’t yet listened to the episode with Pidgeon, it would be a great day to give it a listen! Alex Iantaffi loved their conversation about Pidgeon’s memoir Nobody Needs to Know and they also talked about their shared love of space! You can find it wherever you listen to podcast or on Alex’s YouTube channel, if you’d prefer watching it. Whether you listen to the episode or not, please support *xRights today and everyday! *xRightsAreHumanRights *xAwarenessDay

24/10/2023

had the pleasure to talk with K. Allison Hammer about their freshly published book Masculinity in Transition for a new episode of Gender Stories. They had a great time discussing normative masculinity, what trans and q***r folks can offer to the field of masculinity studies, and ended up talking about the Barbie movie a bunch too! As always, you can listen to it wherever you listen to podcasts and now you can also watch the episode on ’s YouTube channel. ***rMasculinity ***ringMasculinity

07/10/2023

I had such a fun time interviewing about their graphic novel The Glass Scientists, which came out this week! We talked about q***r representation in animation & so much more! If you haven’t listened to this episode yet, you can do so wherever you listen to podcasts or on my YouTube channel! ***rRepresentation ***rAnimation ***rGraphicNovels

10/07/2023

A new episode is out! This time I had the pleasure to interview Eli Conley who has a new, fabulous album coming out, Searching for What’s True! I had the honor to listen to it early & it’s so good y’all!

Eli also sings a song from his new album towards the end of the episode so make sure you don’t miss that! You can access the episode wherever you listen to podcasts or watch it on YouTube.

https://www.buzzsprout.com/156032/13096529 #

https://youtu.be/qST4hRiRWWM

Eli Conley is an indie folk singer-songwriter, teaching artist, and activist based on Miwok and Nisenan land (Sacramento, California). He makes music for que...

02/07/2023

Friends, with the travels home to Sicily, I’ve been remiss in letting you know that a new episode of Gender Stories is out!

I had the privilege to chat with the wonderful Tilly Bridges about her book, “Begin Transmission. The trans allegories of the Matrix”. I loved reading her book & then having the chance to discuss it directly!

Please give it a listen wherever you access podcasts or watch it on my YouTube channel. Most importantly though, buy and read Tilly’s brilliant book! Thanks!

P.S. huge thanks to Root, my nesting partner & podcast producer. I couldn’t do the podcast without them! Thank you 💜🏳️‍⚧️💜

https://genderstories.buzzsprout.com/156032/13054480

16/06/2023

I had a great time being interviewed by Atlas O Phoenix for the Genderful podcast! This is one of the first times I talked about my late-discovered neurodivergence and so much more. If you would like to check it out, you can watch / listen here:

In episode 87 we discuss Intersectional Identity Studies with Alex Iantaffi (they/them) ✔ GUEST PROMOS ✔▶ Alex Iantaffi, PhD, MS, SEP, CST, LMFT (they/he/lui...

12/06/2023

One of the joys in my life is to see complete strangers talk about what I write and find it helpful! Below is a link to a video book review of “How to Understand Your Gender: a practical guide for exploring who you are”, the first book I wrote with Meg-John Barker for the general public.

09/06/2023

“For many of us it might be impossible to conceive of a construct of gender that is not linked to biology given that even historical accounts are often based on looking at the past through the lenses of the present.”

From Gender Trauma: healing cultural, social, and historical gendered trauma.

I am incredibly grateful that this book, which marinated for so many years in my body and mind, has not only received some wonderful praise from colleagues but has now won two book awards: the Nautilus Gold Award in 2022 in the Psychology / Mental & Emotional Well-Being category and the 2023 AASECT S*xuality Professionals Book Award. Does this mean I am a real author now?

08/06/2023

One of the scariest & most rewarding things I have ever done was to speak at Ignite Minneapolis in 2015! I had 5 minutes, no control over the timing of my slides and I wanted to convey years of knowledge and experiences to a general public, and not the academic audiences I was much more used to back then.

I was in a packed local movie theater with people who were not necessarily there to listen to someone talk about gender but rather to drink some beers and have a good time listening to a range of hopefully fun and interesting 5 minutes presentations. I had to really hone what I wanted to convey in these five minutes, practice my timing and try to keep a general audience engaged. Judging from the applause at the end, which I still remember, I believe that, despite my nervousness, I achieved my goal. Sadly the message seems to still be relevant nearly eight years later. Anyway, here’s that talk. If you enjoy it, feel free to share it & spread the message of gender liberation for every body:

Alex Iantaffi giving their talk, "Gender Expansion for Collective Liberation " at Ignite Minneapolis 9 on November 18, 2015 at the Riverview Theater in Minne...

