In this podcast [name withheld] talks about being young and gay in 2012.
Summary
The podcast titled "Name Withheld 6 - Q12," recorded in Auckland, Aotearoa New Zealand, on April 2nd, 2012, encapsulates the experiences of a 20-year-old individual living as openly gay in the early 2010s. The 15-minute audio interview delves into personal topics, reflecting on the individual's sense of identity, relationships, and the societal attitudes they navigate daily.
Born and raised initially in Wellington, the individual mentions attending a correspondence school due to challenges faced in a mainstream education. During the interview, the interviewee openly discusses their sexuality, firmly identifying as male and predominantly gay, barring occasional bisexual tendencies. The individual relates an awareness of their sexuality emerging around the age of 13, accompanied by feelings of dirtiness and wrongness rooted in their family's strong religious beliefs, despite the interviewee's own disconnection from religion.
The individual's revelation about their sexuality, candidly described as being inadvertently "outed" by their therapist to their parents, resulted in a frank openness about their sexual orientation. Friends and acquaintances were not surprised by this self-disclosure, perceiving the individual's sexuality as apparent. The conversation twists humorously into anecdotes involving the interviewee's pets, mentioning "gay" birds and "lazy" cats, evoking a lighter note amidst the heavier subjects.
Social life and engagement with the LGBTQ+ community emerge as relevant subjects, with the individual sharing their approach towards meeting others through bar hopping, clubbing, and mobile dating apps like Grindr, while avoiding platforms that previously resulted in being banned for solicitation. Notably, the interviewee speaks with an unapologetic tone about these dynamics, stressing autonomy and a resistance to societal expectations or pressures regarding behavior and relationships.
The individual recounts past relationships with a touch of humor and bluntness, labeling previous partners derogatorily and detailing the end of these connections without much sentiment. The conversation shifts to the topic of virginity, where they express disdain for the societal weight placed upon it, seeing the concept as overvalued and insisting that sex should be viewed as a natural part of life, as it is for their birds.
Moreover, the interview touches on the topic of discrimination, with the individual recounting a singular incident of being insulted in public but appears to convey that, generally, experiences of abuse are not prevalent in their life.
Questions of how upbringing, particularly with regard to wealth and religion, may have influenced their sexuality are met with skepticism. The individual rejects the notion that religion should interplay with one's sexual identity. A firm belief is expressed that sexuality is not a matter of choice but an intrinsic facet of a person.
Regarding health and safety, the interviewee emphasizes the importance of protection during sexual encounters, underscoring the gravity of sexually transmitted diseases and relaying the anxiety experienced while awaiting test results.
This summary is created using Generative AI. Although it is based on the recording's transcription, it may contain errors or omissions. Click here to learn more about how this summary was created.
Tags
Tags (computer generated)
abuse, agenda, animals, australia, bird, blood, cats, choice, church, closet, clubs, culture, denial, drugs, ethnicity, expression, faggot, fat, feelings, friends, gender, god, grindr, growing up, health, hell, history, hit, hookups, hope, iceland, joe, love, mainstream, media, normal, other, parents, people, sad, sexual health, sexuality, sleep, social, solicitation, straight, strength, stuff, support, surgeon, the closet, the edge, time, trust, video, virginity, wellington, work