Junzi

About Junzi

This is a podcast about our relationship to the world and how that impacts our relationship to each other. New episode every Wednesday!

Publisher

Benzi and Juno

Category

society & culture

Language

en

Explicit

Yes

First episode

12 Jul 2026

Latest episode

26 Aug 2026

Latest episodes

11 episodes in the feed.

1. 

   26 Aug 2026

   JUNZI #009: The Vessel and the Experiencer: On Having (and Not Having) Children

   In this episode, we dig into the emotional, philosophical, and practical sides of having children, a topic Juno brings in after a conversation about it came up during a circling immersion in Tucson. Juno opens up about why she's never wanted to give birth, even though she'd love to be a deeply involved co-parent to other people's kids: it comes down to the outsized power a birth parent holds over a child's primary attachment. Benzi pushes back and shares that she does want to give birth, largely because of the singular closeness she has with her own mom and her wish to create that bond in the other direction, and Juno gently prods her on whether that connection can ever be guaranteed. From there we get into Juno's long-held anti-natalist leanings, the selfish gene theory, and why she thinks most people's reasons for having kids are really just evolution talking, versus Benzi's belief in unconditional love as a motivator and her skepticism of free will and "reasons" in general. We open up about our pretty different baseline views on whether life is worth living (Juno's is that we're mostly suffering and DNA's slaves to it, Benzi's is that heaven is a place on earth), get delightfully weird talking about vessels, experiencers, and Existential Kink, and land on Benzi's vision for communal parenting, day mothers and night mothers, wet nursing, and shared night shifts, as the antidote to the isolated, miserable motherhood we both witnessed in our old community. We also talk about our fears of being overstimulated or emotionally checked-out caregivers, how that connects to our own childhoods and abuse histories, the inherent powerlessness of being a child, Benzi's grief about becoming an older mom, and why taking kids' emotional experiences seriously (Wife Swap included) matters so much to us. 💬 Join the Conversation: Do you prefer watching the video or want to share your thoughts on this episode? Come join the community, leave a comment, and connect with us on YouTube (https://www.youtube.com/@JunziPodcast)! 💖 Support the Show: If our conversations resonate with you, consider supporting our independent production! Check out our membership tiers (including exclusive content and monthly community video calls) or send a one-time tip at ko-fi.com/junzipodcast (https://ko-fi.com/junzipodcast).

2. 

   19 Aug 2026

   JUNZI 008: Asking for What We Want: On Expressing Needs, Hearing Demands, and the Role of Childhood Trauma

   In this episode, we dig into our relationship to making and receiving requests. The topic is inspired by Juno’s frustration with people who happily offer to do things for her unprompted, but grow irritated and hesitant when she asks directly for what she wants. We talk about how an offer can feel like a gift, while a request for the same thing can feel like a demand, the emotional labor of processing people’s requests, and pathological demand avoidance (PDA). We end up tracing our sometimes conflicting ways of communicating needs and desires back to our childhoods. Juno talks about having had to suppress her needs for most of her life, and the tendency now to express them at maximum intensity as a way of advocating for herself. Benzi shares her fear of disappointing people and how much she cares about Juno’s specific needs, which sometimes comes out as frustration. We also talk about our growing sensitivities as we reconnect with our bodies after abuse and trauma, how we each gauge the costs of saying “no” to someone we love, and the way children are denied real autonomy. --- 💬 Join the Conversation: Do you prefer watching the video or want to share your thoughts on this episode? Come join the community, leave a comment, and connect with us on YouTube (https://www.youtube.com/@JunziPodcast)! 💖 Support the Show: If our conversations resonate with you, consider supporting our independent production! Check out our membership tiers (including exclusive content and monthly community video calls) or send a one-time tip at ko-fi.com/junzipodcast (https://ko-fi.com/junzipodcast).

3. 

   12 Aug 2026

   Junzi 007: No One Is the Scary Monster: Processing the Relateful Immersion

   We recorded this the morning after a three-day Relateful Immersion in Tucson. We start by describing what Relateful is (a verbal relational mindfulness practice) and how it compares to a psychedelic trip, and how inspired we are by the playful, self-strusting leadership style of the founder, Jordan Myska Allen. We move into talking about the overwhelming sense of unconditional acceptance in the group, the flow of change, rupture and repair, trauma reactions, learning to connect with and love people regardless of their politics, creating more closeness in relationships, the shame of wanting attention, the way nothing is personal (but also everything feels personal), and so much more. We also discuss the fear both of us noticed around being loved so easily in that community, especially when compared to the anger and us-versus-them energy that was such a big part of our past relationship anarchy community. --- 💬 Join the Conversation: Do you prefer watching the video or want to share your thoughts on this episode? Come join the community, leave a comment, and connect with us on YouTube (https://www.youtube.com/@JunziPodcast)! 💖 Support the Show: If our conversations resonate with you, consider supporting our independent production! Check out our membership tiers (including exclusive content and monthly community video calls) or send a one-time tip at ko-fi.com/junzipodcast (https://ko-fi.com/junzipodcast).

