Unshaming

My New Podcast: "But We Loved," Episode 3

Send us a Text Message. The third episode of my new show, "But We Loved" with iHeartMedia. Here's the description: But We Loved is a new podcast that showcases the untold stories of queer history through intimate interviews with LGBTQ+ elders, who share their wisdom, their struggle, and — most importantly – their triumph. You'll learn queer history, but through the storytelling you'll feel like you were actually there. Listen on: Apple Spotify Amazon Music

My New Podcast: "But We Loved," Episode 1

Send us a Text Message. The second episode of my new show, "But We Loved" with iHeartMedia. Here's the description: As a gay kid growing up Catholic, in conservative Texas, Jordan Gonsalves knew nothing about queer history. Now, as a journalist, he’s searching for the stories he craved when he was coming of age. Through intimate interviews with LGBTQ+ elders, Jordan uncovers the untold stories of queer history. And in the process, he discovers the role models he always needed and the wisdom...

My New Podcast: "But We Loved," Episode 2

Send us a Text Message. The second episode of my new show, "But We Loved" with iHeartMedia. Here's the description: As a gay kid growing up Catholic, in conservative Texas, Jordan Gonsalves knew nothing about queer history. Now, as a journalist, he’s searching for the stories he craved when he was coming of age. Through intimate interviews with LGBTQ+ elders, Jordan uncovers the untold stories of queer history. And in the process, he discovers the role models he always needed and the wisdom...

Sex & Dating Advice, Unshaming Style

Send us a Text Message. Answering your sex & dating questions! Don't get too excited... you're getting #unshaming advice. Letter 1 — 3:56 Letter 2 — 31:30 Letter 3 — 47:21 Shenny De Los Angeles returns to the pod this episode. She is an actress, activist, and poet. Engage with her here. Shenny’s instagram:  Shenny’s email where you can write to her: [email protected] #StayUnshaming with us at instagram.com/unshaming and unshamingpodcast.com.  Email us your unshaming questions a...

The Unshaming Journey: Forgiveness, Anger, and Safeness

Send us a Text Message. Wtf does unshaming even mean?! We dive into it all in this episode. Nikila Cranage, host of Bad Behavior Podcast, joins the show. In this episode, we reference Jor's unshaming journey. You can listen to his episode on the shame of being gay here. We also reference an episode of the Oprah Winfrey Show about forgiveness — watch that here. TW: this episode briefly touches on sexual abuse. #StayUnshaming with us at instagram.com/unshaming and unshamingpodcast.com. 

Shame of Being Gay & Royal (With Prince Manvendra)

Send us a Text Message. A glimpse into the royal life of a prince... Prince Manvendra's family is part of a 600 year dynasty in India. Learn more about him below: NY Times article  Prince Manvendra on the Oprah Show #StayUnshaming with us at instagram.com/unshaming and unshamingpodcast.com. 

Season 2 Finale: The Lessons of Adventure

Send us a Text Message. Unshaming returns in Fall 2021! You can #StayUnshaming with us instagram.com/unshaming and unshamingpodcast.com.  Join us for this powerful conversation with host Jordan Gonsalves on grief, intuition, validation from social media, and following your dreams. Thank you for a fabulous Season 2. You can support Unshaming at patreon.com/unshaming. 

Shame of Serious Mental Illness

Send us a Text Message. This episode contains discussion around sexual abuse and suicide. Victoria Lee is a fiction author, PhD Psychologist, and neuroscientist. She also lives with Psychotic Depression. Her work centers around representing people with mental illnesses as folks who have the same hopes and dreams as everyone else. Her new novel, A Lesson in Vengeance.  does just that. If you or someone you know is being or has been sexually abused, and would like help, please find resource...

Hair Transplant Surgery

Send us a Text Message. What's it like losing a core piece of your identity? Losing a core sense of belonging? Hair. In this episode, we explore these questions through the hair loss journey of Ronald Hinton, who documented his experience in the new documentary My Hair, My Rules. You can stream My Hair, My Rules, here. You can support Unshaming at patreon.com/unshaming. #StayUnshaming with us at instagram.com/unshaming and unshamingpodcast.com. 

