THE QUARTERBACK
Executive Producer of Lovercall
THE MUSICIAN
Lovercall Producer
RADIO REBEL
Lovercall Producer
Hello!
We are The Quarterback, The Musician and Radio Rebel: producers and hosts of the radio show Lovercall, right here at Fredonia. Lovercall is an anonymous late-night talk show about love, relationships and more. Students who are guests on the show use codenames to protect their identities when discussing potentially personal topics, hence the codenames of the writers of this column. This is your reminder that none of the hosts or guests are professionals, and everything stated is based on personal experiences.
“The Quarterback” is a 20-year-old cisgender man who uses he/him pronouns and is a junior at Fredonia.
“The Musician” is a 22-year-old gender-fluid person who uses they/she pronouns and is a senior at Fredonia.
“Radio Rebel” is a 21-year-old transgender man who uses he/him pronouns and is a senior at Fredonia.
On each episode, the hosts and guests of Lovercall participate in a variety of segments. The cast discusses a relevant news story, a date idea, a wacky game and a main topic for the episode.
Listeners can submit their questions or seek advice either via Fredonia Radio’s Instagram, @fredonia_radio, on YikYak or through the QR code provided in this column.
We answer your questions live on the radio, then add them to this column in case you missed the episode.
The show will broadcast weekly throughout the semester on Wednesday nights from 10 p.m. to 12 a.m. on WDVL 89.5 on www.fredoniaradio.com.
This column runs in conjunction with Lovercall and can be found in print and online at fredonialeader.org.
Date idea of the week
We hope to provide fellow students with a fun and unique date idea in every episode. These date ideas aren’t just for romantic partners — you could go with your friends, classmates or can even go solo for a fun activity in Fredonia.
For this week’s date idea, you and your partner are going to be having a themed movie night!
This has all the same hallmarks of a regular movie night: snuggling up under a blanket with some popcorn or maybe some other snacks, whatever you like best.
But, this movie marathon has a little twist to it.
All of the movies will follow some sort of theme that you and your partner get to decide on.
The theme can be anything, such as movies that feature a certain actor or movies focused on a certain topic.
If you wanted to follow our main topic, you could also have a marathon of movies centered around the transgender experience!
An article published by Cosmopolitan in May recommends 12 different movies that highlight the highs and lows transgender people go through, so maybe a couple of these could make the list!
Also, the beauty of this date idea is that it doesn’t have to be done in a romantic setting.
You could always have a themed movie night with a group of friends; maybe each person picks a movie and that’s how the marathon schedule is decided!
If you want, you could even do this by yourself and pick out the movies you want to watch!
The middle of the semester can be very emotionally taxing, so what better way to unwind than throwing on a few of your favorite comfort movies?
Regardless of who you enjoy them with or what you choose to watch, the idea of this is for you to sit back, relax and enjoy some quality time provided by the silver screen!
The Transgender Experience
This week’s episode was focused on transgender experiences. Including the hosts and guests, there were two cisgender men, one cisgender woman, one gender-fluid person, one transgender woman and three transgender men on the episode.
We also discussed some key terms and things to know as they relate to transgender lives.
First, it’s important to remember the differences between sex and gender.
Sex has to do with a person’s biological characteristics, while gender is a social construct. Gender is often defined as the way society deems a person should act and express themselves based on their identity.
Gender is different from gender identity, too. While gender comes from society, gender identity comes from the individual person, as this refers to how people choose to express their own gender.
It’s also important to know that gender is a spectrum. No two people express their gender in exactly the same way.
Gender dysphoria and euphoria can also be part of trans people’s experiences, though not every trans person experiences these things.
Gender dysphoria is a disorder defined as “psychological distress resulting from an incongruence between expressed gender and gender assigned at birth.” This can show itself when a person feels they want to change their appearance to fit the norm of a different gender, be addressed as or perceived as a different gender, or feel sad or uncomfortable with themselves or have low self-esteem.
Meanwhile, gender euphoria is just the opposite. This is the term for the feeling of relief or joy that comes from a person’s gendered experience aligning with their gender identity. Gender euphoria could feel like a confidence boost, having peace or comfort with oneself.
A clarification to know is that trans people do not ‘choose’ what gender they are, the same way cisgender people do not ‘choose’ to be cisgender — they just are. The only difference is that transgender people have to figure that out about themselves, whereas cisgender people already know and usually don’t question it.
We talked on the show about some experiences with going on hormones, how it can make someone feel at peace with themselves, helps with ‘passing’ (being perceived as the gender you want to be associated with), lessens dysphoria and increases euphoria.
Some of our guests celebrate their first day of hormones every year like a birthday, congratulating themselves on their accomplishments of self-discovery and self-love.
Another action to feel less dysphoric that was mentioned was binding, which is flattening one’s chest with binders or trans tape, and how it can be unsafe to wear it excessively. Be safe about wearing a binder and do research on how to safely bind based on your binder and body type.
Another perspective of the transgender experience is people who watch their loved ones go through the journey of self-discovery. Watching a loved one discover who they truly are and seeing how they grow into themselves is a very beautiful thing, and it’s a perspective that is sometimes not talked about but valid nonetheless.
Lovercall Calling…
Every week on Lovercall we answer your questions anonymously — all about love, relationships and more. Here’s another reminder that none of the hosts are professionally trained, but we are college students living through the same experiences you are.
We got a Lovercaller this week who asked, “When a conversation is brought up about being transgender, how can someone who is not transgender look in and approach that even if it might be an uncomfortable conversation?”
Well, it depends on the person and on the situation. Make sure you are comfortable enough with the person to have that conversation, and make sure the other person is comfortable talking about it.
It’s also important to remember that transgender people are not a search engine. If the question could be answered by a quick Google search, then maybe think twice about asking a trans person the question, but if a trans person opens the floor for questions, ask away — as long as you stay respectful. Many openly trans people are willing to share their own experiences, but none can speak for the entire trans community.
A lot of times people are unaware of trans people or trans experiences because of their upbringing (this can include trans people too!), and many trans people are understanding of this, so asking questions is better than assuming something misleading or transphobic. All in all, be respectful, be kind, ask Google for the definitions and ask trans people about their experiences when the conversation is appropriate. Remember that trans people are people and are trying to get by like everyone else.
Reach out! Do you want to ask the authors of Lovercolumn a question? Do you need advice? Fill out the form by using this QR code.
Interested in being a guest on Lovercall? Email wdvlonair@gmail.com or visit Fredonia Radio Systems, located in McEwen Hall 115 and open Monday through Friday from 9 a.m. to 5 p.m.
“The Quarterback,” “The Musician” and “Radio Rebel” are members of Fredonia Radio Systems and are involved in the production of Lovercall.