Before I retired, I was a University academic for many years. I never felt any need to come out to my students. Why should I? My heterosexual colleagues never spoke to their students about their intimate relationships. Should the adulterer have modelled his relationships, or the divorcee, or the Catholic father of five? I didn’t pretend to be either a friend or a mother to my students and I didn’t ask them to be part of my personal life. In various administrative capacities, I had to deal with several very fraught situations where the personal lives of staff and students had become entangled in ways that usually damaged the students far more than the staff. My advice is: draw a line between your professional and your personal life, and don’t cross the line while you are at work.
Kathleen's comment about the general difference between lesbians and gay men and not having "the break" of someone of the opposite sex had me laughing out loud. I think about this a lot as well and I definitely think there's something to it, haha. I kind of don't understand why it would be so offensive... it makes sense from the outside looking at us as animals and our roles in reproduction, and it's such an interesting subject.
Have to say I didn't enjoy this one, Kathleen and Julie! Not really interested in men or hearing about gay mens experiences. He droned on and on - I gave up after 20 mins; tried to fast forward through it but he was still droning on near the end. Boo! Bring back the food and restaurant reviews!
Julie asked how Ronan's thesis fits with the lesbian feminists who had a different "mantra" where the revolution we wanted was not inevitably part of the sexual/social liberation that straight people gave themselves. He says there's no problem with his thesis because lesbians had a dual liberation struggle, as lesbians and as women.
This is a key difference between gay men and lesbians and the source of constant challenge with our gay male friends who ignore or "forget" about our struggle as women. Rowan's characterization of this as a dual struggle demonstrates the casual abandonment of lesbians as women and spotlights why gay men make such imperfect allies. They only care about our struggle as lesbians, and not as women. We are both lesbian and female, and our liberation comes when we act as both. This is the special superpower of lesbians that gay men don't share, and rarely remember for more than a minute when we point it out.
Fascinating discussion - great guest, thank you. Such a valuable observation that it's the big corporates that are stepping away from 'promoting' lesbian and gay rights first, as a result of the 'overreach'. They are only in it if it's good for business. We are seeing the 'lived experience' diversity and inclusion trainers lament a drop in business (on LinkedIn), while those trainers adhering to the Equality Act (in the UK) are seeing an upturn. Hubris indeed!
Interesting discussion. Raised myriad issues and questions. Well done.
From a U.S. perspective, legal recognition of same-sex relationships continues to be complicated. While marriage equality exists in the U.S. no one should take it for granted. It is by no means safe from interference in the near future.
My spouse and I were married on our 20th anniversary (I didn't want to have to remember a new date), in Middlebury, VT. We were married solely for legal reasons: I was able to be to my spouse's health insurance plan, thereby saving us $900 a month and a $25,000 deductible. Just celebrated 35 years together, so I'm pretty sure we are settled...yeah, just checked and she agrees.
Another really interesting episode - thank you. A while back was beginning to think there was a danger of this podcast becoming a little too parochial on the lesbian-only subject matter. Sometimes it felt rather thin. Branching out into topics such as feminism etc and discussed through a lesbian lens is a great way to go and who better to do this than Julie and Kathleen!
A thoroughly enjoyable and interesting episode and a great guest. Thanks all 😊
Before I retired, I was a University academic for many years. I never felt any need to come out to my students. Why should I? My heterosexual colleagues never spoke to their students about their intimate relationships. Should the adulterer have modelled his relationships, or the divorcee, or the Catholic father of five? I didn’t pretend to be either a friend or a mother to my students and I didn’t ask them to be part of my personal life. In various administrative capacities, I had to deal with several very fraught situations where the personal lives of staff and students had become entangled in ways that usually damaged the students far more than the staff. My advice is: draw a line between your professional and your personal life, and don’t cross the line while you are at work.
Kathleen's comment about the general difference between lesbians and gay men and not having "the break" of someone of the opposite sex had me laughing out loud. I think about this a lot as well and I definitely think there's something to it, haha. I kind of don't understand why it would be so offensive... it makes sense from the outside looking at us as animals and our roles in reproduction, and it's such an interesting subject.
a tiny note: his name is misspelled (which made it hard to find his book): McCrea
Have to say I didn't enjoy this one, Kathleen and Julie! Not really interested in men or hearing about gay mens experiences. He droned on and on - I gave up after 20 mins; tried to fast forward through it but he was still droning on near the end. Boo! Bring back the food and restaurant reviews!
Julie asked how Ronan's thesis fits with the lesbian feminists who had a different "mantra" where the revolution we wanted was not inevitably part of the sexual/social liberation that straight people gave themselves. He says there's no problem with his thesis because lesbians had a dual liberation struggle, as lesbians and as women.
This is a key difference between gay men and lesbians and the source of constant challenge with our gay male friends who ignore or "forget" about our struggle as women. Rowan's characterization of this as a dual struggle demonstrates the casual abandonment of lesbians as women and spotlights why gay men make such imperfect allies. They only care about our struggle as lesbians, and not as women. We are both lesbian and female, and our liberation comes when we act as both. This is the special superpower of lesbians that gay men don't share, and rarely remember for more than a minute when we point it out.
Fascinating discussion - great guest, thank you. Such a valuable observation that it's the big corporates that are stepping away from 'promoting' lesbian and gay rights first, as a result of the 'overreach'. They are only in it if it's good for business. We are seeing the 'lived experience' diversity and inclusion trainers lament a drop in business (on LinkedIn), while those trainers adhering to the Equality Act (in the UK) are seeing an upturn. Hubris indeed!
The Atlantic published this article on 9 October. Seems pertinent to today's episode.
https://www.theatlantic.com/ideas/archive/2025/10/disagreement-benefits-groupthink-emerson/684490/?gift=Y3iVZa-hItZosd1qy_FhfOJYdoB-VTu7uZiOEtmGodA&utm_source=copy-link&utm_medium=social&utm_campaign=share
Interesting discussion. Raised myriad issues and questions. Well done.
From a U.S. perspective, legal recognition of same-sex relationships continues to be complicated. While marriage equality exists in the U.S. no one should take it for granted. It is by no means safe from interference in the near future.
My spouse and I were married on our 20th anniversary (I didn't want to have to remember a new date), in Middlebury, VT. We were married solely for legal reasons: I was able to be to my spouse's health insurance plan, thereby saving us $900 a month and a $25,000 deductible. Just celebrated 35 years together, so I'm pretty sure we are settled...yeah, just checked and she agrees.
Another really interesting episode - thank you. A while back was beginning to think there was a danger of this podcast becoming a little too parochial on the lesbian-only subject matter. Sometimes it felt rather thin. Branching out into topics such as feminism etc and discussed through a lesbian lens is a great way to go and who better to do this than Julie and Kathleen!
Would love to hear your take on this: https://nypost.com/2025/10/10/opinion/profs-book-reduces-love-to-a-math-equation-that-negates-men/