Soft Edges Podcast

It is between genuine pride and vibrating nostalgia that we welcome you to the last episode of our very first season. As we turn the remaining pages of Pleasure Activism, we get the privilege to witness adrienne maree brown, Dani McClain and Jodie Tonita’s deeply intentional friendship which prompts us, your devoted hosts, to reminisce and take an open dive into our own. From our unbelievably inappropriate but shared sense of humor all the way to how our friendship saved our lives numerous times. Finally, we actively listen to brown’s parting little gems of advice and reflect on how her work and every single soul living between Pleasure Activism’s pages changed us in such a profound way. It’s been an honor; it’s been a pleasure. Thank you.

This one is all about building liberated relationships: with ourselves as we age, with children in our care, with/as parents, with lovers, comrades and with being second to someone. Idelisse Malave and Alta Starr offer aging as a pleasurable ripening, while Autumn Brown, Janine de Novais and Zahra Alta come in as wonderful examples of brilliant intentional parenting, raising sexually liberated kids well equipped to go through life with direct embodiment of their wholeness. Under adrienne maree brown’s guidance we ponder on nonmonogamy and confront our own conditioning, jealousy and territorial feelings; at times it gets difficult, but we’re lucky to have brown right here expanding our vision for endless possibilities of liberated love. The Soft Edges Podcast is a project created and produced by yours truly, Mayis Rukel and Lucie Gérard. We release a whole new episode every Sunday at 12 PM CET (Central European Time). Our enchanting music is by the amazing Patrick Walinga and our beautiful graphic design is by the wonderful Yuri Sato. You can find us on Instagram at @softedgespodcast as well as on YouTube on the Soft Edges Podcast channel. Feel free to follow us on there for the latest updates and share our podcast with your friends, your family, your neighbours, your colleagues or even your plants (why not?) if you think they could benefit from it/enjoy it! Thank you so much for listening! We appreciate you endlessly. Your devoted hosts, Mayis & Lucie

Welcome back to the Soft Edges Podcast! On our 10th episode, it is in movement(s) that we meet. Dancing from page to page, we learn why The Body is Not an Apology through the eyes and words of the incredible Sonya Renee Taylor. A couple of steps later, the energy Maori Holmes puts into helping others express who they are deep down using her love for fashion embraces us, before Taja Lindley’s deeply intentional performance practice takes our breath away. We let our rhythm shift as Michi and Una Osato tell us the story of how they create embodied experiences of liberation through the art of burlesque and, as the end of our melody reverberates, Suguey Hernandez invites us to work the pole and witness how pole dancing helped her love and trust her own body. With love. Your devoted hosts, Mayis & Lucie Our beautiful music is by the amazing Patrick Walinga and our gorgeous graphic design is by the wonderful Yuri Sato. ✨ Follow us on Instagram @softedgespodcast for the latest updates and exclusive sneak peeks. ✨

In this episode we got to talk about the legendary BEYONCÉ! And how claiming our love for such a brilliant pop star so publicly can be one way of accessing our wholeness, as it was for adrienne maree brown. As the Rocca family had an intimate conversation with the enigmatic character that is Zizi on the uses of fear, curiosity and Zizi’s strong opinions on shame, we engaged with it in both agreement and at times disagreement. Dallas Goldtooth brought in the crucial reminder of the importance of humor and joy in the political movements. All in all, the chapters in this episode give many affirmations and specifically one: we deserve to follow and display our joys in our wholeness and still be taken seriously in whichever spaces we exist. The Soft Edges Podcast is a project created and produced by yours truly, Mayis Rukel and Lucie Gérard. We release a whole new episode every Sunday at 12 PM CET (Central European Time). Our enchanting music is by the amazing Patrick Walinga and our beautiful graphic design is by the wonderful Yuri Sato. You can find us on Instagram at @softedgespodcast as well as on YouTube on the Soft Edges Podcast channel. Feel free to follow us on there for the latest updates and share our podcast with your friends, your family, your neighbours, your colleagues or even your plants (why not?) if you think they could benefit from it/enjoy it! Thank you so much for listening! We appreciate you endlessly. Your devoted hosts, Mayis & Lucie

