Our topic today is about “gender”, the way in which persons recognize and identify themselves. Traditionally you could only identify as a man or as a woman. Today, however, we will focus on transgender people. A transgender person is a “transitioning person”, someone who does not feel comfortable with the gender they have been assigned at birth. As always, here on our Absolutely Intercultural podcast everyone is absolutely free to think and say absolutely everything they feel, but we understand that today’s topic might be a little unsettling for some listeners.
Disclaimer: Be warned, this topic may cause brain heat 😉 and may trigger strong emotions in sensitive individuals. Try to keep calm and keep, above all, your sense of humour 😉 If any allergic symptoms arise during listening, we recommend a short break, perhaps a walk around the block and if symptoms persist to rinse off excess arguments with a shower ;-)
In our first story, “absolutely myself”, we will listen to Levi, a transgender man. A transgender man is someone born as a female, who realizes he does not identify himself as a woman, but rather as a man. He has a lot of first-hand experience to share with us, talking about challenges that transgender people face, tips on how to handle the topic and stories related to his transitioning experience.
In our second story, “absolutely struggling”, we will listen to Tea, a lecturer from Albania, who will share stories regarding her encounters with transgender students in the academic setting. She admits it’s still challenging, especially since she doesn’t have enough exposure to this topic. She shares how these moments feel in the classroom, how she handled making “mistakes”, and why she believes it’s important to keep on learning, even when the topic feels uncomfortable.
In our last story, “absolutely concerned”, we will listen to Alex, who shares a different perspective on the topic and raises an important concern about exposing people to this subject. Alex is a little concerned and asks himself: What if the transitioning person regrets their choice later in life?
What about you? What do you think about transgender people? Do you think society should adjust to their needs and change laws to make their transition easier and faster? We’d love to hear your stories! Feel free to share your opinion with us here on the podcast. You can leave a comment, send us an email, or even reach out for a follow-up interview in one of our next shows.
Write a comment or mail us, we could do a follow-up interview with you in one of our next shows. On our web page, absolutely-intercultural.com, you can get more information about this show and previous episodes, and you can leave comments. And if you enjoyed the show, please like us on Facebook too.
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Our next show will be coming to you from Anne Fox in Denmark on November 7
Until then –
Bleiben Sie absolut interkulturell!
The host of this show is: Michele Varvara (Italian)
Chief Editor: Michele Varvara (Italian)
Assistant Editor: Era Meço (Albanian), Oleksii Tsapenko (Ukrainian)
Hello dear listeners, and welcome to episode 297 of our podcast “Absolutely Intercultural.” Today, let’s dive into another cultural topic that many of you might have strong feelings about: the legalization of cannabis. Germany has partly decriminalised marijuana use as of 1 April 2024. So, have we experienced a cultural change as a result? Does legalisation mean that in the evenings, we Germans now smoke weed on our sofas in front of television instead of drinking our traditional beer? I’m afraid personally I’m a little old-school and still stick to my red wine, but then some of my friends claim that alcohol is worse than weed, so perhaps I should join one of the new Cannabis clubs?
