Look, as you saw with the last Member2Member advice post on gardening, it’s gardening season where I live! You know what I do when I’m gardening? That’s right: I listen to audio books, podcasts, the occasional video essay on Youtube. No thoughts, just stimulation straight to my brain. This Friday, we want YOU to ask for and share your favorite spoken media to listen to / watch on Youtube / read transcriptions of because we need to know!
Some notes:
- FIRST AND MOST IMPORTANTLY, do not include more than 3 links in a comment. It will get flagged by the spam catcher. I can save things from the spam catcher, but there would be a delay and it’s better to just break up your links into managable chunks. If you have to give more links, just start a new comment. If you want to list a bunch of things that are easy to find, but not link them, that will not be flagged, so that’s a good workaround.
- To link to something in your comment, use this code: <a href=”the link is here”>the text you are linking is here</a>.
- To ask for a recommendation, give your specifics in a new comment!
- Also, if you’re a huge listener-to-of-audio programs, feel free to start a comment thread listing your favorites or topics of interest about which you’d be into swapping recommendations.
- IF you are going to mention / rec something about a potentially triggering topic, DO please note it at the top of your comment. This is probably really relevant for true crime podcasts and things like that.
- Let’s keep this space light and airy and do our best not to yuck each others’ yums so long as we are all staying within the realm of Autostraddle’s comment policy. I expect there will be a lot of different tastes happening here, so I am asking everyone to just self-direct to where they feel called and to avoid what doesn’t interest you. Thank you so much for being awesome!
I hope that covers it, but if you need me, I’ll be checking back in because, as I said, I need recommendations, too!
xoxo,
Nicole
P.S. Are you interested in talking about literally anything that doesn’t strictly fall under this topic with your fellow A+ members? Do I have the thing for you! The A+ Pride Pop-Up Discord launches tomorrow, Saturday the 11th at 9am PST. We hope you’ll come hang with us this weekend!
If anyone happens to understand Dutch and hasn’t heard of the Lesbische Liga podcast yet, I can really recommend it. They review queer films and L Word: Gen Q and also interview people like Hanna van Vliet of Anne+ fame and they are hilarious and insightful :) It’s on Spotify and probably other places, I don’t know that for sure.
Not to get too Member2Member meta, but does anyone have GARDENING PODCAST recommendations? 😁🌱 ie anything that’s helped you learn about plants, gardening, composting, et al.
not a listener myself, but you should definitely check out gardeners question time from bbc radio 4. its been running for over 70 years and even has lots of fans who dont garden.
This sounds wonderful, thank you Marta!
Oh that sounds awesome!
I too have been looking for gardening podcasts!
Glennon Doyle’s poscast “We Can Do Hard Things” is absolutely incredible. I originally started listening because I wanted cuteness from Glennon and her wife, soccer legend Abby Wambach. I’ve gotten that and so much more! I’ve learned so much from Glennon, Abby, and Amanda’s conversations – about life, the universe, queerness, mental health, menopause, and everything.
After a while they started interviewing people and that has been amazing too. I’ve discovered so many wonderful authors/poets/artists via this podcast! Can’t recommend it enough.
Yesssss I listen to the Brene Brown episodes when I’m especially sad or stuck.
Yes! Also, they recently hosted Dr. Jen Gunter and she has her own podcast called Body Stuff. She debunks myths about the body, nutrition, and health. I also recommend her books The Vagina Bible and her new one (which i have not read yet, but is the top of my TBR) Menopause Manifesto.
I feel like my podcast loves are super random but here are my top 3 in no particular order:
Cerebro: an X-Men comics podcast with an explicitly queer lens that’s character-based and made to be friendly for people with a wide range of familiarity w/the comics
Mathematically Uncensored: two BIPOC math professors are brutally honest about their experiences as minorities in mathematics and how they are working to support minority students and improve the discipline. I just love their supportive relationship so much and value their insight and advice, especially around mentoring. (note that some episodes go into detail about experiences of racism that could be triggering for people with similar experiences)
Movement Memos: conversations about education and activism on the front lines of different movements, with a current focus on the attacks on trans rights, how they connect with other struggles, and what people can do in response
Omg Movement Memos sounds so interesting!
