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Drunk Church

cosima bee concordia & Aurora Laybournfeeds.acast.com

After their time as philosophy undergrads gorging on cheap wine and bread, co-hosts cosima bee concordia and Aurora Laybourn reunite almost a decade later for Drunk Church, a podcast haunting the liminal spaces between anti-fascist theory and religious eroticism.


Named for a gathering of queers where art, drink, and communion were shared outside of the confines of formal institutions, Drunk Church seeks to transgress, subvert, and blaspheme the religious for our own pleasure and thriving. In a world that feels like it’s ending and with fascism ascendant, how do we to build shared ritual, meaning, and narrative on our own terms? Come get drunk on the blood of God!

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Episodes

Bimbo Theory: A Gender Maximalist Guide to Having It All

We’re not like other girls… Join us for our most recent episode as we offer a critical re-evaluation of the figure of the bimbo and deconstruct societal preconceptions of femininity at large through our own cosima bee concordia’s essay “My Official Bimbo Diagnosis”. With our two remaining brain cells we ponder, why does everyone seem to hate femininity so much, and why it is that femininity is seen as a threat to feminism? We argue (to the degree that bimbos can string ideas together) that femme...

Mar 04, 202459 minSeason 2Ep. 9

Spectres of Ableism: A Halloween Special!

We are at most only temporarily able-bodied and minded. While we may live our lives more or less aware of our relationship with disability and while we may experience different periods of health and illness, the fact that we are all pre-disabled is an immutable aspect of the human condition. For our second annual Drunk Church Halloween Special we explore the dark and dusty contours of this one undeniable truth. In what ways does this insight effect our ability to create solidarity with one anoth...

Nov 01, 20231 hr 9 minSeason 2Ep. 8

Everything is Possible and Nothing is True: Mia Khalifa, Fake News, Free Speech, and the Hope for a Free Palestine

This is a special mini episode, driven by the immediacy of the horrors happening right now in the Gaza Strip. Mia Khalifa, controversial public figure and Lebanese ex-porn star, was publicly reprimanded and fired last week by Playboy for her "disgusting actions"—a.k.a. voicing solidarity with the Palestinian people in their struggle for liberation against settler colonial apartheid and genocide. Obvious contradictions arise here that can be extrapolated to better understand the entire structure ...

Oct 17, 202327 minSeason 2Ep. 7

The Sadness: You Always Hurt the One You Love (TEASER)

This is a teaser--to access the full episode on an patron only-RSS feed, sign up at our Patreon. What if you became a zombie, but instead of becoming a mindless brain eater you find that you're exactly the same except for a new and uncontrollable urge to commit the most unspeakably horrific things you can imagine? What if you found yourself reveling in your newfound bloodlust? Join us for our special bonus review of Rob Jabbaz's exquisite 2021 Taiwanese pandemic body horror film “The Sadness” as...

Oct 11, 20239 min

Playing with Fire: Ethical Sadism & the Draw to Overwhelm (Part III on Avgi Saketopoulou's "Sexuality Beyond Consent")

Given the failures of affirmative consent, how can we develop a better more nuanced framework that both embraces the messiness of sex and attends to the ways in which intimacy makes us uniquely vulnerable? What is the insatiable will that drives us to seek 'more and more' in our intimate encounters and aesthetic experiences? In what ways does play allow us to straddle the line between the real and the fictive so as to stir up the unconscious and trouble simplistic dualities such as normative und...

Jun 16, 20231 hr 41 minSeason 2Ep. 6

Possession: The Anatomy of a Breakup and The Dissolution of the Family (Free Version)

This is the free teaser—to get access to the whole hour and a half bonus version, go to our Patreon and sign up at "Getting Tipsy with the Lord" or higher. Andrzej Żuławski’s fever dream “Possession”—quite certainly the most extraordinary breakup film ever made—serves as our subject for today’s bonus episode, and we invite you to join us as we are engulfed within the overwhelming tides of the mythosymbolic realm that it reveals to us. The film's dream logic defies reduction to rational understan...

