Strange Fruit #212: Parenting While Black and Queer




Strange Fruit show

Summary: Have you ever joked with a little boy about whether he has a girlfriend? Did your birds-and-bees talk include the words, "a mommy and a daddy?" The way we talk to kids can reinforce gender binaries, stereotypes, and heteronormativity. And of course, "having the talk" means something else entirely for black parents. That's why journalist Jenn Jackson calls parenting as a black queer person an inherently political act. She joins us this week to talk about how she teaches her kids to think critically about social norms, gender performance, and the expectations people have of them based on their gender and race.