Queer as Fact

Chavela Vargas

Today's episode is on Mexican singer Chavela Vargas. Listen to learn about her influence over the traditional Mexican music scene, her relationship with the famous artist Frida Kahlo and how it's never too late to start an international music career.

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Game of Thrones and A Song of Ice and Fire

Today's episode is on George R.R. Martin's A Song of Ice and Fire and its TV adaptation Game of Thrones. Listen in as we discuss how queer representation changed from page to screen, the ways medieval fantasy interprets historical reality, and what the deal is with that shaving scene anyway...

Please note that this episode contains swearing, mentions of sex, sex work, sexual violence and rape, slavery, incest, pedophilia, and suicide. Future episodes will contain recorded content warnings as per usual.

Marsha P Johnson

Today, we're talking about the life of Marsha P Johnson, a trans activist most famous for her involvement in the Stonewall Riots. We touch on topics including STAR, an organisation supporting homeless queer youth which Marsha co-founded, the possibility that Marsha was asexual, and what queer fashion looked like in the 1960s!

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Fanny Park and Stella Boulton

Today we are talking about Fanny Park and Stella Boulton, two transfeminine people who were the subject of a sensational trial in Victorian England. Tune in to hear about drag balls, whether pornography counts as an academic source, and the intersection of trans and gay history.

The Handmaiden & Fingersmith

Today's episode of Queer as Fiction covers the 2002 novel Fingersmith, written by famed queer author Sarah Waters (three time nominee for the Man Booker prize), as well as its 2016 film adaptation The Handmaiden, directed by South Korean mastermind Park Chan-wook. Join us as we discuss the differences and similarities between 1930s Japanese-occupied Korea and Victorian England, depictions of lesbian sex and problematic cephalopods. 

Stormé DeLarverie

Today's episode is on queer activist, drag performer, and gay superhero Stormé DeLarverie. Join us to hear your hosts discuss the history of drag performance, Stormé's short-lived career as a circus performer, and an obituary we can all aspire to.

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Julius Caesar

Today's episode is on Julius Caesar! Join us for a discussion of Caesar's dress sense, old men yelling at clouds, and our theories on what did happen in that bedroom in Bithynia two thousand years ago.

You can also check out our introduction to male sexuality in ancient Rome.

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Bohemian Rhapsody, Colette, and Vita & Virginia

Happy New Year! Today we bring you a very special episode of Queer as Fiction, covering not one, but three queer, historical films from 2018. Join us as we discuss depictions of mental illness in Vita & Virginia, trans representation in Colette, and historical accuracy in Bohemian Rhapsody.

Time-stamps for each film:

Vita & Virginia: 00:42

Colette: 20:00

Bohemian Rhapsody: 48:21

Note this episode contains one instance of mild swearing which snuck past our editing and isn't mentioned in the content warnings.

Freddie Mercury

Today we are talking about the frontman of Queen, Freddie Mercury! Tune in to learn about Freddie’s college antics, his rise to fame, and his many, many cats.

December is AIDS Awareness Month, and Freddie lived with HIV for the last years of his life, dying in 1991 of AIDS-related illness. We encourage you check out these links for resources in the ongoing fight against AIDS:

The UN's 2018 World AIDS Day site, Know Your Status

The Mercury Phoenix Trust, founded by members of Queen in honour of Freddie

The International AIDS Society

An announcement, some milk, and some whiskey...

Back in October, we promised that if our episode on Oscar Wilde reached 2000 downloads, we would try milk punch - the drink Oscar and his fellow queer poet Walt Whitman shared when they met in 1882. Today, we bring you the fulfillment of that promise, as well as an announcement about what's coming up for Queer as Fact!