May 23, 202337 min

To Suffer Pleasure: Opacity and Self Making (Part II on Avgi Saketopoulou's "Sexuality Beyond Consent")

Diving into our second segment in our series on Avgi Saketopoulou’s “Sexuality Beyond Consent: Risk, Race, Traumatophilia”, we take you through the first chapter: "To Suffer Pleasure: Limit Experience and Transgression". What is the nature between desire and disgust? Where does perversity first arise, and what does it mean to seek experiences of overwhelm rather than shrink from them? Even more radically, what political potentialities can we find within the experience of self shattering as a for...

May 11, 20231 hr 12 minSeason 2Ep. 5

An Exquisite Slap: Introducing Avgi Saketopoulou’s "Sexuality Beyond Consent"

We are thrilled to present our first episode of a series working through Avgi Saketopoulou’s brilliant “Sexuality Beyond Consent: Risk, Race, Traumatophilia”—a text so meaty that this episode does not make it past its introduction. In the vein of Oliver Davis and Tim Dean’s “Hatred of Sex” that we covered last season, “Sexuality Beyond Consent” speaks to a society that has become obsessed and terrified of trauma, rational subjects looking both to shield ourselves from any possible experiences th...

Apr 24, 20231 hr 17 minSeason 2Ep. 4

Radfems, Transsexuals, & the Youth: A Proverbial Discourse Grab-bag (Free Version)

For this episode we do something a little different, going through some of the hottest subjects of discourse of the current moment as a way to review lots of the major themes we've covered in Drunk Church so far. Honoring our Villain Arc, we talk generational divides, the ludicrousness of a "Trans Inclusive" Radfem, overall rise in fascistic sentiment across generations, and, perhaps most importantly, the ways in which understanding queerness as being always built up and against perversion is mo...

Apr 09, 20231 hr 5 minSeason 2Ep. 3

Trauma & Taboo: The Unspeakability of Sexual Violation

Continuing with our Season 2 Villain Arc, we examine the vilification of victims and the gridlock of taboos that surround sexual violation through a discussion of our very own Aurora Laybourn’s original work “Cavarero’s Repugnance: Naming Sexual Violence”. Building from a critique of Adriana Cavarero’s "Horrorism", Aurora argues that the repugnance of sexual violence has a silencing effect that renders it unintelligible and unspeakable by recontextualizing Medusa, the figure Cavarero uses to rep...

Jan 27, 20231 hr 24 minSeason 2Ep. 2

Trigger Warning: A Holiday Special!

Drunk Church returns victoriously for the start of our second season with “Trigger Warning: A Holiday Special!”, our festive conversation on violation, power, desire, fantasy, patriarchy, and the ambiguity of trauma's uncontrollable nature centered on Paul Verhoeven’s fabulous Christmas film “Elle”. Get cozy and snuggle up with a cup of hot coco, and join us for a little bit of holiday fear. Intro and outro: White Christmas as performed by the Ink Spots Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for...

Dec 19, 202250 minSeason 2Ep. 1

Bonus: Secretary Review (FREE VERSION)

This free version of the review is a shortened version of our full episode, which is available to all subscribers on their patron-exclusive RSS feed. You can sign up to our patreon to get access to exclusive content and help keep the show going here For today's sermon we talk about "Secretary" starring Maggie Gyllenhaal and James Spader, a film that serves as a major root for the yearnings of countless leatherqueers for its perverse romance. What does it mean for a movie to be "problematic"? How...

Nov 28, 202242 min

The Horror of Desire: A Halloween Special!

How is it that desire, when taken to its conclusion, curdles into horror? For our Halloween Special, we linger with two transgressive erotic BDSM novels—first, with Pauline Réage's classic "Story of O" and then with its provocative leatherdyke echo in Jane DeLynn's "Leash"—to see the ways that our desire has the power to undo us. We have explored before how eroticism may destabilize us, stretch the ego like an overworn condom, or even make us stare into the abyss of our own dissolution—now we wi...

