Show Notes
Who designs the rules of inclusion? Kevin Guyan has given a lot of thought to this question in his excellent book Rainbow Trap, which thinks through the many categories that fall under the rainbow umbrella and how they might include, exclude, limit, and even harm the people they are supposed to benefit. Listen now to learn more about why our future might hold fewer boxes to tick and how we can break boundaries to get there.
References: Kevin Guyan’s Rainbow Trap: Queer Lives, Classifications and the Dangers of Inclusion (2025) Kevin Guyan’s Queer Data: Using Gender, Sex and Sexuality Data for Action (2022) https://kevinguyan.com/ @kevin.guyan on Instagram (https://www.instagram.com/kevin.guyan/) kguyan on LinkedIn (https://www.linkedin.com/in/kguyan/) Gender Recognition Reform Bill Gender Recognition Act Kit Heyam Geoffrey Bowker and Susan Leigh Star – in particular, Sorting Things Out: Classification and Its Consequences (1999) Ian Hacking Looping effect Sara Ahmed – in particular, On Being Included: Racism and Diversity in Institutional Life (2012) A Black Queer History of the United States (2026, C. Riley Snorton and Darius Bost) Gender and Sexuality Data Lab (https://gensexdatalab.com/) Queer Data Showcase Mystika Glamoor Dean Spade’s Normal Life: Administrative Violence, Critical Trans Politics, and the Limits of Law (2011)
Questions you should be able to respond to after listening: What is a rainbow trap? Have you ever been trapped in one? Kevin speaks about ‘the dark sides of being included’. What does this mean? Have you experienced this form of categorisation? What does Kevin think about in the chapter on health and fitness? How are labels multidirectional? What are ‘looping effects’ in this context? What is a box breaker? Are you one?
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