I am so excited to see Mathematically Uncensored here! Really excellent content and work.
OK SO my favourite podcasts are:
Bitch Sesh – Real Housewives recap. Bravo is my NFL.
Race Chaser – Drag Race recap. Drag Race is also my NFL. Reluctantly. Cuz Rupaul sucks. But also: lot of hot women on DR lately.
Busy Phillips is Doing Her Best – just two badass women talking for like 2 hours. Excellent work white noise.
Getting Curious with Jonathan Van Ness – NERDS BEING EXCITED NERDS
Where Should We Begin – with Esther Perel, famed relationship therapist!!! Clips from REAL COUPLES SESSIONS! I’m nosy AND like to learn so this hits right.
ANYTHING by Nicole Byer – she could step on me and I’d clap.
They’ve not released a new episode in a long time, but check out Other People’s Problems from CBC for more therapy session clips. Good size backlog. Recommend starting from the beginning and not skipping over because newer episodes with individuals mention things from previous episodes, so you’re lost if you haven’t listened.
Oooh thank you. If you like me are interested in therapy session clips – you may enjoy the Showtime series Couples Therapy!
Hey Riddle Riddle is a very fun riddle (but mostly actually improv based) podcast. Highly recommended. They sometimes do riddle-themed RPGs and they have fun guests!
The folks from Hey Riddle Riddle are frequent guests on Escape this Podcast, which is one of my favorites. It’s a mix of tabletop role playing and escape room puzzles. All their notes for running the rooms are available for free on their website, so you can listen to them play through a room and then run it for your friends.
For non-fiction journalism and science nerd podcasts:
RadioLab – they do a variety of stories, but the science and nature ones are my favorite.
ELT (Every Little Thing) – People call in with questions (about anything) and they get experts to answer them. They are usually short episodes 10-20 min.
Bill Bryson’s Appliance of Science – writer Bill Bryson looks at objects from the The Science Museum
Homeless Bodies and Other Stories – these are short stories inspired from artifacts at the Wellcome Museum.
Does anyone have any queer fictional podcast recs? I remember hearing about one fiction podcast that’s about queer middle schoolers (but written for adults, kind of like Pen15) but I can’t remember what it was called. Any one know?
I don’t know the one you’re thinking of, but “Alice Isn’t Dead” and “Within the Wires” are two good generally queer lady fiction podcasts with a spooky/weird vibe.
Alice Isn’t Dead wrapped up a couple years ago but it’s a very good scifi/horror podcast about a woman taking a roadtrip to look for her missing wife. Same producers as Welcome to Nightvale.
And I haven’t listened to The Penumbra Podcast in a while so I’m not sure about content warnings, but it’s a fun queer mystery podcast in the style of old radio noir.
Fortunately Penumbra posts content warnings in their episode descriptions! And it’s only gotten queerer over the seasons ;)
Queer fictional podcast rec, someone else mentioned it in another comment:
The Strange Case of the Starship Iris. I listened to it years ago and can’t remember all the details now, but I did enjoy it a lot at the time! 🤩
TSCOSI is excellent!
Check out the whole catalog from Atypical Artists! It’s sci-fi fiction with a diverse cast.
The creator behind Atypical Artists Lauren Shippen also has a new one, Maxine Miles that’s pretty good.
The Bright Sessions is great
Seconding the Penumbra and Strange Case of Starship Iris! Penumbra has two main stories that are very different from each other: Juno Steel is (very basically) noir detective in space, while The Second Citadel is high fantasy. Both very queer, both very different vibes.
I also recommend The Pasithea Powder if you like scifi drama and disaster queers
Oh one more! Greater Boston. It’s sort of hard to describe, best I can do is a satirical, magical realism story set in Boston
You may be thinking of Here Lies Me.
here lies me is a ficton pod i listened to recently about middle schoolers. it was really well done.
