The Risk It Takes To Bloom (Raquel Willis)
\u201cWell, the interesting thing is, I guess some of this came from writing the book too, but all of those versions of me live inside of me, right?\xa0Even the kid that was, you know,\xa0forced to kind of navigate the world as a boy and\xa0all of these different things, like that kid is still inside of me, right? The teenager slash young adult who was gay,\xa0just like regular gay, boring gay, boring gay now, it wasn't boring gay then,\xa0lives inside of me. That trans woman, at the start of my adulthood who felt like she had to live up to so many of these\xa0ideals of womanhood, you know, she lives inside of me too.\u201d\nSo says Raquel Willis, a Black trans activist who just released a debut memoir, The Risk it Takes to Bloom: On Life and Liberation. Her book traces her evolution\u2014from her childhood in Georgia, through her multiple coming out experiences, or unfoldings, as the title of her book suggests. Willis has served as the director of communications for Ms. Foundation for Women, executive editor of Out Magazine, and a national organizer for Transgender Law Center. She also co-founded Transgender Week of Visibility and Action and currently serves as an executive producer for iHeartMedia's Outspoken and the president of the Solutions Not Punishments Collaborative\u2019s executive board, and is a WNBA Social Justice Council member. Our conversation today isn\u2019t really about her accolades, it is, to quote her, more existential: We explore whether our souls are gendered, what it means to perform or play with femininity, and why sexual violence against women and girls affects us all. Let\u2019s turn to our conversation now.\n\nMORE FROM RAQUEL WILLIS:\nThe Risk it Takes to Bloom: On Life and Liberation\nRaquel\u2019s Website\nFollow Raquel on Instagram\n \nTo learn more about listener data and our privacy practices visit: https://www.audacyinc.com/privacy-policy\n \n Learn more about your ad choices. Visit https://podcastchoices.com/adchoices