In this week's episode, I speak with the delightful Simeon Wakely about what it's like to be a man with Spina bifida in the UK today.

I'd love to hear your thoughts on our conversation.

You can find me at thepenisdialogues@gmail.com or on the platform previously known as twitter @dialoguespenis

I'm particularly interested in hearing from men who are, or have been in any of the forces.

If that's you, or someone you know - you know what to do.

Please like, or subscribe or share, or rate, it really does wonders for my algorithms.

Until the next time,

I've been Chris Young, and you've been right-dead lovely,

See you next Tuesday

Welcome back to the Penis Dialogues! Didja miss me? Didja? What do you mean you hadn't even noticed? How very dare...

In this episode, I speak with my lovely friend, the actor and all round good-guy, Mark Carey about what it's like to be a man in the 2020s and his new stage show, 'What's Wrong with Benny Hill?' where he explores the rise and fall of this once celebrated comedian.

You can find more details about his show, including upcoming tour dates, here

I'd love to hear your thoughts on this, or any of the other episodes in the series. You can find me at thepenisdialogues@gmail.com or on the social media platform previously known as twitter @dialoguespenis

Until the next time...

I've been Chris Young

and you've been rather fabulous

thank you so much for listening

see you next Tuesday

This episode comes with a content warning, during which I talk about experiences of childhood sexual abuse, neglect, bereavement, poverty and physical violence.

Hi folks, sorry about the recent silence, occasionally my mental wheels fall off - on this occasion it took a little longer to put them back on.

The Penis Dialogues - more questions than answers! Have I been asking the wrong questions? Or have I been avoiding the key questions? Is this little more than an echo-chamber for my own confirmation bias?

In this episode I've asked myself some of the questions that I perhaps could have asked my previous guests. That said, it does get a bit uncomfortable in places so...let's see how we go.

I mention Caitlin Moran's book 'What about Men?' and the disgruntled responses from men who've been talking about this kind of stuff for decades, for example Ally Fogg's piece in the Guardian from 11 years ago about International Men's Day

Please like/ follow/ comment/ review - you can find me @dialoguespenis and @walkamileuk on twitter or you can email me at thepenisdialogues@gmail.com

See you next Tuesday

Chris

Ok team, I’ve got a bit of an admission to make here…in this episode, with the delightful Simeon Wakely, we’ve taken an ever so slight detour from the usual penis dialoggy kind of er…exchange here.

Welcome to the Penis Dialogues, I’m your host, Chris Young and for my loyal listeners – not that it makes you any better than my other listeners – but, between you and me, you are by far my favourites – who listen in to my other podcast, you’ll get a distinct Walk a Mile in My Shoes vibe from this.

That wasn’t entirely deliberate – but as we spoke it soon became apparent that my request for the usual few set pieces to give you fine folk a flavour of what it’s like to be Simeon wasn’t quite going to cut it on this occasion.

I think that for me to more fully understand where Simeon’s coming from when I finally get round to asking him what it’s like to be a 26 year-old man in the 2020’s, it was essential that we spoke about what it’s like to be a disabled human…or a human with disabilities, in this day and age in the UK.

I knew things were coming a little off the rails when his first set piece – unlike those of any of my previous guests – came around roughly 6 months before he was born…Simeon has spina bifida and hydrocephalus – and talking about that gives us the essential backdrop of where he’s coming from in his next episode.

He and I have spoken before and at length about how, although his combined disabilities can curtail some of the things he’s able to do…it’s society…it’s us…that actually prevents him from being all he can be…but in this conversation, with my lovely friend, I was truly slapped in the face with it.

As ever, if you’d like to be part of the Penis Dialogues adventure, please get in touch with me on twitter @dialoguespenis or email me at thepenisdialogues@gmail.com I’d love to hear what you think of the show, or, if you’d like an episode of your own, you’d be very welcome.

If this is your kind of thing, I’d be delighted if you’d subscribe to the show…rate it or review it…apparently that all helps with the mysterious world of the algorithm…and, obviously, sharing it about the place would be rather splendid too.