I’m a little late to the party, but I highly recommend Unwell (https://www.unwellpodcast.com/) as a fiction podcast with queer characters! The genre is Appalachian/midwestern gothic (more-or-less) and it’s a really well-done story about ghosts and family and the mysteries thereof. The main character is a woman in a relationship with another woman, and another of the core cast members is nonbinary (both are written really well, in my opinion).
What I’ve been listening to:
-critical role, (D&D)thanks to recaps here
-scene on radio (political, historical, sociological analysis)
-relationships made easy with dr. abby medcalf (couples counseling etc)
-crime pays but botany doesnt (botany)
-bad with money with gaby dunn (money, social analysis)
-self evident, asian america’s stories
-buffering the vampire slayer
-incoruptible massachusetts (really good Massachusetts specific political analysis)
-station to station (sci-fi fiction)
-live like the world is dying –really like this one–margaret killjoy, practical anarchist politics, self organizing,
-we will remember freedom–another by margaret killjoy, anarchist fiction read aloud
-girl in space (scifi fiction)
-the strange case of the starship iris (scifi fiction/radioplay)
Ooo yes Starship Iris is so good!!
The only thing I listen to regularly is Danny Lavery’s “Big Mood, Little Mood”, but I whole-heartedly recommend it! It’s an advice column so potentially triggering. Not always queer, but usually.
Also “Turned out a Punk”, sometimes, if you want to listen to assorted musicians/other famous-ish people talk about punk.
I really enjoy podcasts with “just people talking” energy, and my favorite right now is En(Ba)by. Basically, 3 nonbinary roommates / romantic partners / comedians chat, interview other trans people, talk about their gender journeys, and answer listener questions
My top three recommendations:
1. The Wintering Sessions by Katherine May – really beautiful conversations about life and hardship and joy. Katherine May is currently my favorite author and she thinks a lot about autism and other neurodivergencies, which is exactly what I want as someone exploring her own autism.
2. Normal Gossip by Kelsey McKinney – outrageous gossip stories if you want to listen to crazy stuff that happens to other people with no consequences.
3. Ologies by Alie Ward – learn science! get excited! I highly recommend the episode on wasps (Spheksology) because you can learn to love wasps which is WILD.
I love Ologies! I think it’s a good one for ND ppl too.
I am great at collecting podcasts and bad at actually listening to them, but these are some I can vouch for:
Bad Queers: smart analysis of current queer happenings and an “am I a bad queer” advice segment
Lexicon Valley, Lingthusiasm and Subtitle are all great linguistics podcasts. (I had a very brief clip in Subtitle’s first season about word aversions, my claim to linguistics podcast fame)
If you’re trying to learn Spanish or French, Duolingo’s language podcasts (intermediate level) are super interesting and often feature queer people!
Closer To Truth is a podcast about big philosophical ideas of “cosmos, consciousness and meaning”, hosted by two guys with very broad New York accents which for some reason always amuses me (and I find the discussions compelling)
If anyone wants to laugh at the inherent shame and embarrassment of the human condition, Wheel of Misfortune on BBC is hilarious… Trigger Warning, though, no matter what the theme of the episode, inevitably someone is going to crap their pants.
On a more informative note, probably everyone already listens to Maintenance Phase, but it’s so amazing at debunking bullshit diet culture and “health” fads. I think most of us can benefit from some pushback against fatphobia and junk science in our lives.
This is a very niche recommendation, but if you’re into Agatha Christie or other 1920’s detective novels, I would recommend Shedunnit. Great range of topics from the books themselves to true crime stories of the time.
!!! That is all.
I’m looking for two very different kinds of podcasts!
First, I really only listen to fiction podcasts, but I’ve dropped it a bit in recent years since my transit time was cut down with covid, & I’d like to know what people dig these days. My all-time favorite is Wolf 359, & I also enjoyed ars PARADOXICA and (a very different vibe) Wooden Overcoats.
