Tubes & tantrums. Safiyyah (27) and Katya (53) don’t want kids, and they’ve made sure of it. We talked about how a Reddit thread lead to Safiyyah getting her tubes removed at 25. We talked about Katya getting a hysterectomy at 30. They’ve both been living their best lives ever since.We talked about how some mums don’t look like they're having fun, familial, societal and gendered pressure especially as Black and Latina women, children being seen as an accomplishment, and remixin...

Extraction & erasure. It’s the season 3 finale!! Black African music, art and language are co-opted and stolen globally - from Tik Tok to the DJ scene to dance to activism.I chat with Samira about being a Black African creative in Australia.We discuss what it means to extract Black talent, labour, ideas and intellect. We focus on how non-Black ‘people of colour’ consume Black people to gain money and social capital. We go beyond appropriation and discuss the violence of extraction in all ...

Family & fragility. Tigist Kebede (@thetenatherapist) is a therapist based in Naarm (Melbourne). Friends, it’s been a tough few years in the panasonic and life in general, whew! Therapy is something I’m very grateful for. Tigist and I talk about everything from decolonising therapy to seeing your clients at community events. We talk about seeing therapy as a service, how eldest daughters in immigrant families deserve the world, how proximity in small minority groups affects therapy, ...

Rest & remuneration. Elsa and I tackle some big questions about working in this episode. We talk about class, doing less, the wildness that occurs in the not-for-profit sector, anti-capitalist strategies in this v capitalist world, paying people for their labour, the ethics of making money doing social justice work, the tea on being a racial justice educator, how being poor can be an aesthetic within social justice spaces, rest, joy, Jewishness and much more!Find out more about Hue. Colou...

Hotness & hierarchies. We’re diving into the very blonde and sometimes strange world of sororities and Greek life.Sara and Nickie gave us some juicy intel on what actually goes in during rush (recruitment). We talked about whether you need to be hot to be selected, what sororities actually do, their relationship with fraternities, party culture, those slightly spooky chants and songs, sexism, Tik Tok, safety, sisterhood, being Black and queer in a sorority, privilege, access, racism ...

Class & chai. So many conversations about identity politics are about living in the West. Voices from the Global South get erased far too often, and there are countless folks there who are doing IT! Dilpreet and I zoom in on India in this conversation. We talk about how the first world is a scam, accent + dollar privileges, moving beyond chai activism, how not all international students are rich, living in India vs travelling there, activism and feminism in India, white people going...

Land & language. Eugenia Flynn and I talk about how we will not succeed in doing racial justice and solidarity work without centring Indigenous people, how it’s become cool to be in solidarity with Bla(c)k people, the beautiful and powerful intertwining of Bla(c)kness and Indigenity in so-called Australia, being Asian (Chinese Malaysian) and Aboriginal and the erased history of marriages between these communities, why class conversations need to always enter the chat, complicating group i...

Apps & apprehension. Two podcast faves, Ayman (Subtleties of Male Vulnerability) and Adj (Subtleties of Shutting Up), are back, and we’re delving into the world of dating while Black!We discuss the difference between dating and dates, whether ethnic filtering on dating apps is problematic, the royal-tea on Meghan Markle and Prince Harry, dating standards, being Black and queer on the dating scene, how people tell on themselves, internalised anti-blackness, the issues that come with racism...

Black & botched. Last year, Princess got a nose job in South Korea and let’s just say the surgery did not go to plan. We break down what an 'ethnic rhinoplasty' is, discuss living as a Black woman in South Korea, regret, how her friends reacted to her getting a nose job, not telling family, shady surgeons, the finances and accessibility of plastic surgery, featurism + colourism within Black communities, waking up in the middle of the surgery, not getting the results you asked for, br...

Mocktails & mental breakdowns. Awura Abena doesn’t drink and we don’t really know why. In this ep, we get to the bottom of it. We chat about never being drunk before, being the sober friend throughout your teens and twenties, hating parties, being perceived as boring and judgemental, why goon sacks are trash but popular, social anxiety, people asking you why you don’t drink, how not drinking affects friendships + relationships more generally, whether alcohol makes you less attra...