Shame of Hair Loss

What's it like losing a core piece of your identity? Losing a core sense of belonging? Hair. In this episode, we explore these questions through the hair loss journey of Ronald Hinton, who documented his experience in the new documentary My Hair, My Rules. You can stream My Hair, My Rules, here. You can support Unshaming at patreon.com/unshaming. #StayUnshaming with us at instagram.com/unshaming and unshamingpodcast.com. 

Shame of Leaving a Relationship

The feeling of wanting to leave a relationship when everything you know tells you the opposite. We constantly hear, "follow your intuition," but even is our intuition? For many of us, we've been silencing that gut feeling for so long that we don't even know what it sounds like. Danette May is a best selling author and life coach. She tells her story of rising from her "rock bottom." You can support Unshaming at patreon.com/unshaming. #StayUnshaming with us at instagram.com/unshaming and un...

Shame of Divorce

The feeling of wanting to leave a relationship when everything you know tells you the opposite. We constantly hear, "follow your intuition," but even is our intuition? For many of us, we've been silencing that gut feeling for so long that we don't even know what it sounds like. Danette May is a best selling author and life coach. She tells her story of rising from her "rock bottom." You can support Unshaming at patreon.com/unshaming. #StayUnshaming with us at instagram.com/unshaming and un...

Shame of LGBTQ+ Persecution in Russia/Chechnya

Send us a Text Message. This episode contains candid descriptions of human rights violations against LGBTQ+ people in Chechnya. Listener discretion is advised. Tanya Lokshima is the associate director for Human Rights Watch’s Europe and Central Asia division, based in Moscow. She has extensively covered and exposed the human-rights abuses against LGBTQ+ people in Russia/Chechnya throughout her career. You can follow her work here. Background information: New Yorker article exposing the an...

Shame of Surviving Sexual Abuse (with Shaun T)

Send us a Text Message. This episode contains candid descriptions of sexual abuse and child molestation — listener discretion is advised. In this episode, Shaun T tells his story of surviving child molestation by his mother’s boyfriend. He discusses how he forgave his abuser and ultimately learned to forgive himself. He also shares how his experiences made him a better partner, father, and person. Shaun T is one of the most iconic fitness influencers in the world. His message of trust and ...

Shame of Stroke Survival (with Dr. Jill Bolte Taylor)

Send us a Text Message. What’s it like recovering from a stroke where you lost everything? Dr. Jill Bolte Taylor shares her journey of how experiencing a near-death brain hemorrhage helped her achieve inner peace. Her new book “Whole Brain Living” describes how we can all achieve connectedness, love, and healing by training our brains. Get connected with Dr. Jill below. watch her TED talk here watch her Oprah interview here purchase “Whole Brain Living" You can support Unshaming at pat...

Shame of Cancer

Send us a Text Message. Why do we fear death and dying so much? What is it like to stare it in the face with a diagnosis of Cancer? In this episode, children's author Sharon Frances and her partner Matthew Rodriguez openly discuss their personal experiences with Cancer. Sharon is a Breast Cancer survivor while Matthew lost his last wife to Throat Cancer. They are the co-founders of the Well Beings Studio, a non profit using the arts to help children with Cancer express themselves. You can...

Shame of Male Body Image

Send us a Text Message. This episode contains discussion around eating disorders and suicidal thoughts. Millions of men suffer from the pain of body image standards but rarely speak out due to the stigma of weakness attached to asking for help. In this episode, an Unshaming listener — Antonio Lombardi — shares his 20 year struggle with body image, eating disorders, and toxic masculinity.  If you or someone you know would like to receive help or information regarding eating disorders, pleas...

Shame of Dieting

Send us a Text Message. Mentalhealth.org reports that 1 in 5 adults feels "disgusting" about their bodies. How do we break free from the toxic cycle of body shaming ourselves? How do we create peace with our body image? Allison Ross,  eating and body image therapist and author of "Non-Dieting: How to Love your Body and Be Healthy in Diet Culture" discusses: the origins of body image issues body neutrality understanding the role of social media in our body image issues You can support th...

Shame of Anti-Asian Violence

Send us a Text Message. This episode contains explicit language around experiences with racial slurs. Tony Lee is a 27-year-old Asian-American journalist for NBC News. He has reported on COVID-19 and the rise in Anti-Asian hate attacks in depth. In this episode, he discusses his experiences growing up Asian-American in the United States, being fetishized as a gay Asian man, and the complexities of being an Asian-American journalist in 2021. You can support the show at patron.com/unshaming....

