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The Shift with Sam Baker

Torrey Peters on finding a roadmap for ageing as a trans woman

The Shift with Sam Baker

Sam Baker Ltd

Society & Culture, Health & Fitness, Personal Journals

4.8525 Ratings

🗓️ 27 July 2021

⏱️ 41 minutes

🧾️ Download transcript

Summary

My guest this week has spent a fair part of this year at the eye of a storm. Torrey Peters’ novel Detransition, Baby - a gloriously gossipy comedy of manners - was rapturously received when it was published in January, chosen for bookclubs by everyone from Oprah to Roxane Gay, and TV rights were optioned by the team behind Grey’s Anatomy. It was lauded as “the first great trans realist novel” in one review and has been called the true heir to Sex And The City. Then Torrey became the first trans woman long listed for the Women’s Prize for Fiction and - surprise surprise - the haters came for her.  Torrey tells me about the bonkers year that’s changed her life: writing a surprise bestseller, becoming an unwitting poster girl for trans issues and how fiction became fact for her in the most unexpected way. She’s a total breath of fresh air on the pressure to pass and why society can shove its eyeliner requirements!; candid on the “bracing” experience of being on the receiving end of transphobia; and fascinating on finding a roadmap for ageing as a trans woman and learning to be a stepmom. Want to know why trans women and divorced cis women are natural allies? Listen on. You can buy all the books mentioned in this podcast at Bookshop.org, including Detransition, Baby by Torrey Peters and the book that accompanies this podcast, The Shift: how I lost and found myself after 40 - and you can too by me! The Shift (on life after 40) with Sam Baker is created and hosted by Sam Baker and edited by Emily Sandford. If you enjoyed this podcast, please rate/review/follow as it really does help other people find us. And let me know what you think on twitter @sambaker or instagram @theothersambaker. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Transcript

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0:00.0

I'm Hannah from the Standard Issue podcast. Join us every Wednesday for rated or dated.

0:05.3

Well, we watch a famous or sometimes infamous film to see whether or not it has stood the test of time.

0:11.7

This week, we watched The Birds, Pretty Woman, Flash Dance, Robin Hood, Prince of Thieves, Casablanca, Rosary's Baby.

0:20.5

It's the 18s in a film, isn't it? None of thieves. Casablanca. Rosemary's baby. It's the 18s in a film, isn't it?

0:23.1

None of this makes any sense.

0:26.8

It's like putting on the comfiest pair of pajamas.

0:30.7

She's like, oh, what could that be?

0:32.7

Oh, what do you think it is?

0:33.8

It's loads of birds.

0:35.1

And they naturally live happily ever after.

0:38.0

Do they?

0:39.3

It's quite a feminist parable.

0:41.0

Terribly, terribly dated, but I did have a nice time watching it.

0:43.8

Absolutely 100% dated.

0:46.1

A triumvirate of rated.

0:47.9

A lot of results.

0:49.1

You can listen to standard issues rated or dated wherever it is you listen to your podcast.

0:54.1

And make sure you follow us to find out what we do on Monday, Tuesday, Thursday and Friday.

0:59.7

Spoiler alert, it's a lot.

1:07.9

Hello and welcome to The Shift, the podcast that aims to tell the no-hards bar truth about being a woman post-40, created and hosted by me, journalist and author, Sam Baker.

1:18.8

My guest this week has spent a fair part of this year at the eye of a storm.

1:23.3

Torrey Peter's novel, Detransition Baby, a gloriously gossipy comedy of manners, was rapturously

...

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