Elle talks about her experience over the course of the last year, publishing Transgender Woman Talking Podcast weekly. She reflects on what she's learned about the weekly discipline of creating, regrets about the past and fears about the future, and hopes for how the program will continue to unfold. In addition, Elle invites some feedback from you both on an upcoming logo change to the show, content in future episodes, guest interview choices, and overall tone. Please take a look at the poll in the Spotify version of this podcast episode. Vote for your opinions on future episodes.

Please visit Elle's website to look at the logo mockups - send her an email with your opinion on the best concept to refine -- www.estherloewen.com/twat-logo

On September 10, a Sunday, Elle will host a live recording of that week's show on YouTube Live. Watch for updates and a marker for the premiere at the Transgender Woman Talking YouTube channel: https://www.youtube.com/@transgenderwomantalking/

As always, your constructive feedback and suggestions are coveted. Please email [email protected].

In this episode, Elle discusses her personality trait of people pleasing, a set of behaviors not uncommon to trans people. She reflects on the sources of this characteristic from her background in religion, and at home, exploring how the interplay of environment and genetics likely produced it. Among other themes, Elle talks about getting our needs met, finding our voice, spinning the truth, losing identity, manspreading, and the Enneagram.

She also discusses an upcoming change in logo for the show. If you have thoughts or feedback on that, or on the program in general, please reach out to: [email protected]

Elle takes a stab at reflecting on the movie everyone is talking about - and seeing! In the program she discusses the patriarchy, and gender-based hierarchies in general, asking "How does patriarchy affect trans people?" She also explores some of the overt and covert trans themes in the film, and how the experience of femininity and womanhood expressed in the film is shared by her and her trans siblings.

Some of the resources mentioned include:

As always, reach out to Elle with questions or ideas or constructive feedback at: [email protected]

Elle reflects on the current political conversations surrounding trans people and access to gender-affirming medical care -- which often hinges upon cisgender people's worries about regret. She talks about what the research says about detransition and regret, which is far less common than often portrayed by homophobic haters. Elle discussed and pointed to some excellent work by Lexi Henny (click here) and Erin in the Morning (click here). The most robust published literature review on the subject appears to be by Bustos et al. (2021) - you can read it here on the NIH website.

Reach out at [email protected]. And please stay tuned for next week's (on time) show.

Elle talks about her experience with doubt as it relates to gender identity, and transition. She reflects on the cultural pressures prevailing on trans people to "get it right" as well as the personal consequences that come to us when we pretend to know it all in whatever sense. Some of the themes touched in this episode include: passing as a transgender person, finding partners, cultural gaslighting, incorrect assumptions about trans narratives, TERF ideology, the bimodal spectrum of gender and sex characteristics, lonliness, learning and performing gender, imposter syndrome, Lizzo, and a sermon about doubt. Elle references the following media items in this episode:

Please reach out to Elle at her email address: [email protected] with constructive feedback and suggestions.

This episode will be available later in the week on the Transgender Woman Talking YouTube Channel: https://www.youtube.com/@transgenderwomantalking/videos

Elle continues her series, "Am I transgender?", a question most trans people will ask themselves over the course of their lives (and sometimes, rarely, cisgender people as well). In this episode, she talks about three primary themes that are elements of her answer to the inquiry. New dysphoria that emerges after transition begins, Elle's personal sense of mission and its connection to her transition, and the mysterious and even mystical timing of details lining up.

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This episode will be published on the Transgender Woman Talking YouTube channel. Please check the feed this week: https://www.youtube.com/@transgenderwomantalking/videos

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Previous episodes in the series:

Am I Transgender? (Part 1) - https://spotifyanchor-web.app.link/e/bha9xLj2zxb

Am I Transgender? (Part 2) - https://spotifyanchor-web.app.link/e/p4lEXJj2zxb

Am I Transgender? (Part 3) - https://spotifyanchor-web.app.link/e/SfBEQOENszb

Am I Transgender? (Part 4) - https://spotifyanchor-web.app.link/e/eRv9RCdKkBb

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Reach out to Elle at the following email address: [email protected]

This week's episode is a re-broadcast of an interview that Elle gave with Rachel Freemon Sowers, host and producer of Road to Radical Visibility podcast, and marriage and family therapist in California. Learn more about Rachel and her work on her website: https://www.rachelfreemonsowers.com/, on her instagram feed: https://www.instagram.com/rachelfreemonsowers/?hl=en .

Rachel's podcast can be heard on all major feeds. Here's the Spotify Link: https://open.spotify.com/show/57vPKJe0Q8Mrx4Hvd6RC4s

During this pride month, Elle offers some unsolicited advice to allies (or would-be allies) out there wishing to improve support of their trans loved ones. This episode is a bit of a continuation from the last one where Elle talked with her wife about how spouses navigate having a partner transition. Some of the themes touched on in this episode include pronoun use, the politicization of transgender people, voting, women's spaces, gender-coded activities, makeup, intersecting identities, and talking behind our backs.

Thank you as always for listening, and please reach out to [email protected] to connect with Elle and/or offer constructive feedback.

Many of the listeners of Transgender Woman Talking Podcast are cisgender partners of trans people, or other allies. In this week's episode, Elle is joined by her wife of 18 years, Paige, to talk about the experience of a spouse going through transition with their partner. Paige gives advice to cisgender partners out there, and offers some insight and hope on the process. Themes in this episode include relationship dynamics, communication, getting support outside the family, going to therapy, and how transition changes us for the better.

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Some of the resources mentioned in the episode include an interview that Paige did earlier with Esther Lemmons of Fifty Shades of Gender podcast, a remarkable show about gender exploration. Click here: https://www.fiftyshadesofgender.com/paige/

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In addition, once again, Elle is recommending Amanda Jette Knox's book, Love lives here:

https://www.penguinrandomhouse.com/books/566534/love-lives-here-by-amanda-jette-knox/

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Finally, the two referenced the Code Orange Podcast (Paige's show about healthcare) - Part 1 and Part 2 with Elle talking about her work as a therapist, and Paige's relationship to her.

https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/7-esther-loewen-transgender-therapy-student-part-1/id1573486174?i=1000568128670

https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/8-esther-loewen-transgender-therapy-student-part-2/id1573486174?i=1000570503205

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As always, reach out with comments and constructive feedback at [email protected]