How can we queer up the countryside? No need, says Joe Jukes (Brighton University), it’s already gay as folk! In this arcadian episode, Joe teaches me all about the dynamic nature of the countryside, about rural erotics and counter urbanization, and about how all of this relates to asexuality and non-sexualities in their research. If you want to learn about queers in the wild (and if you want to hear what my village-dwelling nan thinks about my urbanite sexual identity), this idyllic little podcast is for you!

Do you need more country in your feed? Follow @jsdjukes on Twitter and add @lena_mattheis for the extra dose of concrete and skyscrapers. Also, why not follow @queerlitpodcast on Instagram? You only live once!

Texts and terms mentioned:

Jukes, J. and Roe, E.R. 2022. Queer Constellations: Reflections on Curatorial and Creative Practice at the Museum of English Rural Life. Forthcoming.
Queer Geographies Postgraduate Reading Group (Twitter @QueerGeogPGRG)
Outside/rs Conference (Twitter @Outsiders2022)
https://outsiders2022.wordpress.com/
Bernardine Evaristo’s Girl, Woman, Other
Lynda Johnston and Robyn Longhurst’s Space, Place, and Sex: Geographies of Sexualities
Rural erotics
Counterurbanisation
Bend it Like Beckham by Gurinder Chada
Gender trouble
Asexualities
Demisexual
Greysexual
Non-sexualities
Spinster
José Muñoz
Cruising
She Bar
Pastoral
Brokeback Mountain
God’s Own Country by Francis Lee
Kemptown in Brighton
Soho in London
Gay’s The Word
The Oval Office Bar (Theater Bochum)
Skala Eressos
Love to see it Podcast
Queer Constellations (Museum of English Rural Life)
Lauren Berlant
“Immaterial” by SOPHIE

Questions you should be able to respond to after listening:
1.What constitutes a queer space?
2.We talk quite a bit about the narrative of queer people leaving a harmful rural space to thrive in the diversity of the urban space. Can you think of an example (or a counter-example) of this? How does this narrative relate to the traditional bildungsroman binary of the sheltering countryside and the corrupt city?
3.What are the three main factors of rural erotics that Joe mentions?
4.We talk about the ‘gaze’ in relation to queer identity. What potential does the gaze have in rural versus urban spaces? If you’re not familiar with the concept of the (white male) gaze, E. Ann Kaplan can help.
5.What is your favourite queer space, real or imaginary?