The Lavender Menace

A very belated part 2 of our 2025 wrap up episode (LOL) recorded the same day as our most recent episode prior to this one. TLDL: art under capitalism is destroying art, anorexia is the devil and so is technologyThanks for joining us for this episode! Send your hot takes to [email protected] and support us on Patreon for bonus content and early access: https://www.patreon.com/TheLavenderMenace Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/TheLavenderMenacePod Letterboxd: https://letterboxd.com/thelavenderpod/Substack: https://thelavendermenace.substack.comTwitter: https://twitter.com/TheLavenderPod

A very belated 2025 wrap up episode (we recorded for over four hours back in December LOL so this is part one....) in which we discuss:Lesbian Feminist Book Club: https://www.instagram.com/lesbianfeministbookclub/mindfulness meditation and letting ourselves be boredbeing anti-overconsumption and anti-internet and social mediaPHYSICAL MEDIA!!!!!Scorched Earth: Beyond the Digital Age to a Post-Capitalist World by Jonathan CraryAll Our Trials: Prisons, Policing, and the Feminist Fight to End Violence by Emily L. ThumaA Brick and Bible: Black Women's Radical Activism in the Midwest During the Great Depression by Melissa FordWhen Driving Is Not An Option: Steering Away from Car Dependency by Anna Letitia ZivartsWhy Does He Do That? Inside the Minds of Angry and Controlling Men by Lundy BancroftImperfect Victims: Criminalized Survivors and the Promise of Abolition Feminism by Leigh GoodmarkPerfect Victims: and the Politics of Appeal by Mohammed el-KurdKwaneta Harris: https://www.instagram.com/kwanetaharris/Ra'jiva Tha Rulaa: https://www.youtube.com/@rajiva_tharulaaThe Body Keeps the Score Brain, Mind, and Body in the Healing of Trauma by Bessel van der KolkThanks for joining us for this episode! Send your hot takes to [email protected] and support us on Patreon or Substack for bonus content and early access: https://www.patreon.com/TheLavenderMenace https://www.patreon.com/TheLavenderMenaceInstagram: https://www.instagram.com/TheLavenderMenacePod

Are white queers entitled about their history and culture? Can femmes be nonbinary? And other pressing questions that our listeners, patrons, and substack subscribers have submitted to us... (Email us your hot takes at [email protected]!!!) Queer history is so so so important and most gay people do not know enough of it! The Persistent Desire: A Femme-Butch Reader edited by Joan Nestle is one of the most important lesbian history books ever BTW, especially for femmes and butches. Silvia Federici's 2004 book Caliban & the Witch: Women, the Body and Primitive Accumulation is a book all feminists, Marxists, and Marxist feminists need to read. The politics of magic, the witch hunts, and the relationship between European colonialism and the dispossession of women and workers are some of the topics this book thoroughly explores. We cannot recommend it enough.Check out Sunny's recommendation of Sophie Lewis's books (Abolish the Family, Full Surrogacy Now, & Enemy Feminism) and Sunny's interview with Sophie, and Renaissance's Letterboxd and their recommendation of the documentary Feminism Inshallah: A History of Arab Feminism. Disclaimer: we recorded this episode back in the spring.

This episode includes discussion of: “butch-femme” aesthetic photos, our problem with Pinterest, internet personas and the importance of being earnest (and also genuine!) Also: the importance of female singer-songwriters and how CINEMA IS BACK which might be a recession/fascism indicator... In discussing the the racial and historical background of Sinners (2025), we examine the portrayal of truth and legacy in this surprisingly good blockbuster movie. From lynching to sharecropping, the frankness with which Ryan Coogler portrays 1932 Mississippi was incredibly moving.Our recommendations: https://www.solidaritycinema.com/ and The Wedding by Dorothy West.01:04:04 — when we start talking about SinnersThanks for joining us for this episode! Send your hot takes to [email protected] and support us on Patreon for bonus content and early access: https://www.patreon.com/TheLavenderMenace Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/TheLavenderMenacePod Letterboxd: https://letterboxd.com/thelavenderpod/Substack: https://thelavendermenace.substack.comTwitter: https://twitter.com/TheLavenderPod

This podcast episode brought to you today by lukewarm politics of hair takes re: Bush discourse (not the president) and Kanye/Bianca, a hot take from Sunny about the Doechii album, & Black lesbian film love from RenaissanceSend your HOTTEST TAKES to [email protected] ! & Support your favorite indie dykes & get early episode access/exclusive bonus content on our Patreon: https://www.patreon.com/c/TheLavenderMenaceInstagram: https://www.instagram.com/TheLavenderMenacePod Letterboxd: https://letterboxd.com/thelavenderpod/Substack: https://thelavendermenace.substack.comTwitter: https://twitter.com/TheLavenderPod

Thank you to Clair for sending us a hot take about the madonna/whore complex lesbians are subjected to re: feminism. A reminder that you can send us a hot take about anything to [email protected] for us to discuss in a future episode!Contents of this episode include: bell hooks is a pick me, being a lesbian doesn't make you a better feminist, Michelle Tea is a genius, Sunny recommends We Could Be Rats by Emily Austin, & Renaissance recommends sudoku & I Am Divine (2013).Support us on Patreon for bonus content and early access: https://www.patreon.com/TheLavenderMenace Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/TheLavenderMenacePod Letterboxd: https://letterboxd.com/thelavenderpod/Substack: https://thelavendermenace.substack.comTwitter: https://twitter.com/TheLavenderPod

Why generative AI is deeply evil + how cottagecore wlw sapphic aesthetics have done untold damage to the lesbian community + our 2024 music in review. Happy new year! Thanks for joining us for this episode! Send your hot takes to [email protected] and support us on Patreon for bonus content and early access: https://www.patreon.com/TheLavenderMenace Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/TheLavenderMenacePod Letterboxd: https://letterboxd.com/thelavenderpod/Substack: https://thelavendermenace.substack.comTwitter: https://twitter.com/TheLavenderPod

We recorded this episode back in September when Renaissance was visiting St. Louis. Watch the full video recording + support future Sunnaissance adventures by joining our Patreon: https://www.patreon.com/c/TheLavenderMenaceHow do we deal with living under capitalism, white supremacy, and patriarchy? As workers, as women, as lesbians, this question haunts everything about the decisions we make for our lives. We're recent college graduates and we do not have the answers!!! But we do, as always, have thoughts and hot take responses. Please email us your hot takes for future episodes: [email protected]. We love reading your emails!Perhaps unsurprisingly, we have the same favorite song off of the Short 'n Sweet album. In our forthcoming episode, we discuss our Spotify Wrapped stats, and you, our dear listeners will see how our Sabrina listening habits shook out this year...!We're low on media recommendations this time of year, and while we do appreciate all of the media recommendations y'all send our way, the best we can offer this episode is one measly book recommendation from Sunny: I Hope This Finds You Well by Natalie Sue. Renaissance recommends street tacos.Much love! Happy holidays & hope you have a happy end to this rough ride of 2024.

