Gender Playground

In our penultimate episode of Season two, we are joined by friend of the pod, Elio Colavito (he/they)! Elio chats with Marcelle and Raimi about their doctoral research on the history of trans community-building and mutual aid. The group chat about the importance of being connected to community from the past into the present. In response to this week's listener voicemail, Marcelle, Raimi and Elio think through how to support kids when someone in their life comes out or transitions, including changing the pronouns used. Recommendations this week include children's musician Susan Salidor, the Digital Transgender Archive, and doing karaoke with your kids!You can find more of Elio at eliocolavito.org or on twitter @eliocolavito. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Children's writer and educator, Lindz Amer (they/them), is our special guest this week! We ask Lindz about their experiences making both indie and mainstream children's media, their goal to make more LGBTQ+ inclusive children's content and how Queer Kid Stuff came from a desire to create resources they wish they had when they were a kid. Lindz then helps us answer a voicemail from our listener Jasper (they/them), on how to approach talking with and challenging kids on gender essentialist ideas that may pop up in time constrained contexts like team sports. Recommendations this week include queeryouthassemble.org, Lindz's Singing Storytime programming on their Patreon, A World Worth Saving by Kyle Lukoff, and The Witch Boy by Molly Ostertag. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Very special friend and parental teammate of the pod, Trevor Chow-Fraser (he/him) joins us this week. The conversation includes a great reminder that while we may see room for growth, that does not mean that we aren't currently doing a good job! This week's listener voicemail covers the decisions that can arise when kids enter into new administrative spaces, like kindergarten, and the tricky navigation between gender presentation and passing, filling out forms, and identity. Recommendations this week include the tv shows Bluey and She-Ra, Breathe: Journeys to healthy binding by Maia Kobabe and Sarah Peitzmeier, PhD, and the site https://www.outcarehealth.org/outlist/ to help find queer and trans friendly health care providers. For those in Ontario, also check out the Rainbow Health Ontario Service Directory https://www.rainbowhealthontario.ca/lgbt2sq-health/service-provider-directory/For more Trevor, check out his podcast at http://letsfindoutpodcast.com.If you enjoyed this episode, please share it with family and friends! For ad-free episodes and to show your support, head to patreon.com/ohhwitchplease! To support the show for ZERO COST, leave us an Apple review! Reviews help new listeners discover the show — and it gives us an idea of what you're liking about the new season! Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Join us on the playground with fellow ‘gender nerd' and this week's guest, S. Bear Bergman (he/him). In this episode, we chat about Bear's new book, Special Topics In Being A Parent: A Queer and Tender Guide to Things I've Learned About Parenting, Mostly the Hard Way, and answer a listener-submitted voicemail from Steph! We talk to Bear about the benefits of leading with personal experience rather than a position of expertise when it comes to parenting advice, and his desire to write a book about caretaking that didn't gender the parenting experience. We then dive into Steph's voicemail all about gender neutral parenting.Recommendations this week include Ben Greene's Substack Good Queer News and Morgan M. Page's podcast One From the Vaults. Marcelle's recommendation this week is to run for your local municipal government or school board! You can find Bear on his website https://www.sbearbergman.com/, Instagram (@bearbergman), or Blusky (@sbearbergman).If you enjoyed this episode, please share it with family and friends! For ad-free episodes and to show your support, head to patreon.com/ohhwitchplease! To support the show for ZERO COST, leave us an Apple review! Reviews help new listeners discover the show — and it gives us an idea of what you're liking about the new season! See you next week on the playground! Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

We are back with just as touching and insightful of a conversation in part II of our interview with Kai Cheng Thom (she/her). In this episode, we respond to listener voicemail, from Fig, seeking insight on how to support kids when they enter school and start facing broader societal pressures and gendered expectations. Marcelle, Raimi and Kai Cheng chat about the parental desire to fix problems and make a safe and easy world for kids, especially when the world and its problems feel big and overwhelming. While we can't immediately rid the world of its problems, the group discusses the value in maintaining the home as a safe place; for exploration and self-expression for your kids and their friends, as well as a place for kids to find the self-love and courage to navigate difficult situations. Recommendations this week include a children's book by Kai Cheng Thom, From The Stars In The Sky To The Fish In The Sea, as well as Histories of The Transgender Child, and A Short History of Trans Misogyny both by Jules Gill-Peterson, and a listener submission from Erica B, To Survive On This Shore by Jess T. Dugan and Vanessa Fabbre. Marcelle also recommends getting your kids into DnD or any tabletop role playing game! You can find Kai Cheng Thom on instagram and substack @kaichengthom, and on bluesky @razorfemme.All of Kai Cheng Thom's writing and work can be found at her website kaichengthom.com.If you enjoyed this episode, please share it with family and friends! For ad-free episodes and to show your support, head to patreon.com/ohhwitchplease! To support the show for ZERO COST, leave us an Apple review! Reviews help new listeners discover the show — and it gives us an idea of what you're liking about the new season! See you next week on the playground! Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

