Podcast
Queers and Co.
Hosted by Gem Kennedy · EN
Welcome to the Queers and Co. Podcast with facilitator, coach and speaker, Gem Kennedy (they/them). Each episode of the latest series poses the compelling question, “What happens when…” and delves into topics such as anxiety, AuDHD, gender identity, and beyond. Gem takes centre stage this series, sharing personal insights and reflections after a particularly difficult time in which it felt more important than ever for them to focus on living in alignment with the truest expression of themselves.
If you’ve not listened before, be sure to check out the previous two series in which Gem has thought-provoking conversations with queer folks and allies who are at the forefront of change-making in areas such as fat activism, sex positivity, drag/cabaret, LGBTQ+ activism and children’s rights.
Find out more about Gem's work: www.gemkennedy.com
16episodes
Episodes
Newest firstAll episodes
Ep. 1 What Happens When... Trauma is Kicking Your Arse
Sep 27, 202400:38:35Tap to summarizeJoin Gem for this episode, "What Happens When... Trauma is Kicking Your Arse". When they experienced an intense cPTSD flare-up earlier this year, Gem realised their usual supports were no longer enough. In this episode, they reflect on what helped them navigate being stuck in a trauma response, their experience of moral scrupulosity, the importance of co-regulation and loving community, and the magic of nature for recovery and perspective - all recorded in a cosy bed and then whilst walking by the River Tweed!Helpful links: PTSD and Autism: https://neurodivergentinsights.com/misdiagnosis-monday/ptsd-and-autismMoral scrupulosity: https://iocdf.org/faith-ocd/living-with-ocd-religious-traditions/moral-scrupulosity/Monotropism: https://monotropism.org/ Window of tolerance: https://autismunderstood.co.uk/health-and-wellbeing/window-of-tolerance/Thank you so much for listening! I'd love it if you'd consider sharing and reviewing this podcast!Find out more about me and my work at www.gemkennedy.com and @thegemkennedy in all the usual places.
Transcribe →Intro - What Happens When...? - Start Here!
Sep 25, 202400:06:42Tap to summarizeWelcome to Series 3 of Queers and Co. It's been a while!Listen as Gem sets the scene and heads off on their trip to Scotland. Thank you so much for listening! I'd love it if you'd consider sharing and reviewing this podcast!Find out more about me and my work at www.gemkennedy.com and @thegemkennedy in all the usual places.
Transcribe →Aisha Shaibu - Community Ignites Joy and Belonging - 028
Jun 16, 202100:53:16Tap to summarizeMy final guest this series is the wonderful Aisha Shaibu (she/her). The founder of 'Moonlight Experiences', Aisha is a proud queer activist who champions integration, diversity & equality. Aisha believes in using the economical power of LGBTQ+ tourism and nightlife to help amplify marginalized voices and transform communities. She is also a prominent event producer who works for organisations such as UK Black Pride & London Queer Fashion Show. Aisha has been featured in the Mayor Of London's hidden credit for her contribution to nightlife. We chat about the many hats that Aisha wears, founding Moonlight Experiences and bringing queer folks together from around the world, opening a sober queer venue in East London, her passion for building community, holidays and exercise as self-care, her ability to organise seamlessly, tourism as a tool for social change, educating on queer culture and lots more!If you haven't already, be sure to join our Facebook community to connect with other like-minded queer folks and allies. Find out more about Gem Kennedy and Queers & Co. Podcast Artwork by Gemma D’Souza.Resources Moonlight Experienceshttps://www.moonlightexperiences.comFollow Aisha on Instagramhttps://www.instagram.com/ukblackpride/https://www.ukblackpride.org.uk/https://www.instagram.com/londonqueerfashionshow/Full Transcript to follow
Transcribe →John Pendal - I Wasn't a Very Good Gay - 027
May 26, 202100:56:53Tap to summarizeThis week I’m joined by experienced BDSM educator and kinky stand-up comedian John Pendal (he/ him). In 2003, John became the 25th (and only British) winner of the International Mr. Leather contest in Chicago. Since then he has travelled extensively leading workshops, giving speeches, as a master of ceremonies or doing stand-up comedy. He now works online with English-speaking clients anywhere in the world and loves helping people who identify as outsiders.Join us as we chat about accidentally qualifying for and winning International Mr. Leather, being so late to the podium he was almost killed by fireworks, immersing himself in kink culture, the oppression experienced by the gay community in the 1990s, supporting others to undo a lifetime of being squashed, learning he was autistic and unpacking internalised ableism, punching up in comedy and so much more!If you haven't already, be sure to join our Facebook community to connect with other like-minded queer folks and allies. Find out more about Gem Kennedy and Queers & Co. Podcast Artwork by Gemma D’Souza.ResourcesFind out more about John’s coaching practiceJohn’s Leather websiteFind out more about John’s work with Thriving AutisticFull Transcript to follow
Transcribe →Artemis D. Bear - Childism Underpins All Oppression - 026
