Avoiding My Anxiously Attached Boyfriend

We’re joined by Joris for a powerful conversation on neurodiversity, identity & the systems shaping our understanding of the world.

In this episode, Joris shares his perspective as a neurodivergent creator, unpacking how autism, ADHD and mental health are often misunderstood through a purely medical and Western lens. As part of Autism Awareness Month, we explore what it really means to be neurodivergent, and why many of the labels we use are deeply shaped by culture, power and societal norms.

We dive into the idea that “nothing is neutral”  from psychology to identity and break down how coloniality and capitalism influence the way we define what is “normal”. Joris explains how neurodivergence can be perceived completely differently across cultures, and why some behaviours are pathologised in the West but accepted elsewhere.

The conversation expands into identity, race and global culture, exploring the complexity of blackness across the diaspora, the tensions between different lived experiences, and why dominant narratives often flatten nuance.

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We’re joined by Drew Demetry, founder of NAFS, for a powerful conversation about SWANA identity, queerness & community.
In this episode, Drew shares his journey growing up between Denmark and Egypt, navigating religion, culture and sexuality. He opens up about being outed, family rejection and reconciliation, and how those experiences shaped his understanding of identity and belonging.
We also explore his career across fashion, art and luxury, where he experienced racism, homophobia and systemic exclusion: leading him to build NAFS, a platform dedicated to uplifting SWANA queer creatives. Drew breaks down the importance of creating financial ecosystems, safe spaces and community-led platforms that actually serve people.
From queer Arab club nights in London to the tension between culture and sexuality, we dive into the realities of navigating multiple identities, the challenges within the queer community itself, and why true community requires accountability.
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We’re joined by Saleem Haddad, novelist and writer, for a deeply personal conversation about identity, masculinity, love and what it means to belong.

In this episode, Saleem shares his journey growing up across the Middle East, navigating queerness in conservative environments and the complicated relationship he had with masculinity. From being drawn to traditional ideas of masculinity to later challenging them, he reflects on how identity, culture and sexuality shaped his experiences.

He also opens up about being forced back into the closet while working in Yemen, discovering queer spaces in Beirut, and how those environments offered both freedom and contradiction. 

We also dive into his new novel Floodlines, a multi-generational story exploring art, family legacy and identity. Inspired by Iraqi history, mythology and real artworks, Saleem shares how writing the novel became a way of understanding his heritage, exile and the complexities of belonging. He also reveals how unexpected influences, including The Real Housewives, shaped the dynamic between the characters.

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We’re joined by Lady Phyll, activist, community organiser and founder of UK Black Pride, the largest Pride celebration for Black and people of colour in Europe.

In this powerful conversation, Lady Phyll shares the story behind building UK Black Pride after being laughed at and told there would “never be a Black Pride in the UK.” What started as a small grassroots gathering has grown into a movement attended by tens of thousands, creating space for Black queer joy, safety and community. 

We explore Lady Phyll’s upbringing as a Ghanaian woman growing up in the UK, navigating racism in school, discovering activism through social justice work and the complicated journey of coming out in a deeply religious family. She also speaks candidly about racism within LGBTQ+ spaces, intersectionality, and why creating spaces specifically for Black queer people is still necessary today.

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This week we sit down with Helio, essayist, historian and cultural commentator, for a conversation that completely reshapes the way we think about empire, masculinity, queerness and power.

From Ancient Rome’s obsession with dominance and “bottom shaming”, to Emperor Hadrian deifying his lover Antinous… from Alexander the Great’s erased queer relationships to the ongoing exploitation of the Democratic Republic of the Congo, this episode travels across centuries to expose how colonialism didn’t just steal land, it rewrote history.

We explore how empires manufacture identity, how education becomes propaganda, how masculinity is weaponised, and why queerness has always existed, even though we may try to forget it.

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