Chosen Family: how to create a close community & what straight people can learn from the LGBTQIA+ community

Chosen family isn't a backup plan — for queer and trans communities, it's been survival and a radical way to build love, care, and belonging outside blood and marriage. This episode asks why the rest of us haven't caught up.

Bree talks to Dr. Shanna Kattari, associate professor at the University of Michigan School of Social Work and director of the [Sexuality | Relationships | Gender] Research Collective, whose research includes the landmark study "We Just Take Care of Each Other," on chosen family among queer and transgender young adults.

In this episode you'll learn:

• What chosen family actually means, and its roots in queer and trans history
• Why queer and trans people are often better at deep, lasting friendship — and what the rest of us can learn from it
• The real, researched benefits of chosen family
• Why straight people, and single women especially, should be building chosen family too
• How to actually create a chosen family — it's a practice, not something that just happens
• The conversations needed with coupled-up friends and parents who've never had to prioritise friendship
• What healthy expectations of a chosen family member look like, and why not everyone in your life needs to play the same role

If you've ever felt your friendships deserved to be taken as seriously as a romantic relationship, this episode is for you.

Best listened to as part of the full Last Year of Single series.

Dr. Shanna Kattari: shannakattari.wordpress.com

Follow Dr. Kattari: @DrShannaK

Substack memoir — last year of single in real time: breesteele.substack.com

Instagram: @lastyearofsingle @breesteele.mp3

Email: lastyearofsingle@gmail.com

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Host and Executive Producer: Bree Steele

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