Liberals are coping with Trump's win with racism and cringe, as expected. Almost as expected as Harris's loss...! Genuinely the Democrats have a humiliation kink and are addicted to bag fumbling.Shaming people for not voting for a genocidal maniac meanwhile you're first in line for hell grad school registration because you think the blood of Palestinians is cheap- fascism is here and it's inside every Amerikkkan.Disclaimer: Renaissance had a sinus infection and yet we still bravely recorded this the day after election night. Also, please forgive the sloppy editing the turnaround time on this one was quick!Oh also- We say "Hitler" approximately 3000 times this episode and it was necessary each and every timeEmail us your hot takes: [email protected] Watch the video recording of this episode (and almost all of our previous ones!) on our Patreon: https://www.patreon.com/posts/kamala-episode-115587095Follow us on our socials:Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/TheLavenderMenacePod Letterboxd: https://letterboxd.com/thelavenderpod/Substack: https://thelavendermenace.substack.comTwitter: https://twitter.com/TheLavenderPod

lovely listeners of the lavender menace!!! thank you so much for being so patient and eager for our return. after yet another unintentional multi-month long hiatus, we have sooo much to share with y'all. (+ a reminder to keep emailing us your hot takes to our email inbox @ [email protected])this episode's hot takes include lamenting gay people's ignorance of queer history, telling y'all that you shouldn't ask us for job advice, and reiterating the importance of reading Stone Butch Bluesbrat summer is over now, but we hope the woke media allows for us to give you all our brat review...! spoiler: we love it. especially girl so confusing ft. lorde. timestamp - 37:42 brat ranking begins Renaissance's Kamala Harris essay: https://open.substack.com/pub/thelavendermenace/p/american-politics-or-the-lack-thereofour friend Matt's brat album review that Sunny references: https://tunnelcity.substack.com/p/brat-new-wordssupport us on Patreon for bonus content and early access: https://www.patreon.com/TheLavenderMenace socials:Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/TheLavenderMenacePod Letterboxd: https://letterboxd.com/thelavenderpod/Substack: https://thelavendermenace.substack.comTwitter: https://twitter.com/TheLavenderPodTik Tok: https://www.tiktok.com/@thelavendermenacepod?_t=8k91GzgmHBy&_r=1

table of contents: 1. Good Luck Babe! is so fucking goodddddd 2. is Chappell Roan queer? bi? lesbian?! 3. recommendations to get your Gen X mom (who doesn't read books) to care about feminist and lesbian shit 4. hot take: straight people shouldn't be using certain gay terms 5. pre-Sunnaissance Sunnaissance instagram DMs 6. "queer" as identity label vs. being gay and going outside 7. our review of Cowboy Carter... and our song rankings. TLDL: underwhelming and disappointinghttps://www.patreon.com/TheLavenderMenaceinstagram.com/thelavendermenacepod https://www.tiktok.com/@thelavendermenacepodtwitter.com/thelavenderpod

Reviewing inane comments under Sunny's video "The Problem With Lesbian Romance" https://youtu.be/AkGbysZRB_w?si=Y9jqARsgJTQp6ZWJ & talking about how Renaissance's interpretation of the 2001 lesbian rom-com Kissing Jessica Stein is the one true understanding of the film. Get bonus episodes & early access on our Patreon: https://www.patreon.com/TheLavenderMenace Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/TheLavenderMenacePod Letterboxd: https://letterboxd.com/thelavenderpod/Substack: https://thelavendermenace.substack.comTwitter: https://twitter.com/TheLavenderPodTik Tok: https://www.tiktok.com/@thelavendermenacepod?_t=8k91GzgmHBy&_r=1

Hello listeners! Here is a new episode where we talk about feminism at length… who’s surprised? But before we get into the feminism of it all, we discuss various facets and corners in the world of media piracy and consuming digital content in response to a listener email. We continue to wonder how observations and opinions that lead us to receive so much internet hate are now popular takes to have and peddle out again and again. We also talk about at length the importance of feminism and learning from various branches of feminism. TLDR: We are communists and we are feminists but that does not make us exclusively marxist-feminists. We kinda cover all the bases on women’s issues for this episode. Let us know what you think by emailing or DMing us. For the media this episode, we discuss our memory of and thoughts on Jen Beagin’s novel Big Swiss. Renaissance read it just a couple months before the episode recording and l Sunny read a couple years ago. Has our love for unhinged lesbians struck again? Listen to find out!At the end of the episode Sunny recommends Come And Get It by Kiley Reid and Renaissance recommends the seminal documentary Paris is Burning (1990). Listen to the end of the episode to hear our pitches. Thank you again for listening!

It's our year end wrap up episode! Discussing the movies, music, and books consumed in 2023. episode timestamps:Intro 0:00 11:00 movies! Number of films watched compared to previous years, Letterboxd stats/logs, watching each other’s recommendations or watching films together like The Children’s Hour, Duck Butter, Theater Camp, Born in Flames,and Bottoms. Renaissance watched Studio Ghibli for the first time and has unpopular opinions (disliked Spirited Away which is a childhood favorite of Sunny’s)33:14 sex and the city, orientalism, which derry girls character we are, more movies44:42 we need to talk about Bottoms. Also gay movies (Shiva Baby in theaters!) Shiva Baby vs. Bottoms. Plus Sunny’s standout films of the year, Poor Things (2023), Robot Dreams (2023), The Zone of Interest (2023)1:04:04 current music flops1:09:41 our Spotify wrapped stats and songs1:51:51 Breaking up with Taylor swift </31:57:40 books of 20232:01:56 stone butch blues2:29:02 pod updates :)Thanks for joining us for this episode! Find us on Instagram https://www.instagram.com/TheLavenderMenacePod, Substack https://thelavendermenace.substack.com, Letterboxd https://letterboxd.com/thelavenderpod/, & Twitter https://twitter.com/TheLavenderPod. Send your hot takes to thelavendermenacepodcast at gmail dot com. Support us on Patreon for bonus content and early access: https://www.patreon.com/TheLavenderMenace 

Post-hiatus episode recorded in the summer for our beloved listeners! In which we discuss a listener-submitted hot-take about misogyny within leftist discourse and the failure of people to effectively address patriarchy or take sexism seriously. Then we hard-shifted to a hot-take about making lesbian friends, trying to date women as a woman using dating apps flooded with straight women, and the lesbian dating landscape within the scope of Twitter and the Internet. Of course, for media, we discussed our thoughts on Barbie (2023) and all the discourse that was surrounding it after its immediate release. In the spirit of the shortcomings of the film, Renaissance recommends the John Waters' film Hairspray (1988) and Sunny recommends the literary fiction novel Dykette by Jenny Fran Davis, which is a bit controversial!Thanks for joining us for this episode! You can find us on Twitter, YouTube, Substack, Instagram, Tik Tok, and Letterboxd if you want to connect! Send your hot takes to [email protected] and support us on Patreon for bonus content and early access: https://www.patreon.com/TheLavenderMenace

Uncut livestream recording where we discuss the genocide against Palestinians we are witnessing right now and countering of Zionist propaganda. From student organizing to the non-existence of American democracy, this moment of mass, unprecedented radicalization regarding settler colonialism and capitalism has been incredible to witness. https://bdsmovement.net/

It's time to revisit Olivia Rodrigo, and the potential beef regarding her and other female artists (that we kind of know nothing about.) What we do know is that we fuck with Vampire! And we do not fuck with Morgan Wallen, because truly, who the fuck is he??? Listener submitted hot-takes for this episode include: Am I the asshole, work friends edition, lesbophobic bisexual friends, the isolation of being a lesbian in STEM, and the politics of calling yourself a femme. Can bisexual women call themselves femmes? Why are femme lesbians protective of the usage of that terminology? Who has the power to determine whether other people can or should use certain labels or not? And for our shared media review and analysis of this episode, we discuss a 1971 film called Harold and Maude, and lament contemporary film-making at length. They don't make real ass original movies anymore!!! Renaissance is an aspiring Letterboxd influencer, and you should follow them on there @disobedientgays. Sunny talks Storygraph vs. Goodreads and we get into the efficacy of half star reviews, before getting into recommendations, where Renaissance recommends the 1958 German film Girls in Uniform, and Sunny recommends the non-fiction essay collection Lesbian Choices by Claudia Card. Thanks for joining us for this episode! You can find us on Twitter, YouTube, Substack, Instagram, Tik Tok, and Letterboxd. Send your hot takes to [email protected] and support us on Patreon for bonus content and early access: https://www.patreon.com/TheLavenderMenace

