Today's episode is on the Irish mythological figure Cú Chulainn. Join us to experience tragically poetic anal penetration, some universal themes that have compelled humankind of millennia, and the two coolest cows in the universe. Check out our website , where you can find our sources, as well as everything there is to know about Queer as Fact. If you enjoy our content, consider supporting us on Patreon , checking out our merch , and following us on Instagram , Tumblr and Bluesky ....
Jan 15, 2026•1 hr 25 min•Ep. 185
Happy New Year! Today we're discussing the 1988 Korean intersex lesbian film Sa Bangji . Join us as we learn about the real 15th-century woman behind the film's main character, discover how 1980s government policy inadvertently led to the creation of a queer movie, and admire some historical hats. Check out our website , where you can find our sources, as well as everything there is to know about Queer as Fact. If you enjoy our content, consider supporting us on Patreon , checking out our merch ...
Dec 31, 2025•1 hr 4 min•Ep. 184
Today we're talking about the ancient Italian ice-mummy known as Ötzi the Iceman. Join us to learn about the world's oldest pants, the ethics of archaeology, and and whether there really was sperm in Ötzi's anus. This episode was originally released on our Patreon in 2023. There are few points throughout the episode where the sound becomes crackly. It happens three or four times, and none of the instances last more than about 30 seconds. Check out our website , where you can find our sources, as...
Dec 14, 2025•46 min•Ep. 183
We're back! The first episode of this block of episodes covers Maryam Touzani's 2022 drama film, The Blue Caftan. Join us for a discussion of queerness in Morocco, the "ostentatious nudity" of the bathhouse, and resolving the tension between differing modes of love with grace and deep affection. Check out our website , where you can find our sources, as well as everything there is to know about Queer as Fact. If you enjoy our content, consider supporting us on Patreon , checking out our merch , ...
Nov 30, 2025•49 min•Ep. 182
Today we are discussing Ursula K. Le Guin's Hugo and Nebula award-winning 1969 science fiction novel, The Left Hand of Darkness. Join us to hear about ambisexual beings who defy gender norms, the initially sexist man who comes to love them and a sexually charged journey across a glacier. Check out our website , where you can find our sources, as well as everything there is to know about Queer as Fact. If you enjoy our content, consider supporting us on Patreon , checking out our merch , and foll...
Oct 15, 2025•2 hr 6 min•Ep. 181
In today's episode, we discuss the Daoist god Tu'er Shen, who is considered to be a patron god of homosexuality. Join us to learn about intimacy between men in 18th century China, a secret gay statue, and one Daoist priest's desire to create a safe space for queer youth. Check out our website , where you can find our sources, as well as everything there is to know about Queer as Fact. If you enjoy our content, consider supporting us on Patreon , checking out our merch , and following us on Insta...
Oct 01, 2025•57 min•Ep. 180
Today's episode is on Sherlock Holmes, Sir Arthur Conan Doyle's iconic consulting detective! Join us as we talk about aromanticism, turn-of-the-century masculinity,and whether Watson is, in fact, a woman. Link to the article Watson was a Woman? discussed in the episode Check out our website , where you can find our sources, as well as everything there is to know about Queer as Fact. If you enjoy our content, consider supporting us on Patreon , checking out our merch , and following us on Instagr...
Sep 15, 2025•1 hr 16 min•Ep. 179
In today's episode, we're discussing the Circle of Sex, a 1960s astrological representation of sexuality, and its eccentric creator Gavin Arthur. Join us to hear about how to have sex à la Walt Whitman, how to figure out if you're a Sappho or a Club Woman, and whether there is a faint possibility, just maybe, that the Circle is a tiny bit flawed. If you would like to follow along at home, please have a look at the Circle of Sex diagram . We do our best to explain it, but it will hopefully make t...
Sep 01, 2025•55 min•Ep. 178
Today's marathon episode is about the French revolutionary figure Maximilien Robespierre, whose apparent lack of sexuality has been a point of discussion for scholars ever since his death. Join us as we try to find the real man behind more than two hundred years of conflicting propaganda, explore methods of approaching history on the asexual spectrum, and add to the pantheon of Queer As Fact historical pets. Check out our website , where you can find our sources, as well as everything there is t...
Jul 15, 2025•2 hr 21 min•Ep. 177
Today's episode is on the Haitian Revolutionary religious leader Romaine-la-Prophétesse whose identity as a prophetess of the Virgin Mary was key to his leadership of an insurrectionary camp in pre-revolutionary Haiti. Join us to learn about Romaine's divine mission to abolish slavery, a definitely legitimate and not at all excommunicated priest, and the implications of getting topped by the Virgin Mary for your gender identity. Check out our website , where you can find our sources, as well as ...