This week, we invite you to join us in holding space for one another as we let ourselves float on the often unpredictable tides of self-love; where Junauda Petrus prompts us to discuss our own relationship with Nature, from its stress-absorbing powers all the way to conversing with the wind, while Dr. Micha Cardenas leads us along the intimate journey to reconnecting to herself and (re)defining her worth. Later, the inspiring Amita Swadhin reaches into our hearts by allowing us into her road to survival recovery and pleasure reclamation. Finally, we witness the beautiful Alana Devich Cyril’s nearly unshakable commitment to pleasure, while Leah Lakshmi Piepzna-Samarasinha reminds us of the importance of joy at the intersection of disability justice, care and pleasure. And, all the way through, we love and hold each other between the bursts of laughter and the waves of raw emotions. Trigger warning: As usual, we invite you to enjoy the ride but most importantly to be kind to yourself; feel free to opt out of this one if need be as some of the topics discussed could be triggering. With love always. Your devoted hosts, Mayis & Lucie Referenced in this episode: · Marina Abramovich’s video series titled “Balkan Erotic Epic Series” · Alana Devich Cyril “My Life Interrupted” available on Vimeo · Text by Maisha Kai on theglowup.theroot.com · Leah Lakshmi Piepzna-Samarasinha “Care Work: Dreaming Disability Justice” + “A Modest Proposal For a Fair Trade Emotional Labor Economy Centered By Disabled Femme of Color Working Class/Poor Genius” (bitchmedia.org) ✨ You can find us on Instagram @softedgespodcast ✨ ✨ Our beautiful music is by the amazing Patrick Walinga and our gorgeous graphic design is by the wonderful Yuri Sato. ✨

This one is all about the politics of radical drug use and we were so here for this expansive conversation urging openness and safe adventure. We were high on adrienne maree brown’s frankly told experiences with weed and ecstasy when Monique Tula came in to introduce the principles of harm reduction; weaving a life-affirming web. Malachi Garza gave us a brilliant picture of possibilities: Reparations from the war on drugs as Black and Brown ownership in the booming marijuana industry. So spiders unite, and join us in this multifaceted discussion as we ponder our own methods of joy, pleasure and slowing down. The Soft Edges Podcast is a project created and produced by yours truly, Mayis Rukel and Lucie Gérard. We release a whole new episode every Sunday at 12 PM CET (Central European Time). Our enchanting music is by the amazing Patrick Walinga and our beautiful graphic design is by the wonderful Yuri Sato. You can find us on Instagram at @softedgespodcast as well as on YouTube on the Soft Edges Podcast channel. Feel free to follow us on there for the latest updates and share our podcast with your friends, your family, your neighbours, your colleagues or even your plants (why not?) if you think they could benefit from it/enjoy it! Thank you so much for listening! We appreciate you endlessly. Your devoted hosts, Mayis & Lucie

It is in a space of safety and sensitivity that we are honored to meet you in this week’s episode. From reshaping or even rebuilding our bodies’ boundaries to communicating needs that are hard to express, in moments where it can be tough not to disconnect. We hold ourselves accountable as adrienne maree brown invites us to look at our fantasies straight in the eyes and potentially unveil what in that realm is actually ours and what isn’t… We learn to carefully listen to the various tones inhabiting our sometimes muted expression of consent and we discover what celibacy – intentional and unintentional – can look like and mean to the both of us. As usual, enjoy the ride but most importantly be kind to yourself; feel free to opt out of this one if need be as some of the topics discussed could be triggering. With love, Your devoted hosts Mayis & Lucie Join us every Sunday at 12PM for a whole new episode and more wide open discussions! Our music is by the amazing Patrick Walinga and our graphic design is by the wonderful Yuri Sato.

We can’t contain our excitement for this one. Our fifth episode is hilarious and it shines like the sun with priceless career encouragement from Nenna Joiner, who built the wonderful Feelmore Adult Gallery from ground up. We were still in awe when Sami Schalk picked us up and took us on a ride through disability justice, BDSM and polyamory. Filled with emerging dreams of different forms of intimacy, we felt the white-cis-men-built ground beneath us shake with Chanelle Gallant’s legendary essay, Fuck You, Pay Me. Seriously tho, that entire essay was the ULTIMATE delivery of TRUTH. As hoes empowered by Gallant, we dove into #MeToo and #WeConsent while we shared how we flirt in the sensual seas. The Soft Edges Podcast is a project created and produced by yours truly, Mayis Rukel and Lucie Gérard. We release a whole new episode every Sunday at 12 PM CET (Central European Time). Our enchanting music is by the amazing Patrick Walinga and our beautiful graphic design is by the wonderful Yuri Sato. You can find us on Instagram at @softedgespodcast as well as on YouTube on the Soft Edges Podcast channel. Feel free to follow us on there for the latest updates and share our podcast with your friends, your family, your neighbours, your colleagues or even your plants (why not?) if you think they could benefit from it/enjoy it! Thank you so much for listening! We appreciate you endlessly. Your devoted hosts, Mayis & Lucie

