Surviving Through Laughter: LGBTQ+ Humor as Resilience feat. Coco Peru
In this week’s episode, Coco Peru (she/her, he/him) shares her history with self-identifying and how she's still seeking inspirational + affirming language, loving and reclaiming terms that are still used as slurs today, and a time in her life where the trans community and drag performers were under the same umbrella (and may still be for certain folks). We also discuss what it was like discovering We’wha and the term Two Spirit from a book, how reality TV has shaped drag over the years, and the importance of having conversations - especially when there are differences. Coco also shares about a time she handled an upsetting situation and the shift that occurred after.
🎙️ Connect with Coco and learn more about + support her work:
💻 Sources and resources from this episode:
- How to use the term Two Spirit and notes on the variations http://jhr.ca/wp-content/uploads/2017/12/JHR2017-Style-Book-Indigenous-People.pdf
- Brief PBS video about We’wha https://rmpbs.pbslearningmedia.org/resource/fp20-we-wha/wewha-first-person-classroom/
- We’wha Wikipedia page https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/We%27wha
- Drag Kids - 2019 Documentary https://www.facebook.com/DragKidsDoc/
- Interested in watching drag shows? Some include RuPaul’s Drag Race (and its variations), We’re Here, The Boulet Brothers' Dragula, Pose, and Legendary.
- Hamburger Mary’s is a chain of franchised restaurants in the United States and Mexico that features regular drag shows, like drag bingo, and supports local LGBTQ+ charities.
- Drag performers mentioned in the episode:
Host Charlie Ocean, MSW (they/them), has a background in LGBTQ+ training, community organizing, and technology. Guest episodes feature at least one allyship tip, including tailored questions based on the guests' unique intersecting identities. You can follow Charlie on Instagram, LinkedIn, and Substack. *You will hear Charlie's former name in this episode and previous ones.*