Jul 01, 2025•1 hr 53 min•Ep. 176
Today's episode is on the 3rd-century North African saints, Felicity and Perpetua! Join us to hear about queer dreams, the mysterious absence of Felicity and Perpetua's husbands, and why early Christians wanted to abolish gender. Read the 3rd century Passion of Saints Felicity and Perpetua , discussed in the episode, here. Check out our website , where you can find our sources, as well as everything there is to know about Queer as Fact. If you enjoy our content, consider supporting us on Patreon...
Jun 15, 2025•1 hr 20 min•Ep. 175
In today's episode, Jasmine, Irene and Alice discuss the 2017 Academy Award-winning Chilean film Una mujer fantástica ( A Fantastic Woman ). This film's grounded and sometimes surprisingly hopeful depiction of a trans woman's grief provided such a realistic depiction of legal barriers facing trans people in Chile that it contributed to positive changes in legislation around gender transition. Join us to talk about a three-dimensional trans protagonist, how queer suffering is not inevitable, and ...
Jun 01, 2025•1 hr 13 min•Ep. 174
Today's episode is on asexual and aromantic history! We're talking with Luciella Scarlett, the curator of Nonlimerent // Monosexual: An Aromantic and Asexual History . Join us to hear about the first self-identified ace person, the evolution of ace and aro terminology, and how much we can learn from looking at history through an asexual lens. You can check out Nonlimerent // Monosexual: An Aromantic and Asexual History online here and see Luciella talk more about her work in the Aces Never Ever ...
Apr 15, 2025•29 min•Ep. 173
Today's Queer as Fiction episode discusses David Lowery's 2021 adaptation of Arthurian legend, The Green Knight. Join us for a romp through allegorical adventures of identity, whale-like giants and dissapointingly unsexy ents. If you'd like to read Jude Doyle's review (that we discuss fairly extensively towards the end of the episode), you can do so here: https://judedoyle.medium.com/the-green-knight-is-the-existential-queer-folk-horror-we-need-843be5fbd1d6 If you never got around to our episode...
Mar 31, 2025•53 min•Ep. 172
Today we’re talking about the Nigerian performer Area Scatter. Learn about her successful career as a trans performer in 1970s Nigeria, gender diversity in Igbo culture, and how we approach research when academic sources are limited. Check out our website , where you can find our sources, as well as everything there is to know about Queer as Fact. If you enjoy our content, consider supporting us on Patreon , checking out our merch , and following us on Instagram , Tumblr and Bluesky . (Image cre...
Mar 15, 2025•1 hr 8 min•Ep. 171
Today's episode is on Italian-British sculptor Fiore de Henriquez, whose art reflected her own complicated relationship with gender and sex as an intersex person. Join us to hear about Fiore distracting Nazis with crepes, seducing everyone around her whether she meant to or not, refounding a town, and ruminating on the gendered nature of clay. Check out our website , where you can find our sources, as well as everything there is to know about Queer as Fact. If you enjoy our content, consider sup...
Mar 01, 2025•1 hr 20 min•Ep. 170
Today we're bringing you a little bonus episode to tide you over until March! We're chatting with George Savoulis, the curatorial director of Qtopia , Sydney's centre for queer history and culture. Join us to hear about queer shoes, the complexities of sharing queer history in an old police station, and why you should visit Sydney! Check out our website , where you can find our sources, as well as everything there is to know about Queer as Fact. If you enjoy our content, consider supporting us o...
Feb 25, 2025•27 min•Ep. 169
Today's episode is on Jane Schoenbrun's breakout 2024 horror film - I Saw The TV Glow. Join us for a discussion that is alternately haunting and deeply silly, featuring playground parachutes, TV-based queer awakenings and Alice's love of soup. Check out our website , where you can find our sources, as well as everything there is to know about Queer as Fact. If you enjoy our content, consider supporting us on Patreon , checking out our merch , and following us on Instagram , Tumblr and Bluesky . ...
Jan 14, 2025•1 hr 5 min•Ep. 168
Today's episode is on the Spanish-Chinese pilot, diplomat, and concentration camp survivor Nadine Hwang. Join us to learn about Parisian lesbians, the skills of the ultimate modern women, and Nadine's war-time romance with her life-partner Nelly Mousset-Vos. Check out our website , where you can find our sources, as well as everything there is to know about Queer as Fact. If you enjoy our content, consider supporting us on Patreon , checking out our merch , and following us on Instagram , Tumblr...
Jan 01, 2025•1 hr 1 min•Ep. 167
Today we're talking about Megillus, a trans-masculine character in the 2nd-century text Dialogues of the Courtesans . Tune in for three separate queer characters, the complexities of discussing transness in the ancient world, and a whole host of mythological examples of ways to be queer. If you want to listen to the episode on Roman women for some background, you can check it out here. If you want to read the dialogue we're discussing, you can find it here. Check out our website , where you can ...