Shorter episode for y'all!!! Featuring: boygenius concert etiquette hot-take and trying to beat the annoying teenager allegations, and discussing the relevancy and role of "Taylor's Version" album rereleases. Controversial listener submitted opinion: idgaf. Of course, gaylor content re: The (gay) Way I Loved You, Hayley Kiyoko and Taylor's relationship, leading us to consider whether perhaps Taylor Swift is the Eliza of her lesbian friends?!! Sunny pours one out for the situationship proletariat (FOOLISH ONE vault track), and Renaissance brings up some notes on certain Speak Now (Taylor's Version) tracks... namely, that there are elements missing and we are suffering from it. To round out the episode, we talk about some apps we've been using and that you should (or should not) also use. Thanks for joining us for this episode! You can find us on Twitter, YouTube, Substack, Instagram, Tik Tok, and Letterboxd if you want to connect! Send your hot takes to [email protected] and support us on Patreon for bonus content and early access: https://www.patreon.com/TheLavenderMenace

In this Sunnaissance IRL (California edition!) episode, we're discussing post-modern gender theory and queer/feminist studies in response to a listener-submitted hot take about the counterrevolutionary nature of contemporary usage of 'nonbinary' identity. We talk about Judith Butler and other feminists theorizing around gendered oppression and its relevance and role in social discourse over the decades. We do get into whacking the she/they's who say inane shit like "my boyfriend (a cis het man btw) is fruity for dating me because i use they/them pronouns" and "i want to look like a boy in a dress" vs. the material reality of gender non-conformity and gender transition. Sunny brings up a bad tweet thread from a they/them lesbian speaking over a trans woman dunking on overly online trans discourse. In response to another emailed hot take, we talk about the ridiculousness of opposing Palestinian liberation in the name of the (nonexistent) LGBT rights granted by israel, and the occupation's supposed defense of 'human rights,' being 'the only democracy in the middle east' (lmao). Very unserious talking points that are deeply entrenched in the american political sphere. For shared media analysis we discuss the very fun movie Party Girl (1995), while lamenting the state of contemporary filmmaking (as we always do). Renaissance recommends the artist Remi Wolf, and Sunny recommends the deranged woman novel- set in Riverside, California! Where Renaissance recently graduated from if you missed that- Exalted by Anna Dorn. Thanks for joining us for this episode! You can find us on Twitter, YouTube, Substack, Instagram, Tik Tok, and Letterboxd if you want to connect! Send your hot takes to [email protected] and support us on Patreon for bonus content and early access: https://www.patreon.com/TheLavenderMenace

Happy pride month! The hot takes for this episode feature a very belated discussion on the Matty Healy x Taylor Swift controversy, our response to a listener's questioning of their own identity as a lesbian, and offering advice on reading difficult texts— basically how to read theory!!! We also discuss our perspectives as POC on the constant presence of white people's racism, with Renaissance's unique view as someone growing up surrounded by white family members. In response to another hot take, we discuss (in the vein of Taylor's dalliances with Matty Healy) the ethics of consuming problematic artists’ art— especially as it relates pop music and the film industry and how much whose art you consume reflects your politics. When Woody Allen gets brought up, Sunny reads an excerpt from the novel Post-traumatic by Chantal V. Johnson that features a conversation at a dinner party about discourse surrounding consuming the art of known abusers and rapists. For the shared media analysis portion of this episode, we list and discuss every piece of media present in our queer American literature syllabi, ranging from Willa Cather to Carmen Maria Machado, while also discussing pieces of media such as Audre Lorde's essay collection Sister Outsider, the documentary on depicting transness in Hollywood called Disclosure, and much much more. Michael Bronski's A Queer History of the United States made up many of Sunny's assigned readings for class, and (spoiler alert!!!) very bad lectures and discussions were had in Renaissance's class. At the end of the episode, Renaissance recommends the early 2000s lesbian rom-com Kissing Jessica Stein (2001), and Sunny jointly recommends the film Daisies (1966) and the Jen Beagin novel Big Swiss. Thanks for joining us for this episode! You can find us on Twitter, Instagram, Youtube, Substack, Tik Tok, and Letterboxd if you want to connect! Send your hot takes to [email protected] and support us on Patreon for bonus content and early access: https://www.patreon.com/TheLavenderMenace

Hello Beloved listeners (a little nod to the butchfemme zine you should totally check out the first 2 issues + adorable lesbian merch of belovedzine.com)! Here is a special liminal space episode for you (post-break Taylor break up but before this M*tty H**ly mess)! Our hot-takes this episode are all bound by GAYLOR! This episode was recorded pre-Matty Healy's... inclusion into Taylor Swift's rotation but after her breakup from Joe, but we WILL be talking about the former soon, on Patreon (same place where we talked about Joe breakup Gaylor implications.) This episode is a hot-take exclusive one. We respond to quite a few listeners' emails (submit yours to [email protected] to perhaps get it featured and discussed on a future episode!!!) and speak to the heart of gay Swiftian iconography and lyrical parallels as picked up by y'all, and how people on the internet really hate when we talk about it. The 1st hot-take is a close reading of Oscar Wilde and possible allusions/references to him in the Lavender Haze music video and lyrics. Very compelling observations for a brilliant listener <3 The 2nd hot-take is about the consequences of speculating sexualities and coming out/”outing” politics, as submitted by listeners who seem to literally be the embodiment of the Heartstopper British lesbians. We’re living in a time where coming out can both be self-serving (Pete Buttigieg) and possibly make you the victim of public hate crimes, and as LGBT people today it can be difficult to parse out where we fall. Our 3rd hot-take comes from a listener getting backlash on TikTok on their video close-reading lyrics in Lover. This sparks a conversation about heteronormativity and the dynamics between gaylors and “anti-gaylor” Swifties and homophobic harassment in fan spaces. We swiftly (tongue-and-cheek) transition towards questions about how fans who grew up with Taylor view her versus how kids today see Taylor (new wave of 2nd generation Swifties, who is scared?) Our 4th hot-take comes from a hashtag Real Femme who witnessed what they refer to as Swiftgate in real time. AKA our most recent cancellation in which for multiple days in a row, Twitter was dogpiling and harassing us. This listener raises an important question: are Taylor haters more annoying than even the most insufferable gaylors? We say YES but feel free to come to your own conclusions. Part 2 of the hot-take speaks to 'sapphic spaces' and different manifestations of lesbophobia in queer spaces. The attitude that lesbians are automatically probably hostile towards trans people draws, most likely, from the tenuous idea of radical feminism and lesbian spaces in the 20th century. Essentially, people need to learn their history and read more theory and shit... Not like we've said that before. Thanks for joining us for this episode! You can find us on Twitter https://twitter.com/TheLavenderPod, Substack https://thelavendermenace.substack.com/, Instagram https://www.instagram.com/thelavendermenacepod/, Tik Tok https://www.tiktok.com/@thelavendermenacepod, and Letterboxd https://letterboxd.com/thelavenderpod/ if you want to connect!

