"Conversion Therapy" with Lucas Wilson--Called to be Bad Podcast S4 EP4

Today we talk with Lucas Wilson who is the author of the book Shame Sex Attraction: Survivor’s Stories of Conversion Therapy. This is a book of curated stories from folks who (exactly as the title states) have survived conversion therapy. We start the conversation by hearing what exactly is conversion therapy and learning about “conversion ideology” which is the underlying belief system behind conversion therapies. Then we get into the history of conversion therapy and how efforts to erase queer folks, is by definition, genocidal. Lucas explains how shame is core to these practices and tells his own story of conversion therapy and we hear about certain stories that stood out from the collection. 

Resources: 

Lucas’s Full Bio:

Lucas is a SSHRC Postdoctoral Fellow at University of Toronto Mississauga and was formerly the Justice, Equity, and Transformation Postdoctoral Fellow at University of Calgary. He is the editor of Shame-Sex Attraction: Survivors’ Stories of Conversion Therapy, and he is the author of At Home with the Holocaust: Postmemory, Domestic Space, and Second-Generation Holocaust Literature, which received the Jordan Schnitzer First Book Publication Award. His public-facing writing has appeared in The Advocate, Queerty, LGBTQ Nation, and Religion Dispatches, among other venues. He is currently working on two interrelated monograph projects that examine evangelical homophobia and transphobia in the U.S.

Lucas’s Social Media:

Instagram: @lukeslamdunkwilson

Threads: @lukeslamdunkwilson

Bluesky: @lukeslamdunkwilson.bsky.social

Twitter/X: @wilson_fw

LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/lucas-wilson-2a0753b1/ 

Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/luke.wilson.96

Lucas’s Book: Shame-Sex Attraction: https://us.jkp.com/products/shamesex-attraction

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