Nov 01, 20221 hr 27 minSeason 1Ep. 13

Dangerous Sex & The Empire of Trauma

For our grand finale to this four part series on "Hatred of Sex" we investigate the ways that attempts to subsume sex into neat and tidy identiy categories inevitably tighten bureaucracies of risk. These administrative processes police sex at the margins, while simultaneously letting sexual abuse run rampant as long as it happens within appropriately normative forms. The hypocrisy of this fragrant abuse of power should come as no surprise! The fact that right wing pundits gleefully argue that th...

Oct 23, 20221 hr 9 minSeason 1Ep. 12

Ordering Desire, Unbound Perversions

In our penultimate discussion on "Hatred of Sex", we do something literally no one in the history of the world has done before: we call Freud problematic!! That being said, we also look at how Davis and Dean's brilliant take of Freud's concept of the unconscious degenitalizes and unbinds sex, allowing pleasure to move around the body in ways that do not look so different from the understandings and practices of leatherfolk. We focus in on the system that seems to love hatred of sex the most—the ...

Oct 17, 20221 hr 1 minSeason 1Ep. 11

Not Just To Come, But To Come Undone

Having shown how hatred of sex is endemic to sex itself, in our second discussion of “Hatred of Sex” we trace some of the most influential thinkers today to show where our contemporary discourses on queerness has gotten us. Starting with Gayle Rubin’s thinking of sex that decoupled it from feminism's framework of gender and gender oppression, we look at how the slipperiness of sex was subsumed into the easier to deal with bounds of identity. We talk about porn wars, detransitioners, intersection...

Oct 12, 20221 hr 9 minSeason 1Ep. 10

We Want Sex & We Hate It

Today we present the first part of our discussion of the polemic “Hatred of Sex”, exploring how our hatred of sex (like hatred of democracy!) is endemic to the structure of sex itself, and exists in the “open minded” and “sex-positive” just as within the Puritanical and conservative. As a psychoanalytic companion to Bataille’s erotocism, we look how we hate sex because it challenges the walls we build and the flags we plant—amongst all this hatred, what does it mean to insist that sex is still o...

Oct 03, 202249 minSeason 1Ep. 9

Blasphemy for Cyborgs

Nietzsche said "God is dead"—now so is the Goddess. Through a reading of Donna Haraway's fabulous "Cyborg Manifesto", we delve into what it means to write, speak, and live knowing that there is no originary or objective meaning to draw from. We look at how blaspheming against systems of thought means to take them seriously, even as we confuse their boundaries and repurpose them for survival, and, most importantly, pleasure. Through Haraway's figure of the Cyborg we explore the leaky fusions open...

Sep 26, 202249 minSeason 1Ep. 8

TEASER for Salò, or the 120 Days of Sodom Review

We watched “Salò, or the 120 Days of Sodom” and are confronted with the infinite horrors of fascism and the ways we are all made complicit in them. While discussing this grotesque indictment, we also delve into gay leftist director Pier Paolo Pasolini's writings and the mystery surrounding his murder that occurred just a few weeks before the film premiered. . Serves as good company to “The Fantasy is Death” and available to patrons at any tier. . CW: the infinite horrors of fascism Hosted on Aca...

Sep 19, 20226 min

The Fantasy is Death (Part II)

Finishing off our discussion of fascism through essays from "Leatherfolk" that complicate the problem of desire, and use that to move onto contemporary queerness to look at how homonationalism and homonormativity haunts the discourse on all sides. How is it that such deeply regressive notions are laundered into our understandings of queer and trans identity? Maybe the answer can be glimpsed in the mess of erotocism all along. Show Notes: "Fascinating Fascism" in Susan Sontag's "Under the Sign of...