May 19, 202100:58:50Tap to summarizeThis week I’m joined by the glorious Artemis D. Bear!! Artemis (they/them) is a non-binary queer iconoclast, who always has too many projects on the go. They are the founder and director of The Garden, a self directed learning community for young people in Bristol, and work for the Phoenix Education Trust on the Freedom to Learn programme. They are also a drag king, stage manager and queer cabaret producer. Last year they founded UBI Lab Bristol, campaigning for a basic income trial, which they believe could lift everyone out of absolute poverty and liberate many more. They live in Bristol with their partner and children and finally feel like a real grown up now they have a piano and a dog.Join us as we chat about a terrible Tinder date, the joy of producing drag shows, seeing our bodies through the eyes of a queer person, co-parenting and self-direction, why UBI is a complete no-brainer, how schooling fuels inequality and grades people according to privilege and lots more juicy stuff!If you haven't already, be sure to join our Facebook community to connect with other like-minded queer folks and allies. Find out more about Gem Kennedy and Queers & Co. Podcast Artwork by Gemma D’Souza.ResourcesSign the petition for a UBI pilot in BristolUBI Lab Network’s websiteThe Garden Bristol’s websiteFreedom to Learn’s websiteCheck out Brizzle Boyz and Scritch CabaretKith: The Riddle of the Childscape bookThe book I mentioned in the episode but couldn’t remember the name of is Crippled: Austerity and the Demonization of Disabled PeopleResisting Illegitimate Authority: A Thinking Person’s Guide to Being an Anti-Authoritarian bookAkilah S. Richards’ website, Fare of the Free Child podcast and Raising Free People: Unschooling as Liberation and Healing Work bookFull Transcript to follow
Transcribe →Katy Lees - Everybody deserves respect, so I deserve respect - 016
Feb 10, 2021Tap to summarizeThis week, I’m joined by Katy Lees (they/them), a queer writer and psychotherapist from the North East of England. They can be found writing therapy tips, poetry, anti-oppression rants, short stories, and more. They are currently writing a good mental health guide for trans and non-binary people, to be published soon by Jessica Kingsley Publishers.Join us as we talk about the oppression different sized fat folx experience, trans and non-binary mental health and self-care, Katy’s experience navigating and recovering from burnout, stepping away from the constant pressure to ‘level up’ in life, the challenges of dressing as a fat, trans, non-binary person and lots more.If you haven't already, be sure to join our Facebook community to connect with other like-minded queer folks and allies. Find out more about Gem Kennedy and Queers & Co. Podcast Artwork by Gemma D’SouzaResourcesFind out more about Katy’s work on their website.Support Katy’s work on their PatreonFollow Katy on InstagramFull TranscriptionGem: Welcome to Queers & Co., the podcast on self-empowerment, body liberation and activism for queer folx and allies. I'm your host, Gem Kennedy. My pronouns are they/them and I'm a transformational practitioner and coach living in the UK.Gem: Hey folx! Welcome to Episode 4. I hope you were able to get some relaxing time during integration week. I know that it was really helpful for me to practice some of what I talk to my clients about around working sustainably and actually give myself some space to not be furiously editing and producing all the time. So with that in mind, I'm very excited and energised to be back for Episode 4. And this one is a short and sweet episode. They're an incredible guest and they also happen to be an incredible client of mine. And I'm just really happy that they agreed to record an episode with me. We had quite a few technical difficulties unfortunately during the recording, which meant that we tried two different platforms and then by the time we'd had that all sorted, then time was up. So we have just over half an hour together. And I hope that you'll find it as interesting as I did. And just to introduce my guest... They are a queer writer and psychotherapist from the northeast of England. They can be found writing therapy tips, poetry, anti-oppression rants, short stories, and more on their website iamkatylees.com, and that will be in the show notes. They're currently writing a good mental health guide for trans and non-binary people, which is going to be published hopefully this year (I'm keeping my fingers crossed) by Jessica Kingsley publishers, and I'll share all of the relevant links so you can go and follow their work after the episode today. I've already asked them about recording another episode together so look out for that, hopefully around the same time as the book launches. And so without further ado, allow me to introduce my wonderful guest, Katy Lees. Gem: Hi Katy! Thanks so much for joining me. Katy: Hi Gem. It's really nice to be here. Thank you for inviting me.Gem: I'm so excitred. No worries. So I always start often start with asking people just to introduce themselves and their various intersections. Would you be happy to do that?Katy: Absolutely, I would. So my name is Katy Lees. I use they/them pronouns. I am a white mid-fat, trans and