Ep. 28: Jen Isher-Witt & Letting Ourselves Finally Understand it All

This week’s guest is Jen Isher-Witt (she/her). Jen was so generous with her personal story which was such an example of what it means for us queer people to navigate through Second Adolescence. Before going into Second Adolescence, we dove into her first adolescence - talking everything from middle school, anxiety, those first indicators of queerness and the dread and panic that can come in response to internalized anti-queerness. Jen goes on to share about the rest of her adolescence which was marked by effort to be straight and distance herself from these feelings she was having. Then, it was in college that her queerness began to emerge more fully and her Second Adolescence began. I felt so much personal resonance with her and her story and feel so beyond grateful she wanted to invite us all into it!

About the guest:
Jen (she/her) is a 34-year old queer woman who grew up at the Jersey shore and now lives in North Carolina. Since coming out at 21, she’s spent a lot of time thinking, talking, and writing about the impact of her queer identity on her first adolescence and, more recently, on becoming a parent. You can check out some of her reflections on Medium. Jen also has a PhD in social psychology and gets joy from making it more accessible to others. Learn more on Instagram by following @SocialPsyQ.

For more, visit www.secondadolescencepod.com or @secondadolescencepod.

Download episode transcript here.