The Risk It Takes To Bloom (Raquel Willis)

Pulling The Thread with Elise Loehnen

Elise Loehnen

Society & Culture, Religion & Spirituality, Self-improvement, Education

4.8 • 900 Ratings

🗓️ 16 November 2023

⏱️ 42 minutes

🔗️ Recording | iTunes | RSS

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Summary

“Well, the interesting thing is, I guess some of this came from writing the book too, but all of those versions of me live inside of me, right? Even the kid that was, you know, forced to kind of navigate the world as a boy and all of these different things, like that kid is still inside of me, right? The teenager slash young adult who was gay, just like regular gay, boring gay, boring gay now, it wasn't boring gay then, lives inside of me. That trans woman, at the start of my adulthood who felt like she had to live up to so many of these ideals of womanhood, you know, she lives inside of me too.” So says Raquel Willis, a Black trans activist who just released a debut memoir, The Risk it Takes to Bloom: On Life and Liberation. Her book traces her evolution—from her childhood in Georgia, through her multiple coming out experiences, or unfoldings, as the title of her book suggests. Willis has served as the director of communications for Ms. Foundation for Women, executive editor of Out Magazine, and a national organizer for Transgender Law Center. She also co-founded Transgender Week of Visibility and Action and currently serves as an executive producer for iHeartMedia's Outspoken and the president of the Solutions Not Punishments Collaborative’s executive board, and is a WNBA Social Justice Council member. Our conversation today isn’t really about her accolades, it is, to quote her, more existential: We explore whether our souls are gendered, what it means to perform or play with femininity, and why sexual violence against women and girls affects us all. Let’s turn to our conversation now. MORE FROM RAQUEL WILLIS: The Risk it Takes to Bloom: On Life and Liberation Raquel’s Website Follow Raquel on Instagram To learn more about listener data and our privacy practices visit: https://www.audacyinc.com/privacy-policy Learn more about your ad choices. Visit https://podcastchoices.com/adchoices

Transcript

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0:00.0	Hi, it's Elise Lunan, host of Pulling the Thread. Today I'm joined by Raquel Willis, author of The Risk It Takes to Bloom.
0:10.0	Hi, friends, throughout this holiday season, you will find me right here per normal. We will keep publishing
0:16.7	new episodes every week and a few solos thrown in as well. So when you just need to escape
0:24.0	from the business of the holiday shuffle or take a break from mom or dad or who knows who,
0:29.5	we'll be here as we always are. Hi, it's Elise Lunan host of Pulling the Thread.
0:45.2	On this show, we pull apart the web in which we all live to understand who we are and why we're
0:51.2	here.
0:52.4	Pulling the thread is about big questions, why we do what we do,
0:56.2	how we can understand our own experiences within a larger spiritual and historical context,
1:01.2	the ways in which we might begin to understand ourselves and each other better, and what's
1:05.5	required to heal ourselves and our world. I'll be joined in conversation by luminaries and wise elders, those who
1:12.5	have laid tracks in their work and lives to help us bring meaning and understanding to a world
1:16.9	that often feels chaotic and overwhelming. My hope is that these conversations spark moments
1:22.5	of resonance and plant tiny seeds of awareness so that we might all collectively learn and grow.
1:30.5	Well, the interesting thing is, I guess some of this came from writing the book, too,
1:36.6	but all of those versions of me live inside of me, right?
1:41.3	Even the kid that was, you know, forced to kind of navigate the world as a boy and all of these different things, like, that kid is still inside of me, right? The teenager slash young adult who, you know, was gay, just like regular gay, born gay.
2:01.6	Born gay now, I wasn't born gay then.
2:05.6	Lives inside of me.
2:07.6	That trans woman at the start of my adulthood
2:10.6	who felt like she had to live up to so many of these ideals of womanhood. You know, she lives inside of me too.
2:19.6	So says Raquel Willis, a black trans activist who just released her debut memoir,
	...

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