“A late repair is always better than no repair. Awkward repair is always better than imaginary repair. And an imperfect repair is always better than one that isn't tried at all.”We are beyond excited, to share with you, our conversation with the brilliant and insightful Kai Cheng Thom. We loved this conversation so much that we felt we had to share the whole thing with you, so this is part 1 of 2! In this episode, we ask Kai Cheng how to address hurt or harm we may have caused a trans or gender non-conforming kid in our life and the possibilities for repair. We chat about the importance of self-reflection for parents when encountering their own gender ghosts, to better accept and love gender non-conformity in ourselves and others. We round off this first part of our conversation thinking about how to embrace being imperfect parents and care-givers as a way to reduce the chance of causing harm and increase success in repair. Recommendations will be included in the second half of the episode released next week! However, the writer mentioned by Kai Cheng Thom was Diane Ehrensaft and the books referenced were Gender Born, Gender Made and The Gender Creative Child. All of Kai Cheng Thom's writing and work can be found at her website kaichengthom.com.If you enjoyed this episode, please share it with family and friends! For ad-free episodes and to show your support, head to patreon.com/ohhwitchplease! To support the show for ZERO COST, leave us an Apple review! Reviews help new listeners discover the show — and it gives us an idea of what you're liking about the new season! See you next week on the playground! Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

In this episode, Marcelle and Raimi are in conversation with a very special guest, Nehiyaw (Cree) Elder Richard Jenkins. Elder Richard Jenkins chats with us about what being an elder means to him, as well as 2-spirit as a placeholder term for gender and sexual diversity, and ᐁᔨᐦᑵᐤ (eyihkwew; not man, not woman, something in between) as a conceptual way of being that can see and understand multiple perspectives. We are grateful for Richard sharing teachings with us as he touches on the Nehiyaw practice of noninterference as a core principle for how to guide and support children. The trio, as always, finish with recommendations, including; The Travelers of Casteia by Beck DeTrempe, 2 Spirits in Motion Society, and The Non-Binary Bunny by Maia Kobabe. The 2-Spirit documentary mentioned by Marcelle is “Re:Membering Stories of the 2Spirit Indigenous HIV/AIDS Movement” and can be found on the CAAN (Communities, Alliances and Networks) website.If you enjoyed this episode, please share it with family and friends! For ad-free episodes and to show your support, head to patreon.com/ohhwitchplease! To support the show for ZERO COST, leave us an Apple review! Reviews help new listeners discover the show — and it gives us an idea of what you're liking about the new season! Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

In this episode, we are joined by comedian, podcaster, and author Charlie James. We begin with an unexpected (but charming) introduction to Pamphlet, Charlie's cat, followed by Charlie's very thoughtful answer to our silly question wheel. Charlie discusses his experience transitioning while building a comedy career in the public eye and then we turn our attention to a listener-submitted voicemail asking how to respond when a child comes out to you as trans. Raimi and Charlie consider the question, “what did I need to hear?” and the group chats about leading with joy, enthusiasm, and curiosity. As always, we finish with recommendations: Moon Girl and Devil Dinosaur's deleted episode “The Gatekeeper” from Disney+, the Trans Youth Emergency Project, and x + y: A Mathematician's Manifesto for Rethinking Gender by Eugenia Cheng. Most importantly, make sure to check out and pre-order Charlie's new book, I'm Just A Little Guy: How to escape the horrors and get back to dillydallying, coming out fall 2025!If you enjoyed this episode, please share it with family and friends! For ad-free episodes and to show your support, head to patreon.com/ohhwitchplease! To support the show for ZERO COST, leave us an Apple review! Reviews help new listeners discover the show — and it gives us an idea of what you're liking about the new season! Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Welcome back to the playground! To kick off our second season, we are joined by close friend of the pod, and Marcelle's Material Girls's co-host, Hannah McGregor! Marcelle and Raimi chat with Hannah about their experience as a Gay Auntie ™ and the “angry, monstrous, and free” inspiration that dinosaurs offer to kids — and kids at heart. The team then answers a voicemail from Nici in Germany and consider how one might approach giving gifts to friends' children while respecting primary caretakers' boundaries.As always, we finish we recommendations, including; From the Stars in the Sky to the Fish in the Sea, by Kai Cheng Thom, I Want To Be A Vase by Julio Torres, and the webshop trans*fabel. We'll be back next week for episode two!If you enjoyed this episode, please share it with family and friends! For ad-free episodes and to show your support, head to patreon.com/ohhwitchplease! To support the show for ZERO COST, leave us an Apple review! Reviews help new listeners discover the show — and it gives us an idea of what you're liking about the new season! Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

