Episode 17: DEMANDING TRANS & GENDERQUEER EQUITY IN PERI/MENOPAUSE with Lasara Firefox Allen & Ed Varga

⚡️In this episode we dive into Oregon State Representative Annessa Hartman’s journey through public service, stage 3 cervical cancer, and sudden medically induced menopause. She reflects on representing her community as an Indigenous woman, navigating party politics, and advocating for more responsive healthcare. She also shares the physical and emotional impact of treatment and menopause, highlighting the need for earlier screening, better support, and more open conversations about women’s health. ⚡️

⚡️In Ep 50 Congresswoman Maxine Dexter joins us to discuss peri/menopause, hormone therapy, and why access to HRT matters. Drawing on her experience as a physician, policymaker, and patient, Dexter reflects on her perimenopause symptoms and the effect of treatment, what’s behind lingering fears around HRT, medication access, and the need for evidence-based care. She also connects menopause care with reproductive rights and gender-affirming care, arguing that medical decisions belong with patients and clinicians, and she lays out ways people can advocate for better access with universal healthcare for all!⚡️

⚡️On this weeks episode we get to chat with the Queen of our dreams Jane Wiedlin, innovative guitarist and songwriter of The Go-Go's and author of upcoming tell-all "TMI" and ask all of the burning questions! The bucket list is real folks!😍 We talk about the band’s origin in the LA punk scene, how they broke through with pop-forward songs, and why their all-female success was so groundbreaking. We also get deep on creativity, sexism, bipolar disorder, menopause, hormone therapy, and Jane’s new memoir and protest album. We dive into Jane’s path from glitter rock to Hollywood punk, the realities of touring 300 days a year, and the legacy of being the first all-female band to write, play, and hit number one on the charts. We also break into a frank, practical conversation about midlife health, quality of life, and what it means to fight for yourself as a woman in this wild sh*tshow of a world! ⚡️

⚡️This week we get the absolute gift of talking with brilliant entertainer/activist and the ACLU'S first-ever Artist Ambassador for Transgender Justice MISS PEPPERMINT ! ⚡️

⚡️In this week's In this weeks episode Alicia and Jibz Cameron AKA Dynasty Handbag connect the dots between creativity, survival, bipolar disorder and the ways women and AFAB people have been under-treated for decades. We get into her feral childhood origin story and fierce memoir “Hell in a Handbag”, her brilliantly strange alchemy of performance and autobiography, how trauma, queerness, and art shaped her persona, and how hormone access, mental health, and midlife care is a deeply political issue. We also dive into hacks for self-advocacy, the exhausting estrogen patch shortage 🤬, how sharing stories with community can be life saving, overcoming struggles with body image, aging, neurodivergence, masking, the need for rest AND SO MUCH MORE! ⚡️