Shame of Leaving Religion

Send us a Text Message. What is it like dismantling everything you believe in for your authentic self? In this episode, we explore the freedom and devastation that comes with relinquishing your former life. A letter from an Unshaming listener, this touching story about choosing yourself surrounds Anna Mouchref's decision to leave Islam. #StayUnshaming with us at instagram.com/unshaming and unshamingpodcast.com. Letter Author: Anna Mouchref Episode Producers/Editors: Jor Gonsalves & Sam Stone

Shame of Murder

Send us a Text Message. Quan Huynh murdered another human being in gang related violence and was charged with second degree murder in 1999. He entered prison without remorse and left prison, a changed man. His story is not about his crime though — it's about his transformation during his 22 years in prison: humanizing himself as a person with grief, ambitions, and potential.  He is the bestselling author of Sparrow in the Razor Wire: Finding Freedom from Within While Serving a Life Sentence...

TRAILER — Shame of Murder

Unshaming is back with new episodes every other Monday. This is the trailer for the latest episode “Shame of Murder” coming next Monday, March 1, 2021. Quan Huynh was in prison for 22 years for the murder of another man. His story is about hope and transformation. You can check out his book, Sparrow in the Razor Wire here. Check back in a week for the whole episode! #StayUnshaming with us at instagram.com/unshaming and unshamingpodcast.com. Support the show (https://www.patron.com/unshaming)

Shame of Physical Disability

Send us a Text Message. Barb Zablotney was crowned Miss Wheelchair Pennsylvania in 2018. After a tragic car accident in 2007 that left her paralyzed from the waste down, she became a fierce advocate for women with disabilities. Although 61 million Americans live with a disability, why is that we know so little about this community? In this episode, Barb candidly shares how she navigates her daily routine, seeing friends, dating, and sex. She opens up about her own internalized ableism and h...

Shame of Failure

Send us a Text Message. What exactly is failure and why are we so afraid to admit that we've experienced it? Even harder to admit, is that we're currently experiencing some kind of failure. But can our failures teach us something about who we are and what we need? In this episode, Jasper Soloff, a high profile Hollywood photographer opens up about how successes in one area of his life inevitably equate to failures in others. #StayUnshaming with us at instagram.com/unshaming and unshamingpod...

Shame of Borderline Personality Disorder

Send us a Text Message. This episode contains frank discussion about mental and sexual trauma. The Brain and Behavior Research institute estimates that up to 1/20 Americans have Borderline Personality Disorder (BPD). If a person experiences 5/9 BPD symptoms, they can be diagnosed. In this episode Megan Brogdon speaks candidly about her BPD experience in an effort to end the stigma around living with a mental illness. You can learn more about BPD here. #StayUnshaming with us at instagram.com...

Shame of Growing Up Low Income

Send us a Text Message. 34 million Americans are low-income according to the US Census Bureau. What’s life like for them? In this episode, Xiomara Contreras shares her memories of growing up on food stamps and living in a home where she shared a twin bed. When she became a teenager, she was selected to attend a prestigious boarding school on scholarship and later graduated from Northwestern and accepted a job at Google — all the while going back and forth between these two worlds. #StayUnsh...

Shame of Sex Work (The Life of a Dominatrix)

Send us a Text Message. This episode contains explicit language about sex and sex work. Host Jor Gonsalves interviews New York City Dominatrix Godess Talia. In what she describes as a career, she defines what a dominatrix is and discusses her business model, her clientele, and of course — her wildest stories. The mission of #Unshaming is to shine a light on communities that are otherwise silenced. The sex work community is no exception. #StayUnshaming with us at instagram.com/unshaming and ...

Being Medicated for Mental Illness

Send us a Text Message. A deeply underrepresented community: the people who take medication for their mental Illnesses. In this episode, we hear from health coach Claudia Canabal about her depression and decision to medicate for it. Claudia details her internal work to undo the "I'm not crazy" narrative and touches on fears of being medicated for life. #StayUnshaming with us at instagram.com/unshaming and unshamingpodcast.com.

