Gen(der) Z: Recent Episodes
Bren Bartol, Michelle Leong
A podcast where Bren, a queer teenager, and Michelle, a not queer teenager, explore the world surrounding gender and sexuality, and outreaches to other intersecting communities. Focused on political commentary and personal experience with some lighthearted humor, we hope you take some time to listen to our thoughts.
Bren and Michelle discuss different attachment styles in different relationships and how they manifest, then find out their own attachment styles!
Gen(der) Z is having a birthday! Bren and Michelle celebrate and talk about their hopes for the future, along with how they and the podcast has changed over its time.
Michelle and Bren discuss what they’ve learned in their high school romances about relationships and themselves.
Michelle and Bren talk about how they are feeling about become freshman again (in college!)
Michelle and Bren review Barbie (spoiler warning! also, they loved it), and how it, the strikes in the entertainment industry, and Oppenheimer are interacting with each other and the world.
Bren and Michelle talk about their expereince with the far right and how it has manifested in their generation.
Bren and Michelle talk about their experiences with neurodivergency and how they've seen queer people interact with their own neurodivergency.
Bren and Michelle look back on their senior year of high school, the highs and the lows, what they would do different, and things they wouldn't change for the world.
Michelle and Bren discuss rainbow washing, it's impact, and how superficial it actually is.
Bren and Michelle talk to each other about how they love drag, some things they know, and why it is so important to protect.
Bren reads to the listeners and Michelle their script for their ten-minute historical presentation about the gay rights movement from eighth grade, talking about the history, the facts, and the experience.
Bren and Michelle discuss how the news, particularly news against marginalized communities' effect those in them, and how finding balance between knowing what's going on and protecting your mental health is harder than it sounds.
Michelle and Bren describe their experiences with grief, what they learned, and what they've seen.
Michelle and Bren let loose a little and discuss college mascots, slang, and how teenagers don't have enough cool catch phrases.
TRIGGER WARNING: This episode discusses mass shootings and hate crimes.
Bren and Michelle discuss Michelle's Lunar New Year, gun reform, and then discuss Black History Month and what they are doing and have found success in with anti-racism work.
Michelle and Bren discuss their experiences in applying to college, the ups and downs, the waiting, and how it really isn't like the movies.
Michelle and Bren read the Marriage Equality Act and break it down with their thoughts.
Michelle and Bren talk about the different options for binding and Bren's experience with them, telling you their preferences and pros and cons to each.
Michelle and Bren read through Bren's IA from Math, about Dr. Alan L Hart, the first documented trans doctor in the US.
Michelle and Bren review Bren's article entitled Dear JK Rowling, which is their own take on JK Rowling's sudden ascension to transphobia.
Bren and Michelle are joined by their friend Ash, who takes them through the movie franchise Descendants by Disney, and how it's queercoding was noticed.
Bren and Michelle talk about what they think senior year will hold and how they are feeling about it.
Bren writes a lot of pieces about queer history or issues. In this series, Bren and Michelle react to them. This episode, Bren reads Michelle the very first article they wrote about Gender Dysphoria when they worked for Voices of Gen Z, who have a podcast called We Met on the Web.
TRIGGER WARNING: This episode contains discussions that include rape, sexual harassment, sexual assault, and forced pregnancy.
Bren and Michelle discuss the overturning of Roe v. Wade and what it means to them, and how they mourned it.
Bren and Michelle take it back to the beginning - talking about Liberal isms, the thing that got Gen(der) Z started!
Bren and Michelle debrief pride, and how to be a better ally to marginalized communities.
Bren and Michelle made through junior year! Here are their top tips for how to survive, and enjoy your life while you go through junior year of high school.
Bren and Michelle discuss the line at which they stop engaging in problematic content, focusing their discussion on the dangers Dave Chapelle perpetuates with his material.
Michelle and Bren, in reaction to the Uvalde shooting, take some time to talk about why school shootings are very close to home and how terrifying they truly are.
Bren and Michelle revisit some of their childhood shows and assess straight media, and how the fear of a gay couple turning your kids gay is an argument with a long list of fallacies.
Bren and Michelle welcome their friend Sky, who tells us about polyamory and their experiences with it. Sky suggests further reading in polysecure.
Bren and Michelle discuss burnout as a high schooler, what it means to them, and how they have tried to deal with it.
Bren and Michelle talk about one of the latest movies, Eternals, and give their unfiltered thoughts.
Bren and Michelle talk to their friend Emily about her pansexuality and what being in a straight passing relationship can mean for her, good and bad.
Bren and Michelle delve into how they express their gender, and the role gender expression plays in their lives
Michelle and Bren discuss what Lunar New Year is in general as a holiday and what it means to Michelle's family. It was a happy accident that its posting date happened to also be Lunar New Year!
Bren and Michelle take a walk through one of the biggest cinematic universes in the world, and evaluate how they have progressed and what still needs to be done so everyone can see themself as a superhero.
Bren and Michelle celebrate the new year by sharing their craziest predictions for 2022 and their feelings about it.
