We talk a lot about women’s reproductive health. We rarely talk about men’s.

But that gap isn’t just cultural—it’s built into science itself.

In this episode, Yale sociologist Rene Almeling explains how modern medicine ended up with an entire field devoted to women’s reproductive systems—and no real equivalent for men. From a failed 19th-century push for “andrology” to today’s emerging research on sperm and health, we trace how this imbalance took shape.

Along the way, we look at what new science is starting to reveal: how age, smoking, and environmental exposures can affect sperm—and why most people have never heard about it. We also explore how cultural assumptions about gender have shaped everything from medical research to the way we describe fertilization itself.

If reproduction involves two bodies, why has only one been under the microscope? Find the answers in Rene Almeling's book, Guynecology: The Missing Science of Men's Reproductive Health.

Full transcript is available here at relationscapes.org.

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Guest information....

She thought there would always be more time to explore—until a routine hike nearly killed her.

In this mini episode, Bailey Buckles recounts how a sudden, life-threatening infection drove home the fact that tomorrow isn’t guaranteed.

It was an especially powerful moment, because as a transgender woman of color in America, she hadn't always wanted to stay alive.

From climbing mountains to showing up online as her full self, Bailey strives to live with greater urgency, purpose, and joy.

Full transcript is available here at relationscapes.org.

• Bailey Buckles, "At 38, I Still Felt Like I Was Getting Started. Then I Nearly Died," (Mar 12, 2026).
• Bailey Buckles, "Is This New, or Just Newly Felt," (Jan 25, 2026).

• Recovering Queer Black History for Everybody (with George M. Johnson)
• How to Support Trans Youth (with Ben V. Greene)

Bailey Buckles is a trans content creator in Colorado who loves the outdoors, her partner, her dog, and living life. Follow her here, and at her Substack.

If you lost touch with reality, how would you even tell the difference?

That's the question Sarah Labrie confronts after her mother was found on the side of a Houston freeway in the midst of a schizophrenic break, along with the question, "Am I next?"

In this deeply candid conversation, Sarah discusses growing up between extremes of adoration and abuse, witnessing a parent’s mental illness, struggling with perfectionism, and looking for healthy relationships, until the weight of her own artistic ambition almost brought her to a complete collapse.

We explore parallel worlds—of mother and daughter, of friendship and rupture, of the selves we become, the selves we might have been, and the selves that might yet be out there, somewhere. We're talking about Sarah's memoir, No One Gets to Fall Apart.

Full transcript is available here at relationscapes.org.

Walter Benjamin's Arcades project, as told by Wikipedia.

• "Coming of Age in a Cult and Beyond," with Guinevere Turner
• "Healing From Family Trauma," with Mariel Buqué

Sarah LaBrie is author of No One Gets to Fall Apart: A Memoir (HarperCollins, 2024), a New York Times Notable Book and finalist for the Writers League of Texas Book Award. She's also a television writer whose credits include Minx, Blindspotting, Made for Love, Love, Victor and Beauty, a Beauty and the Beast prequel for Disney+. She has received fellowships from Yaddo, MacDowell and the Austin Film Society. Her work has been performed at the Apollo Theater and at Walt Disney Concert Hall. Learn more at sarahlabrielivesinlosangeles.com.