How Does Exploring Gender Open Doors to Play, Possibility, and Pleasure? with Rae McDaniel, Author of Gender Magic

Talking about gender can get very serious very quickly, but my guest, Rae McDaniel, squashes that. They are all about reinfusing gender with play, possibility, and pleasure. They show us how in their amazing book, Gender Magic, and share some of their gender wisdom with me today. 

For Rae, gender magic asks how each of us can discover who we are and express our magic to the world in a way that doesn’t send her suffering. This requires a healthy dose of softening boundaries, doing away with rigid definitions, and eliminating dichotomies. 

Instead, we must engage in one of the biggest adult taboos: play! Silly is subversive! No matter your gender and how comfortable you are with your gender, there is always something to be learned through gender play.

We then get into power stuff: exploring feminine power, masculine power, and how even striving to activate more power within oneself can be a gendered motivation. Nothing is inherently feminine or masculine. These are ideas from which we get to decide what the words mean to us as individuals.  

One of my favorite things about Rae is that their ideas are rooted in the real world. Theory and sharing thoughts within our circles are well and good, but that is not the world. I guarantee you will learn something from this convo. Also, don’t forget to buy their book! 

Topics Covered:

• The unsexy/sexy process of titling Gender Magic
• The play, possibility, and pleasure of gender play together 
• How gender identity and power can interact, support, and contradict each other 
• Feeling good as a style compass
• Releasing gender and affirming through gender 

About Rae McDaniel

• Instagram: @theraemcdaniel 
• Website: rae-mcdaniel.com
• Buy Gender Magic: Hachette Book Group

Follow Me:

• Instagram: @afinehuman 
• Shop Dame: dame.com 

This podcast was produced by The Wave Podcasting