TYPE 2: Episode 021 - Brix Schaumburg

Looking Sideways Action Sports Podcast

Type 2 is a podcast from Looking Sideways in association with Patagonia that explores the intersection between the outdoors, action sports and activism.
This week’s guest is actor, musician, performer, podcast host and trans activist Brix Schaumburg. As Germany’s most high profile trans actor, Brix has become something of a focal point for the conversation around trans rights and issues of gender. This scenario has led him to a form of gently provocative activism, in which he has used his platform to position himself as a ‘filter and buffer’, a lens through which to explore these topics with a thoughtful generosity and playfulness.
I think this really comes across in our conversation, which is an extremely nuanced and thought-provoking chat. As usual in Type 2, we talked about Brix’s life and career but really we spoke about themes that everybody can recognise: especially, the gap between our inner and public-facing selves, and how reconciling these two poles really constitutes the work of everybody’s life. Regular listeners to Type 2 and my own Looking Sideways podcast will know this one a bit of a pet theme of mine.
We also discussed how difficult it is, no matter how progressive you consider yourself to be, to escape the binary conventions and associations that have accumulated in our culture - something I demonstrated perfectly at one point, much to Brix’s wry amusement, and which he pointed out to me in the same open spirit with which he approaches this entire topic. And we dipped a toe into the issue of trans athletes participation in sport, an issue which is at the frontline of the current debate.
I enjoyed our conversation very much, and as is the case in the best exchanges, I learned a lot about the issues generally and, more importantly, about my own relationship to the conventions and gender boundaries that invisibly govern our lives. I hope you do too.
New episodes of Type 2 are released every four weeks through my Looking Sideways channel. Hear it by subscribing to Looking Sideways via ApplePodcasts, Spotify or any of the usual other podcast providers. Thanks to Ewan Wallace for the theme tune, and to my editor Fina Charleson.
This is a public episode. If you’d like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit lookingsideways.substack.com/subscribe