Tranos & the Lived Experience

CW: CSA, gender dysphoria

Today, Tranos reveals her experience of sexuality. Kamryn has spoken briefly before about her sexual history and how she discovered it, but she’s taking you on a deep dive today. How does medical transition change a trans woman’s feelings of attraction? How does a trans woman’s body respond after HRT? She answers these questions and more.

This episode’s strain is Grandaddy Purple

This episode was musically inspired by “Violet” by Hole

Tranos and The Lived experience is one year old. Thanks to all the listeners and fans who have made this run possible. This week, Kamryn expresses her gratitude to her friend the late Jon Huber a.k.a. Brodie Lee who was the first person to suggest she start podcasting. His influence, along with the Screw’s Felicia Rose, helped Kamryn become the Tranos you all know her to be.

This episode also features an abridged sneak peak at a future episode discussing how social media algorithms interact with marginalized people.

This episode’s strain is Pink Rozay

This episode was musically inspired by “What’s Golden” by Jurassic 5

When Kamryn Ehlen Jerrel came out as a trans woman, she created a monster. By announcing her transness to the world, she became a villain. People see her identity and use it as evidence that she’s in the wrong when she advocates for herself or voices more general opinions. So she embraces it and relishes her trans villainy because she’s her honest self.

This episode’s strain is Royal Gorilla

This episode was musically inspired by “Circle With Me” by Spirit Box

On November 20, Kyle Rittenhouse was acquitted after a hyper-visible trial presided over by a judge who was apparently hostile to the deceased victims and strongly biased in favor of the defendant. The case seemed straightforward to people who knew the facts of the case, but many were surprised by the result. Not Black people. Kamryn recalls when this exact same thing happened with the killer of Trayvon Martin in 2013. These are both part of a centuries-long pattern of secretly-sanctioned lynchings that Black people have all grown up having to understand to navigate the world.

Tranos knows the truth, and she guarantees the message comes through.

This episode’s strain is OG Kush Breath

This episode was musically inspired by “Knife Prty” by Deftones

Tranos has words for white people. Kamryn examines the tension between transness and race and discusses ways in which white trans people are sometimes just white people who happen to be trans. She relates her own experiences of misogynoir in with people who believed themselves to be good allies or siblings in struggle but who defaulted to racism in challenging situations.

This episode’s strain is Rainbow Kush

This episode was musically inspired by “All Lies” by 3rd Strike

This week, Kamryn returns to Dave Chappelle and the personal fallout she’s experienced when certain cis white men adopted and prostheletized Chappelle’s self-identified TERF talking points to tell Black people, trans people and Black trans people how they ought to feel about their own lives.

This episode’s strain is Lemon Haze.

This episode was musically inspired by “Beginning of the End” by Spineshank

Tranos has more woe to share. When Dave Chappelle’s third Netflix special reignited the discourse about his loud and proud transphobia, it resonated in pre-existing transphobic spaces like the locker rooms Kamryn works in. She talks about how famous transphobia emboldens garden-variety transphobes and how their security in their used-up, truthless opinions makes them even more wrong.

This episode’s strain is Purple Mimosa.

This episode was musically inspired by I Get It by Chevelle

When was the first time you heard about R. Kelly’s abuses? How many times did you hear about new abuse for the first time? Do you know he was married to Aaliyah or when he was? Tranos lays out the history of R. Kelly’s transgressions and asks who should be held accountable for his decades-long rampage through the lives of Black children.

This episode’s strain is Dubai (or Durban) Poison

This episode was musically inspired by Symphony of Destruction by Megadeth

Tranos is a professional wrestler, if you didn’t know. She has been for decades, and her experiences in the business, especially as a trans woman in the business, haven’t always been good. She finally speaks on how she’s been treated and mistreated in locker rooms as well as in the ring, her hopes for the future and whether or not it’s worth hoping.

This epsiode’s strain is G-13

This episode was musically inspired by Denial by Sevendust

This week, Tranos verbally defends queer spaces. Kamryn weighs in on the neverending discourse around straight people’s privileged invasion of spaces that were designed to be safe for queers. She recounts her universal experiences with bachelorette parties in gay bars and explains what transgressions occur when -particularly white- cis and hetero women wander into a queer space uncritically.

For more about the importance and urgency of this conversation, check out this article about the endangered American lesbian bar.

This epsiode’s strain is Pink Kush

This episode was musically inspired by Swallowed by Bush.

And Kamryn’s Gofundme is still open. Please consider donating to help her stabilize her life between workplace discrimination and the black mold in her ceiling her landlord has been trying not to address.