The Gay Body Image Crisis No One Talks About feat. Filmmaker Roger Ungers

Happy Healthy Homo

Joel Wood & Keegan Hirst

Gay, Relationships, Society & Culture, Sexuality, Lgbt, Lgbtq, Lgbtq+, Education, Health & Fitness, Self-improvement

4.8 • 779 Ratings

🗓️ 30 July 2025

⏱️ 45 minutes

🔗️ Recording | iTunes | RSS

🧾️ Download transcript

Summary

This week we’re joined by award-winning documentary filmmaker Roger Ungers, the creative force behind Shape — a bold, unflinching look at body image, masculinity, and identity in gay culture.

We dive into the real conversations behind the glossy Instagram feeds:

– Why so many gay men feel pressure to look a certain way

– How racism, ageism, and toxic masculinity show up in queer spaces

– What it’s like making indie queer films with limited support and big ambition

– And why Roger believes representation has to get more honest

Roger shares the behind-the-scenes process of making Shape, the personal stories that inspired it, and what he hopes it sparks in the queer community.

If you’ve ever felt like you don’t "fit the mould," this one’s for you.

Roger's Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/rogerthatpictures

Watch the trailer for Shape here: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=oeYEwSetW-8

Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Transcript

Click on a timestamp to play from that location

0:00.0	Hey Homo's. Welcome back to our podcast. I'm Keegan. And I'm Joe. And we are still, all these years we're here.
0:12.9	Still, we beat everyone's expectations. I'm joking. I don't think anyone had any expectations.
0:18.7	You beat mine. Beat my own expectations.
0:22.1	Today we've got a very interesting guest.
0:24.3	It is Roger Ungers, who is a filmmaker.
0:27.3	Yeah.
0:27.5	And he's made a really powerful documentary all about the things that we talk about on this podcast on a weekly basis.
0:35.0	Yeah, so his most recent film, documentary.
0:38.9	I think they call it a film now, don't we?
0:41.5	Yeah, we call it a film.
0:42.4	It's a documentary.
0:44.0	About, it's called shape, and it's about male beauty standards, ageism, racism,
0:52.2	having to feel like you look a certain way to fit in.
0:55.7	Like feeling a bit lonely, yeah, feeling like you don't fit in and why is that?
0:59.8	And it's just a really powerful documentary and shot really well.
1:03.3	Like Roger should be very proud of that documentary.
1:06.0	Yeah.
1:06.7	And we get to talk to him today.
1:08.5	Yeah.
1:09.0	And I'm interested because obviously me as a coach, lots of crossover.
1:14.0	And I'm interested because I feel bad about how I like.
1:18.1	No, but it's true.
	...

Please login to see the full transcript.

Previous episode | Next episode

Disclaimer: The podcast and artwork embedded on this page are from Joel Wood & Keegan Hirst, and are the property of its owner and not affiliated with or endorsed by Tapesearch.

Generated transcripts are the property of Joel Wood & Keegan Hirst and are distributed freely under the Fair Use doctrine. Transcripts generated by Tapesearch are not guaranteed to be accurate.