Love, sex and gender can be just about the most complicated parts of having a body. Add chronic illness into the mix and you’ve got a potential recipe for awkward dates, bedroom compromises and self-loathing ... OR NOT! As Erin Kyan explains, chronic illness can be a gateway to completely unique, unforgettable experiences, and relationships that go the extra mile in terms of communication and intimacy. Sometimes, knowing the limits of your body also means seeing its possibilities.

In the season finale of Pill Pop, hosts Silvi and Izzie receive a mystery tape, plus audio producer and disabled performer Erin Kyan talks love, sex, gender and accessibility. We don’t recall Dolly Doctor ever answering a dilemma about chronically ill love and sex, but if they did, it would probably be something like this!

Content warning: this episode includes discussions of physical and mental illness, transphobia, hospitals and medical trauma.

Further reading

• Erin Kyan's website
• Erin Kyan's Fibromyalgia tweet: ‘just saw a picture that said "fight like a girl; fibromyalgia awareness" and while this isn't the first time I've been misgendered by my condition, it sure is the weirdest. (ffs people "fibro more commanly affects women" is not the same statement as "fibro only affects women")’, published 25 November, 2019
• Passer Vulpes Productions
• Quippings: Disability Unleashed

Get in touch

We want to hear from our listeners! Tweet us your own love stories while chronically ill at @PillPopCast, or send us an email at [email protected]. 

In this episode

Hosted, produced and edited by Silvi Vann-Wall and Izzie Austin. Podcast producer at Passer Vulpes Productions and Quippings performer Erin Kyan is our guest.

Recorded at Studio 757, Melbourne and Silvi and Izzie's respective home offices. This series is produced in partnership with the Wheeler Centre's Signal Boost programme. Mentorship and production support from Jon Tjhia, Beth Atkinson-Quinton and Bec Fary.

Music: 'Dip Dop' by Barrie Gledden; 'Sad Marimba Planet' and 'More on That Later' by Lee Rosevere. Sound effects sourced from freesound.org

Transcript

A transcript of this episode will be available soon.