For this episode I was so excited to welcome back season 4 guest Benjamin Perry, a Minister at Middle Church in NYC, to discuss his new book, "Cry, Baby: Why Our Tears Matter"! I loved Ben's book, and we had a fascinating chat about crying and how it relates to queerness and queer liberation.

We discussed Ben's realization that he hadn't cried in years and had to teach himself how again (and how this was related to coming out as bisexual), the science of tears and the latest research on crying, how crying affects our social development and connections with other people, how we change when we cry, why our culture values NOT crying and what happens when we suppress tears, why men cry less than women and how expressing authentic emotions often conflicts with traditional masculinity (and how to overcome that), why tears are and have historically been important for the queer community,  and why crying is necessary to build a better society.

There are 15 minutes of bonus material available on Patreon in which we dove deeper into the intersection of crying and queerness (as well as other intersections), discussed how "crocodile tears" can be weaponized to cause harm, and learned why we should believe people when they cry -- even if their reasoning is unsound. Subscribe here: https://www.patreon.com/robertbrookscohen

You can buy Ben's book here: https://www.broadleafbooks.com/store/product/9781506485119/Cry-Baby

And follow Ben on X here: https://twitter.com/FaithfullyBP

Thanks for listening!