Podcasts I’ve already listened to & dug: Unseen & Zero Hours from the Wolf 359 team, Welcome to Night Vale, Alice Isn’t Dead, The Penumbra, Girl in Space, The Strange Case of Starship Iris, & a bunch of those investigative horror ones, like Archive 81, The Black Tapes, Limetown, etc, but I haven’t really listened to anything later than 2019.
Second, any recs for language podcasts for Mandarin would be great!
Oh! Wolf 359 is awesome!! When I looked for similar things I really liked EOS 10, which is complete, Mission to Zyxx, and Voyage to the Stars.
I really like the “Coffee Break” series of podcasts for languages and it looks like they have Mandarin.
My faves from 2021:
LGBTQ&A
Gender Reveal
Making gay history
Season of the bitch
For real
History of the 90s
The social breakdown
Hey lesson
Cancel me, daddy
Lingthusiasm
My year in Mensa
Operator (warning: NSFW)
The 1 in 6 engineers podcast
-JUST BETWEEN US with Gaby Dunn and Alison Raskin. It is a variety show with advice, guests, topics and games. Often about queer and mental health things and often with an intersectional lens, but the guests are experts in everything under the sun, even as random as bats. I binged the entire thing when I discovered it in 2020 and to this day look forward to Wednesdays with new episodes. The hosts are just really fun.
-FOOD 4 THOT is similar vibes. a “queer brown podcast” with 4 friends who play fun games like arguing about who is the top and who is the bottom in classic duos and each episode is centered around a theme that the hosts discuss. They are a funny mix of silly and deep because they’re all writers and poets.
-OH NO ROSS AND CARRIE is a duo who partake in fringe science and health trends and fads and report on it. The hosts are both so fun and funny.
-THE WITCH WAVE with Pam Grossman is a podcast about witchcraft that’s really good. I pay on patreon to have it without ads, that’s how good it is.
-MAINTENANCE PHASE debunking the diet industry is so good! Some of the more technical, specific episodes are boring, but the podcast overall is amazing. I recommend the first episode as a good overview of what they’re about.
Self help/psychology/spirituality podcasts I’ve also enjoyed: Tara Brach, the being well podcast, help me be me, unlocking us with brene brown, the one you feed.
I loooove Tara Brach’s talks 💛 though I don’t always have the time to listen to a full episode, there are two that have really helped me over the past few years:
Anger: Responding Not Reacting
https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/tara-brach/id265264862?i=1000536461712
Meeting Anger with Awareness
https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/tara-brach/id265264862?i=1000477967181
Maintenance Phase is incredibly, +1 to this
I recently listened to a 3-part series called Landed, from the Farmerama podcast: https://farmerama.co/landed/
It was one of those times where you’re listening to something and you want to rewind it every couple of moments because it is *so packed* with incredible insights and information, and/also you know it’s ok because you’re going to listen to this podcast many many more times because you know almost immediately that it’s going to be a foundational text to your life, worldview, and values. (Just me? Ok coolcoolcool!)
The inciting question of Landed is: What does it mean to say ‘the family farm is a colonial concept’?
Here’s a quick summary from the website:
In the series, co-produced by Katie Revell and Col Gordon, Col , a 34 year old baker and seed researcher who grew up on a 270 acre livestock farm in the Highlands, starts to question long-held assumptions that challenge his idea of the small family farm and the viability of its future. Over four episodes, he explores not only the current challenges of farm succession and access to land in the UK, but also of lost history, colonial legacy and traditional Gaelic relationships with the land, going as far back as the Highland Clearances and the slave trade.
“Well for Culture” is a podcast on indigenous wellness but highly relatable ans relevant to settlers like myself. their first main episode “7 circles of wellness” always calms me down. in a world where “wellness” has a lot of yuck to it, this podcast helps me feel empowered but not blamed for how hard it is.
and “All My Relations”, another indigenous podcast, has deepened and widened my queerness too (they do cover triggering topics but they have good content warnings in the episode notes and before they get into it in the episode). both VASTLY improved my life and i replay episodes.
YESSS All My Relations!!! 💚
ooh “did we go too far” by movement generation is a 100% qpoc podcast with 6 fab episodes! such a treat!