Bren and Michelle tackle the topic and frustration that is the transgression of queerbaiting, pointing out examples of problematic behavior.
Bren and Michelle talk about their biases regarding to race and how they have taken steps to do better.
Bren and Michelle discuss their experiences with catcalling and their thoughts surrounding the fear and toxicity of it.
Bren and Michelle are very busy and don't get to talk as much as they like. Listen in to a candid conversation of them just talking without a topic.
Bren and Michelle reflect on their year long journey with a few stories of mishaps and successes along the way as they reminisce about their first full year as a podcast.
Bren and Michelle put their heads together to figure what parenting might look like for them in the future.
Bren and Michelle delve into what they've learned about self care in both their lives, especially during the pandemic.
Bren and Michelle talk about what they think Junior Year will be like, from college visits to mask wearing to sleep. How well did they do, what will they find out, and at the end of the year, what will they be able to tell us based on their previous predictions?
Bren and Michelle take you through a hilarious journey of sex ed, the pitfalls of elementary sex ed, the pinnacle and performance of middle school sex ed, and the practicality of high school sex ed.
Bren leads us through the many hoops that they have jumped through to become legally them, with some history of how their legal name came to be and how your name is attached to so many more things than you think.
Bren and Michelle sit down with Bren's friend Gray, and they discuss the different responses Gray has gotten to coming out within their Russian family and states they lived in.
Bren and Michelle talk about what went well, bad, and everything in between after finishing a full year of online school. They take sometime to outline some of their encounters with their teachers, and how some behavior desperately needs to change.
Bren and Michelle take some time to reflect upon their relationships and what they've learned.
On this guest episode, Bren and Michelle sit down with their guest Alex, who talks about their experience growing up Mormon and how it impacted their coming out and self discovery journey.
Bren shares their positive experiences at pride parades with Michelle, highlighting their position as a sticker giver, with them getting mad at their email sprinkled in.
Sam guest stars on today's episode, taking us through the ups and downs of his transition journey, and how online school and the future look for him.
Today Bren and Michelle tackle an online, hurtful encounter to someone they know, dive into the wrongs of performative activism, and share their thoughts on Asian Hate and it's rise.
Michelle and Bren, like millions of students worldwide, have spent a significant amount of time on online school. However, they have been solely online for a year. What works? What doesn't? Is there anything they miss about in person school?
Today we welcome our guest, Isabel, who talks to us about her experience with GSA (gender sexuality alliance, formerly the gay straight alliance), and how it's going virtually! We also discuss the term Latinx and how it isn't as inclusive as you think.
Believe it or not, we do have some hate comments! This rather long episode is a fun time where Michelle and Bren marvel at the poor grammar of some of the people in the comments. However, it does not bother them, as interacting with their content is a win for them!
Bren and Michelle take some time to wind down and just chat about what has transpired so far in 2021 and how they're doing.
Bren and Michelle talk about media representation regarding to the LGBTQ+ community and the Asian community. The first of a possible series about our thoughts on how the media world needs to change!
What's it like being the representative for every Asian person? Or every LGBTQ+ person? Michelle and Bren talk about their experiences and allude to further episodes.
Coming out isn't easy. Bren talks to us about their experience, the ups and downs, and some advice.
Michelle and Bren talk about two incidents where people were majorly horrible. Let us know if you want to here more!
For our second guest episode, we talk to Alissa about Christianity and the LGBTQ2S+ community, along with critiquing the lack of diversity in school curriculums.
Bren and Michelle take some time to examine the gender roles in their families and greater society.
For our first guest, we talk to Sam about his experience with bisexuality and being Asian, and we tell some fun old stories from our younger years!
[the statistics used in this episode were current at the time] The election has been called! How do Michelle and Bren feel?
Michelle asks questions and discusses labels for the queer community with Bren, Bren explains their label, and they both learn a little more about the different facets of the LBGTQ2S+ community!
Every once in a while we are going to do a light hearted episode reviewing a book, movie/tv show, or video. If there are any you want us to do let us know! Today we are reviewing the 2018 movie, Love, Simon!
Michelle and Bren discuss transgender bathrooms laws, the audacity and sheer stupidity of most of them, and the reason they don't work they way you think they do.
Trigger warning: This episode discusses, rape, sexual assault, and violence against trans people.
On the very first episode (yay!), Michelle and Bren discuss gender reveals: their favorites, how gender reveals and the gender binary connect, and why baby showers are superior. With a fun fact at the end and a "These are the thoughts we got", we are so excited to show you the first episode!
Today, Bren interview Michelle on her experience within the Asian community (specifically the Chinese Community) and how it interacts with the LGBTQ+ community. Covering personal experience, family and culture in general, please take the time to listen to this eye opening conversation.
Michelle and Bren discuss linguistics in regards to pronouns, and the languages they speak (it's quite a diverse array)! Gendered languages are often not as inclusive as we want them to be, and it's time to talk about it instead of blindly accepting it!