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The Allusionist

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A PODCAST ABOUT LANGUAGE
BY HELEN ZALTZMAN

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The Allusionist

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Allusionist 220. Disobedience transcript

November 9, 2025 The Allusionist
A boggle grid spelling out the word 'disobedience'

SO MAYER: Being perceived, being heard: we often think about the painful aspect of that as being misheard, being criticised, being deliberately misunderstood, being shouted down. And I've experienced all those things, of course I have. But the possibility of actually being heard is equally as painful. Because it also asks what would be the result of that, that if someone said, "Okay. I've taken on what your book is saying. What now? Back to you." And that's what a good therapist does: "I've heard you. Now what are you gonna do about it?" And then going: oh, supposedly through my educational privilege, I've been taught to take power from using language. And here I am using language and I don't feel powerful. I feel afraid and I feel ashamed, and I feel like someone's gonna hit me in the mouth. 

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In transcript Tags lexicon, society, culture, words, language, books, So Mayer, libraries, librarians, library, teachers, gender, QUILTBAG, LGBTQIA++, quilting, knitting, punk, disobedience, consent, queer, non-binary, speech acts, bad language, power, coming out, debutantes, oppression, control, dictionaries, cunt, assimilation, non-aligned, erasure, witchcraft, epistemic injustice, listening, hearing, homophobia, transphobia, crimes against consent, abuse, feminism, philosophy, compliance, Adrianne Rich, Melanie Kaye/Kantrowitz, Irena Klepfisz, shame, singing, magic, hermeneutical injustice, leman, testimonial injustice, vulnerable

Allusionist 116: My Dad Excavated a Porno transcript

June 3, 2020 The Allusionist
A116 pornography logo.JPG

HZ: The Victorians really did a number on people. I feel like we're still unpicking Victorian attitudes.

KATE LISTER: Yes, we are. I mean, we're still very much the children of the Victorians, and they're a fascinating bunch, the Victorians. No generation, at no point in history, has sex been successfully repressed, ever. It just doesn't happen. But what you have is really strict social morality, conditioning and mores and constructs and power dynamics around sex that dictate what we are and what we're not supposed to be doing. And outward facing, they were so repressed and polite society and so offended by everything even remotely to do with sex, to the point of where they wouldn't say the word 'trousers' because they thought they were too rude. They were 'sit down upons'.

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In transcript Tags words, language, linguistics, education, comedy, entertainment, society & culture, arts, literature, Helen Zaltzman, etymology, lexicography, erotica, pornography, porn, art, writing, novels, ancient, history, Victorians, 19th century, Greeks, Greek, Latin, French, Romans, Ancient Greeks, Ancient Romans, titillation, titillating, law, legal, court, obscenity, Pompeii, obscene, repression, class, sex, sexuality, Kate Lister, Whores of Yore, Brian Watson, sex work, sex workers, John Cleland, Fanny Hill, literacy, publications, publishing, phallus, penis, winged penises, Fascinus, ichor, Sepoy Mutiny, India, stop and search, police, Hicklin Test, religion, Christianity, Catholic, Protestant, Retif de la Bretonne, comstockery, Comstock, control, Athenaeus, porneia, Deipnosophistae, satire, elitism, evil eye, power, morality, British Empire, Pope, lewd, blasphemy, Britain, England, UK, British empire, New Testament, Bible, Bible translation, translation, translators, archaeologists, archaelogy
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Festivelusionists
Allusionist 221. Scribe
Allusionist 221. Scribe
Allusionist 220. Disobedience
Allusionist 220. Disobedience
Allusionist 219. Making Trouble
Allusionist 219. Making Trouble
Allusionist 218. Banned Books
Allusionist 218. Banned Books
Allusionist 217. Bread and Roses, and Coffee
Allusionist 217. Bread and Roses, and Coffee
Allusionist 216. Four Letter Words: Terisk
Allusionist 216. Four Letter Words: Terisk
Allusionist 215. Two-Letter Words
Allusionist 215. Two-Letter Words
Allusionist 214. Four Letter Words: Bane Bain Bath
Allusionist 214. Four Letter Words: Bane Bain Bath
Souvenirs on BBC Radio 4
Souvenirs on BBC Radio 4
Allusionist 213. Four Letter Words: Dino
Allusionist 213. Four Letter Words: Dino
Allusionist 212. Four Letter Words: Park
Allusionist 212. Four Letter Words: Park
Allusionist 211. Four Letter Words: -gate
Allusionist 211. Four Letter Words: -gate
Allusionist 210. Four Letter Words: 4x4x4 Quiz
Allusionist 210. Four Letter Words: 4x4x4 Quiz
queer playlist
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The Allusionist by Helen Zaltzman is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivatives 4.0 International License.