A Hotdog is Sandwich and Spilled Milk are both fun food comedy podcasts,
If you’re looking for an in-depth recap podcast of Killing Eve or Gentleman Jack, try Well, Well Villanelle or Gentleman Jack Crack by the folks at the Church of Misandry. The hosts are a 6′ tall, sword wielding lesbian ninja and her gay male teddy bear best friend. They are often drunk, totally profane, and always insightful.
For specifically women’s soccer podcasts:
Diaspora United – focuses on Black women in soccer worldwide
Full Time with Meg Linehan (gay!) – US focused, NWSL & USWNT
Snacks with Lynn and Sam – podcast hosted by Sam Mewis and Lynn Williams of the KC Current and USWNT. They are goofs and interview other players some queer recent highlights being Sam Kerr and Kristen Hamilton.
For queer Youtubers/video essays:
ItsRadishTime / Taylor Behnke
& Rowan Ellis
I don’t listen to podcasts much, but anyone who likes the personal essays and queer community on Autostraddle will probably like Queerstories
I love listening to podcasts! Here are a few in particular:
Queer As Fact – three to four Australian friends have an in depth conversation about a queer person or event in history. They have a tumblr where listeners can send in recommendations for future episodes, along with a website. Always excellent and fun. Bonus: they have a queer penpal program!
Footnoting History- short (often no more than 20 min) episodes about an event or person in history that isn’t usually studied on its own. Hence, *footnoting*. A variety of hosts with different backgrounds.
Witch, Please – a very academic approach to analyzing HP. The hosts are two queer women who are friends, and professors. The show uses HP as a way to explore and analyze themes, so not particularly heavy on HP canon except as a source to test out understanding of each concept. It’s fascinating and excellent. Their most recent episode was on the soul, what is a soul, the history of souls in religion and culture, its etymology, and finally, how it relates to dementors eating souls.
The Allusionist – a fun and engaging linguistics podcast.
The Lesbian Historic Motif Project- a mix of lesbian historic themes, book recommendations, interviews with queer authors, and sometimes readings of short stories!
Strict Scrutiny- an excellent exploration and explanations of Supreme Court cases, U.S. history, and law. A good mix of serious and fun.
Queer as Fact IS SOOOO GOOOOOODDDDD!!!
Love this idea! I listen to way too many podcasts to be allowed, here are some of my favorites:
fiction & actual play (DnD/TTRPGs):
The Pasithea Powder, Greater Boston, The Penumbra, The Strange Case of Starship Iris,(mentioned above)
Into the Motherlands: an Afrofuturist actual play show using a new system (they’re working on a rulebook now!) (you can also watch on Youtube and Twitch)
Three Black Halflings is a combination: usually a talk show about DnD and the TTRPG world from a Black English, American, and South African perspective, but they also do actual play miniarcs (4-6 episodes), which is great if you wanna listen to actual play but are put off by having to do a long catch-up. They also have really fun conversations with some big names in the TTRPG world (like Aabria Iyengar, Matt Mercer, Persephone Valentine, and Lou Wilson)
edutainment, interviews, etc:
Gender Reveal: conversations about gender
FANTI: conversations about pop culture, general culture, and political stuff that’s in a grey area for the hosts (“fanti” is a portmanteau of “fan” and “anti”)
Oh No Ross and Carrie
Sawbones: mostly about wild medical stuff people did in the past, but in recent years they also cover a lot of wild medical stuff people do in the now
Queerology: conversations with queer people about their faith and theology
Building Local Power: mostly focuses on anti-monopoly efforts, especially around utility companies and similar
THE READ is my absolute favourite podcast of all time. For the first time in the six years of the podcast, they are taking a bit of a mental health break, so it’s the perfect time to dig back into classic episodes and get to grips with the fuckery. Episodes always feel very real, if you know what I mean, as the hosts are always REALLY fucking honest about America and the rest of the world being on fire, especially for Black people. So while the format is usually consistent – celebrity news (and judgment) with jokes, listener letters (usually hilarious), and culminating in “THE READ” where it’s time for those in need to have their rights read to them by two very funny and incisive people – the vibe can change a lot depending on what’s in the news that week and where the hosts are at in their life. Either way, Kid Fury and Crissle are fucking iconic and I’ve never cackled or cried as much at anything. Changed my life. Really.