07/06/2023

A new episode is out! Alex Iantaffi interviewed the wonderful Redfern Jon Barrett about their new book Proud Pink Sky! They talked about the challenges & possibilities of ambitopias & why they love speculative fiction! You can listen wherever you listen to podcasts or now also watch on YouTube on Alex’s Transforming Perspectives channel ***rFiction

05/06/2023

These episodes from Gender Stories are the most streamed and here is why.

Trans S*xualities: a conversation with Lucie Fielding
3,214

I have always been me: in conversation with Precious Brady-Davis.
3,212

Non-binary everything!
3,040

I don’t think it’s an accident that the three most downloaded Gender Stories episodes center trans issues. I believe people are hungry for information beyond gender 101! All the conversations in these episodes invite us to go beyond binaries, question them, and enter more nuanced and expansive landscapes of experience.

02/06/2023

Excerpt from the introduction to Hell Yeah Self-Care: a trauma informed workbook, co-authored with Meg-John Barker

“We believe that both receiving and giving care is essential to our mental health. At the same time, we take a critical perspective on traditional mental health approaches, which usually individualise problems through diagnosis. We much prefer the concepts of self-care and interdependent care highlighted by Black, Brown, Indigeneous, Feminist, Disabled, and often Trans and Q***r, scholars and activitsts. In those frameworks self-care is a tool for survival, so that we can engage in the struggle for liberation again and again. We also acknowledge - throughout this book - that many of our struggles are systemic and rooted in structural inequalities, oppression, colonialism and repression of life and vitality.

No matter where we are or who we are, care can be pretty counter-cultural, especially when by care we mean interdependent care, in a world that pushes us to go faster, buy more, and get ahead of ‘others’. In our experience, we have noticed how we/people struggle with care for self and others, no matter what our mental health ‘labels’ might be. So, it seemed to make sense to combine our work in this area and bring you - the reader - a workbook about care.”

31/05/2023

Hope is the thing with feathers

That perches in the soul,

And sings the tune without the words,

And never stops at all,

And sweetest in the gale is heard;

And sore must be the storm

That could abash the little bird

That kept so many warm.

I've heard it in the chillest land,

And on the strangest sea;

Yet, never, in extremity,

It asked a crumb of me.

by Emily Dickinson

30/05/2023

Pre-pandemic, in 2019, I was fortunate enough to be invited to speak about one of my books, Life Isn’t Binary, co-authored with Meg-John Barker, at the Chicago Humanities Festival. I had the best time being in dialogue with the wonderful artist and community organizer emem obot. You can watch our session on “Beyond the Binary” here:

Our binary view of the world is often established when we are very young, frequently conveyed through a series of oppositions: yes or no, up or down, good or...

26/05/2023

A non-binary perspective is about shifting our framework away from a rigid either/or perspective, towards both/and possibilities, which embrace paradox and uncertainty.

From the Introduction to “Life Isn’t Binary” co-authored with my writing partner Meg-John Barker:

“We’ve always felt that non-binary perspectives have far more to offer us than just a different way of thinking about our gender and s*xual identities. In fact, when we find ourselves stuck thinking that there are only two options, we often invite ourselves - and each other - to think about whether there is indeed a third option (or more). Polarised thinking can often be a response to trauma, and we have found that challenging binaries in all aspects of our lives has opened up possibilities that would have been otherwise hidden. You’ll notice in the book that we often ask you to think about what something might open up or close down. Inviting you to consider life from a non-binary perspective is about shifting our framework away from a rigid either/or perspective, towards both/and possibilities, which embrace paradox and uncertainty.

When we turn to the wider world, we see a good deal of binary thinking. Politicians and journalists tend to frame everything as a ‘debate’ between two sides. People divide into ‘us’ and ‘them’ in conflicts at every level from the micro to the macro. Boundaries and borders are drawn between inside and outside. Throughout this book we’ll unpack where such binaries come from and how they frequently limit our understanding and our ways of relating to ourselves and each other.”

25/05/2023

There is so much disinformation going around about gender-affirming care that my mentee and colleague, Coltan Schoenike, and I decided to record an episode of Gender Stories on this very topic. Give it a listen wherever you listen to podcasts or watch on YouTube (https://youtu.be/WPPUp6auihQ) if that is your jam and let me know what you think! Also, what other topics shall I cover in Gender Stories, as well as continuing to interview a broad range of people? Feel free to share your ideas!

Link to the episode below!

22/05/2023

I loved working with Cesar when we were both at the University of Minnesota! If you would like to book me to speak at your next event, you can book me through the link below or email me directly at [email protected].

I look forward to speaking with you!

19/05/2023

I am so looking forward to presenting on disability, gender and s*xuality at the upcoming PESI LGBTQ+ Summit.