As we wrap up this first season of Gender Playground, we are thinking about the future! In this episode, Marcelle and Raimi consider the importance of seeing trans adults living joyful, creative, and fulfilling lives. Marcelle tells Raimi how much they informed her own relationship to Billie's future. Raimi offers insight into the normalcy around parental worry, and offers some advice on how to relate to fear in a way that protects trans kids in your life. Together they offer some recommendations and resources and we end with a very special shoutout to our episode ten sponsor.If you enjoy this episode, please share it with family and friends! To learn how to sponsor an episode, head to ohwitchplease.com/sponsorships. And to help support the show for ZERO COST, leave us an Apple review and send the show to family and friends! This episode marks the end of season one. More to come! ***Gender Playground is a new show from Witch, Please Productions and is co-hosted by longtime friends Marcelle Kosman and Raimi Marx. This podcast is all about gender-affirming care for the kids in your life, and YOU are the intended audience! Whether you're a caregiver, parent, family-member, chosen-family-member, teacher, doctor, childcare professional, or just someone who wants to create a more loving world for kids, this show is for you! Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

How can we as caring adults respond when our children grow beyond our imagination? And how do we, as caring adults, deal with our emotions as we adjust our emotional investments? This week, Marcelle and Raimi work through these questions and discuss gender coded experiences and narratives that we as parents and guardians place on our children. You can find a compilation of resources, corresponding with each episode's topic on our webpage, at ohwitchplease.ca/gender-playground. If you enjoy this episode, please share it with family and friends! To learn how to sponsor an episode, head to ohwitchplease.com/sponsorships. And to help support the show for ZERO COST, leave us an Apple review and send the show to family and friends!***Gender Playground is a new show from Witch, Please Productions and is co-hosted by longtime friends Marcelle Kosman and Raimi Marx. This podcast is all about gender-affirming care for the kids in your life, and YOU are the intended audience! Whether you're a caregiver, parent, family-member, chosen-family-member, teacher, doctor, childcare professional, or just someone who wants to create a more loving world for kids, this show is for you! Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

In this episode, Marcelle and Raimi mark the beginning of Pride month by talking about kids and pride! Raimi shares some of the history of Pride and the different approaches and events that make up our current celebrations. Marcelle and Raimi interrogate the concern that Pride is an inappropriate space for kids, and instead highlight the importance of community spaces for people of all ages.You can find a compilation of resources, corresponding with each episode's topic on our webpage, at ohwitchplease.ca/gender-playground. If you enjoy this episode, please share it with family and friends! To learn how to sponsor an episode, head to ohwitchplease.com/sponsorships. And to help support the show for ZERO COST, leave us an Apple review and send the show to family and friends!***Gender Playground is a new show from Witch, Please Productions and is co-hosted by longtime friends Marcelle Kosman and Raimi Marx. This podcast is all about gender-affirming care for the kids in your life, and YOU are the intended audience! Whether you're a caregiver, parent, family-member, chosen-family-member, teacher, doctor, childcare professional, or just someone who wants to create a more loving world for kids, this show is for you! Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

