The Lavender Menace

our advice to LGBTQ high schoolers & very belated review of Adele's latest album, 30

The Lavender Menace

Show Notes

Disclaimer: this episode was recorded back in November of 2021, but we said what we said! We respond to a listener's negative experiences with male entitlement (trigger warning for sexual harassment) as well as their hot take on the Madonna/Whore dynamic in relationship to lesbianism. This listener's message was a delight to go through, and Renaissance really saw themself in their email. To sum up our advice- you will learn and grow and change, and current high school sapphic listeners should apply to historically women's college if they're considering going to college. For the media analysis portion of the pod, Renaissance reveals being a long time Adele stan, but Sunny is a bit more of a reluctant listener. As usual with our album reviews, we rank the songs on 30 from least enjoyed to most enjoyed, and while everything we said in this episode still stands, keep in mind that these were our fresh reactions and our thoughts on the album have settled and ruminated over time. And as usual, we make comparative analyses to Taylor Swift. (We are diehard swiftie gaylors and that's the truth!) For the final third part of the podcast where we recommend each other media, Sunny pitches The Secret Lives of Church Ladies by Deesha Philyaw, a short story collection about various Black women's experiences in loose relationship to their churches. Renaissance recommends Adele's debut album 19 for its parallels to her current work. You can support The Lavender Menace podcast by becoming a patron at patreon.com/TheLavenderMenace. Follow us on socials for updates and extra content, @thelavendermenacepod on Tik Tok and Instagram, @thelavenderpod on Twitter and Letterboxd. Sunny can be found discussing books on YouTube and Twitter at a sunny book nook, and Renaissance can be reached at @renaissancemarie on Instagram and Tik Tok, and @rxnaissance on Twitter.

More from The Lavender Menace

May 16, 2026

A very belated part 2 of our 2025 wrap up episode (LOL) recorded the same day as our most recent episode prior to this one. TLDL: art under capitalism is destroying art, anorexia is the devil and so is technology

Mar 7, 2026

A very belated 2025 wrap up episode (we recorded for over four hours back in December LOL so this is part one....) in which we discuss: Lesbian Feminist Book Club: https://www.instagram.com/lesbianfeministbookclub/ mindfulness meditation and letting ourselves be bored being anti-overconsumption and anti-internet and social media PHYSICAL MEDIA!!!!! Scorched Earth: Beyond the Digital Age to a Post-Capitalist World by Jonathan Crary All Our Trials: Prisons, Policing, and the Feminist Fight to End Violence by Emily L. Thuma A Brick and Bible: Black Women's Radical Activism in the Midwest During the Great Depression by Melissa Ford When Driving Is Not An Option: Steering Away from Car Dependency by Anna Letitia Zivarts Why Does He Do That? Inside the Minds of Angry and Controlling Men by Lundy Bancroft Imperfect Victims: Criminalized Survivors and the Promise of Abolition Feminism by Leigh Goodmark Perfect Victims: and the Politics of Appeal by Mohammed el-Kurd Kwaneta Harris: https://www.instagram.com/kwanetaharris/ Ra'jiva Tha Rulaa: https://www.youtube.com/@rajiva_tharulaa The Body Keeps the Score Brain, Mind, and Body in the Healing of Trauma by Bessel van der Kolk Thanks for joining us for this episode! Send your hot takes to [email protected] and support us on Patreon or Substack for bonus content and early access: https://www.patreon.com/TheLavenderMenace https://www.patreon.com/TheLavenderMenace Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/TheLavenderMenacePod

Dec 19, 2025

Are white queers entitled about their history and culture? Can femmes be nonbinary? And other pressing questions that our listeners, patrons, and substack subscribers have submitted to us... (Email us your hot takes at [email protected]!!!) Queer history is so so so important and most gay people do not know enough of it! The Persistent Desire: A Femme-Butch Reader edited by Joan Nestle is one of the most important lesbian history books ever BTW, especially for femmes and butches. Silvia Federici's 2004 book Caliban & the Witch: Women, the Body and Primitive Accumulation is a book all feminists, Marxists, and Marxist feminists need to read. The politics of magic, the witch hunts, and the relationship between European colonialism and the dispossession of women and workers are some of the topics this book thoroughly explores. We cannot recommend it enough. Check out Sunny's recommendation of Sophie Lewis's books (Abolish the Family, Full Surrogacy Now, & Enemy Feminism) and Sunny's interview with Sophie, and Renaissance's Letterboxd and their recommendation of the documentary Feminism Inshallah: A History of Arab Feminism. Disclaimer: we recorded this episode back in the spring.

Jun 19, 2025

This episode includes discussion of: “butch-femme” aesthetic photos, our problem with Pinterest, internet personas and the importance of being earnest (and also genuine!) Also: the importance of female singer-songwriters and how CINEMA IS BACK which might be a recession/fascism indicator... In discussing the the racial and historical background of Sinners (2025), we examine the portrayal of truth and legacy in this surprisingly good blockbuster movie. From lynching to sharecropping, the frankness with which Ryan Coogler portrays 1932 Mississippi was incredibly moving. Our recommendations: https://www.solidaritycinema.com/ and The Wedding by Dorothy West. 01:04:04 — when we start talking about Sinners Thanks for joining us for this episode! Send your hot takes to [email protected] and support us on Patreon for bonus content and early access: https://www.patreon.com/TheLavenderMenace Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/TheLavenderMenacePod Letterboxd: https://letterboxd.com/thelavenderpod/ Substack: https://thelavendermenace.substack.com Twitter: https://twitter.com/TheLavenderPod

May 7, 2025

This podcast episode brought to you today by lukewarm politics of hair takes re: Bush discourse (not the president) and Kanye/Bianca, a hot take from Sunny about the Doechii album, & Black lesbian film love from Renaissance Send your HOTTEST TAKES to [email protected] ! & Support your favorite indie dykes & get early episode access/exclusive bonus content on our Patreon: https://www.patreon.com/c/TheLavenderMenace Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/TheLavenderMenacePod Letterboxd: https://letterboxd.com/thelavenderpod/ Substack: https://thelavendermenace.substack.com Twitter: https://twitter.com/TheLavenderPod

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