Hello listeners! New episode for you! We respond to a hot take about top/bottom distinctions in the lesbian community from an “elder gay” and how it differs from historically rooted high femme/stone butch identities. Ultimately, these labels exist to describe and identify sexual preference and compatibility. Also, disclaimer– although Sunny talks about penetrative sex primarily, that's not necessarily what all lesbian sex looks like lol. Our second hot take is responding to the idea of “beauty neutrality” and the myth of “inclusive standards of beauty.” Our shared media this episode is SZA’s discography! As usual, we go from bottom to top with our song rankings and give explanations for different placements along the way. Sunny is a top SZA streamer and Renaissance is a new listener so no matter your own familiarity with SZA’s work, you’ll still be able to engage. We end the episode with recommendations. Sunny recommends a hyperpop-y artist (à la FKA twigs) shygirl. Renaissance recommends Mae Martin’s new Netflix stand-up comedy special SAP. Hope you all enjoy this episode and once again please email us your thoughts and hot takes at [email protected] and find more of us here: Patreon Twitter Instagram Youtube

Heyyyyyy and welcome to episode 18 of season 4. A few of you listeners sent in some fun and interesting queer discourse related questions, so we get into the social consequences, ramifications, implications etc. of the lesbian masterdoc and its circulation across the internet, especially towards the beginning of the pandemic. Relatedly, we discuss the nature of "comphet" in how it's being used and thrown around by people in ways that are deeply questionable, and compulsory heterosexuality's origin as a term in contrast to its use in day to day rhetoric contemporarily. We also talk about the ethics of taking a college class about Marxism or communism and reading theory for class. Another hot take included an opinion on gay men being tokenized by women vs. lesbian isolation experiences (hence, more queer discourse.) Our shared media we watched for this episode was the new Rian Johnson of Knives Out (we reviewed Glass Onion in a Patreon bonus episode here: https://www.patreon.com/posts/our-glass-onion-77444305 we also have a recently uploaded episode reviewing each other's media recommendations from the end portions of previous episodes!! Check it out baes) project, starring Natasha Lyonne— Poker Face, available on Peacock (or anywhere you can find it on the internet. Who said that??) Also, Alice Ju, you are a genius. For media recommendations, Sunny tells listeners and Renaissance to read Quicksand by Nella Larsen, and we complain about not being able to consume as much media. We haven't been reading books or watching movies or TV like we used to and it's really sad!!! But such is life... Thanks for joining us for this episode! You can find us on Twitter, YouTube, Substack, Instagram, Tik Tok, and Letterboxd if you want to connect! Send your hot takes to [email protected] and support us on Patreon for bonus content and early access: https://www.patreon.com/TheLavenderMenace

Welcome to episode 17 of season 4, in which we answer 3 listener submitted hot takes. The first hot take we talk about #StopCopCity and the frustrations that come from liberal and conservative pro-cop rhetoric, the break neck speed of the attention economy, and the goldfish memory of people who go through the same social justice learning every 2 years. The second hot take is an article submitted by a listener about a bisexual woman's feeling of isolation as a mom and wife in a cishet nuclear family suburban dynamic. What to do when you’re in that sticky cross section of knowing your identity but not knowing what it means? To be is an active verb my friends! The third hot take is a visit to a recurring motif on the pod: the perils of questioning your sexuality in high school. Godspeed young comrades! 🫡 Submit your hot-takes to [email protected] 💌🤓The media we review is season one of HBOmax's ‘Sort Of.’ It is a queer Canadian TV show following the life of a non-binary Pakistani Sabi who works as a nanny and a bartender. Spoiler Alert: we did NOT enjoy it! Underrepresented protagonist does not a good show make.For recommendations on this episode, Renaissance shares the short film Le Pupille (2022) dir. Alice Rohrwacher on Disney+, a sweet film about an all girls Catholic school. Perfect for those of you doing lent right now. Sunny recommends a contemporary novel: The Very Nice Box by Eve Gleichman and Laura Blackett (listen for the pitch at the end of the episode, it’s worth it).Support us on Patreon for bonus content and early access: https://www.patreon.com/TheLavenderMenaceKeep up with us between episodes:TwitterInstagramYoutubeLetterboxd

Helloooo lovely listeners of the pod! This is episode 16 of season 4 and even though the episode was recorded over a month ago, like our Marxist foremothers, we are topical as ever. Some shop talk at the top of the episode: 1) RIP to twitter account asunnybooknook (fly high… gone but never forgotten), 2) Renaissance substack essay 3) new butch-femme zine on the scene! First we start with a hottake about how butch is not a dirty word. We love and support butches with the fervor of American Megachurch Televangelicalism and that is our God given duty. Everyone love your local butch! Secondly, we talk about the performance of “sapphism” in Fletcher and Miley Cyrus’s NYC performance. We explore the DYKEotomy of “out queer artists” versus “artists who make queer art.” TLDR; stop telling us to “stream out queer artists” when said queer artists are not as talented or gay as Taylor Swift. Last hottake is about “Stalinism” and people making their unwillingness to listen and learn YOUR problem in your space! Either get with the program or don’t act entitled to my time. The joint media discussed is Something to Talk About by Meryl Wilsner. Sunny read the novel in 2021, recommended it in early 2022, and Renaissance read it in December 2023– and gets hot on the mic. Sorry, literary studies moment… Not all “representation” is good! But we already knew that. Sunny formally recommends Sedating Elaine by Dawn Winter, another dark modern contemporary evil woman dating woman novel (a classic genre). Renaissance recommends The Indie Movie™ Frances Ha (2012) directed by Noah Baumbach and starring Greta Gerwig. It’s possible that many of you have already watched this but we wanted to put it in the books.Hope you all enjoy this episode and once again please email us your thoughts and hot takes! [email protected]

hello listeners! first i come to you with news of The Lavender Menace match making service currently live on the Patreon! SINGLES/NON-MONOG ONLY!!! also butches please fill out the form... the numbers are in your favor right now.episode 15 of season 4 was filmed in december 2022 and is a part of the collection of Sunnaissance IRL video content. we respond to a hot take that references The Will to Change by bell hooks and the necessity of communicating with men. we return to the question of how to decenter men without falling into the fallacies of lesbian separatism (a really good question). then we respond to a hot take about bisexual people not having a slur and also the bi vs pan distinction when moving in online spaces.our shared media portion of the episode is the Céline Sciamma directed film Petite Maman (2022). we were very excited to talk about this movie because we got to watch it on the big screen together in a theater to ourselves. we find ourselves at the beautiful intersection of Sunny's love for speculative fiction and Renaissance's love for French Romanticism (psst... read Renaissance's Taylor Swift x Romanticism essay on substack). it should not be a surprise that our passions overlap in a movie about mother-daughter relationships. a classic motif of the reviewed content here.like usual, we end the episode recommending each other pieces of media. Renaissance recommends A Girl Walks Home Alone at Night (2014) directed by Ana Lily Amirpour. It is a contemporary Iranian noir vampire film with a proclivity for showing feminist acts of violence. (yay!!) Sunny references The Never Learn by Layne Fargo in response to the film. Sunny recommends the (FRENCH) graphic novel Thieves by Lucie Bryon. "It's kind of like Heartstopper if it was French and for girls" - Sunny describing the book.hope you enjoy this episode!PatreonTwitterYoutube

Happy new year and welcome to episode 14 of season 4!!! It's the beginning of 2023, which means that it's time to reminisce on all the movies, books, shows, albums, and LGBT internet drama we discussed and reviewed in the previous year. But first, we answer a listener submitted hot-take from Clair, who tells us about their experiences with being accused of transphobia on the basis of being a lesbian while bisexuals are presumed to be trans allies by nature of their sexual identities. In discussing the sexualization of butches and mascs as it relates to issues of trans allyship, Sunny brings up our friend and oomf of the pod, @gabbyisbutch. We reflect on our album rankings of 2022 releases and whether our opinions have changed since recording our reviews, and add up the different forms of media we've consumed and discussed in previous episodes. For 2023, Renaissance pitches reading more bad books for our shared media portions of the pod, and Sunny pitches a dating app match-making situation for our listeners via Google Form. Let us know your thoughts by connecting with us on socials or emailing us at [email protected]. We go over our respective 2022 media consumption and reading/movie watching goals for 2023, with Renaissance logging 200+ films on Letterboxd and Sunny not hitting their Goodreads reading goal of 250 books. (They read 235.) Here's to another slayful media consumption and production year for The Lavender Menace! Thank you for joining us <3