In this week’s episode, we are invited to dive head first (pun intended) into one of the juiciest topics of all… S.E.X. So kids, grab your notebook and your to-do list because you are in for a sweet, sweet treat. Our slippery ride starts with a candid conversation around our relationship to sex toys, guided by adrienne maree brown’s own discussion with one of the most famous and enjoyed “adult” toys of our time. A little further down our path, we *almost* get carried away as we run into the deliciously dear to our hearts topic that is nipple magic, before our delectably bumpy road takes us through the nooks and the hills of casual – and less casual – sex, as Leah Lakshmi Piepzna-Samarasinha reminds us of its trauma healing powers and as Holiday Simmons lets us into his dating life, from Mr. Streetlamp Sugar Lips all the way to the joys of getting back on D. We laugh and we blush and, as usual, we have nothing to hush. With love, your devoted hosts Mayis & Lucie You can find us on Instagram @softedgespodcast for the latest updates. Our beautiful music is by the incredible Patrick Walinga and our unique graphic design is by the wonderful Yuri Sato.

We begin this week’s discussion on Pleasure Activism with an incredibly comprehensive essay by Joan Morgan as we relate WAP by Cardi B and Megan Thee Stallion and the misogynoiristic backlash it received to Morgan’s hip-hop feminism. While Ingrid LaFleur reminds us of the healing power of sequins and the joy of our quirky pleasures, we receive adrienne maree brown’s blessing in the form of a poem reminding us of our own histories of sex ed (or lack thereof). Enhancing our orgasms, decolonizing our desires, integrating radical self-love beyond a rational acceptance of it. We find ourselves dreaming & drooling over a passionate fuck with ourselves. The Soft Edges Podcast is a project created and produced by yours truly, Mayis Rukel and Lucie Gérard. We release a whole new episode every Sunday at 12 PM CET (Central European Time). Our enchanting music is by the amazing Patrick Walinga and our beautiful graphic design is by the wonderful Yuri Sato. You can find us on Instagram at @softedgespodcast as well as on YouTube on the Soft Edges Podcast channel. Feel free to follow us on there for the latest updates and share our podcast with your friends, your family, your neighbours, your colleagues or even your plants (why not?) if you think they could benefit from it/enjoy it! Thank you so much for listening! We appreciate you endlessly. Your devoted hosts, Mayis & Lucie

As we dive deeper into Pleasure Activism, we get to take an intimate look at adrienne maree brown’s loud and proud crush on the science-fiction writer and boundary-bending genius Octavia Butler. Later, we encounter writer Alexis Pauline Gumbs who introduces us to 5 brilliant women and gives us a glimpse of their relationship to and precious learnings from author and documentary filmmaker Toni Cade Bambara. Along this path, we discover and discuss themes such as the significance of bringing healing into our lives and others', the power of love as political resistance, the true meaning behind the word “sistering” and even our own shape-shifting preferences, among many others things. The Soft Edges Podcast is a project created and produced by yours truly, Mayis Rukel and Lucie Gérard. We release a whole new episode every Sunday at 12 PM CET (Central European Time). Our enchanting music is by the amazing Patrick Walinga and our beautiful graphic design is by the wonderful Yuri Sato. You can find us on Instagram at @softedgespodcast as well as on YouTube on the Soft Edges Podcast channel. Feel free to follow us on there for the latest updates and share our podcast with your friends, your family, your neighbours, your colleagues or even your plants (why not?) if you think they could benefit from it/enjoy it! Thank you so much for listening! We appreciate you endlessly. Your devoted hosts, Mayis & Lucie

As we embark on our journey through adrienne maree brown's Pleasure Activism, we are introduced -or re-introduced- to the fascinating, fabulous and multi-talented Audre Lorde, Cara Page and adrienne maree brown herself. Within the first steps on our path, we already encounter and discuss various eye-and-heart-opening topics which include -but are not limited to- the importance of building communities around joy, the relation between pleasure and moderation, the orgasmic yes as a guiding force, pornographic versus erotic and the problems with placing spirituality and astrology as antithetical to science. Find us on instagram @softedgespodcast

Where voices are raw, and discussions are thorough. Where complexity becomes a nest for vulnerability. Where we seek to make sense of our messy human experience, while filling our bellies with laughter and our minds with nourishing conversations. Wide open. Curious. Accepting. Such is the space we strive to create. Welcome to the Soft Edges Podcast.