“Feeling Bad” with Hil Malatino

Despite the title, this episode contains a generous amount of laughter, because it is just that enjoyable to talk to Hil Malatino, brilliant author of Side Affects: On Being Trans and Feeling Bad (2022). Hil has published groundbreaking work on trans and intersex stories and histories and, in this most recent monograph, draws our attention to the complexities of trans affect. In order to explore emotions such as numbness, fatigue, envy and rage, Hil consults literary texts as well as performance art, so of course I make Hil talk about my new favourite performance art obsession Cassils, alongside Casey Plett and Kai Cheng Thom. Tune in now to learn about all of these fascinating people, about human dolphin communication, about the manifold uses of ketamine, and about Xena and Subaru.

Find Hil on Instagram @gay_vague and everywhere else @HilMalatino and follow the podcast @queerlitpodcast on Instagram.

References:
Hil Malatino’s Side Affects: On Being Trans and Feeling Bad (UP Minnesota, 2022)
Hil Malatino’s Trans Care (2020)
Hil Malatino’s Queer Embodiment (2019)
Katy Steinmetz “The Transgender Tipping Point” (2014)
https://time.com/135480/transgender-tipping-point/
Casey Plett
CeCe McDonald
Cassils’ ‘Monument Push’ and ‘Becoming an Image’
Sandra Harding’s strong objectivity
Autotheory
Kai Cheng Thom’s Fierce Femmes and Notorious Liars
Paul Preciado
Susan Stryker
Marina Abramovic Institute
Tiresias
Sam Tenorio
Reed Erickson
The Human Potential Movement
Isaac Fellman’s Dead Collections
Sarah Schulman’s Girls, Visions and Everything
Dorothy Allison’s Two or Three Things I Know for Sure Bastard Out Of Carolina
Mo Moulton
Xena: Warrior Princess
WGS South
https://wgssouth.org/

Questions you should be able to respond to after listening:

1. Which types of affects does Hil write about in Side Affects? What role do they play in trans storytelling?
2. Can you list the bad feelings that Hil discusses in the book? Hint: You can also look at the table of contents online.
3. How does Hil describe the method of Side Affects, in terms of selecting and discussing texts?
4. Why does Hil find ‘triumphant’ narratives about trans lives problematic? Can you think of an example of such a narrative?
5. Hil speaks about positionality in academic writing. How do you feel about this? Do you write about yourself in your work?