Explore every episode of the podcast Sinister Myth

Spoken word poet Catherine Maynard talks about how audiences to spoken word poetry react to sharing stories sexual violence. She talks about her decision to share poems about sexual assault, and she reads her poem, ‘Smile.’ Content warning: mention of violence against women and sexual violence.

In a strong worded discussion of heteronormative pressure, psychology student Sydney Williams explains what bi-erasure means, and how assumptions about bisexuality can have real impacts in the world. Content warning: use of strong language. Please note that these recent podcasts were recorded under pandemic conditions, and so we were not able to record them in… Continue reading Sinister Myth Keyword: Bi-erasure

Why are LGBTQ suicide rates high and what can we do to change that? Medical anthropology student Adalie Schmidt interviews expert Dr. Alexandra VanBergen of University of Rochester about her research into suicidal thoughts and behaviors in the US. Alexandra VanBergen discusses the risks, highlights the problems for adolescents in particular, and talks about how… Continue reading Suicide Rates & LGBTQ Communities

What does emotional labor mean and how does it manifest itself? Ohio State University English major Megan Moody discusses what the term means and how it affects women and minorities disproportionately. Please note that these recent podcasts were recorded under pandemic conditions, and so we were not able to record them in the studio.

In this “Sinister Myth: Case Study”, Natarshia Corley tackles the killing of Florida activist Oluwatoyin Salau, questioning to what extent black women’s lives lost are registered in the struggle to end the violence. Natarshia Corley is a graduate student at the Ohio State University, working in the Self, Stereotypes, and Social Norms Lab. Sinister Myth… Continue reading Sinister Myth Case Study: The Case of Oluwatoyin Salau

This interview tackles the experience of Black students in universities and schools, featuring the work of researcher Sherita V. Roundtree, Assistant Professor at Towson University. Prof. Roundtree discusses her research on developing diverse representation and equitable access for students, teachers, and scholars who write in, instruct in, and theorize about writing classrooms. Roundtree explains noise… Continue reading Unsafe Higher Education Spaces and Noise Pedagogy

On November 1st, Sinister Myth held an online poetry reading a day after Halloween and a few days before the US Presidential Election. Regardless of who would win, the women reading gathered together to perform a protective hex through poems, gathering strength and power. The readers were a squad of seven: Sarona Abuaker, Sascha Aurora… Continue reading The Hexing Circle: A Pre-election Poetry Reading

For Sinister Myth Bitesize this month, we talk with the British poet and writer Roger Robinson. This is a snippet preview of a forthcoming interview with Roger whose book ‘A Portable Paradise’ won the TS Eliot and Ondaatje Prizes. The T.S. Eliot Prize judges wrote of the book: “The collection’s title points to the underlying… Continue reading Sinister Bitesize: Writing Empathy Machines

If you don’t know the history of U.S. interference and dubious practices in Puerto Rico, this interview with Malia Womack is a must hear. Recorded at the end of last year when Malia was completing field work in Puerto Rico, the discussion focuses on the history of US colonialism on the island including the testing… Continue reading Malia Lee Womack: Analyzing US Colonial Human Rights Abuses Against Puerto Ricans

This interview – delayed due to the global pandemic – features Elissa Washuta, a member of the Cowlitz Indian Tribe and a nonfiction writer. She is the author of My Body Is a Book of Rules and Starvation Mode, and her book White Magic is forthcoming from Tin House Books. With Theresa Warburton, she is… Continue reading Burning Down Narratives of Shame

2020 sees a new production team working on Sinister Myth, and Zoe Brigley interviews them about their interests for creating new thematic strands, including political debates about trauma, the experience of minority students in higher education, and healing in the context of the community. Alex Ameter worked for political campaigns, a foreign policy think tank… Continue reading Meet the New Sinister Myth Team

New for 2020, we begin a new series “Sinister Case Study” where specific critics and experts comment on particular cases of violence. Zoë Brigley discusses the recent case of gang rape in Cyprus, commenting on the inadequacies of institutional responses to sexual violence, and the scrutiny of survivors’ experiences and responses to trauma as a… Continue reading Sinister Myth: Case Study

For this special Halloween issue of Sinister Myth Bitesize, Professor Shannon Winnubst talks about the vampire and racist imaginaries that project violence on black and minority men.

In this thought-provoking interview, Nick White talks about his relationship with queerness in the American South and now in the Midwest, in relation to his new books. A fiction-writer, White has an incredible facility with creating complex characters, for example in his short story collection, Sweet and Lowdown(2018), and he talks about researching gay conversion… Continue reading The Flourishing of Queerness in the American South and Beyond

Sinister Myth Bitesize is a tasty morsel of sinister wisdom to keep you going until the next full podcast. In this edition, Erin Upchurch talks about the inadequacies of sex education, and what we can do to improve it.

Elisha Clark Halpin and Megan Moore, dance academics and practitioners at the Pennsylvania State University, talk about the liberating potential of dance for expressing the concerns of women and minorities, as well as outlining problems of homogenized bodies in narrow ideas of what dance can be. They talk about the healing potential of dance where… Continue reading Dance, Trauma, and the Autonomous Body

Brendan Walsh and Zoë Brigley Thompson discuss “gaslighting”, a term often used to describe the psychological manipulation of someone leading them to often question their own sanity. In this episode, you will learn the origins and aspects of gaslighting and its negative impacts on relationships.

Feminist philosopher Shannon Winnubst talks to Sinister Myth about her recent book, Way Too Cool: Selling Out Race and Ethics. She also explains what neoliberalism is and how specific cultures of cool which begin as a way for people of color to express resistance are often appropriated by mainstream culture but in a sanitized version.… Continue reading Stop Appropriating Cool!

Sinister Myth Bitesize is a tasty morsel of sinister wisdom to keep you going until the next full podcast. In this month’s bitesize, Treva Lindsey talks about the possibilities and politics of hair for black women.

Treva Lindsey, author of Colored No More: Reinventing Black Womanhood in Washington, discusses the myths told about black women, as well as stories about American nationhood which work to privilege whiteness and marginalize minorities. An eloquent anti-violence advocate, Lindsey discusses the fight over representations of black women, including trans women, and she explains how online… Continue reading Building a Sturdy Table

Sinister Myth Bitesize is a tasty morsel of sinister wisdom to keep you going until the next full podcast. Here Erin Upchurch talks about allyship, and what we can do for minority communities besides listening. Interview by Brendan Walsh.

Jonathan Branfman is interviewed about his experience working on a sex education program at the Ohio State University, which seeks to bring clarity on issues like consent, STDs, and the much needed LGBTQ+ education that is so often erased or sidelines in schools. Branfman is the author of a book for children –not on sex… Continue reading Sex Education, and the Problem with The Little Mermaid

Brendan Walsh and Zoë Brigley Thompson discuss “internalized oppression,” a term often used to describe self-policing in response to pressure from society. What are the uses of this term? Can it empower people, or can it also be weaponized to be used against minority communities?

In the first interview of the Sinister Myth series, Erin Upchurch talks about her work as the director of Kaleidoscope. Upchurch talks about her background of service in the community, and how she came to work with LGBTQ+ youth. She discusses the challenges that queer youth face, including trans people and people of color, and… Continue reading Showing Up as Ourselves: LGBTQ Youth Interview with Erin Upchurch

In this introductory episode, Michaela Corning-Myers interviews Brendan Walsh and Zoë Brigley Thompson, who together created this Sinister Myth podcast series. They talk about the origins of the title, the podcast’s aim to challenge stories about women and minorities that perpetuate violence, and how it is being used in Sexuality Studies teaching.