Gay erasure in anime, JRPGs and western media

In between fan-girling over Sailor Moon, Paul talks about the recent update, Sailor Moon Crystal, and the inclusion of a non-binary character, and two homosexual relationships. They also veer into the world of Japanese Role Playing Games, and the fetishisation of lesbianism and the female form in some Japanese anime and games. Finally, they share their love of life simulator and farming games, especially Story of Seasons where they each got the chance for their male characters to marry another boy.

AR AV Club: Sailor Moon

The show isn't subtle, so we won't be subtle either in our opinions.

We review It's A Sin, written and created by Russel T Davies. We talk about how the show could be perceived as perpetuating old fears about HIV without balancing it with up to date facts, how it depicts real situations that gay people of that era had to face, and the importance of sexual education for teenagers of all sexualities.

AR AV Club: It's A Sin

A.k.a. how Matt intuited the dog's name by staring into its eyes

Time for a fun story about getting our new Jack Russell Terrier, Zack! We talk about how Coronavirus helped us save enough money to buy him, how Matt chose him name by staring into his eyes, why we feel guilty for not adopting a dog instead (but also why it totally wasn't out fault), and how weird Zack is (making him a perfect member of the family).

His & His-tory: Adding A Dog

The danger of being anti-trans, and why cancel culture is democracy

We talk about the recent, but really not that recent, controversy around Dave Chappelle's new Netflix special, The Closer, particularly as it pertains to being anti-trans, pro-TERF, and homophobic. We explore the nature of cancel culture, what might be the best way to meter out the justice, and make comparisons between Dave Chappelle and J.K. Rowling about why one might be easier to cancel than the other.

The Rainbow Dissection: Dave Chappelle

A.k.a. Grant and Paul versus religious dogma

In what has to be our boldest discussion yet, we tackle the misinformation being spread about trans people, gay marriage, abortion, and COVID vaccines, and take a run at the Australian Christian Lobby and pointing out their hypocrisy. As always, we throw in random pop culture references to Parks and Recreation and Malcolm Gladwell, just to keep it light, but it's mostly political, so hold onto your bipartisan party hats, because it's a political episode, people.

The Rainbow Dissection: Misinformation

Why we're all bad at reading other people.

Though Paul badly explains the book, he does his best to present the key issues raised in Talking To Strangers: the very human behaviour of default to truth, the illusion of transparency and the importance of context. We broaden the discussion to talk about why we remember bad things better than good things, why we need to allow each other to change rather than holding onto fixed ideas, and how stereotypes are both human, but problematic.

AR AV Club: Talking To Strangers by Malcolm Gladwell

Our most COVID-filled episode ever!

We've been avoiding talking about COVID too much in Season 2, but now we're facing it head on by talking about things that make us feel uncomfortable in this COVID era, like vaccines and wearing masks. We talk about how a country's culture has impacted their perspective on COVID, the parallels with the London Blitz and what the difference between a "remote miss" and a "near miss" is, and the issues around consent for people with intellectual disability. It's a long and complex episode, people, but we hope it gives you a bit more to think about.

Spectrum Analysis: The Uncomfortable Thing

How to talk about death

In this 2nd episode on death, we talk about how to have the conversation with your parents and your children, and whether or not the family left behind get to decide what your funeral looks like. It's a surprisingly lighthearted episode, so we hope you enjoy it.

Atypical Philosophy: Death (Part 2) - Family and Death Walkers

An autistic take on funerals

In a much delayed episode release, for reasons that should be clear, we talk about the recent death of a family member. We process how it affected us, how we feel about funerals, and how to manage the conflicting feelings of mourning someone that you're not sure you know all that well, or no longer recognise as the person you cared for.

Atypical Philosophy: Death (Part 1) - Obligation and memory

Gays. Parents. Twins. Autism. Hot topics. Buzz words.

We want this podcast to be a community of people sharing their stories about being gay, being parents, having autism, raising kids with autism and, in our case, all of the above. In this world, it's easy to feel alone and feel like no one understands you. Sometimes all you need to hear is someone else complain about their kids or struggle with anxiety and suddenly, you're not so alone. That's what we want to offer. We're not here to give advice. We may be a GP and a high school teacher between us, but that doesn't mean we know everything. That's not the point. We're not here to judge or teach. We are just here to be with you and hopefully, you'll hang out with us too. Please hang out with us.

The Atypical Rainbow

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Paul Nguyen