Tender Subject

Facehuggers, Xenomorphs, Offspring, oh my! This week Kayte and Mae are joined by writer/educatrix Tina Horn ( @tinahornsass ) to talk about our favorite body horror scenes in the Alien Franchise! We're talking about guts, gore, psychosexual horror and more in our longest, rowdiest episode yet! But hey, we watched SEVEN alien movies in a week for you!  Where you can find Tina:  Buy Tina's new book,...

Kayte and Jay and guest R.E. Parrish are zipping up our wyrm-skin jumpsuits and plunging into the gnostic fantasy that is Elytron Frass' Moieties. We talk about Ergodic literature, Ero Guru nansensu, the history of gnosticism, the book as tactile object and all sorts of other esoteric weirdness. Media referenced:  "The Erotic Japanese Art Movement Born Out of Decadence" by Evelyn Wang, Dazed Magaz...

"The End of the World is Nuts" Writer J †Johnson joins Kayte and Mae to talk about the beautiful and bloody novel Manhunt by Gretchen Felker Martin. We talk about how refreshing it is to read a gender apocalypse book that doesn't deal in binaries. Plus: don't trust rich libs, incredibly hot sex and how to build community at the end of the world.  Media we referenced: Heat Death interview with Gret...

Guys, are cars bad? We ask this and so many other important questions as we dig deep under the hood of Julia Ducournau's oil slicked film, Titane with writer Sophie Lewis ( @reproutopia ) We're talking about abjection, family abolition, gender fluidity and what it means to f*ck a car. Let's ride!  Sources referenced: Return of the Monstrous-Feminine: Feminist New Wave Cinema by Barbara Creed "A Ne...

Press play on your PJ Harvey cassette tape, we are talking about season 1 of Yellowjackets with writer Madeline Lane-McKinley! We dissect themes of adolescence, maenadism, fandom and ‘90s culture. Plus! Are teenage girls really that mean? Is there enough cannibalism in Yellowjackets or just enough?  Buy Madeline’s book Comedy Against Work here   Pre-order Fag/Hag here soon!  And look out for Solid...

This week, Kayte and Jay are joined by Jon from Horror Vanguard and we are back in the world of Hannibal Lecter! We talk about Ridley Scott's 2001 movie Hannibal and the Thomas Harris novel (1999) of the same name. On the menu: Dante! Opera! Hannibal shopping! Florence! Surveillance and Mediation!  Sources discussed in this episode: "A Postmodern Reproduction of Dante Alighieri's Exile" by Antonio...

Writer, worker and agitator Vicky Osterweil joins us this week to talk about the 1999 horror western dark comedy (?) Ravenous! Come along with us as we head out to the snowy wilds of the Western mountains; we talk Wendigos, colonizers, monstrous gays, the myth of the "noble frontiersman" and bravery. Also, a bananas soundtrack by Michael Nyman and Damon Alburn! Subscribe to Vicky's newsletter: htt...

Hello Sapphic sickos! It's a femme extravaganza this week on Tender Subject as we are joined by Mae of the Ladykillers pod and Beth of Kayte's polycule to talk about Love Lies Bleeding! We talk about service tops, muscle mommies, Macho Sluts and giant women! Plus, is the end of the film real or fantasy and does it matter? Sources mentioned in the episode: Macho Sluts by Patrick Califia (borrow it...

This week, Kayte and new co-host Dave Maher are talking about David Cronenberg’s earliest features, Shivers and Rabid. We dish about sexual repression, white flight, zombies and wonder what it would be like if the United States funded arts and culture.  Sources we referenced:  “Film Bodies: Gender, Genre and Excess” by Linda Williams  “ A Mindless Orgy: Liberation and Monstrosity in Cronenberg’s B...

We are joined by Donovan and Audrey from Radio Free Tote Bag to talk about the Netflix Zombie show, Santa Clarita Diet! We talk about the origins of zombies, the Capitalist hoard and what to do if your partner is undead.  Some readings Kayte references: On the Frontlines of the Zombie War in the Congo: Digital Technology, the Trade in Conflict Minerals, and Zombificationby Jeffrey W. Mantz from Mo...

----more----Om nom nom.  Eating the Rich: why aren’t we doing it yet? This week we are Joined by Luisa Diez from Why You Mad to dish over the “Eat the Rich” movie trend. We talk Saltburn, The Menu, and Triangle of Sadness plus, Luisa has an “Eat the Rich” movie Taxonomy!  Eat the Rich: The Evolution of a Slogan By We are the Mutants https://wearethemutants.com/2020/02/13/eat-the-rich-the-evolution...

