In short: Sara and I argue and giggle for AN HOUR AND FORTY MINUTES about Womanhood, What Trans and Cis women have in common, the origins of Patriarchy, Whether the Donald Trumps of this world are born or environmentally shaped, and more... it's pretty epic actually.
The long version: In Episode 4 of Strange Life, I traced a bold story of how “womanhood” as we know it might have emerged in the shadow of a climate catastrophe 12,000 years ago — the Younger Dryas. But no hypothesis, however compelling, can stand without testing, pushback, and fresh perspectives.
So for this bonus conversation, I invited someone whose mind I deeply admire: Sara Caplan — writer, musician with the band Chill Touch, member of UCB’s first all-trans/GNC/non-binary improv team, and a philosopher currently pursuing her Master’s at Cal State LA. Sara brings sharp analysis, humor, and a trans studies lens to everything from David Graeber deep dives to tabletop RPGs.
Together we pull at the tangled threads of:
How trans women fit into a 12,000-year “chain of survival and storytelling” that I called womanhood.
Whether it’s really possible to trace patriarchy back to a single climate event — or whether domination arises from other patterns.
The contradictions of wanting to abolish gender categories and cherish womanhood as solidarity and joy.
The role of fathers, daughters, and generational shifts in reshaping power.
Beauty practices as both subjugation and resistance.
And the underrated through-line of humor — how comedy has always been one of patriarchy’s fiercest challengers.
It’s a lively, sparky exchange — part philosophical duel, part collaborative storytelling. Sometimes we agreed, sometimes we wrestled with the differences, and in the process we both got clearer on what’s at stake when we talk about origins, oppression, and the possibility of change.
If the first Womanhood episode was a map, this one is a campfire debate — full of laughter, sparks, and deep questioning.
✨ Listen in, and then take it further: share with a friend, sit down, and have your own version of this conversation. Because womanhood — however you define it — has always been carried forward in the stories we tell each other.
📚 Further Reading & Sources
On Patriarchy & Its Origins
The Patriarchs: How Men Came to Rule — Angela Saini (2023)
https://www.angela-saini.co.uk/the-patriarchs
The Dawn of Everything: A New History of Humanity — David Graeber & David Wengrow (2021)
https://www.farrarstraus.com/books/the-dawn-of-everything/
“The Younger Dryas Impact Hypothesis” — NASA Earth Observatory explainer on sudden climate shifts
https://earthobservatory.nasa.gov/features/YoungerDryas
On Gender, Trans Studies & Womanhood
Susan Stryker — Transgender History (2nd ed., 2017)
https://bookshop.org/p/books/transgender-history-susan-stryker/8639719
Judith Butler — Gender Trouble: Feminism and the Subversion of Identity (1990, classic text)
https://www.routledge.com/Gender-Trouble/Butler/p/book/9780415389556
María Lugones — Heterosexualism and the Colonial / Modern Gender System (2007) [PDF]
https://www.ou.edu/content/dam/WGS/Documents/Reading%20Room/Lugones2007.pdf
On Beauty, Power & Social Construction
Caroline Criado Perez — Invisible Women: Data Bias in a World Designed for Men (2019)
https://carolinecriadoperez.com/book/invisible-women/
Naomi Wolf — The Beauty Myth (1991, foundational feminist critique)
https://www.harpercollins.com/products/the-beauty-myth-naomi-wolf
On Humor, Resistance & Power
Rebecca Krefting — All Joking Aside: American Humor and Its Discontents (2014)
https://jhu.edu/books/title/all-joking-aside/
Lindy West — Shrill: Notes from a Loud Woman (2016)
https://www.hachettebookgroup.com/titles/lindy-west/shrill/9780316348452/