Intimate Interactions

Have you ever received an evacuation notice for a forest fire? This episode we talk about air tankers, helicopters, fire breaks, smoke, air quality, and anxiety. We also discuss what an anxiety attack looks like and what a panic attack looks like. Note that we talk about indigenous rights and climate change briefly. If you'd like to learn more about Indigenous peoples to the land we call Canada, there is a great introductory book called Indigenous Writes that's available everywhere books or audiobooks are sold. Hope you're all staying resourced this fire season.

Lauren is back to talk to us about pandemic ennui and burnout. We chat about intrusive thoughts and content warning for descriptions of suicide and graphic suicidal ideation - we’ve both been suicidally depressed and want to make sure you’re safe and cared for while we take our space to have the conversations we feel we need to have about it. Please take care of yourself however that looks for you. May you find a grounded, resourced place for this conversation, or if it feels like a cruel joke at this point in the pandemic, this might still be for you. If it feels right, come commiserate!

Cw: covid-19, transphobia, gender reassignment surgery

My friend Sapphire and I chat about gender and accessibility during COVID-19. We touch on their gender advocacy at school, accessibility for immunocompromised people, and we briefly touch on the law in alabama that recently changed. The term transmasc is a shortening of transmasculine which usually refers to masculine appearing trans non-binary people but also includes transmen. I originally was going to say also includes men as transmen are men just as transwomen are women, but realized since trans is in the transmasc term, it does technically only apply to transmen. There, that’s straight now. Well, not necessarily straight. Some trans folks are straight but others prefer to give traffic directions by saying “go gayly forward” so… not necessarily straight. Okay - let’s get to the episode with Sapphire!

Lauren, a recovered alcoholic talks about her first year sober, hospital opiates, and a near miss she has with relapse very recently.

Sapphire and I have a conversation about poverty and universal basic income. We talk about BC housing, accessibility, minimum wage in Vancouver, and more. Ultimately the middle class and wealthy folks who can afford it might say: move out of the city, but until there’s a grant that pays for moving costs to get out of the city, some can’t afford the disruption to income of having to find a new job, or just can’t afford to move which locks them into a cycle of poverty. Keep in mind that UBI could also provide one program to replace most of the social net bureaucratic costs associated with all of the various different programs like persons with disabilities, welfare, employment insurance, and many more. Instead of thinking of UBI being funded exclusively from public money, keep in mind that we pay an enormous amount into employment insurance. If current funding for welfare, PWD, and EI were to funnel into a joint UBI system, it wouldn’t be as expensive as it sounds at first. Anyways, neither of us is a financial expert, and if you’re interested in learning more, there is tons available on the benefits of UBI from google. Enjoy!

Over the years Bronwyn and I have built a friendship, and I’ve come to trust and care about her. Today she exercises her vulnerability muscles, no not the physical ones, and we talk about racism at orgies and briefly touch on orgasms. She even models what accountability for racism can look like. I appreciate her so much. We talk about our origin story and attachment as well.

Ricardo Scipio talks about his personal journey and struggle as an artist. What made him decide to make sexual art? What has he learned about sex from photographing over 500 people having sex? How has seeing his work affected the people who have seen his work and how does that affect him?

Trinidad-born Ricardo Scipio has thus far garnered the reputation for making unique, multi-layered, provocative work in film and photography. His first feature film "When" was an irrepressibly brutal and comedic portrayal of dysfunctional struggling actresses in New York. His second feature film "Watershed" was the first independent feature film in North America to be shot in digital high-definition, breaking ground with its technical and narrative accomplishments. His third feature film "Finder of Lost Children," set in the Caribbean community of Canada, is a poignantly moving and humorous story of two half-sisters that meet for the first time at the funeral of the father neither one of them knew.

Ricardo grew up in Toronto and attended both The Nova Scotia College of Art and Design and The University of Waterloo. He started his art career as a fashion photographer and then later as a fine art nude photographer. He has had 14 gallery shows of his work and his first book of photographs- a collaboration with noted Canadian poet George Elliott Clarke, was published in November of 2005. His second book "The Goddess Project" was completed in 2010. A book of nudes of Black women entitled "Uzuri" was finalized in 2011. Never idle for long, Scipio has completed photographing his fourth book "The Goddess Project Book Two" in 2012. His fifth book "The Goddess Project Book Three" was finished in 2015. The Sex Goddess Project Book One was completed in 2016 He completed The Sex Goddess Project Book Two in 2018, Book Three of the series in 2019 and Book Four in 2020. Ricardo has recently started his his tenth book "The Intimacy Project." When not on tour, Scipio makes his home in Canada.

The Sex Goddess Project

Sapphire is a friend of mine. They are also a transmasculine cancer patient and survivor. We talk a little bit about social welfare, taxes, and businesses but mostly we talk about Sapphire and cancer recovery.

I sat down with my friend Lauren recently. She’s a recovered alcoholic talking who has had a really interesting relationship with sex and relationships that has changed radically from when she was was an addict to now rediscovering who she is and what she wants sober. We touch on kink and daddy doms as well as Lauren’s experience of self-identified sex addiction. The focus here is on compulsion rather than desire. Some folks have a pretty strong position on whether or not sex addiciton is even a thing. All I’ll say on the matter is if someone self identifies their experience, my default is to validate and encourage them to talk about it.

Who do you think usually attends an orgy? … What kind of person do you expect usually gets fucked at an orgy?... Well, in my experience, it’s anyone from all walks of life from lawyers to counsellors to carpenters and everything in between and all around. Bronwyn is just such a friend that I met at an orgy. I’m pretty sure I gave her a blowjob at the second party I saw her at. No regrets. Here’s a great session with a person who does a professional job and goes to orgies.