In this episode, Marcelle and Raimi look closely at the misconception that trans children are a new phenomenon. They discuss the emergence of terms like ‘transtrender' or ‘rapid onset gender dysphoria,' and consider the long history of trans-ness in children. Then, Marcelle offers a historical and material analysis of the social constructs we have around children, and, with Raimi, considers the value of surfacing, exploring and honoring trans histories.If you enjoy this episode, please share it with family and friends! To learn how to sponsor an episode, head to ohwitchplease.com/sponsorships. And to help support the show for ZERO COST, leave us an Apple review and send the show to family and friends!***Books Referenced by Raimi:Histories of the Trans Child by Jules Gill-Peterson, 2018. Before We Were Trans by Kit Heyem, 2022. ***Gender Playground is a new show from Witch, Please Productions and is co-hosted by longtime friends Marcelle Kosman and Raimi Marx. This podcast is all about gender-affirming care for the kids in your life, and YOU are the intended audience! Whether you're a caregiver, parent, family-member, chosen-family-member, teacher, doctor, childcare professional, or just someone who wants to create a more loving world for kids, this show is for you! Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

In this episode, Marcelle and Raimi talk with special guest and associate producer of the pod, Reese, about detransition and retransition. Following the previous episode's conversation on transition and autonomy, Reese shares their experience with de/re-transition and the trio discuss the fears, guilt and shame that make up the political and social ‘boogeyman' of detransition. If you enjoy this episode, please share it with family and friends! To learn how to sponsor an episode, head to ohwitchplease.com/sponsorships. And to help support the show for ZERO COST, leave us an Apple review and send the show to family and friends!***Citations:Defining Detransition MacKinnon, Kinnon Ross, Pablo Expósito-Campos, and W. Ariel Gould. "Detransition needs further understanding, not controversy." bmj 381 (2023).Physician Education and Fears:MacKinnon, Kinnon R., et al. "Preventing transition “regret”: An institutional ethnography of gender-affirming medical care assessment practices in Canada." Social Science & Medicine 291 (2021): 114477.Other Sources:Hall, R., Mitchell, L., & Sachdeva, J. (2021). Access to care and frequency of detransition among a cohort discharged by a UK national adult gender identity clinic: Retrospective case-note review. BJPsych Open, 7(6), e184.Hughes, Laine. "Wronging the right-body narrative: On the universality of gender uncertainty." Current critical debates in the field of transsexual studies. Routledge, 2018. 181-193.MacKinnon, Kinnon R., et al. "Health care experiences of patients discontinuing or reversing prior gender-affirming treatments." JAMA Network Open 5.7 (2022): e2224717-e2224717.Narayan, Sasha Karan, et al. "Guiding the conversation—types of regret after gender-affirming surgery and their associated etiologies." Annals of Translational Medicine 9.7 (2021).Turban, Jack L., et al. "Factors leading to “detransition” among transgender and gender diverse people in the United States: A mixed-methods analysis." LGBT health 8.4 (2021): 273-280.You can find more resources and research on the Gender Playground website at ohwitchplease.ca/gender-playground.***Gender Playground is a new show from Witch, Please Productions and is co-hosted by longtime friends Marcelle Kosman and Raimi Marx. This podcast is all about gender-affirming care for the kids in your life, and YOU are the intended audience! Whether you're a caregiver, parent, family-member, chosen-family-member, teacher, doctor, childcare professional, or just someone who wants to create a more loving world for kids, this show is for you! Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Welcome back to the playground! In this episode, Marcelle and Raimi discuss “transition.” We begin with an anecdote from Marcelle about the discomfort she feels labelling her daughter Billie as trans, given Billie started using she/her pronouns soon after becoming verbal. Together, Marcelle and Raimi think through the shortcomings and utility of labels, gender as a social construct, and the importance of affirming the gender and gender expression of people of all ages. Raimi then explains “transition” as an umbrella term that includes a range of actions pertaining to internal, social, legal and physical changes and choices folks may make. Marcelle asks some questions and there's a fair amount of giggling! As always, we end with a couple recommendations and a promise to continue our discussion of transition in coming episodes.We're continuing to find our audience for this podcast and we need your help! If you enjoyed this episode, please share it with family and friends — and leave an Apple Review! If you'd like to directly support production of this show, head to ohwitchplease.com/sponsorships. For just $250 USD, you can become a Gender Playground sponsor, run an ad on our show and get a shoutout. Otherwise, we'll be back in two weeks with a new episode!***Gender Playground is a new show from Witch, Please Productions and is co-hosted by longtime friends Marcelle Kosman and Raimi Marx. This podcast is all about gender-affirming care for the kids in your life, and YOU are the intended audience! Whether you're a caregiver, parent, family-member, chosen-family-member, teacher, doctor, childcare professional, or just someone who wants to create a more loving world for kids, this show is for you! Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

