Episode 191: Zefyr Lisowski

Tuck and Ozzy chat with writer Zefyr Lisowski (she/her). Topics include: How horror helps us explore what we owe others in the wake of pain Zefyr’s delicate decision to do a ~gender reveal~ in Uncanny Valley Girls  Managing harm in t4t and crazy4crazy relationships How the Great Dismal Swamp informs Zefyr’s thoughts about race and class  Plus: Grave robbers, werewolves, Pisces poetics, and a musical based on The Ring.  This Week in Gender: Applications are now open for our 2025 grant program! Please help us spread the word to trans folks of color doing rad organizing / art / community work around the world.  Find Zefyr at zefyrlisowski.com and @zefrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrr. Uncanny Valley Girls is on sale tomorrow, Oct. 7! Submit a piece of Theymail here. Preorder Sex Change and the City today, or catch Tuck on book tour in Chicago, Seattle, Oakland, and more. Join our Patreon to access our weekly newsletter and monthly Gender Conceal episodes, including our upcoming episode with Cassius Adair. ~~ Find transcripts and starter packs at genderpodcast.com. We’re also on Instagram @gendereveal. Senior Producer: Ozzy Llinas Goodman Logo: Ira M. LeighMusic: Breakmaster CylinderAdditional music: Blue Dot Sessions Sponsors: DeleteMe (code: TUCK20) and Max Burns UX (mention Rhubarb!)

Tuck chats with author Denne Michele Norris (she/her) about the future of trans publishing — is this year's trans lit boom just a outlying blip? — and why violas are the most trans instrument, among other topics.  Listen to the full episode on Patreon to hear discussions of transitioning alongside your novel’s protagonist, working on a novel for 15 years, and editing stories of trans trauma without re-traumatizing anyone. Plus: Is it possible to deadname a fictional character? Is time linear? And why does Denne Michele suspect that you wouldn’t survive publishing a book?? Find Denne Michele at dennemichele.com as well as episode 102 (Live in NYC) of Gender Reveal and S1E5 (Becoming the First of Your Name) of Gender Conceal. Save 25% off two copies of Sex Change and the City in the Girl Dad Press shop thru 10/1 with code TWOSHOES. Join our Patreon before October to get your free month of the Batting Around Patreon and all of their bonus podcasts!  ~ Senior Producer: Ozzy Llinas Goodman Logo: Ira M. LeighMusic: Breakmaster CylinderAdditional Music: Blue Dot Sessions

Tuck and Ozzy chat with activist Isa Noyola (she/her). Topics include: What are the top priorities for trans immigrant communities and orgs? How can we best show up for our immigrant neighbors? Watching trans folks flee from the US while others flee to the US The power of Translatina (one word!) as an identity and community  Plus: Beyoncé, Burger King, and a secret meeting with the Dept. of Homeland Security?! This Week in Gender: We dig into the newest demographic data regarding trans adults and children in the United States.  Learn more about Isa’s work at borderbutterfliesproject.com. Claim a free Gender Reveal Patreon subscription by clicking here or here. Submit a piece of Theymail here. Preorder Sex Change and the City today! Join our Patreon to access our weekly newsletter and monthly Gender Conceal episodes, plus a free month of the Batting Around patreon! ~~ Find transcripts and starter packs at genderpodcast.com. We’re also on Instagram @gendereveal. Senior Producer: Ozzy Llinas Goodman Logo: Ira M. LeighMusic: Breakmaster CylinderAdditional music: "Hope and the Forester" by Blue Dot Sessions Sponsors: DeleteMe (code: TUCK20) and Max Burns UX (mention Rhubarb!)

Tuck chats with filmmaker Kani Lapuerta (he/him) about his new feature-length documentary, Niñxs. Topics include trans rights in Mexico, the increased popularity of gender-neutral Spanish, collaborating on a film with a literal child, and what makes a film ~trans~.  Listen to the full episode on Patreon to hear discussions of spiritual gentrification in Tepoztlán, masculinity in prison, inserting Mean Girls-inspired fantasy sequences into a documentary, whether it's inherently trans to make a funny movie, and more. Find Niñxs at ninxsdocumental.com. Full episode transcript available at genderpodcast.com. Save 10% off in the Girl Dad Press shop today (9/1/25) with code STEVE :) ~ Senior Producer: Ozzy Llinas Goodman Logo: Ira M. LeighMusic: Breakmaster CylinderAdditional Music: Blue Dot Sessions

This week, we're sharing an episode of Love in a F*cked Up World, a new podcast hosted by our friend Dean Spade. In this episode, Dean chats with Tourmaline and Morgan Bassichis (our guest from last week's episode) about the many lessons they’ve learned from each other over the course of multiple decades of friendship, collaboration, and trans abolitionist organizing. Find transcripts and more info at deanspade.net/podcast.  ~  Sex Change and the City is available for preorder now btw! 