Catching up on some hot take submissions from the past couple months, we discuss the politics of "coming out," especially within the context of online queer fanbases bullying celebrities out of the closet re: Kit Connor (whom we mistakenly call the name of an American Girl Doll in this episode lol), Becky Albertalli, and the misusage of the term "queerbait" in the current media landscape. Sunny complains extensively about the popular liberal queer assimilationist politics especially as mediated by the internet, and references the following books this episode— The Society of the Spectacle by Guy DeBord, Lesbian Choices by Claudia Card, The Persistent Desire: A Butch-Femme Reader edited by Joan Nestle, and probably some other titles. We talk about using the word "dyke," the loneliness of lesbianism and isolation of navigating the world as someone who doesn't center men, history of autistic lesbians, and online queer community vs. IRL lesbian spaces (and the lack of them.) We discuss an essay collection we both adored but that Renaissance connected with on a spiritual and psychic level; Girls Can Kiss Now by Jill Gutowitz. We talk all about the lesbian pop culture hilarity it compasses, as well as how earnest and genuine the writing feels. Jill, please come on the podcast! For media recommendations, Sunny really enjoyed watching an Irish lesbian film A Date For Mad Mary (2016) in their COVID quarantine era, and Renaissance raves about Tár (2022). Thanks for joining us for this episode! You can find us on Twitter, YouTube, Substack, Instagram, Tik Tok, and Letterboxd if you want to connect! Send your hot takes to [email protected] and support us on Patreon for bonus content and early access: https://www.patreon.com/TheLavenderMenace

Welcome to season 4, episode 12, in which we discuss a listener-submitted-hot-take regarding the difficulties of fatphobia and butch identity, leading us into a discussion on current standards of beauty and also butch/femme dynamics (DIRE!) in the lesbian dating scene. Also, link to gf's lesbian literature blog: https://bassabibliophile.weebly.com/ Sunny recommends the highly informative book "Fearing The Black Body" by Sabrina Strings for a deeper understanding of fatphobia in relationship to race and gender in history. Our second hot take comes from an international listener commenting on the asinine nature of discourse surrounding the ethics of sexuality speculation, which of course, we agree with. For the shared media review segment of the pod, we talk about how much we disliked Netflix's new teen movie 'Do Revenge' (2022), and how so many of the queer contemporary teen movies fall short of the classics. As a wholesome British lesbian book recommendation, Sunny talks about Iona Iverson's Rules For Commuting by Clare Pooley, and Renaissance recommends their own A League of Their Own inspired playlists. Sunny plays a game of trying to guess which Taylor Swift songs are on Renaissance's Carson x Greta playlist, found here: https://open.spotify.com/playlist/6JeK4NZdGfDy0G0FO3j6K1?si=547607d0c79c45e4 and Sunny plugs her 100 song gaylor playlist: https://open.spotify.com/playlist/3dJxgeQLqhVGU6ru4Gfeff?si=67869b653e2a4c66 Thanks for joining us for this episode! You can find us on Twitter, YouTube, Substack, Instagram, Tik Tok, and Letterboxd if you want to connect! Send your hot takes to [email protected] and support us on Patreon for bonus content and early access: https://www.patreon.com/TheLavenderMenace

Welcome to 11 of season 4, in which we discuss all of our gaylor thoughts on TS10!!! This is a special edition extra long episode for y'all, our live reaction the night of release is available on Patreon: https://www.patreon.com/TheLavenderMenace. Thanks for joining us for this episode, and you can find us on Twitter, Substack, Instagram, Tik Tok, and Letterboxd if you want to connect! Send your hot takes to [email protected].

For episode 10 of season 4 of The LAVENDER Menace, we are bringing to you all our gaylor thoughts and reactions to Lavender Haze Gate. Taylor's Instagram Reel explanation, the gay history of the word "lavender," and the constant battle against hetlors. The video recording of this episode is up on our Patreon for $5 tiers and above: https://www.patreon.com/TheLavenderMenace

TS10 was announced at the VMAs, and this episode was recorded soon after the night of the event. (Sorry it took so long to get out, but it was a beast to edit, since the raw footage was over 3 hours long. Our patrons got early + exclusive video access though, if you want to check out our patreon!! https://www.patreon.com/TheLavenderMenace) Like every other swiftie and every other bitch who thinks Taylor Swift is gay on the planet, there is so much to unpack in the Midnights album announcement post, so we get into that in lieu of our typical hot takes portion of the first section of our regularly scheduled three part podcast episode. For the shared media review and discussion portion, we watched each others' favorite lesbian period films to talk about them with each other. In our tier ranking lesbian film video, as seen here https://youtu.be/aPNf6ji-wnQ, people were in the comments talking about The Handmaiden (2016) dir. Park Chan Wook, which forced Renaissance to revisit it despite not particularly enjoying it as much as everyone else seems to during their first viewing attempts. Sunny discusses her thoughts on Renaissance's favorite film, the very sweet and wholesome (and indie and not as well known!!!) Summerland (2020) dir. Jessica Swale. Finally, for media recommendations, Renaissance recommends the television series Severance from Apple TV, and Sunny recommends the recently released novel Schmutz by Felicia Berliner. Thanks for joining us for this episode, and you can find us on Twitter, Substack, Instagram, Tik Tok, and Letterboxd if you want to connect! Send your hot takes to [email protected].

Welcome to episode 8 of season 4! We're discussing hot takes about the political nature of non-binary and non-binary lesbian identity, the disrespect y'all have towards butches, and the historical precedent of butch/femme relationships. Then, we review the new A24 movie featuring our long time favorite Rachel Sennott, Bodies Bodies Bodies (2022), discussing the directorial, acting, and production prowess the film displayed. Finally, Renaissance recommends the recently released Amazon Prime TV series A League of Their Own (2022) (which we will have a bonus episode for on Patreon: https://www.patreon.com/TheLavenderMenace) and Sunny recommends Jennette McCurdy's memoir 'I'm Glad My Mom Died.' Thanks for joining us for this episode, and you can find us on Twitter, Substack, Instagram, Tik Tok, and Letterboxd if you want to connect! Send your hot takes to [email protected].

Who else is thrilled that our co-host Renaissance has had Beyoncé album named after them??? Welcome to episode 7 of season 4, in which we discuss the Taylor Swift private jet CO2 emission discourse, JoJo Siwa saying she doesn't like the word 'lesbian' in an interview, and the dominance of female singer-songwriters in the contemporary music landscape. We discuss the cultural implications of Beyoncé's participation in the notoriously and necessarily very exclusive ballroom scene, and compare our favorite songs off the album. Renaissance (the co-host, not the album) then recommends the movie Summerland (2020), a lesbian period drama, and Sunny recommends the book Trick Mirror: Notes on Self Delusion by Jia Tolentino. Thanks for joining us for this episode! You can find us on Twitter, Substack, Instagram, Tik Tok, and Letterboxd if you want to connect. Send your hot takes to [email protected] and possibly get featured on a future episode :)

Hello The Lavender Menace listeners! Finally, here is the long awaited episode where we discuss the Sally Rooney literary universe, after Renaissance finished reading Beautiful World, Where Are You while in St. Louis. This was a major agenda point in this year’s Sunnissance in St. Louis era, of which many of you– especially our Patrons!!!– have been very supportive of (emotionally and financially), which is incredibly appreciated. For some context as to why this episode took so long to go up, while in St. Louis Renaissance’s laptop display started to break and began getting worse at an exponential rate (everyone booed). This slowed down the editing and publishing aspect of producing the episode quite a bit (sad-face-emoji), but the laptop is now fixed and this episode is ready for you to watch (for our Patrons <3)/listen and enjoy! In episode 6 of season 4, we talk about Carolina, the new Taylor Swift song released for the soundtrack of the film Where the Crawdads Sing (2022) directed by Olivia Newman. Although this song is released for the movie, the lyricism, sound, and light lore around the song's conception place it firmly in the mystical TS10 musical lineage. As per our 3 format structure, in the first act we delve into sex politics and the impact of porn in the digital age. How are teenagers supposed to explore their sexuality, while developing their own politics, parsing out desire, and growing up, in a pedophilic society that universally grooms young girls and boys (with the additional possible journey of navigating queerness)??? It’s not easy! For our shared media, we discuss Sally Rooney’s (she’s mother), third novel Beautiful World, Where Are You, both as an independent novel and within the context of Rooney’s body of work as an author. We still love women writers who confess all and tell nothing. For the third and final act, Recommendations, Sunny recommends Lauren McBrayer’s debut novel featuring lesbian adultery Like a House on Fire and Renaissance recommends Tig Notaro’s third stand up special Tig Notaro: Happy to Be Here (2018) on Netflix. We hope you all enjoy this episode and continue to enjoy the content from the special time we were able to spend together in person!​​Thanks for joining us for this episode. Find us on Twitter, Instagram, Tik Tok, YouTube, and Letterboxd if you want to connect! Submit your hot takes, rantings, thoughts, anything else to [email protected].

