Ep.16/ Ella Mason
I’ve wanted to connect with Ella for ages, so I figured, why not interview them for the pod? Of course they were incredible, and we bonded over community, liberation approaches to life and sex, and the complex nature of labels. Also fucking- we talk a bit about fucking as well!
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Ella Mason (they/them) is the Guardian of Pony Club Gym- a club house, gym, party venue, and community treasure. They have shared about the gym a few times over the years, check out here and here.
They mentioned about connecting to Dyke History, so I fully recommend checking out the Australian Queer Archives in Naarm if you can!
Sadly, the Glasshouse is gone (check out some local queer history here), but other queer bars and spaces mentioned include Wet on Wellington, The Laird, The Peel .
On ‘Femme’ in particular, here’s a recent article on current use of the word, and I’d be remiss if I didn’t summon local legend Joan Nestle too.
We note a little about a pleasure focused approach to sex, to be present and enjoy things once we’re able to drop restrictions. Nagosky is a great place to start with how!
I mention the Wheel of Consent, probably not the first or last time in the pod, but check out more on that here.
On Mindfulness and freedom, I’ve dropped links to Steve Hayes and Nina Simone below.
Useful to think about play and sex and aging! May we all grow old and continue to play. Unfortunately there have been cuts and restrictions to NDIS participants accessing sexual services, though the work continues.
Rest is resistance, so work on the skills of getting your needs met, so that you can build capacity to help others sustainably too. Big fan of Hemphill’s work on this too.