non-binary queer person from the northeast of England. And I am a writer and a psychotherapist. Gem: Great, thank you. So there's lots to unpack there. And I think the first thing that comes to mind is that you used mid-fat, which for some people listening if they're not kind of familiar with the terms of how people identify, I guess, yeah, if they're not used to how people identify within fatness, how would you describe the different levels?Katy: Sure. Um, so generally speaking, at least in the circles of fat activism, that I tend to roll in there tends to be the idea that different levels, I guess, different types of fatness are subject to different kinds of oppression and different kinds of pressure from society. So generally speaking, there's the idea that there are small-fat people who might find trouble finding clothes, and probably have a difficult time getting medical care, but can otherwise expect to be able to do up their seat belt in a car, be able to fit into chairs when they go out into the world. And then kind of going up from there, you've got mid-fat people like me, who experience more difficulty finding clothes, fitting into the world, maybe more difficulty accessing appropriate medical care, and then you've got large-fat people. And then you've got the death fatties, who are generally people who are considered (huge air quotes here) "morbidly obese". And then up from there, you've got infinifat people who face the most oppression from society. Gem: Yeah, thank you so much for sharing that. And as I said it, I realised levels sounds really problematic. But yeah, I wonder... I should think about a better word to use for that.Katy: I understood what you meant. It's quite fun to think myself like that I've levelled up to a mid-fat.Gem: Like a computer game. Katy: Yeah!Gem: Okay, so other parts of your identity that you mentioned are around being trans and non-binary and you're doing some really interesting work around trans and non-binary mental health. I wondered if you could just tell us a bit more about that.Katy: Sure. So in my psychotherapy work, I mostly work with trans and non-binary people, and also other people in the LGBTQ+ community. And as a writer, I'm currently writing a book for Jessica Kingsley publishers, which is a trans and non-binary guide to good mental health. So as a trans therapist who I mean, I've worked in mental health for basically my whole adult life and also, I've had wonky mental health we'll say for longer than that. Yeah, it felt really important to be doing that kind of work for my community.Gem: Yeah. And also, I think it's important to mention that you're in the process of writing the book.Katy: Yeah. I mean, it's been a really interesting experience. Yeah, I feel like, I mean, writing a book is pretty difficult with my therapy practice being pretty full, it's been difficult to find the time, but also I've really loved writing it. I've really loved, I don't know, making, making that kind of space and I guess making something that I don't think exists much, or at all in the world right now. Just kind of making making space where I don't know, that's about mental health from trans people, for trans people and catered to them. Because I think a lot of mental health books that I've found, tend to be about trans and non-binary people for the assumed cisgender people who work with them, often written by cis people. And yeah, it feels like really good, important work, to be hopefully giving trans people good care that helps them to feel better and that is relatively accessible. Yeah, feels good. Also feels kind of terrifying, but it feels good. I think that's just my anxiety speaking. Gem: Yeah, I like this idea of being terricited. I don't know if you've heard of it before, but like feeling terrified, but excited at the same time.Katy: That's the that's the one. I feel terricited.Gem: So thinking about writing a book, what would you say, what has the process been like for you? Have you learnt more things about your own sort of self-care and mental health as a trans or non-binary person?Katy: Hmm, yeah, I mean, I definitely have going through the process, because I've had to... as I've been doing some things that are so difficult, I've had to be looking after myself, which I haven't historically always been very good at. So it's been a good way to find different ways to care for myself, to explore different meanings of self-care, which I'm already pretty keen on anyway. I think that the idea of self-care has become very commodified and kind of twisted around by capitalism. So I'm already pretty keen on exploring different avenues of self-care that aren't spending money on a bubble bath. But yeah, I think that writing this book has really made me focus on lots of different ways to look after myself, sometimes including having a bubble bath. Yeah, and looking at how much of that I can offer to other people as well. It's been good to revisit ideas that I find very easy to apply to other people as well and maybe less easy to apply to myself. Something about the act of writing something down and sending it into the world as a global truth means that I definitely have to accept that it's gonna be okay, if I'm telling everybo...
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