Authored by Abi Mcintosh
Podcast hosts Rose Frimpong and Nana Duncan inform us just exactly how their show became one of many go-to sourced elements of activity for all Black British lesbians and exactly how this has played a substantial role in their particular everyday lives, too.
You could battle to consider many Black British lesbians in the general public attention, if any after all. It’s something both Rose Frimpong, 29, and Nana Duncan, 28, from London felt if they had been looking representation when you look at the mainstream news. This not enough existence encouraged them to start out their extremely platform that is own Two Twos Podcast.
The duo are most useful buddies met through exactly exactly what they describe as “classic lesbian introduction” – with an ex-girlfriend five years back.
The podcast, which initially began as a YouTube channel, is nearing its very first birthday and neither of them expected the reaction to be therefore good and on occasion even expected their conversations to spark in-depth conversations to their Twitter timeline weekly. While amassing numerous of listens across all streaming web web sites, spotlighted on Spotify and in addition collaborating with RCA label – they’ve been for a great roll.
The hosts have honest and hilarious yet thought-provoking discussions with each other about everything from sex and relationships to lazy stereotypes, which of course is made easy because of their close friendship during each episode. “A great deal of those conversations are conversations we now have with out a microphone anyway,” Frimpong says, “So it simply moves.”
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She wasn’t yes the cis right males who follow her on Twitter would “even click the backlink to listen” but to her shock, they’re also among Two’s Two’s devoted audience and now have expressed to your hosts that they’re are thankful to own an area to concentrate to LGBTQ+ problems and tales. “They feel like they learnt a whole lot plus it’s helped them to dump their pre-judgement,” Frimpong says.
Through the years, I’ve seen a shift that is huge individuals accommodating those who find themselves through the LGBTQ+ community and becoming greater allies but there is certainly nevertheless lots of work to be achieved particularly using the older generation. “We come from households where our moms and dads needed to unlearn certain things,” Duncan says. “I guess we simply wished for the exact same from people who we don’t know”.
Over 41 episodes, Two Twos have already been accompanied by visitors to talk about subjects such as for example bisexuality, beginning a household in a couple that is same-sex being gay and Muslim and interracial lesbian couples. The show has grown to become such an important hub for those into the LGBTQ+ community, plenty so for certainly one of their buddies whom arrived on the scene as non-binary for an episode. “They’ve for ages been a huge supporter of y our content from our YouTube times and have now really mentioned it’s a safe area for them,” claims Duncan.
While their platform has offered as fundamental for a lot of, it has in addition been destination where both hosts have discovered and discovered a great deal in the last year. Certainly one of their many special episode on Christianity and homosexuality with guest Reverend Jide Macaulay, that is homosexual is a specific stick out.
Macaulay may be the founder of House of Rainbow, an organization that aims to produce a safe room for QTIPOC. The episode dedicated to making peace with sex and faith, which can be one thing a complete great deal of LGBTQ+ individuals from the Ebony community in specific struggle with. It absolutely was also essential to Frimpong because it ended up being reassuring to possess a mature Ebony guy whom affirmed her sex. “He had been validating us, whereas in the home, anyone who looks us, вЂNo, you can’t do this, you can’t be this way’” she says like him in our households was telling. “Maybe whenever we possessed a sound that way inside our home, perhaps a number of the traumas that we’ve experienced we wouldn’t have. I do believe in my situation, I went back once again to more youthful Rose, while recording for this episode and more youthful Rose ended up being pleased at that time,” she continues.
Portrayals associated with experience that is queer therefore bad that many of us await Pride to see ourselves from the forefront of main-stream media though the hosts share the sentiment that the representation for Ebony lesbians during Pride thirty days is restricted. Duncan argues that “there isn’t one experience that is queer but judging with what is being offered during June and July, you’d be mistaken. Whenever Pride thirty days rolls around, social networking is filled up with sets from rainbow profile photos to T-shirts, to sandwiches, however the kind that is same of are submit for these campaigns – also it’s perhaps not diverse.
Handling those brands and organisations who’re performative, Ducan claims people that are“Queer just exist in June and July. We’ve been right here, we’ve for ages been right here”. And she’s bang on – representation needs to get further than those 61 times. Echoing this, Frimpong claims representation is not merely a buzzword, for Black lesbians, this really is undoubtedly important since it helps you to manage to visit a form of yourself reflected straight back at you and that means you don’t feel therefore alone.
Duncan claims Black masc-presenting women can be lacking through the main-stream news since they’re perhaps perhaps not viewed as palatable . “I think they brands have actually within their head a sense of what lesbian is, and I just don’t think that we fit that scope.” Frimpong interjects, including: “We don’t really see dark-skinned Ebony, queer ladies, and lots of the full time them, they are American” if you do see.
Duncan has been a tomboy she says it has been a gradual process over the next 10 years of her becoming comfortable being masc-presenting since she was a teen, but. “I surely encountered backlash from my loved ones, my mum, in particular, had been upset whenever she learned I became boxers that are wearing. At that true point i wasn’t troubled by anyone’s viewpoint on the road we provided, we just ignored it”.
Frimpong states, I happened to be constantly therefore embarrassing performing this.“ I attempted become what exactly is socially referred to as feminine but” She identifies as masc-presenting just two to three years back. “I dropped labels like stud and stem that I identified previously. We felt masc-presenting gave room for me expressing myself the way I desired and I also felt less limited using this identity,” she stocks.