Anita stopped wearing real bras in the pandemic. But that doesn't mean she's stopped eyeing lingerie. Lingerie aficionados — including a historian, model and designer — take her inside the world of undergarments: from the history of crotchless panties to how folks are rethinking intimate apparel design to fit a wider range of bodies. Meet the Guests: - Cora Harrington , founder and editor-in-chief of The Lingerie Addict blog and author of "In Intimate Detail: How to Choose, Wear and Love Lingeri...
Dec 10, 2021•28 min
Anita doesn't slow down...until her body demands it. That's thanks in part to a culture that values productivity, making true rest a challenge for many, especially people from marginalized backgrounds. For Black folks in particular, sleep deprivation has roots in slavery and racial oppression — which makes rest a form of resistance. Hear from people who are reclaiming their right to rest and pushing back against hustle culture through art, therapy and activism. Meet the Guests: - Gabrielle Zhuan...
Dec 03, 2021•32 min
Anita's parents have told her that they want their aging process to be easy on her and her siblings. But how does that intention become reality? Anita talks to folks who are looking at the aging process head-on and thinking about how to build webs of community and care for their older selves. Meet the guests: - Steven Petrow , journalist and author, talks about how watching his parents age has informed what he does and doesn't want for his older self and shares his tangible preparations and mind...
Nov 19, 2021•24 min
Anita learns from folks who identify as the A on the LGBTQIA spectrum. It's a sexual identity that's long been ignored, minimized and misunderstood. They share their differing experiences of not being sexually attracted to anyone and a reminder we could all use: love and sex are not the same. Meet the guests: - Angela Chen , journalist and author of “Ace: What Asexuality Reveals About Desire, Society and the Meaning of Sex,” talks about the range of experiences in the ace community, including he...
Nov 12, 2021•23 min
Anita meets folks who've undergone facial feminization surgery as part of their gender confirmation process. FFS is a set of bone and soft tissue surgical procedures that reshape the forehead, brow, jaw and more. They share what the surgery meant for them, plus a medical anthropologist helps unpack who gets to decide what femininity looks like. Meet the guests: - Emma Ward , songwriter, producer and community manager, shares her experience of facial feminization surgery - Eric Plemons , associat...
Nov 05, 2021•35 min
Anita sometimes fantasizes about no longer having to deal with having a period. But folks along the perimenopausal parkway remind her that menopause is no quick and easy road. Anita's mom and others navigating the change share how it's shaped their relationships with their bodies, sex and where they turn for support. Meet the guests: - Sheila Rao, Anita’s mom, shares her experience of bodily changes once menopause set in - Dr. Anna Camille Moreno, certified menopause practitioner at Duke Health,...
Oct 29, 2021•33 min
Anita learns about how the smart devices that keep many of us connected have also contributed to the rise of a new type of intimate partner violence. Survivors share stories of tech-enabled domestic abuse and a cybersecurity expert discusses what folks can do about it. Meet the guests: - Ashley, a survivor of digital domestic abuse who runs a TikTok account under the name MerelyAshley - Kathryn Kosmides , a multi-time gender-based violence survivor and founder and CEO of Garbo.io , a background ...
Oct 22, 2021•33 min
Anita now knows why sex scenes in some of her favorite recent TV shows look a whole lot more like real life: intimacy coordinators. Two of them join her to talk about their work choreographing intimacy and training everyone on set about how boundaries and structure makes things sexier and more fun. Meet the guests: - Mia Schachter is a consent educator and intimacy coordinator who takes Anita behind the scenes of their work on set. - Teniece Divya Johnson is a stunt performer and intimacy coordi...
Oct 15, 2021•21 min
Anita finally learned how to put on sunscreen properly and care for her body’s largest organ, thanks to medical and skincare industry experts who give advice she revisits in this episode. Their tips helped her figure out what to focus on in her skincare routine, and how to resist the temptation to fall down Tik-Tok beauty rabbit holes. Meet the guests: - Dr. Chesahna Kindred , a board-certified dermatologist at the Kindred Hair & Skin Center in Maryland, teaches Anita about the science of th...