Sep 13, 202238 minSeason 1Ep. 7

The Fantasy is Death (Part I)

Now that we have delved into the nature of desire and erotocism, we follow the death drive into the abyss to stare directly into its most horrific product: that of fascism itself. Through a critique of Susan Sontag's essay "Fascinating Fascism", we look at the ways that fascist ideology and art insidiously operates, and ultimately how the aesthetic of the capitalist business world acts as the direct descendent of Nazi aesthetic far more than queers dressed in leather could ever be. The thing tha...

Sep 05, 202247 minSeason 1Ep. 6

The Insolent Saint of the Chasm (Part III)

To exist against and NOT with. This does not suppress joy but exalts it, it is not despair but immense hope. Today we deliver you the finale of our three-part close reading of the work and life of Laure (also known as Colette Peignot)—masochist, poet, revolutionary, and the only female member of the secret society Acéphale—dying in Bataille's home at the age of thirty-five as the forgotten author of many of the best ideas he is known for. For our last time spent with Laure, we investigate her po...

Aug 29, 202244 minSeason 1Ep. 5

The Insolent Saint of the Chasm (Part II)

Imagine a bullfight for you alone. Today we deliver you the middle of our three-part close reading of the work and life of Laure (also known as Colette Peignot)—masochist, poet, revolutionary, and the only female member of the secret society Acéphale—dying in Bataille's home at the age of thirty-five as the forgotten author of many of the best ideas he is known for. We explore Laure's relationship with chronic illness in relationship to both her broader work and disability theory, excavate the e...

Aug 23, 202250 minSeason 1Ep. 4

TEASER for Mad God Review

Listen to the teaser for our second bonus episode—a deep dive into "Mad God", Phil Tippett's sacred and profane practical effects masterpiece thirty years in the making. We discuss fluids, industrialism, solidarity (or lack thereof), sacrificing actual children on the altar of the Child, and more—alongside some asides like confusing "organ" and "Oregon". Sign up on any level tier on our Patreon to listen to the full episode and more! 💕 Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information...

Aug 19, 20222 min

The Insolent Saint of the Chasm (Part I)

What does it mean to give yourself completely and honestly? Today we start our three-part close reading of the work and life of Laure (also known as Colette Peignot)—masochist, poet, revolutionary, and the only female member of the secret society Acéphale—dying in Bataille's home at the age of thirty-five as the forgotten author of many of the best ideas he is known for. We begin by exploring Laure's origins, including the horrific abuse she suffered by a Catholic priest as a little girl, and he...

Aug 16, 202245 minSeason 1Ep. 3

Christian Mysticism & The Philosopher of Holes

We push even further into our esteemed Philosopher of Holes Georges Bataille, especially in regards to how his concept of religious erotocism can be understood with and against the embodied experiences of the Christian Mystics through the work of Amy Hollywood. We talk suckling from holy wounds, the feminized Jesus, novel insertions, foundational religious experiences, horror without limit, and much more. Traumatize thought and encounter the God of the Mystics 🍷 ⛪ 👼 To support our show and get...

Aug 01, 202255 minSeason 1Ep. 2

TEASER for Benedetta Review

For our first bonus episode, we dive into our review of the newest glorious kinky nun movie: Paul Verhoven's Benedetta. Among other things, we discuss martyrdom, miracles, femme twink Jesus, and that Virgin Mary qua dildo. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Jul 25, 20224 min

Welcome to Drunk Church

For our introductory sermon, we talk about Bataille's concept of religious eroticism, getting wasted as philosophy students, the value of taboo and rejecting gay respectability, whether or not we would be Judas for each other, transsexual embodiment, the pain of academia, encroaching fascism, leatherdyke ritual, and much more! Join us and get drunk on the blood of God 🍷 ⛪ 👼 If you would like to support our show, you can sign up for our patreon at Drunk Church where you can get exclusive conten...

Jul 16, 202247 minSeason 1Ep. 1

Drunk Church Trailer

"Welcome to Drunk Church! Come drink the blood of God with us! "I'm cosima bee concordia," "and my name is Aurora Laybourn⁠—" Episode I: Welcome to Drunk Church coming mid-July Song is "Bless You" by the Ink Spots Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Jul 08, 202231 sec
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