4. 

   5 Aug 2026

   Responding to Your Comments Bonus Episode (Vol. 1, Part 1) [Free Intro]

   This is our first comments and reactions bonus episode (covering the first three episodes of the podcast).The first 40 minutes are free to everyone, but the full 3-hour episode is exclusive to our Ko-fi members. We’re joined by our long-time friend Clara for a sprawling convo in response to comments we received about our political ideologies (specifically anarchism), the value of philosophy, communication skills, our relationship to gender identity and gender roles, non-monogamy, codependency, cheating, voice memo guy, the meaning of coercion, dating litmus tests, considering men’s feelings and humanity in feminism, and our faulty pronunciation of words. Want to listen to the whole thing? Join us at ko-fi.com/junzipodcast (https://ko-fi.com/junzipodcast) for access to the full episode. 💖 Note: This is just part 1. Part 2 is coming out soon as well, and it contains our reactions to comments about episodes 4 (on veganism and the ethics of eating) and 5 (on Queer Collective Podcast drama).

5. 

   5 Aug 2026

   Junzi 006: The Human Fallibility in Making and Breaking Agreements

   In this episode, we talk about our views on agreements within relationships. We start by describing the way our past involvement with relationship anarchy community influenced our thinking, and our shared rejection of promise-like contractual agreements. Throughout the episode, we discuss monogamous agreements, fluid-bonding, cheating, abusive relationships, best practices for communication, the special status we assign to sexual agreements, accepting human fallibility, and planning how we are going to handle inevitable broken agreements. At one point, we focus on a story Benzi brought up about a stay-at-home mom whose husband keeps cheating, apologizing, and cheating again, and end up in real disagreement about how much agency and responsibility she has in that situation versus how much is about power and entrapment. We also talk about how people can be good or bad predictors of their own behavior, how neurodivergence plays into that, some of our differing and overlapping needs in socializing, how we manage our expectations of each other, and the ways we’ve both grown in our ability to navigate making and breaking agreements. True to the topic, we end the episode by making (and keeping) an agreement about exactly how long Juno gets to thrift before lunch in Tucson. --- 💬 Join the Conversation: Do you prefer watching the video or want to share your thoughts on this episode? Come join the community, leave a comment, and connect with us on YouTube (https://www.youtube.com/@JunziPodcast)! 💖 Support the Show: If our conversations resonate with you, consider supporting our independent production! Check out our membership tiers (including exclusive content and monthly community video calls) or send a one-time tip at ko-fi.com/junzipodcast (https://ko-fi.com/junzipodcast).

6. 

   29 Jul 2026

   Junzi 005: Kill the Queer Cop in Your Head: Our Take on the Queer Collective Podcast and the Backlash They’ve Received

   In this episode, we dig into the online controversy surrounding the Queer Collective Podcast and its hosts, Emily and Karbon, who are currently facing accusations of lesbophobia, biphobia, and transphobia. We talk about the claims they’ve made that political lesbianism is the root of biphobia against bisexual women, lesbian insecurity about bisexual women is “male-centered,” sexual identity can be a choice, lesbians can occasionally have sex with men, the “bi-cycle” is representative of bisexual experience, and trans women are “socialized as men.” We also talk about the contradiction between strict definitions of “lesbian” and including trans men in lesbianism, the historical invention of deviant sexual identity, our own experiences with political lesbianism and queerness, our perspectives on the apology Emily and Karbon have made (and on apologies in general), our rejection of identity policing and punitive approaches to conflict in the queer community, the importance of being able to openly explore ideas even if they don’t positively represent a marginalized group, and so much more. What starts as analysis of someone else's controversy also turns into something more personal. We go on tangents in which we discuss conflicts from several years ago, learn new information about each other’s experience of bisexuality, and talk about the fear that saying the "wrong" thing online could cost us our friendship. --- 💬 Join the Conversation: Do you prefer watching the video or want to share your thoughts on this episode? Come join the community, leave a comment, and connect with us on YouTube (https://www.youtube.com/@JunziPodcast)! 💖 Support the Show: If our conversations resonate with you, consider supporting our independent production! Check out our membership tiers (including exclusive content and monthly community video calls) or send a one-time tip at ko-fi.com/junzipodcast (https://ko-fi.com/junzipodcast).

7. 