Oct 08, 2021•32 min
Anita learns daycare for children can continue well into the night thanks to facilities open around the clock meeting the needs of parents working nontraditional hours. Two 24-hour care providers take her into their day-to-day operations and discuss the unique bonds they form with the families they work for. Plus a single mom shares her story of relying on a 24-hour facility to help meet her needs. Meet the guests: - Deloris Hogan, co-founder of Dee’s Tots Childcare in New Rochelle, New York, ta...
Oct 01, 2021•34 min
Anita learns the science behind the most effective form of birth control and hears from a sociologist about how getting a vasectomy transformed his relationship with his masculinity. Meet the guests: - Dr. Matt Coward , an associate professor of urology at the UNC School of Medicine, talks about the science of the vasectomy. He is also the director of Male Reproductive Medicine and Surgery at UNC Fertility. - Ryan Cragun is a sociology professor at the University of Tampa. He shares his experien...
Sep 24, 2021•27 min
Anita acknowledges that looking in the mirror and loving everything she sees may be unrealistic. Fat activists teach her about radical reframes, including body positivity and a newer term to her: body neutrality. Meet the Guests: - Virgie Tovar , a fat activist, host of the Rebel Eaters Club podcast and author of “ The Self-Love Revolution: Radical Body Positivity for Girls of Color " talks about why body neutrality is a helpful step for some in their body liberation journey - Tigress Osborn , t...
Sep 17, 2021•32 min
Anita's only had a handful of up-close experiences with dying people, and it's something she'd rather not think about. It's the antithesis to the philosophy of some folks she admires: death doulas. They say: Spend more time looking head-on at the inevitable. Respect death, don't fear it. Turns out, this uncomfortable approach may make things more comfortable in the end. Meet the guests: - Vivette Jeffries-Logan , a citizen of the Occaneechi Band of the Saponi Nation, a person who holds healing s...
Sep 10, 2021•30 min
Anita learns about non-sexual, social nudity and why opting to live life mostly in the nude could actually make her think about her body LESS. Meet the guests: - Naomi Prioleau , a reporter and host at WUNC, talks about her personal journey to becoming a practicing naturist. - Jay Shapiro , lead coordinator and president of Triangle Area Naturists LLC , shares how to separate sex from nudity. - Sam and Aleah , creators of Our Natural Blog , share how they're working to bring more young folks int...
Sep 03, 2021•33 min
Anita shares an exciting announcement about the Embodied podcast and what you can expect in your feeds starting next week! Follow Embodied on Twitter and Instagram
Aug 27, 2021•1 min
Anita loves a good romantic story — especially when lovers prevail against all odds. There are a million reasons to give up on happily ever after when one or more people in a relationship are incarcerated. But for those who stay together despite prison walls, a special kind of connection is created, as we learn in the season two finale. Meet the guests: - Monae and Adriel Alvarado share their one-of-a-kind love story — from meeting inside prison while they were both incarcerated and sending love...
May 26, 2021•34 min
Anita may not shy away when conversations get uncomfortable, but approaching difficult topics can depend on who you're talking to and which self you're bringing to the discussion. In this special episode, she exchanges notes and kinship with Anna Sale and Allison Behringer, hosts of the podcasts "Death, Sex & Money" and "Bodies" respectively. Meet the guests: - Anna Sale , host of "Death, Sex & Money," shares lessons learned from 7 years of hosting hard conversations on the microphone an...
May 19, 2021•35 min
Anita has little trouble knocking out for a good night's sleep. But feeling well rested all the time? That's a little more complicated. Why do our bodies struggle to do what we know is good for us? Meet the guests: - Jade Wu , a psychologist and sleep specialist, gives us some sleep science 101 and shares her top tips on battling insomnia. - Andre Royal Sr. shares how narcolepsy affects his relationships and why he's trying to help folks better understand what narcolepsy looks like through his o...
May 12, 2021•30 min
Anita surprised herself with judgements she made about others with only a photo to go on during her years of online dating. Such bias and misconceptions are something folks with physical disabilities contend with every day on the apps...and IRL. Meet the guests: - Julie-Ann Scott-Pollock , a performer and communication studies scholar, talks about living with spastic diplegic cerebral palsy and what non-disabled people can learn about consent and communication from the disabilities community. - ...