Dec 14, 2024•29 min•Ep. 166
Today's episode is on the 17th-century nun, saint, and religious leader Walatta Petros. Join us for Queer as Fact's first visit to Ethiopia, as we learn about 17th century religious conflicts; discuss Walatta Petros' lifelong relationship with Eheta Kristos; and wade into scholarly debate on exactly what the nuns in her community were getting up to. Check out our website , where you can find our sources, as well as everything there is to know about Queer as Fact. If you enjoy our content, consid...
Nov 30, 2024•1 hr 17 min•Ep. 165
Today’s episode is on 2021’s Rwandan/American science fiction musical, Neptune Frost. Join us for a discussion of cyberpunk fashion choices, technomagical gender transitions and some of the worst pigeon acting you’ve ever seen. Check out our website , where you can find our sources, as well as everything there is to know about Queer as Fact. If you enjoy our content, consider supporting us on Patreon , checking out our merch , and following us on Instagram , Tumblr and Bluesky . [Image: A poster...
Oct 15, 2024•53 min•Ep. 164
Today's episode is on the US Civil War soldier Albert Cashier. Tune in for some heartwarming trans acceptance in the 1910s, a wild genealogy trip, and an unpleasant discovery about how often Civil War soldiers bathed. Check out our website , where you can find our sources, as well as everything there is to know about Queer as Fact. If you enjoy our content, consider supporting us on Patreon , checking out our merch , and following us on Instagram , Tumblr and Bluesky . [Image: Portrait of Albert...
Oct 01, 2024•1 hr 30 min•Ep. 163
Today's episode is on the mystery of Australian banker and rower John Lempriere Irvine. Join us to hear about rollerskating balls, rowing drama, and the possibilities of gay life in 19th century Australia. Check out our website , where you can find our sources, as well as everything there is to know about Queer as Fact. If you enjoy our content, consider supporting us on Patreon , checking out our merch , and following us on Instagram , Tumblr and Bluesky . [Image: tintype photograph of John, wh...
Sep 14, 2024•1 hr 29 min•Ep. 162
Today we're joined by Lazou from Nuances: Our Asian Stories to discuss her series Queering Premodern Asia . Join us as we chat about the complexities of queer history, the importance of non-Western stories, and queer Chinese ghosts. You can check out Nuances here. Visit out our website , where you can find everything there is to know about Queer as Fact. If you enjoy our content, consider supporting us on Patreon , checking out our merch , and following us on Instagram , Tumblr and Bluesky ....
Sep 01, 2024•1 hr 5 min•Ep. 161
Today's episode is on a passage from the work of 14th century French Jewish writer and translator Qalonymos ben Qalonymos. Join us to learn about Qalonymos' life, explore their understandings of gender through a passage from their work the Even Bochan , and discuss its connections to historical and modern Jewish practice. Check out our website , where you can find our sources, as well as everything there is to know about Queer as Fact. If you enjoy our content, consider supporting us on Patreon ...
Jul 15, 2024•51 min•Ep. 160
Today's episode is on the 19th-century Japanese artist Okuhara Seiko. Join us to learn about gender in Japan's Meiji era, an 1860s coming-out party, and getting a doctor's certificate to cut your hair. Check out our website , where you can find our sources, as well as everything there is to know about Queer as Fact. If you enjoy our content, consider supporting us on Patreon , checking out our merch , and following us on Instagram , Tumblr and Bluesky . [Image: Black-and-white photograph of Okuh...
Jun 30, 2024•1 hr 3 min•Ep. 159
Today's episode is on Cassandro , the 2023 biopic of luchador Saúl Armendáriz. Join us as we learn about the history of lucha libre, the growing visibility of queer wrestlers and whether a luchador could become president of Mexico. Check out our website , where you can find our sources, as well as everything there is to know about Queer as Fact. If you enjoy our content, consider supporting us on Patreon , checking out our merch , and following us on Instagram , Tumblr and Bluesky . [Image: Acto...
Jun 15, 2024•1 hr 15 min•Ep. 158
We're back! Today's episode is on the Australian singer and male impersonator, Nellie Small. Join us to hear about the experiences of people of colour in 20th-century Australia, Nellie's extensive and stylish suit collection, and an unfortunate reminder that, regardless of your gender presentation, your boss will always try to steal your wages. Check out our website , where you can find our sources, as well as everything there is to know about Queer as Fact. If you enjoy our content, consider su...
Jun 01, 2024•1 hr 13 min•Ep. 157
Today's episode is on the Dutch cellist, conductor, and WWII resistance fighter Frieda Belinfante. Join us to hear about Frieda's groundbreaking career as a female conductor, the many women who fell in love with her, and how to forge a 1940s Dutch ID card in excruciating detail. Check out our website , where you can find out everything there is to know about Queer as Fact. If you enjoy our content, consider supporting us on Patreon , checking out our merch , and following us on Twitter , Tumblr ...
Oct 05, 2023•1 hr 32 min•Ep. 156