Leòn from The Left Page and Here Be Media joins us again to discuss season 2 of everyone's favorite queer cannibal show: Hannibal!    Find Leòn (and Frank) wherever you get your podcasts: https://linktr.ee/leftpagehbm Follow us on Twitter  @tender_subject  and on Instagram  @tendersubjectpod We're also on Bluesky  @tendersubject.bsky.social Art by  Anya R. Hueing Music by  @coffin_flops

Saddle up that celestial cow, we're talking about origin myths.  Media mentioned:  Crecganford video: https://youtu.be/Cgku-koMiLM?si=YJCZtg64whw5vQiy Patai (1967) The Hebrew Goddess https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Hebrew_Goddess Wakeman (1969). https://www.jstor.org/stable/3263723?casa_token=4KQFNyu0U8kAAAAA%3ASMiTgV4YZTO_-XS013hZaXBv9-su2WO3lpnb2G1mEzyyTKrGiq27Ww0rJG8pbbD7ezmdUWYJ1-Lpb_HCO8Wmq...

Have you turned your flangers down? You better, because this week, we're joined by Dave Maher to talk about the film Flux Gourmet! This film had us questioning the nature of authenticity, and it also made us equate farts with noise music, but in a good way. Dave Maher is a super cool comedian! You can view his work, such as the podcasts This Is Your Afterlife and Genre Reveal Party, at https://lin...

Who's hungry? This week, all the way from the bottom of the stew, we're joined by noted Herschell Gordon Lewis expert LaborKyle to talk about Blood Feast (1963). In doing so, we summon Ishtar (which means we talk about all sorts of stuff like treating your artistic work as work, how Victorians ate mummies, and the warm piss stream of Marxism). You can find LaborKyle on places like YouTube, Patreon...

"Food doesn't get a last will and testament." This week, Kayte and Jay are joined by the designers of Head of the Family, Jacqueline Bryk/Jax Romana and Jason Burnett. What's Head of the Family? We're glad you asked! Head of the Family is a Live Action Role Playing game (LARP) that your co-hosts were invited to participate in! Why? Because: It's a LARP set in the world of Tender is the Flesh.   Yo...

This week, Jay tells Kayte about the Vajrayana Buddhist practice of chöd, where a person visualizes sacrificing their body for a feast of buddhas and demons. Through this, we explore death, the use of human remains in ritual, and the liberatory potentials of this kind of practice.   Jay also talks about this practice a little on the Empty Man episode of Horror Vanguard: https://soundcloud.com/user...

This week, Kayte and Jay discuss two books about the relationship between capitalism, the meat industry, and the exploitation of both human and non-human animals. We also talk about how people involved with cannibal media keep going vegetarian: Guillermo del Toro, Bryan Fuller, Agustina Bazterrica, and now Kayte!   Tender is the Flesh by Agustina Bazterrica Meat Love: An Ideology of the Flesh by A...

Did somebody order head cheese? If you did, you're in luck! This week, we're joined by Johanna Isaacson, author of Stepford Daughters: Weapons for Feminists in Contemporary Horror, to talk about the one, the only, The Texas Chain Saw Massacre! We ask the important questions, such as, "does Leatherface represent feminized labor?" and "is Leatherface trapped in an MLM?" (We worry about Leatherface's...

Strike Information: https://www.sagaftrastrike.org/ https://www.wgacontract2023.org/   Leon from The Left Page and Here Be Media joins us to discuss season 1 of everyone's favorite queer cannibal show: Hannibal! And what is a podcast? Is it not when people come together and forge a connection? The boundaries between the Self and the Other merging like so many sound waves? Tell me, Will...is your S...

We're finally gonna talk about cannibalism and The ChurchTM...but probably not in the way you expect! Justin from the librarypunk podcast joins us to discuss such things as the existential paranoias of 2nd century Christians, whatever happened to Jesus' foreskin, and the reason gay sex is so cosmologically threatening. Articles and books mentioned: Cohn, Norman. The Pursuit of the Millennium: Revo...

We're due a good manifesto, don't you agree? This week, we're joined by Frank from The Left Page/Here Be Media podcasts to discuss the Manifesto Antropófago, or the Cannibalist Manifesto, by Brazilian poet Oswald de Andrade.   The translation we're working from: https://www.jstor.org/stable/20119601 Frank's references: "Cem anos da Semana de Arte Moderna: O gabinete paulista e a conjuração das van...

Jon aka TheLitCritGuy, one of the two co-ghosts of Horror Vanguard, joins us to discuss Brandon Cronenberg's debut film Antiviral. Make sure you get your vaccine series of celebrity and the Spectacle, and don't forget your boosters of radical collectivity and the importance of being a weird little guy.   You can find Jon on Twitter and Bluesky as thelitcritguy. Listen to Horror Vanguard wherever y...

You asked, we delivered. Comedian and podcaster Jake Flores joins us to talk about Julia Ducournau's 2016 film Raw.   You can find Jake everywhere @feraljokes. Listen to his podcasts Pod Damn America and Why You Mad .   Follow us on Twitter  @tender_subject  and on Instagram  @tendersubjectpod We're also now on Bluesky @tendersubject.bsky.social Art by  Anya R. Hueing Music by  @coffin_flops

We're joined by our very first guest, Ashley Darrow from the Horror Vanguard podcast, to talk about the 1980 horror film Motel Hell. This movie has everything: class politics, eco-Christofascism, chainsaw fights, swingers. It also sparked a great discussion about the ethics of meat production and the politics of total liberation. You can find Ash here: @darrowvania on Twitter @darrowscope on Insta...