Hello and welcome to the September 2020 edition of Outward.

I'm Christina Cotarucci, a staff writer at Sleet, And I'd like to thank the COVID-19 pandemic for my third

ever gray hair. She debuted, I don't know, a couple weeks ago. At least that's what I noticed her.

She's about an inch long and she's taking up space in the very center of my forehead,

sticking out like a unicorn horn. So put me on your

pride coozy. Oh my God, welcome gray hair. Yeah. Christine, I feel like I could give you some

Susan Sontag vibes. If you play this right. From your mouth to goddesses' ears. I'm Ramon

Alam. I am also one of the co-hosts of Slate's working podcast, and I am having

a slightly prolonged panic attack, realizing that the presidential election, I don't even want to

count the days, because the presidential election is coming up very soon, and I'm trying my best

not to think about it too much.

Yeah, for sure. I'm Brian Lauder, editor of Outward and my Virgo powers are crazy strong right now.

So don't be surprised if after this podcast you find all of your phone apps neatly grouped by a type,

as they should have been all along. So it's back to school time.

And right now that means Zoom meetings and lots of worksheets. But the truth is that personally,

after a lifetime of being a student, September always finds me ready to sharpen my pencils,

to get a new notebook, to sit up straight and take notes, you know?

And I actually took so many notes. I was underlining furiously when I read Angela Chen's ace, what asexuality reveals about desire, society, and the meaning of sex. It's a really

interesting book, and Angela will join us today for a conversation about a book

that documents her own process of discovery, she identifies as ace, and argues for an

expanded understanding of sexual identity. But if Chen shows us that our understanding of sex

is ever evolving, you don't have to look any further than our politics to see just how slow that evolution can be.

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