Welcome to episode 5 of season 4! Sunnaissance is still in St. Louis, so catch all our unabridged video content on Patreon https://www.patreon.com/TheLavenderMenace and follow us on social media (@thelavendermenacepodcast basically everywhere) to keep up with our comings and goings. Anyways! On this episode, we bring forth a listener email submitted hot take that argues that a lot of the backlash to fans calling Taylor Swift gay is rooted in homophobia and misogyny, which we totally agree with!!! We go through an extensive list of gaylor evidence, including referencing The Archers podcast and this article: https://ew.com/music/2019/05/13/taylor-swift-pop-culture-obsessions/ before breaking down our love of the campy teen movie "But I'm A Cheerleader," a lesbian comedy featuring Natasha Lyonne starring as the main character. forced to go to a gay conversion therapy camp for teens. Finally, Sunny recommends the recently released literary fiction book "Just By Looking At Him" by Ryan O'Connell, and Renaissance recommends the St. Vincent movie "The Nowhere Inn" (2020). Email us your hottakes to possibly be featured in a future episode!! [email protected]

Join our Patreon to access exclusive videos & bonus content, especially since we are in the same city right now (for a limited time only, sadly...): https://www.patreon.com/TheLavenderMenaceIt's finally time for episode 4 of season 4, in which both Renaissance and Sunny are in St. Louis!!! How exciting! In other exciting news, we have heard you all yelling at us to watch and talk about Heartstopper and First Kill, so we finally give y'all our thoughts... and they might not be what you expected. But first, we discuss some listener submitted hot takes, where we revisit biphobia discourse, but add in the issue of "monosexism" and how annoying equalizing differing experiences across identities is, offering our thoughts on "allyship" and the virtue signaling of performative internet 'solidarity.' Then, we answer another listener's question about the Nordic model, AKA democratic socialism AKA imperialism. Finally, we answer a lovely email from a listener discussing the solidarity between trans women/transfems and lesbians, in the way we are both seen as predatory and threats to the feminist movement. For the last segment of the podcast, Sunny recommends the novella A Spindle Splintered by Alix E. Harrow, and Renaissance recommends the movie Dick (1999). Thanks for joining us for this episode, and you can find us on Twitter, Instagram, Tik Tok, and Letterboxd if you want to connect! Send your hot takes to [email protected].

Today in episode 3 of season 4, we respond to a listener submitted hot take and talk about class being the primary contradiction and why we are not radical feminists, the usage of the label or word “sapphic,” and the myth of queer solidarity. Then we revisit the lesbophobia vs. biphobia discourse through another hot take submission, and how it involves outing or not outing yourself to coworkers. We reiterate the importance of reading theory, online political engagement and the instagram infographic industrial complex, and the reality of working retail and in the restaurant industry while gay. Then we discuss Derry Girls seasons 1 through 3, full spoilers ahead! We both love how this brilliant and phenomenally funny sitcom portrays realistic teenage dialogue, the very few male characters, the honoring of teenage girlhood (our love lasts so long article https://overland.org.au/2020/08/our-love-lasts-so-long-queer-devotion-in-taylor-swifts-folklore/), and of course, its portrayal of the LGBT teenage experience, Lisa McGee is so smart and talented and is clearly "writing from the soul," as Erin proclaims she does. Both of us love media about female friendship and how well Derry Girls examines the complexities of a violent but beautiful world, and discuss the universality of specificity in media portrayal, a la Sally Rooney. Obviously, we love Irish women writers. (Join our patreon and fund our trip to Ireland! https://www.patreon.com/TheLavenderMenace) Good TV is spoiling us. Sunny recommends music (!??! Whoa!) to Renaissance, specifically Chappell Roan’s https://open.spotify.com/artist/7GlBOeep6PqTfFi59PTUUN?si=u64LwIy1Rri9a2rGyIVDwA most recent singles, because Sunny loves Naked In Manhattan and My Kink Is Karma; Pink Pony Club is her most popular song that Renaissance already likes. Renaissance recommends the Irish singer-songwriter CMAT https://open.spotify.com/artist/3VBNIRx1LxVdRqOiPgkLwv?si=V6dZhvyQSvSb7ZvkGnqB9w, which they read while reading Conversations With Friends. CMAT’s album If My Wife New I’d Be Dead and the single I Wanna Be A Cowboy Baby are very Irish woman writer coded, according to Renaissance. Sunny then recommends the book Siren Queen by Nghi Vo, which feels similar to The Seven Husbands of Evelyn Hugo in the Hollywood glamor elements, but is much better in the writing style and magical realism. Also, support your local library!Thanks for joining us for this episode, and you can find us on twitter, instagram, Tik Tok, and letterboxd if you want to connect! Send your hot takes to [email protected].

Get access to 2 bonus mini-episodes a month on our Patreon: https://www.patreon.com/TheLavenderMenace For episode 2 of season 4, we discuss the much publicized Heard/Depp case that many of you have asked us to talk about! But before that conversation, we get to a listener submitted hot take about how Better Than Revenge by Taylor Swift is about Evelyn Hugo and Celia St. James, characters in The Seven Husbands of Evelyn Hugo by Taylor Jenkins Reid, which Renaissance enthusiastically agrees with. We again address the nature of centering men and how it plays out in the 'biphobia' surrounding rhetoric about Amber Heard. For the media discussion part of the episode, we rant about how much we hate the recently released Hulu original movie CRUSH, which has been getting too much hype for being a contemporary lesbian high school romcom when it is so bad. In our recommendations to each other, Renaissance recommends the show Dr. Foster, despite the fact that Sunny is not a big TV watcher. Sunny recommends Kelly Quindlen’s lesbian young adult novels- She Drives Me Crazy (2021), Late To The Party (2020), and Her Name in The Sky (2014)- as sapphic books that deserve more hype among the LGBTQ YA book community. Along the lines of better teenage girls/lesbian media like Derry Girls and Booksmart, we encourage people to watch better comedic shit featuring sapphic teens.

Welcome to the season 4 premiere of The Lavender Menace Podcast! It's been a month since our last season, but if you want 2 bonus mini-episodes every month, early access to episodes, and exclusive video content, check out our Patreon https://www.patreon.com/TheLavenderMenace! In this episode, we respond to listener submitted hot takes regarding Harry Styles headlining at Coachella, online LGBTQ/queer discourse, and Taylor Swift being gay, of course. Then, we gush about how much we loved season 2 of Russian Doll (many spoilers ahead) and recommend each other heartwarming and sweet media that also deal with complex mother/daughter relationships. Renaissance recommends the sapphic, Australian, woman-directed indie film My First Summer, and Sunny recommends the novel Fight Night by Miriam Toews. Thank you for listening and you can find us on Twitter, Instagram, Tik Tok, and Letterboxd if you want to connect! And submit your hot takes to [email protected].