Rings & religion. Huda and Katie both got married in their early 20s.We talked about not wanting people to know you’re married, Bridgerton, divorce, fear of doing too many dishes, marriage & dating in a Muslim Pakistani community & a white Evangelical christian community, pressure to get married, fear of being seen as less ambitious, whether getting married young is wasting your 20s, Pinterest boards, love, judgmental aunties, careers, being in an interracial marriage, how their c...

Systems & spices. In this episode, I chat with The Canadian African - Afia Amoako. We talked about being a Black, Ghanaian vegan, the tea on the vegan ‘influencer’ community, the white-washing of sustainability, the power of seasoning, how to navigate eating cultural foods as a vegan, veganism & money, privilege, how it’s disrespectful to reject your auntie’s food, culture aprpopratition and the co-opting of recipes from the Global South, racism, denial & white supremacy with...

Boredom & baldness. Welcome to Season 3! Last year, Ying was diagnosed with stage 4 Hodgkin Lymphoma at 23.We talked about idleness and boredom, her love for crotcheting, how her diagnosis changed her relationships with her friends, family and partner, whether it’s helpful to frame cancer as a “battle,” being bald, reckoning with death, religion and faith, being called brave and inspirational, visibility of cancer in Singaporean-Chinese communities, luck, pragmatism, having cancer during ...

Fatphobia, colourism & Lizzo.In the Season 2 finale, Sangeetha and I discuss desirability. We talk about Lizzo’s infinite lung capacity, the importance of understanding fatphobia as structural oppression, why conversations about colourism barely go anywhere, the marriage market, Indian Matchmaking, the white-washing of the body positivity movement, skin lightening creams, the erasure of Brown skinned and South Asians from Asian narratives, racism in Singapore, health as a moral good, bein...

Decolonising institutions & protecting your peace.In this episode, Nana chats with Keeaira, Patrick and Karri about their Aboriginality. They discuss being Aboriginal in institutions, whether decolonising spaces is their work, whether Acknowledgements to Country have become reduced to a check box, the absence of Indigenous/Bla(c)k history in schools, feeling like the token Aboriginal person dangled in front of white people, being a light-skinned Aboriginal person, how stories about Aborig...

Rest, respect and radical rudeness. In this episode, Nana chats with Nyadol Nyuon. They talk about Black exceptionalism, selling out, being a public figure, being legally Black, being rude to men, the expectation to pursue social justice full-time, reconciling making Australia home as a Black African settler on stolen Aboriginal land, how being outspoken affects your relationship with your community, the shallowness of ‘African Australian’ storytelling in Australia, feeling like a fraud ...

A non-exhaustive list of places to donate and support justice for Bla(c)k lives here in Australia and the U.S. If you can, please donate. If you're unable to donate, please sign the petitions: https://linktr.ee/thesubtletyofitpodcast --------------Scarves and spectacles. In this episode, I chat with Melissa and Emily about wearing a hijab. We talk about being Asian and muslim, how airports are a mad ting, feeling like a spectacle, modesty, safety, how and why they decided to wear a ...

Say my name, say my name. In this light-hearted episode, Awura Abena and Nana Akua (is this my re-brand?) talk about Ghanaian naming practices, the struggles of having your name mispronounced and correcting people, how names affect employability and mobility, taking pride in your name, Snoop Dogg's real name, and how our names connect us to our culture and identity. Oh, and my mum, aka the queen of my life, drops some knowledge. And we hear from some listeners and their name pronunciatio...

Money, feelings and nets. In this episode, Awura Abena and I talk about growing up ‘poor,’ not being able to solve equations, our financial fears, why bootstraps don’t exist, financial literacy, parents who work too hard, capitalism, generational wealth, being children of immigrants, and the pressure to make sure that your parents’ ceiling is your floor.Let’s chat:Instagram: @thesubtletyofit | https://www.instagram.com/thesubtletyofit/ Email: thesubtletyofit@gmail.com Some peop...

Grinches and radical confidence.Let's chat!Instagram: @thesubtletyofit | https://www.instagram.com/thesubtletyofit/ Email: thesubtletyofit@gmail.com ____________________________Covid-19 Related Resources (Aus)COVID-19 information in various languages:https://www.sbs.com.au/language/coronavirusAsylum Seeker Resource Centre (ASRC) COVID-19 petition and emergency fund:https://www.asrc.org.au/ANTar (an independent, national network of organisations and individuals working in support of ...