Thank you so much for listening

Until the next time, I’ve been Chris Young and you’ve been rather fabulous

See you next Tuesday

Welcome back, dear listener. It seems only a week since...

In this episode, I speak with the delightful Mark King, a pastoral support worker in a secondary school in Norfolk. We cover a lot of stuff. Here are a couple of links to just some of the things we touched on in our conversation...

Men and their (lack of) friends

White pupils underachieving at school

County Lines and how easy it is to get caught up in drug crime

If you'd like to be part of this conversation, you can find me on twitter @dialoguespenis or you can email me at thepenisdialogues@gmail.com

Thank you so much for listening

Until the next time,

I've been Chris Young, and you've been rather lovely.

See you next Tuesday

I'll not bang on about this episode here - instead I'll give you the 3 quotes George sent to me before we spoke. I think they sum him up rather well

Something good from it:

What irritates you does not last.

Consider that, let go of the irritation, and move on.

What frustrates you provides insight into your own priorities.

Use that as an opportunity to focus on those priorities rather than on the frustration.

What angers you gives you energy.

Find a way to point that energy in a positive, productive direction.

What frightens you alerts you to possible dangers.

Use that awareness to better prepare yourself for successfully handling or avoiding the dangers.

What initially arrives as difficulty, discomfort or unpleasantness can be turned to your advantage.

That has been the catalyst for much of your skill, wisdom, strength, and will continue to be.

What is going on in your world right now, and how can you make something good from it?

Challenge yourself to find a way, for your very own history proves that you will.

Ralph Marston

"Love is not all you need. You need mutual respect. You need support. You need trust. You need boundaries. You need people to be there when it matters. You need space to grow and acceptance when you do. You need people to show their love in a way you can understand." Nedra Tawwab

Our Community, Our Decisions

Each one of us can make a difference. Together we make change. Barbara Mikulski.

Welcome back, dear listener, to this, the 6th episode of the penis dialogues. I’m your host, Chris Young, and in this episode, I speak with the delightful Graham Morgan who, amongst other things talks eloquently about what it’s like to be a male victim of domestic abuse – just as importantly, I think, he talks about what it’s like to be the male victim of domestic abuse whilst carrying a label of schizophrenia.

Keep an ear open for his set pieces. One of them, I’ll let you decide which it is, filled my mind with the most beautiful images you can imagine. It’s absolutely lovely.

As ever, we speak about some challenging stuff. As well as his lovely adopted family, he tells us about 2 organisations who’ve been a massive support to him, Rape Crisis Scotland and Jean’s Bothy

There’s a lot to think about.

Remember, if you’d like to be part of this journey, by being a guest or by commenting wherever you like, you can find me @dialoguespenis on twitter or you can email me at thepenisdialogues@gmail.com

The podcast is available on Apple, Google, Amazon and Spotify – I’d be delighted if you’d give me a follow, a comment or a rating, if that’s your kind of thing.

Thanks so much for listening.

I'll see you next Tuesday

12 years ago, when I went on a walk around the edge of our fair island to highlight the experience of people with mental health problems, mental maladies, mental illness, however you’d like to refer to them, I encountered swathes of people who had the audacity to use the wrong language.

Very rapidly, I discovered that this was the language they had – and that there was no ill-intent behind their words.

Equally rapidly, I found out that if I challenged people too early on or too vociferously, I’d end up sleeping in my tent with nothing to eat.

These are challenging times – and we really do have more similarities than differences. Yes, there are dickheads out there, but please take some time before you make irrevocable decisions about the character of another human.

Join me and Stephen as we pick our way through that particular minefield – I’d like to think we do it pretty successfully and respectfully.

If you have any comments on this week’s episode, or any of the other 4 (yes, I know this isn’t the 6th – remind me to bore you with the details of that in a later show), or if you’d like to be guest, please get in touch.

You can find me on twitter @dialoguespenis or email me at thepenisdialogues@gmail.com

Until the next time…

Thanks so much for listening,

I’ve been Chris Young, and you’ve been rather fabulous

See you next Tuesday