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 at relationscapes.org. About the Guest Rene Almeling is Professor of Sociology at Yale University. She is the author of two award-winning books: Sex Cells offers an inside look at the American market for egg and sperm donors, and GUYnecology examines the causes and consequences of inattention to male reproductive health.

PLEASE SUBSCRIBE IN THE RELATIONSCAPES FEED NOW! Some songs wait decades before they reveal what they’re really about. Back in the 90s when 20-year-old Steven Page wrote “What a Good Boy,” he understood it as a plea to ease up on restrictive gender expectations that harmed boys and girls. But as he performed it over the years, he realized it was about much more than that. The song can be understood as a stirring anthem exploring gender identity, wrestling against the binary world's hostility to people who don't fit the mold, trans, nonbinary, genderqueer, gay, or otherwise. Page, a founding member of the smash-hit band Barenaked Ladies and an artist now working deeply in his solo career, has spent much of his life writing songs that explore vulnerability, humor, grief, and joy. His instinct to blend comedy with pathos has made his work resonate in ways he couldn’t have predicted. Page reflects on how that song came to be, how meaning changes over time, and on the responsibility artists carry when their work becomes part of someone else’s becoming. Full transcript is available at relationscapes.org. But you'll want to hear this one! ABOUT THE GUEST Steven Page is a Canadian musician, singer, songwriter, record producer, and founding member of the music group Barenaked Ladies. Since going solo, Page has released five albums, he performs with groups like the Trans-Canada Highwaymen, and he publicly advocates on issues including mental and behavioral health. He has three sons and lives in New York with his partner, Christine Benedicto. I'm not sure if he has any dogs or cats, and I forgot to ask him. Join his Patreon!.

If you lost touch with reality, how would you even tell the difference? That's the question Sarah Labrie had to confront after her mother was found on the side of a Houston freeway in the midst of a schizophrenic break. And she also wondered, "Am I next?" In this 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 mental 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.  About the Guest 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.

PLEASE SUBSCRIBE IN THE RELATIONSCAPES FEED NOW! Some songs wait decades before they reveal what they’re really about. Back in the 90s when 20-year-old Steven Page wrote “What a Good Boy,” he understood it as a plea to ease up on restrictive gender expectations that harmed boys and girls. But as he performed it over the years, he realized it was about much more than that. The song can be understood as a stirring anthem exploring gender identity, wrestling against the binary world's hostility to people who don't fit the mold, trans, nonbinary, genderqueer, gay, or otherwise. Page, a founding member of the smash-hit band Barenaked Ladies and an artist now working deeply in his solo career, has spent much of his life writing songs that explore vulnerability, humor, grief, and joy. His instinct to blend comedy with pathos has made his work resonate in ways he couldn’t have predicted. Page reflects on how that song came to be, how meaning changes over time, and on the responsibility artists carry when their work becomes part of someone else’s becoming. Full transcript is available at relationscapes.org. But you'll want to hear this one! ABOUT THE GUEST Steven Page is a Canadian musician, singer, songwriter, record producer, and founding member of the music group Barenaked Ladies. Since going solo, Page has released five albums, he performs with groups like the Trans-Canada Highwaymen, and he publicly advocates on issues including mental and behavioral health. He has three sons and lives in New York with his partner, Christine Benedicto. I'm not sure if he has any dogs or cats, and I forgot to ask him. Join his Patreon!.

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