Happy 1 year anniversary of The Lavender Menace Podcast! We are dedicating our anniversary, season 3 finale, and 2022 Easter episode to answering three listener submitted hot takes, going over all of Taylor Swift’s Easter eggs pointing to her being gay, and reflecting on the media recommendations we’ve given each other in the past year. In discussing being a communist on the day to day, we recommend some beginner level theory: Angela Davis books (Freedom is a Constant Struggle, Women Race and Class, Women Culture and Politics, Are Prisons Obsolete,) Blackshirts and Reds by Michael Parenti, Audre Lorde’s Sister Outsider, Lenin’s State and Revolution, Gender Accelerationist Manifesto, base and superstructure, Dialectical and Historical Materialism by Stalin, the podcast episodes Stalin was a mensch & Stalin a Marxist Leninist perspective. We also mention The Black Jacobins, Robin DG Kelley’s Hammer and Hoe, The Foundations of Lenininism by Stalin, The Castle of Truth and Other Stories by Hermynia Zur Muhlen, and Mao’s Combat Liberalism. (Also not mentioned in the episode but other really good theory recommendations: Walter Rodney’s How Europe Underdeveloped Africa, Neocolonialism by Kwame Nkrumah, Women’s Liberation and he African Freedom Struggle by Thomas Sankara). We respond to a listener facing biphobia allegations and give our thoughts on radical feminism/trans exclusionary radical feminists (aka TERFs) with leads us to talking about attraction and sexual orientation’s relationship to one’s politics, “monosexuals”, heterosexual women’s misogyny, gay men’s misogyny, centering and attraction to men, the Bechdel test, and opposing transmisogyny. For another listener submitted hot take, we discuss how “androphobia” isn’t real, break down the phenomenon of fetishizing of transmisogyny, and namedrop @butchboyfriend on Tik Tok. Renaissance then leads the conversation into material conditions in response to the gender binary and patriarchy, lesbophobia vs biphobia, visibility vs material conditions, the gender trinary, and trans men/butch history. Finally, we tackle the hot takes around lesbians and ‘genital preferences’ and the politics of attraction. For the shared media portion of this episode, Renaissance goes through the timeline of Taylor Swift’s queer coded Easter eggs and get into Dianna Agron and RED. Sunny rants about reputation and Lover’s gayness and breaks down Cruel Summer which leads to Renaissance bringing up illicit affairs, Karlie Kloss, more Swiftgron, and an emphasis on Taylor’s lyricism: “the world was black and white but we were in screaming color” etc. Also, “ME! Out now” on lesbian visibility day. For the final and third section of today’s episode, we go through the things we’ve previously recommended each other on the podcast and have since consumed and enjoyed: Fleabag, Fortune Favors The Dead, Conversations With Friends, Assassination Nation, Professor Marsten and the Wonder Woman, Stella Bomkivist, and of course, the our love lasts so long article. Finally, get excited for our 4/20 bonus episode coming soon on Patreon!!! We get high and talk shit, and get more details on our origin story. Get 2 bonus episodes a month, early access, exclusive merch & more by supporting us on patreon: https://www.patreon.com/TheLavenderMenaceThanks for joining us for this episode, and you can find us on twitter, instagram, Tik Tok, and letterboxd if you want to connect! Send your hot takes to [email protected].

Welcome to episode 12 of our 3rd season, in which we we discuss Taylor Swift related movie adaptation controversies (The Seven Husbands of Evelyn Hugo + Where The Crawdads Sing) & how much we love the new Asian led, A24 sci-fi/action film Everything Everywhere All At Once! Which is Chris Fleming-pilled re: Sick Jan. Responding to email submitted hot takes from our listeners, we complain about The Seven Husbands of Evelyn Hugo getting a Netflix movie adaption and our issues with it, as well as our thoughts regarding the hotly debated casting for Evelyn and Celia. In a typical fashion, Renaissance repeatedly references the Netflix series The Crown. Taylor Swift's new song on the soundtrack of Where The Crawdads Sing adaptation is getting backlash because the author is wanted in Zambia for killing people, so we are both hesitant to approach the movie and excited for new Taylor music. Finally, we joke about Reese Witherspoon being in her bag, and respond to all the bullshit surrounding Will Smith slapping Chris Rock. For the shared media portion of this episode, we watched Everything Everywhere All At Once in theaters, and BOTH of us gave it FIVE STARS ON LETTERBOXD!! Renaissance compares the multiverse intergenerational trauma mother-daughter themes to Turning Red (which Sunny hasn't seen.) Together, we shit on Marvel movies and superhero franchises, defend Everything Everywhere All At Once's campiness, compare its brilliance to Sunny's favorite movie Birds of Prey, and reference our oomfies' Letterboxd reviews. Throughout our discussion of this new movie, Sunny references Khadija’s review, and Renaissance makes the bold claim that Everything Everywhere All At Once is a combination of all our favorite pieces of media-- saving face x birds of prey x chris fleming x fleabag x turning red x what marvel wants to be. We also reference the movies Disobedience, Shiva Baby, The Batman, Joker, and Sunny namedrops the Harley Quinn DC animated show, of course. Renaissance recommends the show Gentlemen Jack, Sunny rants about queer historical romance and the need for a gay Bridgerton re: Cat Sebastian & Olivia Waithe, and recommends the lesbian literary novel Yerba Buena by Nina LaCour. Join our Patreon for 2 extra mini episodes a month (special 4/20 episode coming soon... 😝😏😳 getting high and talking shit, patrons can look forward to that!) and more bonus content.

episode 11 of season 3: an 80 minute episode from us???? crazy! in responding to a listener submitted hot take from Adin, we discuss our experiences with and how we engage with race/gender/perception and community as gaylor swifties of color, when a lot of the gaylor community seems to be white. Sunny mentions @sillygoofygirlseekinggf on Tik Tok, and Renaissance addresses their apprehension towards Taylor’s shifting fan base. We discuss the queerness of hyper femininity and Taylor Swift’s queerness, especially in regards to who and why some people recognize it. Simply put, the other pop girlies are not doing it like blondie! Renaissance also references Whitney Houston as an example of a woman existing in the public perception as an icon for the gay community, when she, like many other queer pop icons, was gay herself. Sunny references the Patreon exclusive bonus episode we recorded discussing the 1996 film The Watermelon Woman (dir. Cheryl Dunye.) ( btw join our Patreon for access to 2 bonus episodes a month as well as early access to episodes and the video recordings of episodes! https://www.patreon.com/TheLavenderMenace) For the media analysis portion of this episode, we talk hyperpop and rank + review the new Charli XCX album, CRASH. In our media recommendations, Renaissance pitches the 1927 silent film, Children of Divorce, which is surprisingly non-problematic and leads Sunny to mention Henry James' The Portrait of a Lady and Theodore Dreiser's Sister Carrie. Sunny's book recommendation this week is the recently released essay collection Girls Can Kiss Now by Jill Gutowitz, whom we discussed in our previous episode's hot take about the New York Post's shitty article about lesbian fashion. Jill, if you're listening, you should come on the podcast after Renaissance reads your book!!! We had the author of The Divines, Ellie Eaton, on the podcast season 1, so hit us up at (and other listeners, send your hot takes here as well) [email protected]. You can find us on Instagram, Twitter, and Letterboxd for more unhinged swiftie ramblings. XOXO

Get 2 bonus episodes a month, early access, exclusive merch & more by supporting us on patreon: https://www.patreon.com/TheLavenderMenaceWelcome to episode 10 of season 3! Thank you to the listeners who emailed us their hot take submissions, as it allowed us to shit talk that awful Tik Tok song (“hey mom… I like boys too… I’m not a full on raging lezbo—“ ew), discuss the efficacy of men directing lesbian movies (re: Mulholland Drive, Disobedience, The Handmaiden vs. Below Her Mouth, Blue is the Warmest Color, etc.), and puzzle over the NYPost article about ‘lesbian fashion’, supposedly becoming cool. Renaissance brings up The Marvelous Mrs. Maisel, and Sunny alludes to the YA novel Last Night At The Telegraph Club by Malinda Lo (which we discuss in episode 6 of season 3). Next, we sing the praises of the 2019 Natasha Lyonne TV show, Russian Doll, and Sunny references a video essay (that Renaissance didn’t watch…) by lady the knight brave https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gIFPNbiUJS4 delineating the many themes of trauma, feminism, and humor of this Netflix original series. We greatly anticipate the second season!!! Finally, Renaissance recommends another Netflix exclusive piece of media, Hannah Gadsby’s stand up comedy show Nanette, and Sunny recommends the movie Tully (2017) and the recently released contemporary romance novel Delilah Green Doesn’t Care by Ashley Herring Blake. Thanks for joining us for this episode, and you can find us on twitter, instagram, Tik Tok, and letterboxd if you want to connect! Send your hot takes to [email protected].