SUBSCRIBE TODAY! New episodes dropping every two weeks.In this episode, Marcelle and Raimi talk about navigating conversations around gender with extended community, other caretakers, and teachers. They discuss the value in setting a positive tone and the importance of giving children space to be playful, despite the political climate and the hostility towards expansive gender expression. If you enjoy this episode, please share it with family and friends! To learn how to sponsor an episode, head to ohwitchplease.com/sponsorships. And to help support the show for ZERO COST, leave us an Apple review and send the show to family and friends!***Gender Playground is a new show from Witch, Please Productions and is co-hosted by longtime friends Marcelle Kosman and Raimi Marx. This podcast is all about gender-affirming care for the kids in your life, and YOU are the intended audience! Whether you're a caregiver, parent, family-member, chosen-family-member, teacher, doctor, childcare professional, or just someone who wants to create a more loving world for kids, this show is for you! Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

SUBSCRIBE TODAY! New episodes dropping every two weeks.Gender Playground is a new show from Witch, Please Productions and is co-hosted by longtime friends Marcelle Kosman and Raimi Marx. This podcast is all about gender-affirming care for the kids in your life, and YOU are the intended audience! Whether you're a caregiver, parent, family-member, chosen-family-member, teacher, doctor, childcare professional, or just someone who wants to create a more loving world for kids, this show is for you!In this episode, Marcelle and Raimi talk through the various ways family and friends may express concern, ignorance, fear or bias. Together they discuss, from personal experience, when there's space for growth and care in those conversations and when boundaries may come in handy. To learn how to sponsor an episode, head to ohwitchplease.com/sponsorships. And to help support the show for ZERO COST, leave us an Apple review and send the show to family and friends! Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

SUBSCRIBE TODAY! New episodes dropping every two weeks.Gender Playground is a new show from Witch, Please Productions and is co-hosted by longtime friends Marcelle Kosman and Raimi Marx. This podcast is all about gender-affirming care for the kids in your life, and YOU are the intended audience! Whether you're a caregiver, parent, family-member, chosen-family-member, teacher, doctor, childcare professional, or just someone who wants to create a more loving world for kids, this show is for you!In this episode, Marcelle and Raimi talk about refreshing and alternative ways to channel the excitement and curiosity that comes with a baby announcement.To learn how to sponsor an episode, head to ohwitchplease.com/sponsorships. And to help support the show for ZERO COST, leave us an Apple review and send the show to family and friends! Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

SUBSCRIBE TODAY! New episodes dropping every two weeks. Gender Playground is a new show from Witch, Please Productions and is co-hosted by longtime friends Marcelle Kosman and Raimi Marx. This podcast is all about gender-affirming care for the kids in your life, and YOU are the intended audience! Whether you're a caregiver, parent, family-member, chosen-family-member, teacher, doctor, childcare professional, or just someone who wants to create a more loving world for kids, this show is for you!This first episode is about gender expression and gender euphoria. In it, Marcelle and Raimi talk about Marcelle's daughter playing dress up, Marcelle's desire to balance her daughter's creative freedom and safety, and what caregivers can do to better expand their own imaginations around gender and self-expression within and beyond the binary.For more resources and information about today's topic(s), head to ohwitchplease.ca/gender-playground! To learn how to sponsor an episode, head to ohwitchplease.com/sponsorships. And to help support the show for ZERO COST, leave us an Apple review and send the show to family and friends!Note: We briefly touch on the current panic around "permanence" and although we don't name the buzzword "detransition" in this episode, we are aware that it's used in mainstream discourse to limit access to gender-affirming and life-saving care for trans and nonbinary youth. Until then, head to ohwitchplease.ca/gender-playground for some useful research on the low rate of detransition.Links to the Recommendations from Our Pilothttps://www.flamingorampant.com/https://jesslove.format.com/picture-bookshttps://booksaremagic.net/item/oh62l0dfkY5ldh2RwcbyWghttps://socialjusticebooks.org/sparkle-boy/https://modernrascals.ca/Special thanks to the folks that made this episode and its accompanying resources happen: Reese Carr, Erik Magnus, Malika Gumpangkum, Gaby Iori, Zoe Mix, Hannah McGregor, Hannah Rehak and AJ Jaramaz. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.