The Lavender Menace

Welcome to episode 4 of season 3 of The Lavender Menace podcast! Today we will be recapping our past year of podcasting- the journey we've been on from starting season 1 in April to being in the midst of season 3 now, in January of 2022. But first, we respond to some of our listener submitted hot takes. (You can email your hot takes to us for us to respond on the pod at [email protected] btw.) We demolish the Camilla Cabello x Shawn Mendes PR relationship, delineate clockability of gayness vs. the fake term "queer passing," and patriarchy and transmisogyny within the context of "the queer community." We discuss homosociality, the contrast between performative queerness and innate queerness, and sapphic vs. gay social realities. In our overview of the year, we reminisce upon the biphobia cancellation(s) and our favorite episodes and media consumed in 2021, as well as our intentions and purpose behind creating this podcast in the first place. Our podcast creator Spotify Wrapped stats are mind blowing- we have over 15k followers on Spotify! This, in contrast to our humble beginnings, shocks us and we are grateful for everyone involved in our little community, whether you listen to us casually or follow us on all social media platforms. Speaking of, you can find us on Tik Tok and Instagram @thelavendermenacepod, and follow us on Twitter and Letterboxd @thelavenderpod! Support us directly and get exclusive/early access content (this episode was released 3 days earlier!!) on Patreon.com/thelavendermenace. Thanks so much for an incredible 2021, can't wait for an even more amazing 2022 of the pod.

Some scintillating takes for listeners on season 3's episode 3 of The Lavender Menace! Including but not limited to: are "fake bisexuals" real/bad/an issue? (Short answer is no. The issue is always heterosexism.) Is Taylor Swift a good person? Are Letterboxd reviewers the worst? Renaissance and Sunny fervently defend Taylor Swift's album 'Reputation' in response to our 17 year old gaylor listener's hot take submission, discuss the political implications of her potential "coming out" (which we argue, has already occurred), and how she operates as an artist in the world we live in. After the regularly scheduled hot take portion of the pod, Renaissance discusses how the recently released Rebecca Hall adaptation of Nella Larsen's Passing, available on Netflix, portrays inter-community Black issues in a nuanced and intelligent way that many audience members are seeming to miss. Sunny looks at Passing from a comparative analysis perspective as someone who read and loved the classic Harlem Renaissance book the film is based on. In cross-referencing fictionalized experiences to real life people's history, as recorded in the seminal nonfiction book Black Metropolis by St. Clair Drake and Horace R. Cayton Jr.'s chapter 7, titled "Crossing The Color Line" (available to read for free on Archive.org), Sunny and Renaissance discuss the historical and pop cultural relevancy of the questions Passing brings up about racial identity, visibility and Blackness, and the legitimate unique racial experiences regarding cross-cultural and boundary crossing that people experience. Renaissance also compares the experience of watching the film to reading the Toni Morrison short story, Recitatif, in their similar authorial manipulation of racial perception for the narratives' consumer. And transitioning into the regularly scheduled third part of the podcast, Sunny recommends the semi recently released and critically acclaimed Brit Bennet novel The Vanishing Half, which follows two sisters over the course of their lives and the varying racial experiences they have as white passing Black women in 20th century American society. Renaissance recommends the movie Aimée and Jaguar (1999) dir. Max Färberböck for the lesbian period piece goodness of it all, as well as its portrayal of the dynamics and contradictions of racial/ethnic perception in the context of another 20th century caste society- Nazi Germany.

Thanks for being a listener! Support us by becoming a patron at Patreon.com/TheLavenderMenace, following us on socials: @thelavenderpod on Twitter and Letterboxd, @thelavendermenacepod on Instagram and Tik Tok, & The Lavender Menace Podcast on YouTube. You can submit your hot take to be featured on the next episode by emailing us at [email protected] or messaging us on any of our social media accounts!