Katie and Madyson of The Archers podcast join us to discuss the lovely emails we get from our listeners and talk about the Gaylor internet! Then, we go through our top ten Taylor Swift songs of all time (not set in stone, of course) and all of our queer, personal, literary interpretations of them. Songs off of evermore, folklore, reputation, Lover, 1989, Red (Taylor's Version), Speak Now, and debut all make features, Kaylor and Karlie Kloss, Swiftgron and Dianna Agron, and Joe Alwyn all make cameos in our discussions, of course. Undeniable sapphism, lesbianism, and queerness in Taylor's work is sooooo evident...! Emily Dickinson and Sue Gilbert are namedropped. In discussing the development of our relationship to Taylor Swift and her music over the course of our lives, Katie talks about being a massive Kanye fan in high school, Madyson mentions accidental gaylor interpretations, and Renaissance gushes over Katie being happily married to her fellow gaylor swiftie wife. We talk more in depth about reputation on The Archers, where Sunny and Renaissance make guest appearances, so check that out if you haven't already!Support us on Patreon: https://www.patreon.com/TheLavenderMenaceFollow us on Twitter: https://twitter.com/TheLavenderPodInstagram: https://www.instagram.com/thelavendermenacepod/Letterboxd: https://letterboxd.com/thelavenderpod/Playlist of the songs Renaissance referenced: https://open.spotify.com/playlist/1DWQsaDWFxzkZkMhYsTCgq?si=3d02eeca6f03401cPlaylist of all of our top 10 favorite Taylor songs: https://open.spotify.com/playlist/3Ay8DaeQXECm6m3Y8DtXgJ?si=e36260fe38074584

BONUS EPISODE ON HBO EUPHORIA'S SEASON 2 FINALE UP ON PATREON! https://www.patreon.com/join/TheLavenderMenace Welcome to episode 8 of season 3! Here is a comma separated, hopefully exhaustive list of things we discuss: "tankies," the misuse of the word "nuance," debunking the idea of “state capitalism,” (books referenced- How Europe Underdeveloped Africa by Walter Rodney, Blood In My Eye by George Jackson, Neocolonialism by Kwame Nkrumah, The Unfree Origins Of American Capitalism by Seth Rockman, Dialectical and Historical Materialism by Stalin), the silliness of a sapphic Tik Tok about the oppression of bottoms, "you're so valid" etc, opposing the gender trinary, material reality of gendered oppression, the new Netflix lesbian short film Heart Shot is kind of corny, Void dir. Emma Seligman, D.E.B.S., Leading Lady Parts, Shiva Baby, Recicatif (in reference to discussing Passing on season 3 episode 3), adaptations, Arrival and Ted Chiang’s Story of Your Life and Others, Asali Solomon's new novel The Days of Afrekete. Bonus episode on The Watermelon Woman available for Patrons soon! Follow us on Twitter, Instagram, Tik Tok, Letterboxd, and YouTube for extra The Lavender Menace slay, and you can email us your hot takes to discuss at [email protected]!

The opening question for Season 3 Episode 7: do you say "Sunny and Renaissance" or "Renaissance and Sunny"??? Following our typical three part structure, we discuss a listener submitted hot take, a movie we watched together, and recommend each other media. Our lovely patron Elle (we appreciate our patrons so much!! https://www.patreon.com/TheLavenderMenace) submitted a hot take about misandry, which led Sunny to bring up Men’s Rights Activists groups working on twisting civil rights law. You can find more info about what Sunny is talking about in this article: https://jezebel.com/men-accused-of-sexual-misconduct-on-campuses-are-suing-1848347194. Then, we discuss white women and misandry, and recommend the books They Were Her Property by Stephanie Jones-Rogers and Hood Feminism by Mikki Kendall. We go on to discuss the movie The Birth of a Nation, transmisogyny, and getting discriminated against for an identity you don't even hold. Renaissance complains more about male feminists and the desire for oppressed groups to have all the answers. For our shared media portion of the episode, we discuss Saving Face (2004) Alice Wu, which we mentioned in our previous episode. We compare our Letterboxd star ratings, and Sunny compares the movie to Lulu Wang’s The Farewell, and Wu's other movie The Half of It . Finally, Renaissance recommends HBO’s Big Little Lies, and Sunny recommends the books The Perks of Loving A Wallflower by Erica Ridley and Sabrina & Corina by Kali Fajardo-Anstine. Thank you for being a listener! You can find us on Twitter, Instagram, Tik Tok, Letterboxd, and Patreon at The Lavender Menace Podcast.

Episode 6 of our 3rd season- in which we discuss hot takes about reading theory, fanfiction, the split attraction model, sex work, and tumblr queers. Sunny reads some excerpts from Caliban and the Witch by Sylvia Federici to make some points about Marxist feminism. Renaissance has finally effectively forced Sunny into watching Phoebe Waller Bridge's TV series Fleabag, because there's been a recent internet phenomenon of people talking about being in their "Fleabag era." Clearly, media literacy is something many people lack. In return, Sunny forced Renaissance to read Last Night At The Telegraph Club by Malinda Lo, a young adult historical lesbian romance novel. Renaissance recommends the new Disney animated movie Encanto (we love to hate on Lin-Manuel Miranda- as we should) in the vein of generational family stories, and Sunny recommends the We Set The Dark On Fire duology by Tehlor Kay Mejia in the vein of sapphic YA novels. Become a patron and get early access and exclusive content from us: https://patreon.com/TheLavenderMenace! Send us your hot takes to discuss on future episodes at [email protected]! Or message/tweet/shout us out on social media, @TheLavenderPod on Twitter and @TheLavenderMenacePod on Instagram and Tik Tok. Much lesbian love and socialist solidarity!

Disclaimer: this episode was recorded back in November of 2021, but we said what we said! We respond to a listener's negative experiences with male entitlement (trigger warning for sexual harassment) as well as their hot take on the Madonna/Whore dynamic in relationship to lesbianism. This listener's message was a delight to go through, and Renaissance really saw themself in their email. To sum up our advice- you will learn and grow and change, and current high school sapphic listeners should apply to historically women's college if they're considering going to college. For the media analysis portion of the pod, Renaissance reveals being a long time Adele stan, but Sunny is a bit more of a reluctant listener. As usual with our album reviews, we rank the songs on 30 from least enjoyed to most enjoyed, and while everything we said in this episode still stands, keep in mind that these were our fresh reactions and our thoughts on the album have settled and ruminated over time. And as usual, we make comparative analyses to Taylor Swift. (We are diehard swiftie gaylors and that's the truth!) For the final third part of the podcast where we recommend each other media, Sunny pitches The Secret Lives of Church Ladies by Deesha Philyaw, a short story collection about various Black women's experiences in loose relationship to their churches. Renaissance recommends Adele's debut album 19 for its parallels to her current work. You can support The Lavender Menace podcast by becoming a patron at patreon.com/TheLavenderMenace. Follow us on socials for updates and extra content, @thelavendermenacepod on Tik Tok and Instagram, @thelavenderpod on Twitter and Letterboxd. Sunny can be found discussing books on YouTube and Twitter at a sunny book nook, and Renaissance can be reached at @renaissancemarie on Instagram and Tik Tok, and @rxnaissance on Twitter.

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.