Tuck and Ozzy chat with comedian, organizer, and writer Morgan Bassichis (they/them). Topics include: Whether a comedy show is a good use of time in this Political Moment  Lessons from Lavender Hill commune and The Faggots & Their Friends...  Why “Free Palestine” is directly relevant us as trans & queer people Why are there so many trans Jews, btw? Plus: Personalized bar mitzvah boxers, the Gay Who Cried Wolf, voting gay people back into the closet, and an erotic sexual relationship with a ghost? This Week in Gender: The 2025 Gender Census is open! Plus, new books by Denne Michele Norris, Lee Lai, Gretchen Felker-Martin, Hal Schrieve, Rose Dommu, Grace Byron, Zefyr Lisowski, and LittlePuss. Find Morgan in Can I Be Frank? and at morganbassichis.com.  Preorder Sex Change and the City today! Submit a piece of Theymail: Today’s messages were from J Warren and et al. Scholars ~~ Join our Patreon to access our weekly newsletter and monthly Gender Conceal episodes. Find transcripts and starter packs at genderpodcast.com. We’re also on Instagram @gendereveal. Senior Producer: Ozzy Llinas Goodman Logo: Ira M. LeighMusic: Breakmaster CylinderAdditional music: “Little or Nothing” by Blue Dot Sessions Sponsors: DeleteMe (code: TUCK20)

This week, we're sharing the first episode of Afterlives: Marsha P. Johnson, a limited-run narrative series hosted by our friend Raquel Willis.  Find Afterlives wherever you listen to podcasts, and find incredible archival images from Marsha's life at @afterlives.pod. 

Tuck and Mal chat about how 2010s Brooklyn hurt Mal’s relationship to masculinity, whether reading a book would help kids understand song lyrics, and why Mal is putting “he” pronouns in timeout until you all earn them back. Listen to the full episode on Patreon to hear discussions of Geminis vs Cancers, personal gossip, new transmasc slurs, Hatchet (1987), stolen transfeminine valor, TikTok, touring, getting physically cut out of childhood photos, and deciding how mean and messy to get in a breakup album. Plus, Tuck tells Mal a secret they’ve been holding for five years wow.  Find Mal on tour now! Mal is also at malblum.com and ffm.bio/malblum.  ~ Senior Producer: Ozzy Llinas Goodman Logo: Ira M. LeighMusic: Breakmaster CylinderAdditional Music: Mal Blum

Ozzy chats with Whit Washington (they/them), senior attorney for the Nonbinary & Transgender Rights Project at Lambda Legal. Topics include: Why the Skrmetti decision isn’t as broadly damaging as we might think Becoming a lawyer because you’re inspired by Kimberlé Crenshaw and also nervous about math :) The enormous impact of queer legal scholar Pauli Murray and trans jailhouse attorney Dee Farmer Can you use the law to abolish the law? Plus: Dazed and Confused, Nathaniel Bacon, and listener advice This Week in Gender: Should you update your passport right now? (Plus, resources for sharing Know Your Rights info; finding someone arrested by ICE; combatting workplace ICE raids;  adopting a day labor corner; helping immigrant rights orgs; and supporting immigrant communities.) Submit a piece of Theymail: Today’s messages were from Kiwifruit Coaching and Well Beings News. Find Whit’s work on the Lambda Legal blog. Tuck and Mattie Lubchansky are chatting live in Astoria, Queens, on July 29! Tickets available now. ~~ Join our Patreon to access our weekly newsletter and monthly Gender Conceal episodes, including this month’s upcoming chat with Mal Blum. Find transcripts and starter packs at genderpodcast.com. We’re also on Instagram @gendereveal. Senior Producer: Ozzy Llinas Goodman Logo: Ira M. LeighMusic: Breakmaster CylinderAdditional music: Blue Dot Sessions Sponsors: DeleteMe (code: TUCK20) 

Tuck chats with Sawyer K. Kemp (they/them) about the news that Ian McKellan is involved in an all-trans staged reading of Twelfth Night. Topics include whether Twelfth Night is trans, what baseball and Shakespeare plays have in common, and what prison has to do with any of this.  Listen to the full episode on Patreon to hear discussions of West Virginia, trans cringe, 17th-century trans intra-community conflict, which Shakespearean role Shohei Ohtani would play, and whether acting is good or bad :) Find Sawyer at sawyerkkemp.com and at Queens College. ~ Senior Producer: Ozzy Llinas Goodman Logo: Ira M. LeighMusic: Breakmaster CylinderAdditional Music: Blue Dot Sessions