What does it mean to carry violence in your body? Author Anna Storti joins Unpacking the Closet to unpack her book Torn and the layered intersections of queerness, race, and inherited trauma.

In this conversation, Geri and Caitlin sit down with Anna to explore how systemic violence lives inside us and across generations, what it means to hold a mixed-race Asian-white identity in queer spaces, and why Pride has always been as political as it is joyful. They also dig into the cultural legacy of The L Word, racism within queer communities, and how education and community can become sites of genuine resistance.

This one is deep, honest, and full of the kind of clarity that only comes from someone who has lived and studied these questions from the inside.

🎧 New episodes every Tuesday.
📖 Find Anna's book Torn wherever books are sold.
👉 Subscribe so you never miss an episode.

Connect with Unpacking The Closet:
Instagram: @unpackingtheclosetpod
TikTok: @unpackingtheclosetpod
YouTube: @unpackingtheclosetpod

Have a coming out story, identity journey, or life experience you'd like to share? We'd love to hear from you.

Thanks for listening, and remember: every story unpacked helps make a little more room in the closet for someone else to step out.

The Solstice Series follows the eight points of the Celtic Wheel of the Year as living mirrors for queer identity, mental health, and the rhythms of becoming.

Beltane (May) asked: what do you allow yourself to want? The Summer Solstice asks something harder: what do you do when you have it? When you're fully seen, fully lit, at the height of your energy and something in you still wants to hide?

By now you've probably heard of Heated Rivalry,

the steamy queer hockey romance that became

one of streaming's biggest hits, driven

overwhelmingly by a female audience. And if

you've been paying attention, you've also

clocked the very different reaction some of

those same women had when Bridgerton

announced its first WLW season.

Dr. Yamissette Westerband is here to unpack all

of it: what female desire actually looks like when

women have the freedom to explore it, why

queer male stories feel safe in a way queer

female stories apparently don't, and what it

means that two shows in the same cultural

moment are revealing very different things about

whose pleasure we're actually comfortable with.

We post new episodes every tuesday and you

can follow us on all socials:

@unpackingthecloset

Have a question or want to be on the show?!

Message us by going to our website:

www.unpackingthecloset.com

#heatedrivalry #bridgerton

#ThePoliticsOfPleasure #UnpackingTheCloset

#FemaleDesire #FeministPodcast

#QueerRepresentation #WLW #QueerRomance

#GenderStudies #PopCulturePodcast

#MediaAnalysis #LGBTQPodcast

#WomenAndCulture

#PodcastRecommendations #Franchaela

#FrancescaBridgerton #MichaelaStirling

#ShaneAndIlya

Pride didn't start as a parade, it started as a riot led by Black and brown trans women who were tired of surviving. This episode is about knowing whose shoulders we're standing on, what they actually built, and how we honor that by refusing to be quiet about our joy.

#Pride #PrideHistory #Juneteenth #blackhistory #queerhistory #June

Beltane falls on May 1st, the midpoint between the Spring Equinox and Summer Solstice. It marks the ancient Celtic beginning of summer: a fire festival rooted in themes of fertility, desire, abundance, and permission.

For this show, those themes translate into something deeply personal: what do you allow yourself to want? What do you keep caged, and why?

#beltane #summersolstice #solstice #mayday #firefestival #unpackingtheclosetpodcast

Kelly Balch has spent a career asking people to be fully present in front of a lens and what they've learned is that the camera is only part of the story.

In this episode, we go deep into the emotional and psychological architecture behind Kelly's docuseries, what it means to witness someone's truth and hold it with intention, and how their own journey as a nonbinary, queer artist has shaped the way they move through the world and the work.

This is a conversation about creativity as a spiritual practice, storytelling as activism, and what becomes possible when we finally let ourselves be seen.

You can find Kelly here:

https://kellybalch.com/

And you can support us being liking, following and sharing!

@unpaqckingthecloset on all social platforms!

#beingseen @queerphotography #queerphotographer #queerpodcast #unpackingtheclosetpodcast #lqbtqpodcast

What changes when girls, and especially queer girls, girls of color, and girls at the margins, are given real access to education, resources, skills, and spaces of creation and leadership?

Christina Yoon has spent nearly two decades in construction and engineering asking that exact question. In this episode, we explore the systemic gaps that have historically shut girls out of the trades and STEAM fields, what intentional access and mentorship look like in practice, and the quiet revolution that happens when someone who was told "this isn't for you" picks up a tool and builds something anyway.

You can support Girl Buildrs by visiting their website https://www.girlbuildrs.org

and following them on social media @girlbuildrs

You can support use by liking, commenting, and sharing! Helps us grow our community and reach more folks!

And follow us on social media @unpackingthecloset

#girlsinstem #girlswhobuild #girlsinengineering #girlsinconstruction #girlbuildrs #girlswithtools #girlsinstemfields

Tiffaney Florentine has done everything right, by every external measure. Veteran. CIA. Management consultant. American Gladiator finalist. And still, she hit a wall.

In this episode, we explore what happens when high-achieving women realize that success was never the thing they were actually chasing, the difference between performing strength and embodying it, and how the "hustle for love" pattern keeps so many of us stuck no matter how much we accomplish.

You can find Tiffaney here:

Instagram

@tiffaney.flo

Website

tiffaneyflorentine.com

And you can listen to us anywhere you get your podcasts or follow us @unpackingthecloset on TikTok and Instagram!

What do a writers room, a bike commute, and Hurricane Katrina have in common? For Helen Krieger, they're all chapters in the same story: one about community, what it costs to lose it, and what it takes to rebuild it.

In this episode, we explore how storytelling became Helen's entry point to both craft and civic life, and what it means to reclaim your queer identity when the world has quietly made you feel like you don't quite count.

You can learn more about Helen here:

https://www.helen4weho.org

#UnpackingTheCloset #UnpackingTheClosetPodcast #TheLocalLens #QueerPodcast #LGBTQPodcast #QueerStorytelling

 #Helen4WeHo #HelenKrieger #WestHollywood #WeHo #WestHollywoodCityCouncil #CityCouncil2026 #WeHo2026 #KriegerForWeHo

#TVWriter #WritersRoom #Screenwriter #LocalPolitics #CivicEngagement #BiVisibility #BiIdentity #QueerBelonging #QueerCommunity #BiRepresentation #HousingAffordability #RenterRights #BikeAdvocacy #BikeCommute #NewOrleans #HurricaneKatrina #AffordableHousing #ArtistHousing

#QueerVoices #RepresentationMatters #LGBTQPolitics #QueerActivism #WomenInPolitics #QueerLeadership #CommunityBuilding #LocalGovernment

Art has always been one of the most powerful ways humans make meaning, and for queer and marginalized communities, it has often been the only space where our full truth could exist.

In this episode, we'll explore how creative practice becomes a site of reclamation: how making art can help us process trauma, reconstruct identity, and insist on our own visibility. We want to hear about your work, your process, and what it means to you personally to create from an authentic place.

You can follow Maze at:

Instagram @hi.there.im.maze 

IG link: Maze Felix

And you can listen to us anywhere you get your podcasts and follow here:Socials: @unpackingthecloset Youtube: @unpackingtheClosetPod

#unpackingtheclosetpodcast #unpackingthecloset #lqbtqpodcast #queerpodcast #queerart #queerjoy