Click below to reserve your spot! https://www.pekf93j.com/282C2LT/964QF6/

18/05/2023

If you're thinking about starting your own business or becoming an entrepreneur, I get it. It can be scary and overwhelming.

But I have some advice that might help.

The first thing is to practice self-compassion. You will make mistakes along the way, and that's ok. Being kind to ourselves is vital if we are to serve others through our business with passion and compassion.

Second, be honest with yourself about your motivations. Are you trying to make more money? Have more time off? Create something that is needed? Don't be afraid to own your why and let it guide you.

Third, know when it's time to walk away or change. It is ok to end business relationships if they are not working and you have tried your best to make them work. It is ok to prioritize your well-being and family, even when it means saying no to opportunities sometimes. It is ok for things you have created to change and move in unexpected directions.

If you’d like to read more from my interview with Go Solo, you can click the link below!

16/05/2023

Hi colleagues, as a reminder I have several trainings and events coming up that may interest you! Please let me know if you have any questions!

I will be presenting on disability, gender and s*xuality at the PESI LGBTQ+ Summit: https://www.pekf93j.com/282C2LT/964QF6/

I will also be presenting live and in-person at the upcoming AASECT Conference in June: https://aasectannualconference.com

Finally, I am offering a range of training events in the Fall through my practice, Edges Wellness Center. List of complete trainings can all be seen here: https://vist.ly/4d3p

Training CalendarAs*xuality and Aromanticism(May 10 6:00 PM - 8:00 PM CDT Zoom)Rainbow Crossroads: Intersectionality and LGBTQ+ Identity in therapy (Jun 14 11:30 AM - 1:30 PM CDT Zoom)Working with kinky clients (Sep 15 12:00 PM - 4:30 PM CDT Zoom)How to support someone with suicidal ideation (Sept 2...

11/05/2023

I am thrilled to announce that I will be speaking at the online LGBTQ+ Summit, Breaking Down the Barriers to Inclusive Mental Health Care and Connection this May 24-25, 2023!

At this one-of-a-kind training event, you’ll discover how to skillfully implement clinical interventions to:

Offer affirming and effective therapy with adaptations to CBT, DBT, and Compassion-focused Therapy

Decrease the traumatic effects of shame and minority stress

Help clients cope with the anti-LGBTQ+ social and political climate

Skillfully assess and intervene to reduce self-harm and self-injury

Break free from “single issue” treatment and address multi-layered identities, including disability, race, and gender

Empower clients through self-discovery and self-pride journeys

And so much more!

You can also earn up to 22.5 CE hours!

Save your seat today with the link below!

06/05/2023

I’m so excited to share that our podcast has over 75,000 downloads now! 🎉 I’m so grateful to every listener & to for the challenge that started it all in 2018 & for the wonderful events they keep organizing. I keep learning so much!

01/05/2023

A new episode is out! Given all the misinformation going around, & talked about Gender Affirming Care in this episode: what it is, what it isn’t and why it’s vital! Give it a listen wherever you listen to podcast. Also, from now on, Gender Stories is also on YouTube!

24/04/2023

Are you ready to embark on a journey of liberation? Join me for a transformative experience as we explore together what it means to be both masculine and feminine, explore where we get stuck when it comes to our true selves—and then move through those places by developing compassion for ourselves.

Join me for the free, online Engendering Love Summit this May 5-7, 2023. The mission behind this event is to have meaningful and healing conversations about femininity, masculinity, and fluidity. It's time to have conversations about how we experience them in ourselves, in our relationships, at work, and out in the world.

Reserve your spot by clicking the following link! https://vist.ly/3qhg

04/04/2023

I am thrilled to announce that I will be speaking at the free, online Engendering Love Summit this May 5-7, 2023! The mission behind this event is to have meaningful and healing conversations about femininity, masculinity, and fluidity. It’s time to have conversations about how we experience them in ourselves, in our relationships, at work, and out in the world.

I'm excited to share my story with you. In addition to sharing my personal experiences navigating these energies over the years. Several topics will include:
-How we can develop passion and compassion for ourselves as well as others
-Overcome gender-related challenges we face on a daily basis
-Move beyond shame and blame
-Liberate the dignity of our awakened masculinity
-Recover our feminine power
-Balance and harmonize our yin (feminine) and yang (masculine)
-Learn how others have navigated their journey around gender identity
-Take actionable steps towards more authentic love lives
-And much more!

Join me for this transformative experience as we explore together what it means to be both masculine and feminine, explore where we get stuck when it comes to our true selves—and then move through those places by developing compassion for ourselves.

You can RSVP here at, https://vist.ly/3xmk