Vikings Are Gay‪!‬ Amy Jefford Franks

In this episode of Vikings Are Gay, Amy Jefford Franks explores the tale of Hervor/Hervard, assigned female at birth and later taking on the social role of being a man. 

As the Black Lives Matter movement sees a resurgence, it is an important time for white allies to reflect on their complicity in white supremacy. In this episode, Amy Jefford Franks will tell you about some of the darker parts in the history of Viking Studies as a field, and why anti-racist work must form part of what we do. 

In this episode, we take a look at the poem Thrymskviða, which shows Thor dressing up as a woman to gain back his hammer. What can we learn about Viking queerness and queerphobia from this? Amy Jefford Franks takes a look. 

Odin: one of the most well-known gods of Norse mythology, the god of death, war, poetry, magic, in charge of the Valkyries. By all accounts, he seems pretty manly, right? WRONG! In this episode, Amy Jefford Franks will give you some reasons why Odin might be a little bit queer... 

The Vikings didn't have words for genders and sexualities like the ones we recognise from the LGBTQIA+ acronym, so how do we go about spotting queerness in the Viking Age? In this episode, Amy will give you the low-down on the Viking magic called seiðr, and will discuss the implications of men practicing it, when they were accused of being 'ergi'. 

Don't worry if you don't know anything about the Vikings, this episode has you covered! We'll enter into the dark, filthy world of the Vikings, giving you the downlow on the basics, and a bit of fun mythbusting!