Cracked Ivory

Talia and Emma discuss one of the worst-written books they've had to cover: Judith Butler's Gender Trouble . It is considered a landmark text of the so-called third wave of feminism, but is it all it's cracked up to be? Given that it kicked off queer theory, it certainly got a few things wrong. Join us as Talia walks Emma through the good, the bad, and the paradigm-shifting aspects...

Emma and Talia are once more joined by Isaac (he/they/ze) to ask a straightforward and simple question: what went wrong after the Trans Tipping Point? How did we go from an optimistic, promising future of shifting cultural tides and legal victories to the embittered, vicious, and cruel reactionary backlash to trans existence? To find the answer, they must look as far as three decades back, trying...

Talia and Emma make a podcast about their podcast. They discuss the trials and triumphs of season one, talk about the planning and production process, answer listener questions, and go over future plans for season two.  Contact us Support the show Find more of Talia at taliabhatt.com Find more of Emma at dolphindiaires.carrd.co

For the season one finale, Talia and Emma are joined by a very special guest: Julia Serano, transfeminist and author of Whipping Girl ! They discuss the pervasive problem of orientalism and transmisogyny in academic disciplines, the history of discomfort with trans healthcare being laundered through pseudointellectual rationalisation, and the recurrent discourses that have tried to pit conformist...

Talia locks Emma and Beth (she/her) into a call so she can ramble at them about lesbian feminism and feminist history for hours (again). She goes over the history of Michfest, the sin for which all lesbians must now answer, whether or not we attended the bloody thing or were even in the US while it was happening. In discussing the transfem-exclusionary policy of only admitting "womyn born wom...

Emma and Talia bring you an interview with the one-third of the bestselling author of The Hades Calculus Maria Ying, about lesbian futurism, not-so-feminist Greek myth retellings, and how the past is a foreign country (so you can be orientalist about it)! They are joined by Callisto Khan (she/her, @callistokhan.bsky.social) to discuss the Gunmetal Olympus series and the upcoming The Persephone Eff...

Initially, this episode was intended to be exclusive to Patreon. However, given its subject matter, we decided to instead release it to early access and then publicly. Happy holidays! For the Patreon companion episode, Emma, Talia and Lucy dive into Max Robinson's misguided nostalgia tour of the second wave's worst offerings. Robinson attempts to pen a sequel to Janice Raymond's The...

In this very special episode of Cracked Ivory, Emma traps Talia and Lucy Kartikasari (she/they/he, luckartikasari on TikTok) on a call and subjects them to Abigail Shrier's opinions on transition, teenage sex, and race. Irreversible Damage is a fear-mongering screed combined with a how-to child abuse guide aimed at the parents of young trans children, a manifesto stating plain that children o...

On this special episode of Cracked Ivory , Talia and Emma invite Jude Doyle (he/they) to discuss his new book, Did I Leave Feminism? They talk about the manufactured antagonism between feminism and queerness, how Western trans theorists talk about race and gender, recuperative readings of the second wave, and more! Did I Leave Feminism? is out now everywhere books are sold. Contact us Support the...

Today, Talia and Emma dissect The Transsexual Empire , a foundational text for the modern gender-critical movement. They discuss the history of radical lesbian feminism, the embattled discourse over trans women's place in it, and the way trans-exclusionary 'radfems' codified a feminist pretext for rank bigotry. Sources: Janice Raymond, The Transsexual Empire: The Making of the She-M...

Is there a difference between trans men and butch lesbians? Are non-transitioning queer people like refugees? And most importantly, HOW MUCH SEX ARE THEY HAVING IN THE MEN'S BATHROOM? This episode, Emma and Talia are joined by Isaac (The Trans Dandy, he/they/ze) to discuss Jack Halberstam's psychedelic experience Female Masculinity , a work of queer theory with a truly unearned reputatio...

Talia and Emma are joined by May Peterson (she/her, goddessblade.bsky.social) to discuss the sizzling and steamy world of M/M romance fiction and ask: Does having critiques of M/M media make you racist?! A single Tumblr callout post that somehow managed to become an academic paper snowballs into a discussion on identity politics, transfeminine erasure, and the anti-intellectualism inherent to a di...

For the first episode of Cracked Ivory, Talia and Emma are joined by legal historian and queer feminist of color Kay (who can be found at dihya-bint-neyth.bsky.social on Bluesky) to discuss Kimberlé Crenshaw’s oft-cited yet sparsely-read theory of intersectionality, along with its implications for masculinity studies, critics of feminism, and Ben Shapiro’s fear of bottoming. Sources: Demarginalizi...

Talia Bhatt and Emma Zakharuk unveil their evil lesbian radical transfeminist agenda: to end both Manhood and Discourse with a single podcast. 'Cracked Ivory' is an examination of popular feminist discourses and the scholarship (both good and very, very bad) that spawned them! Coming soon to wherever you get your podcasts. Contact us Support the show Find more of Talia at taliabhatt.com...