The Gender Knot

Gender neutral clothing is all over the news at the moment. Just a few examples include school children protesting why girls and boys have to dress differently from each other and therefore encouraging their schools to change dress codes, and department stores who are doing away with gendered sections for clothing.We talk to two guests who work in fashion and the clothing space. We talk the relationship between how they dress and their own gender identity, and how other people in society have responded to them. Both guests were born female, and one identifies as female while the other identifies as non-binary. How has clothing shaped their own gender identities? Should there be gendered sections in clothes shops? And what will happen if clothing becomes gender neutral?Host & producer Nas aka Nastaran Tavakoli-FarCo-producer Cady VogeGuests Laura Kanaplue, producer of the London Queer Fashion Show Santina Sorrenti, founder of Gender SwapRelated links:London Queer Fashion Show https://londonqueerfashionshow

Dominating, debating, having to be right – these are just some behaviours that are often common in people with power. And they are often also used by in men in power (or are stereotypically more negative ‘masculine’ traits which end up being used in fields such as politics). Sometimes it’s like the world is run by teenage boys…Cady Voge – The Gender Knot’s new co-producer - and host Nas discuss some a-ha moments where they realized other people doing this, and they propose a different and more open approach to conflict, disagreement and decision making.Host Nas aka Nastaran Tavakoli-FarCo-producer Cady VogeRelated links:The Gender Knot http://thegenderknot.com/

What is a man’s role in society these days? This question seems to be coming up again and again. The rise of women and feminism, together with changes in the economy, and globalization are some of the factors cited as having had a big impact on men and their sense of where they belong in society. For a while the expectation was that men were to work and to be providers for the family, but that’s not necessarily the case anymore, so where does that leave them?Men grappling with their role and trying to find a sense of purpose is also not just a personal dilemma. There is much talk that some of the political unrest happening around the world over the past decade or so is also related to this, to the changing position of men in society and this lack of purpose that many are feeling, whether they are young men still trying to figure things out, or older men who’ve been working and providing for years, but are seeing what they do increasingly fall out of place in the modern workplace, which is also increasingly fi

A male product manager at a tech company gives his take on the Google Memo that’s been a big topic of discussion in recent weeks.To bring you up to speed: a software developer at Google called James Demore wrote a memo about the company’s diversity policies. This memo spread fast internally before making it’s way outside Google and causing a lot of controversy, and led to him being fired by Google. Demore wrote largely about so-called scientific and psychological differences between men and women and how they explain the gender balance in tech, and provdes research to back up his claims. (See the links below for more details along with two very good articles discussing the memo.)Alec Molloy has been a product manager for the past five years, and has worked in San Francisco, London and Malmo. He talks about how in some ways the memo accurately describes the situation within the tech industry, how it’s calm language is both dangerous and also something he thinks these debates could benefit more from, and what h

‘The future is female’ – it’s a slogan we’re seeing increasingly, on t-shirts and placards and social media feeds. And there are currently plenty of important and necessary debates about getting more women into the upper echelons of business: more women on boards of companies, in industries such as science and tech, talk of how to retain women in the workforce after they start having families and much more.But should we be focusing on just having more women in the most powerful positions in the economy, or should we be looking at reforming the nature of the economy itself? After all, capitalism and masculinity are closely entwined (a subject for an upcoming episode), in some ways good, and some ways less good. Instead of pushing to have more women in the economy, should we be pushing for the economy to embody more feminine traits instead? And what does a more feminine workplace and economy look like?Host: Nas aka Nastaran Tavakoli-FarGuests: Eric Gade, trained historian and former intel analyst http://www.hom

What is masculine and feminine energy? This short and sweet episode lays down the basics!We’ll find out what we mean when we talk about masculine and feminine energies (and traits), and our own relationship with these within ourselves.Host: Nas aka Nastaran Tavakoli-FarGuest: Jess Rimington, Visiting Scholar at Stanford University http://www.jessrimington.org/Related Links: The Gender Knot www.thegenderknot.com

Why are so many people around me suddenly joining men’s groups and women’s groups? Isn’t the notion of segregating ourselves due to gender a little… outdated? After all, so many of our social issues are related to us not knowing and being close to people who are different to us and experience the world in a way which we don’t. Don’t women’s groups and men’s groups just reinforce the notion of ‘the other’? And who said gender is so binary anyway?We delve into whether there is still value in having these groups, and what various individuals have gotten out of them, and also speak to a guest who slated men’s groups on this very podcast, but is now a big fan!Host: Nas aka Nastaran Tavakoli-FarGuests: Michelle Lim, relationships coach https://www.michellelim.co Alex Linsley, founded a men’s group while a student Ankush Jain, life coach and leader of a men’s immersion programme http://ankushjain.co.ukAlec Molloy, member of a men’s groupRelated links: Tony Porter’s Ted Talk ‘The Man Box’ https://www.ted.com/talks/to

