Queerness, Christianity, Autism and Vaginismus with Andy Thornton

Listen to "Queerness, Christianity, Autism and Vaginismus with Andy Thornton".

Welcome to the first Doing It episode of 2021! In this episode, Hannah is joined by Andy Thornton (they/he), who is a bigender illustrator, sex educator for the School of Sexuality Education, and Stonewall's Person of Faith role model. Andy discusses their experience being queer and non-binary as well as what being bigender means to him and how the way they identify relates to being a Christian. He and Hannah talk about the difference between tolerating and affirming Christian communities, social constructs of gender, and go on a tangent about language and sexual orientation. Finally, Hannah and Andy also discuss autism and vaginismus. It's a jam-packed episode this week!

Read the episode transcript here!

SHOW NOTES

What we chat about…

How Andy describes himself
Whether Andy uses different identifiers depending on who they're talking to
What does bigender mean to Andy?
The big pink dress in Killing Eve
Being bigender and bisexual
The limitations of our current language about sexuality and gender
Has being autistic impacted Andy's gender or relationships?
Autism presenting differently in women and AFAB people
Has it always been easy for Andy being queer and Christian or has that been a journey?
Queer people and queer stories in the Bible
Andy's first relationship with a girl
When Andy realised they were non-binary
Vaginismus
When did Andy notice that they had vaginismus and have they found it to be less of an issue in queer relationships?
What can help people look after their vagina and vaginismus?
Have you ever felt the need to challenge your church leaders and how have you found that? (36:20)
Is there a difference between a welcoming and an affirming religious community? (39:56)
How to deal with the shame you often get from Christianity? Is this something you've experienced? (41:58)
Are you able to separate Christianity in the Bible from the church as an institution and how? (44:41)

USEFUL LINKS

Killing Eve Molly Goddard dress: https://www.popsugar.co.uk/fashion/killing-eve-villanelle-pink-dress-47417067
Them: https://www.them.us/
Aspergirls: Empowering Females with Asperger Syndrome by Rudy Simone: https://uk.bookshop.org/books/aspergirls-empowering-females-with-asperger-syndrome/9781849058261
Blessed Are the Binary Breakers podcast: https://www.blessedarethebinarybreakers.com/podcast
Ruby Rose: https://www.instagram.com/rubyrose/
Hannah's vaginismus video: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7DWqXuovrBQ&t=1s
School of Sexuality Education: https://schoolofsexed.org/
Chucked Up theatre: https://www.instagram.com/chuckeduptheatre/
Have I Told You I'm Writing a Play About My Vagina: https://www.kickstarter.com/projects/chuckeduptheatre/have-i-told-you-im-writing-a-play-about-my-vagina

MORE ABOUT ANDY THORNTON

I'm a Stonewall LGBTQ+ Person of Faith Role Model so I make noise about how God loves queers, and I mentor young people who are struggling with their Christian and queer identities and help them to embrace and love themselves! I'm also technically an author and illustrator as I published a trans children's book called Rebekah's Secret Grandpa. I've just graduated in Sociology at Bath after doing an art foundation at Oxford Brookes, and now I'm a freelance digital marketer and illustrator, working mainly with SSE (+ facilitating in schools) and Rixxo. My dissertation researched experiences of trans and bi Christians who are excluded from both queer and Christian spaces, with hour long interviews with 17 students who identified with one or both of those identities. I recently talked about my findings, and my experience as a queer Christian Quaker, on the podcast Blessed Are The Binary Breakers (which was split out into two episodes: 1 & 2), and about being a trans ally on the podcast Nobody Panic.