The Hidden Labor of Traveling While Fat, Queer, and Disabled

Get "Liberate Your Business" by Becky Mollenkamp https://liberateyourbusiness.com/Becky Mollenkamp and Taina Brown get into the often-overlooked politics of travel — from queer safety and fat-body accessibility to the colonial mindset baked into Western travel culture. They explore how identity shapes every aspect of a trip, why travel is both a privilege and a political act, and what it actually looks like to show up in someone else's space with humility, curiosity, and respect.In This Episode, We Get Into:How Taina and her wife navigate travel as queer, fat-bodied, disabled women of color — including the research they do before choosing a destinationThe exhausting labor of traveling with multiple marginalized identities: wheelchair assistance, medications, masking, claustrophobia, seatbelt extenders, and moreWhy Europe — despite its appeal — can be deeply inaccessible for fat and disabled travelers, and why the Americans with Disabilities Act is actually one of the US's most important pieces of legislationThe colonial mindset embedded in how Americans (especially wealthy white Americans) show up abroad — from demanding McDonald's in Peru to being obnoxiously loud in spaces that have different cultural normsHow the cost of air travel continues to widen the gap between the haves and have-nots, and what it means when only the most elite get to see the worldThe difference between curating your travel experience and showing up as an entitled American tourist who expects to be accommodatedBecky's life-changing high school trip to the USSR — and why she believes international travel at a formative age is one of the greatest gifts a young person can receiveTaina's experience at a travel company in LA, and some of the most entitled client behavior she witnessed firsthandWhy "different" is a better word than "weird" — and how Becky is teaching her 10-year-old son to navigate cultural difference with curiosity instead of judgmentHow Hawaiians and other communities are pushing back against tourism — and why some destinations are now off Becky's bucket list entirely🎤 JOIN US IN THE FEMINIST PODCASTERS COLLECTIVE