Confusion, frustration, empathy, being able to relate – just some of the reactions I received from you, the audience, to last week’s episode exploring men and feminism, where we asked whether men should get involved in feminism, and if so, how.Many female listeners unanimously related to one of the discussions last week, and I talk to two male listeners about the conversation on male feminists.This topic is huge, so I’ll be following it up in a few weeks’ time. Send me your thoughts and experiences at thegenderknot@gmail.com or message me via the Facebook page.Also, check out the fantastic podcast Fine and Dandy with Dan and Andy. This podcast is all about these questions! Comedians Daniel Carroll and Andy Haynes are straight-white-cis-American men, and they try to figure out how to be better men, in terms of gender, race, privilege, and much more! It’s a fun listen, while also tackling important topics with fantastic guests. Subscribe to their show via iTunes or the link below, and join their journey of figu

Should men be involved in feminism, and if so, how?Men are super involved in feminism these days – and there appears to be a cultural trend in getting men involved in the fight for gender equality.We’re seeing this daily: be it the UN’s HeForShe campaign which is all about this, or male celebrities like Pharrell Williams and Ashton Kutcher talking about rights for women (and of course, tennis player Andy Murray’s recent stand against casual sexism), and it seems like everyday there are articles in the world’s leading publications about all this too (a recent hit being the New York Times looking at how to raise feminist sons). It makes sense; men also need to change their attitudes and biases if we are to live in a world with gender equality, so of course they need to be part of the fight.But what about when some men mean well but end up doing more harm than good? This episode explores that.We look at male feminists – do they actually help the cause of feminism, or do they end up making everything about them,

What sort of sexism takes place in the workplace that we still don’t acknowledge or talk about? There’s been a lot of talk about sexism in the technology industry, and over the past few weeks several high profile investors have publicly said that they may have contributed to a culture of sexism and harassment of women. In the debates surrounding all this, I’ve been struck by the very nature of the workplace itself, I’ve been hearing about the ways in which a lot of people degrade themselves on some level for investors, and that the workplace is a brutal and ruthless place for everyone, it’s just that the details are different for the genders. Some of this I agree with, some I disagree with, but I’d like your experiences. What sort of sexism takes place at work that we still don’t talk about? And besides just sexism, should we be overhauling the entire culture of many industries and workplaces in the first place?Send your thoughts to thegenderknot@gmail.com - or find us on Facebook as The Gender Knot Podcast,

Hillary Clinton was often criticised for being too ‘cold’ and ‘unemotional’ during her 2016 US Presidential bid. Many women in the West can relate to this: if they show emotions they are not taken seriously in the workplace, and yet if they control their emotions they are deemed ‘cold' and ‘calculating’ and ‘untrustworthy'. We try to get a perspective from two men - on purpose - to see if emotional expression helps or hinders women in leadership, and how emotions go down for male leaders.This episode will focus on the US. One of the guests is a journalist who covered the 2016 Presidential election campaign, and the other guest has actually campaigned for both Barack Obama and Hillary Clinton on the ground. We also get feedback from a young woman who voted for Hillary Clinton, and we dig into this phenomenon further.Host: Nas aka Nastaran Tavakoli-FarGuests: Russ Finkelstein, journalist, produced 2016 elections coverage for Fusion https://twitter.com/RussFinkelsteinJonathan Freeman, worked full time on Barack

You’ve heard of Leaning In but how about Leaning Back? Over the past few years a lot of women have undertaken Sheryl Sandberg’s advice to assert themselves more, to speak louder and to sit at the table. But some women are questioning this and are thinking about the bigger picture of what success means to them and how exactly they want to go about it. Enter: Leaning Back!Leaning Back is about looking at the bigger picture. It’s about listening to yourself and doing what's right for you. We discuss the pros and cons of Leaning In, what’s worked and what’s hindered us, and we explore the cultural and gender dimensions of success and the workplace.Host: Nas aka Nastaran Tavakoli-FarGuests:  Nomi, journalist and TV producer Bianca Praetorius, co-editor and co-author of The Lean Back Perspective https://www.ixds.com/the-lean-back-perspective-the-bookRelated Links: The Gender Knot www.thegenderknot.comMusic: Government Funded Weed by Black Ant (used under Creative Commons) Sourpatch by Glass Boy (used under Creative

Masculinity gets a bad reputation these days. We hear a lot about what’s wrong with it, but what about the good sides, and also the messy sides? I talk to a woman about what role we women can play in redefining masculinity, and get one young man’s experiences with trying to fit into male stereotypes, and his journey with rejecting some of these and embracing others. Host: Nas aka Nastaran Tavakoli-FarGuests: Leigh Ware and Alec MolloyMusic: Government Funded Weed by Black Ant (used under Creative Commons)Sourpatch by Glass Boy (used under Creative Commons)

The podcast where we untangle the new masculinity and femininity. These are exciting times; we’re re-defining gender roles, but let’s be honest, we’re pretty confused about it all too, so let’s get untangling!