May 05, 2021•20 min
Anita has the skin privilege of a white woman and the upbringing of an Indian-American girl. That can make belonging a challenge, something like what transracial adoptees often experience in their own families. Meet the guests: - Shruti Shah talks about growing up as a transracial adoptee in a mixed-race family in Memphis. She also brings on her parents to ask them some lingering questions. - Writer Andrew Lee and his father are both Korean adoptees. Andrew shares how his family's story fits int...
Apr 28, 2021•28 min
If Anita weren't boo'd up, she might wonder if there's someone in her life she already knows who is a good romantic match for her. But is it healthy to look to the past for a chance at future happiness? With help from the podcast Dating While Gray, we examine the pros and cons of "boomerang love." Meet the guests: - Jeannie Thompson talks about her own boomerang heartbreak that led her to leading online discussion forums on reconnecting with former loves. - Grace shares what happened when she re...
Apr 21, 2021•35 min
Anita, like many of us, was essentially taught that a herpes diagnosis means the end of a good sex life. Now it's time for a real education about the sexually transmitted infection, which is extremely common and far less terrifying once you open the door to conversation about it. Meet the guests: - Sex and culture critic Ella Dawson talks about her experience navigating a herpes diagnosis and how opening up about it publicly has shaped her life and relationships. - Infectious disease expert Dr. ...
Apr 14, 2021•22 min
Anita is over adulting and would love to lose herself in some serious play time. She's never been a gamer but is intrigued by how video games help us tap into the fun side of our brains while creating spaces designed to help us strengthen our connections with others. Meet the guests: - Hadley Causey talks about founding Spectrum , a queer exclusive server on Discord (a social network for gaming communities) that helped them create a safe space they didn't have in real life. - Tess Tanenbaum , an...
Apr 07, 2021•21 min
Anita appreciates how movies and TV are now more representative in portraying narratives about pregnancy termination. But those stories can't compete with talking to real people about their experience having an abortion. Meet the guests: - Gretchen Sisson , a sociologist, talks about how television and real life diverge when it comes to abortion — and how fictional portrayals influence our understanding of the procedure and the people who get it. - Ruth and Margaret share their experiences termi...
Mar 31, 2021•25 min
Anita combs through her own tangled relationship with body hair and asks why so many of us invest time and money on removal methods. Meet the guests: - Scholar Rebecca Herzig explains when and why we started caring so much about body hair and how hair removal practices have evolved over the centuries. - Sharan Dhaliwal , founder and editor-in-chief of Burnt Roti , talks about about coming to terms with being a hairy Indian woman. - Photographer Kristie DeGaris shares how she's raising her daught...
Mar 24, 2021•22 min
Embodied is back for a second season!
Mar 16, 2021•3 min
Anita says all the time "what's personal is political." So, she's interested to see how a new presidential administration will affect the ability of transgender Americans to serve in the U.S. military, which has long suffered from barriers to equity for troops and veterans from marginalized communities. Meet the guests: - Lt. Col. Bree Fram , the highest-ranking, out transgender officer in the Department of Defense, shares what it meant to come out after Obama lifted the ban on trans service mem...
Jan 14, 2021•24 min
Anita is all kinds of in love with her newborn niece, a relationship that has her thinking more about motherhood. Her thoughts on the matter are at least somewhat informed by listening to "The Double Shift" podcast, which challenges the status quo for moms. This episode explores the roles of gender and community in raising kids through the story of a transgender man named Ted. Plus, Anita extends an invitation for a virtual hangout. Follow Embodied on Twitter and Instagram...
Dec 10, 2020•30 min
Anita is admittedly anxious about aging and what she'll have to re-negotiate about her body and her relationships as she gets older. Wisdom wanted. Meet the guests: - Omisade Burney-Scott, creator and host of "The Black Girls' Guide To Surviving Menopause" talks about how aging has affected her mind, body and spirit - Pepper Schwartz , a sociologist, sexologist and relationships expert, talks about how the cultural myths around aging shape how people approach sex and relationships - Ellen Ashley...
Oct 01, 2020•30 min
Anita knows how frustrating it can be to find the right doctor and get good healthcare. Transgender people have to navigate all those challenges and take extra measures to advocate for their wellbeing with medical providers who are too often untrained to treat them. Meet the guests: - Max Brown, a transgender teenager living in North Carolina, talks about being misgendered in the healthcare system and how finding a supportive healthcare provider has changed his physical and mental health. - Fran...
Sep 24, 2020•23 min