The Allusionist is a must for anyone who likes thinking about language and its oddities.
Dyking Out is a fun new discovery – very “two drunk lesbians in a bar in America somewhere trade wild stories – I like it so far. Just a few dykes shooting the breeze.
Code Switch is witty, informative, wide-ranging in topics and always really slickly put together.
Scam Goddess is award-winning for a reason. Trust me. Be gay, do crime, and listen to this podcast.
You’re Wrong About is my second favourite podcast – I prefer earlier episodes as the more iconic, jaw-dropping stories that changed how I think about humanity in general and certain characters or narratives from history specifically – it’s like debunking but more than debunking, it challenges how we tell stories about ourselves and others.
Word of Mouth is another fun one for fans of language by British icon Michael Rosen – he’s a writer and poet who talks to different experts in each episode about things like language technologies, mother tongues, language of war etc. (The episode descriptions always sound dry as fuck but the episode is nearly always far more interesting than it sounds – for example, a recent episode called “Weather Words” describes itself as “The many different ways we use to talk about the weather”, which sounds so boring that I put it on to fall asleep to the other day. I then couldn’t sleep because I got too invested in the topic. So there, a warning and a reminder!)
You’re Dead To Me is another UK-based one, the host presents a figure from or era in history eg the Harlem Renaissance or Ramesses The Great with one guest comedian and one guest historian who riff on the topic with a little “what did you learn?” quiz at the end. Love it.
Loving these recommendations!
I’m on maternity leave right now so my tired brain can’t handle much, so I’m always looking for podcasts that are about *something real* but not overly depressing or too hard to think about on little sleep. So these have been my top few
Overthink – a philosophy podcast hosted by two profs (one a white, straight woman and the other a queer Latino male) and they discuss contemporary issues from a philosophical lens. Very accessible! Had a great episode on Heteropessimism
Yo, is this Racist? – comedy podcast where people call in with questions about racism and the hosts give funny and mostly unhelpful advice. The hosts are basically sick of talking about racism but they do it anyway and even though it’s serious it helps you to laugh
iWeigh – I kept getting this podcast recommended to me and wasn’t sure about it but have really enjoyed it. It’s light because celebrities(!) but the topics are serious – mental health, diet culture and shame, and the guests are get super vulnerable and Jameela Jamil makes them comfortable to do so.
I’m probably too late and too specific for this but
the only English language podcast I really listen to is Decolonization in Action, which I really like.
my number one favourite podcast (which sadly ended but is still available on Spotify) is by Austrian feminist
Nicole Schöndorfer, in German, titled “Darf sie das?”
also in German and also one of my favourites is 99zueins, two guys usually discussing political topics either with each other or with guests.
Both of these podcasts are my favorite and are hosted by best friends duos, so there is great natural chemistry and they get each other’s senses of humor, etc. I think they both have great takes on current pop culture events/ general happenings. Queer perspective is offered on both.
Every Outfit– spin off of a sex and the city fan account. talks about SATC related topics and pop culture. Honestly I thought I just didnt’ like podcasts til I found this one.
Girls Like Us– reviews/ analysis/ general discussion of (mostly) aughts era young adult novels… plus many tangents.
highly recommend a lot of podcasts by the girls of rupaul’s drag race! mostly they’re comedy mixed with some serious aspects. my favorites are:
hi jinkx! with jinkx monsoon (jinkx’s personality is so compelling)
sibling rivalry with bob the drag queen and monet x change (their dynamic is so good they never fail to cheer me up)
the bald and the beautiful with trixie and katya (more hit or miss, but they’re my comfort duo so)
just wanted to say i keep returning to this post for more podcasts!! thank you for making it happen, Nico!!!