   22 Jul 2026

   Junzi 004: What Do You Mean You're Not Vegan?: Navigating Differing Ethics and the Nature of Reality

   In this episode, we tackle the massive topic of our relationship to other species, animal justice, and the heavy realities of using and eating animals as food. We also dive into how our differing ethical systems on this issue impact our relationship with one another. What starts as a plan to debate the classic vegan logical argument "Name the Trait" quickly transforms into an unexpected, intimate psychological exploration of both of our worldviews. We open up about the chilling effects of past value disagreements, our personal histories with PETA and fruitarianism, the paralyzed perfectionism of moral OCD, and the heartbreaking gap between sound logic and messy reality. Along the way, we widen the lens to discuss environmental impacts, the corporate incentives of factory farming vs. capitalism, the sentience of plants, and how to hold deep connection across a profound difference in anxiety and frameworks. Note: Juno has decided to slowly transition to veganism, while Benzi remains committed to eating animals and trying to build a life in which she can do so without factory farming. --- 💬 Join the Conversation: Do you prefer watching the video or want to share your thoughts on this episode? Come join the community, leave a comment, and connect with us on YouTube (https://www.youtube.com/@JunziPodcast)! 💖 Support the Show: If our conversations resonate with you, consider supporting our independent production! Check out our membership tiers (including exclusive content and monthly community video calls) or send a one-time tip at ko-fi.com/junzipodcast (https://ko-fi.com/junzipodcast).

8. 

   15 Jul 2026

   Junzi 003: Voice Memo Gate: The Fraught Online Discourse about Gender and Sexual Ethics

   In this episode, we break down the TikTok discourse about “voice memo guy,” and the way it reveals dangerous cultural attitudes about men, sexual communication, dating, consent, coercion, and rape culture. If you aren’t familiar, a voice memo sent to a woman by a man right after their first date was uploaded onto TikTok by the woman’s friend, and it’s become one of the most polarizing pieces of media currently on the internet. We play the full voice memo during the episode, share how we would emotionally react if we received that message, and then provide a critical analysis of the responses we’ve seen to it so far. --- 💬 Join the Conversation: Do you prefer watching the video or want to share your thoughts on this episode? Come join the community, leave a comment, and connect with us on YouTube (https://www.youtube.com/@JunziPodcast)! 💖 Support the Show: If our conversations resonate with you, consider supporting our independent production! Check out our membership tiers (including exclusive content and monthly community video calls) or send a one-time tip at ko-fi.com/junzipodcast (https://ko-fi.com/junzipodcast).

9. 

   14 Jul 2026

   Junzi 002: Relationship Anarchy, Intentional Community, and Anti-Monogamy

   In this episode, we talk about relationship anarchy (RA) theory and practice, our history with becoming part of an RA community in Southeast Michigan, non-hierarchical relating, organizing an international RA unconference, how our views on monogamy and coupling have shifted over the years, the concept of “ethical monogamy,” how everyone can center friendship and community in their lives, the breakdown of intentional community during COVID, and how our new community practices are influenced by what we’ve learned from the past. Near the end, we touch on the subject of agreements and cheating, which will be explored more deeply in a future episode. --- 💬 Join the Conversation: Do you prefer watching the video or want to share your thoughts on this episode? Come join the community, leave a comment, and connect with us on YouTube (https://www.youtube.com/@JunziPodcast)! 💖 Support the Show: If our conversations resonate with you, consider supporting our independent production! Check out our membership tiers (including exclusive content and monthly community video calls) or send a one-time tip at ko-fi.com/junzipodcast (https://ko-fi.com/junzipodcast).

10. 

    13 Jul 2026

    Junzi 001: It’s Not Just a Podcast, It’s A Relationship

    In the first episode of Junzi, we briefly introduce the concept of relational ontology, and begin talking about how this podcast came to be and the fraught history of our relationship (love, conflict, rupture, and repair). We move into discussing what we’ve learned about relationships from our history with one another, our relational values, and the qualities that we love about each other (moving through painful conflict, building strategies for communication, practicing boundaries and reassurance, non-escalator relationship structures, radical honesty, playfulness, and openness to taboo or heterodox ideas). --- 💬 Join the Conversation: Do you prefer watching the video or want to share your thoughts on this episode? Come join the community, leave a comment, and connect with us on YouTube (https://www.youtube.com/@JunziPodcast)! 💖 Support the Show: If our conversations resonate with you, consider supporting our independent production! Check out our membership tiers (including exclusive content and monthly community video calls) or send a one-time tip at ko-fi.com/junzipodcast (https://ko-fi.com/junzipodcast).

11. 

    12 Jul 2026

    Welcome to Junzi - Trailer

    A quick taste of what is to come. Subscribe now so you don't miss our official launch drops!

Reach and audience

Public platform figures. Ratings count people who left a rating, not total listeners.

Apple Podcasts (US)

5.0 / 5

1 ratings

Spotify

5.0 / 5

4 ratings

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