Happy Red (Taylor's Version) release everyone! We are so excited to share our thoughts on the All Too Well (1o minute version) short film and our ranking of the album in episode 2 season 3 of The Lavender Menace podcast. But before Sunny and Renaissance get into all that, we discuss three (3!) of y'all's hot takes that answer the following questions: is compulsory heterosexuality a lesbian exclusive experience? (Short answer, yes.) How are millennial cis bisexual white women the most delusional people alive? (Other "leftist" podcast hosts have such shitty takes, unlike us...) Why do y'all bully minors over the most ridiculous things? (You need to deprogram yourself from imperialist propaganda.) After our hot takes, we discuss all our Taylor Swift thoughts now that we've listened to Red TV and watched her directorial debut of the short film featuring Sadie Sink and Dylan O'Brien. We defend her against white feminist allegations, queercode her work as always, and contextualize the re-release of this seminal album within her career. Finally, we give each other quick recommendations, Renaissance's Scenes of a Marriage and Sunny's Spencer, one of which will be the basis for our next episode! Hint hint.

Send us more of your amazing hot takes! You can reach us on Twitter @TheLavenderPod and email us at [email protected] for submissions. Subscribe to our $1 tier (or our higher tiers....?!) at patreon.com/TheLavenderMenace to support the pod and get exclusive content and early access!

Welcome to season 3 of The Lavender Menace! Today we are forgoing our typical three part structure to complain about recent allegations, internet happenings, online battles... Sunny is in their reputation era again, thanks to overly online bisexuals accusing Sunny of being overly online while flooding them with violent online harassment. As Sunny's number one defender (and number one hater,) Renaissance talks about the overwhelming whiteness involved with people getting angry over lesbians speaking the obvious. We reference season 1 episode 4 throughout this episode, so if you haven't listened to that one yet, you should do that! We talk about how lesbophobia is the legitimate unique amalgamation of systemic oppression people seem to think biphobia is, and break down every single talking point we've been seeing floating around due to the accidental launching of this round of LGBTQ discourse. Renaissance discusses how the internet phenomenon of hating on reading theory and complex, necessary vocabulary usage is frustrating as hell, we rant about the ridiculousness of accusing Sunny being a TERF or transphobic in their talking points, and how nothing Sunny or Renaissance said was wrong. Much love to our listeners who've supported us through the insanity of the past several weeks of getting collectively dogpiled on. Thank you so much to our Patreon patrons as well, we appreciate you so much. If you want the Patreon exclusive video edition of this episode where you can see Sunny wear their Taylor Swift official merch folklore shirt (which is pictured in this episode's cover art, as well as Renaissance's painting of The Lavender Menace logo on a tote bag, and screen caps of the shit we've been going through...) and drink copious amounts of tea in between yelling, cackling, and ranting, go subscribe! Pledges start as low as $5 a month, with more exclusive content the higher up your pledges are :)

Email us your hot take at [email protected] to be featured on an upcoming season 3 episode! Follow us on Twitter @thelavenderpod! Support the pod by becoming a patron: https://www.patreon.com/TheLavenderMenace

We have arrived at the end of season 2, and it's time for us to talk about the media that made us the crazy bitches/mean lesbians/critical media consumers we are. But first, we respond to your lovely emails (thank you to everyone reaching out to us! Please continue to do this! Email us with your hot takes and at[email protected]) and give a listener our thoughts on what her art thesis project about queerness should entail. Then we discuss some of the media that we were obsessed with as children- Renaissance and Sunny's experiences diverge in many ways, from our social lives and the gendered experiences we had, to our relationships to social media and internet access. However, we both had very cringe fandom moments, of course. Finally, we recommend our childhood favorites to each other. Sunny recommends the young adult novel Aristotle and Dante Discover the Secrets of the Universeby Benjamin Alire Saenz and Renaissance recommends the 2002 Chicago movie musical directed by Rob Marshall. Connect with us individually on Instagram (@renaissancemarie @sunnywithacamera, follow us so when we go live together you can be an active participant!) or our Youtube channels, Renaissance Marie and a sunny book nook, respectively. You can find both of us being unhinged on our joint Twitter account @thelavenderpod, subscribe to our Youtube channel The Lavender Menace, and become a patron at patreon.com/thelavendermenace for early access and exclusive content! Thank you to our lovely patrons. We'll be back every two weeks with new episodes for season 3. See you in our next episode to kick off our next season!