By the time this episode dropped, Astrid had just become International Ms Bootblack 2026.

She’s a butch trans woman, a Leatherdyke, and a bootblack who knows the history most people skip, military origins, post-war motorcycle culture, the racialised shoeshine trade that nobody wants to talk about. She also gets into what it’s like to move between male-centric, female-centric, and mixed leather spaces as a masculine-presenting trans woman, and why she co-founded London Leatherdykes anyway. Glasgow and Manchester have chapters now because of it. This one runs long. It earns every minute.

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