Shame of Regret

Send us a Text Message. Can regret actually be productive? Why get stuck on things you can never change? Won't it lead to unhappiness? In this episode with poet/actress/activist Shenny De Los Angeles, we dive into all of these questions and debunk the idea that regret is negative. We explore the importance of regret and how it can be a tool to hold ourselves accountable.

Unshaming Trailer

Shame of Being a Queer Athlete

Send us a Text Message. Alisha Gomez-Shah, a 4-year student athlete alum from Northwestern University discusses the shame of being a queer athlete and how toxic masculinity affects everyone. How do we call people in vs call them out? How do we successfully stop homophobia that’s rooted in our systems? What even is a system? #StayUnshaming with us at instagram.com/unshaming and unshamingpodcast.com.

Shame of Colorism

Sadasia McCutchen discusses how she overcame her shame of being  a darker skinned black woman. She also explains her belief that your struggle is part of your ultimate path to finding and fulfilling your greatest purpose. #StayUnshaming with us at instagram.com/unshaming and unshamingpodcast.com.

Shame of Colorism in the Black Community

Send us a Text Message. Sadasia McCutchen discusses how she overcame her shame of being  a darker skinned black woman. She also explains her belief that your struggle is part of your ultimate path to finding and fulfilling your greatest purpose. #StayUnshaming with us at instagram.com/unshaming and unshamingpodcast.com.

Shame of Black Trans Identity

Trans entertainer Ivana Black tells the story of finding and unshaming her womanhood in a time when America's transphobia was rampant. She openly discusses her experiences with the black market and what womanhood means to her. #StayUnshaming with us at instagram.com/unshaming and unshamingpodcast.com.

Being a Black Trans Woman

Send us a Text Message. Trans entertainer Ivana Black tells the story of finding and unshaming her womanhood in a time when America's transphobia was rampant. She openly discusses her experiences with the black market and what womanhood means to her. #StayUnshaming with us at instagram.com/unshaming and unshamingpodcast.com.

Shame of Trans Identity

Trans entertainer Ivana Black tells the story of finding and unshaming her womanhood in a time when America's transphobia was rampant. She openly discusses her experiences with the black market and what womanhood means to her. #StayUnshaming with us at instagram.com/unshaming and unshamingpodcast.com.

Shame of Abortion

Erin Jorgensen has had four abortions and works for Shout Your Abortion, an organization dedicated to removing the stigma around abortion. In this episode she discusses how she unshamed her own abortions, the importance of representation in her community, and sense of belonging she found in telling her story proudly. If you'd like to learn more about abortion, visit Shout Your Abortion. #StayUnshaming with us at instagram.com/unshaming and unshamingpodcast.com.

Shame of Body Image

Haley Johnston shares her story of unshaming body image. During her time at UT Austin, she struggled with disordered eating and over-exercising which resulted in her missing her period for two years. Her journey to body love has included regaining her period but also a passion for women’s health and self-love. Discover more at instagram.com/unshaming and unshamingpodcast.com.

Shame of Eating Disorder

Send us a Text Message. Haley Johnston shares her story of unshaming body image. During her time at UT Austin, she struggled with disordered eating and over-exercising which resulted in her missing her period for two years. Her journey to body love has included regaining her period but also a passion for women’s health and self-love. #StayUnshaming with us at instagram.com/unshaming and unshamingpodcast.com.

Starter Episode: Shame of Being Gay

Send us a Text Message. Host Jor Gonsalves takes us on his unshaming journey of being gay. Jor discusses the pain, the shame, the freedom, and the joy of his coming out story. #StayUnshaming with us at instagram.com/unshaming and unshamingpodcast.com.

Shame of Being Gay

Host Jor Gonsalves takes us on his unshaming journey of being gay. Jor discusses the pain, the shame, the freedom, and the joy of his coming out story. #StayUnshaming with us at instagram.com/unshaming and unshamingpodcast.com.

Shame of HIV Status

Send us a Text Message. AIDS activist and health educator Jahlove Serano discusses his journey to unshame his HIV positive status: from being diagnosed at 15, running away from home, and dropping out of school in fear of others finding out to becoming the face of several global "end HIV" campaigns. #StayUnshaming with us at  instagram.com/unshaming and unshamingpodcast.com.