The marriage rate in this country has fallen nearly 60% in the last half century. So what’s motivating those of us still choosing to say I do? On her one-year wedding anniversary, Anita ponders this question with the Hindu officiant who helped her build a ceremony that bridged the gap between her values and her dad's traditional desires. Plus, a comedian and queer ex-nun explains how she takes people from the place of "marriage is a dumpster fire" to a ceremony they're excited about. Meet the gu...
Sep 26, 2024•50 min
Kennedy Ryan has released 23 romance books in the past decade, and along the way she's developed a style and approach that speaks to hundreds of thousands of readers. Anita sits down with her at a special live event at Flyleaf Books in Chapel Hill to talk about how her own relationships inform her work, the art of writing unskippable sex scenes and what's next for her career as her Skyland series makes its way to TV. Meet the guest: - Kennedy Ryan is a New York Times and USA Today bestselling ro...
Sep 23, 2024•39 min
Egg donation in the U.S. is a multibillion dollar industry with high stakes and complicated dynamics. Anita talks with two egg donors about why they donated and what they wish they'd known earlier. Plus, a medical anthropologist shines a light on the messy world of donor compensation and why some eggs are valued higher than others. Meet the guests: - Julie Ventura , egg donor and nail artist , shares her journey of donating eggs for her best friends to start a family - Claire Burns , egg donor a...
Sep 19, 2024•35 min
At its best, reading is a portal to new worlds and new ideas. But a lot can get in the way — up to 20% of the population experiences symptoms of dyslexia, a lifelong neurological disorder that makes it difficult to read fluently. An author who learned to read when he was 18 and a dyslexia scholar help Anita understand how reading develops in the brain and what's at stake if dyslexic learners are left by the wayside. Meet the guests: - Dr. Shawn Robinson is an entrepreneur, consultant and author ...
Sep 12, 2024•50 min
How does living with a condition that is so deeply stigmatized affect who and how we love? Anita meets a mixed-HIV status couple who shares how they've approached sex and intimacy in their 11+ year relationship. Plus, a woman who was born HIV positive talks about dating, disclosure and overcoming the fear of rejection. Meet the guests: - Rainer Oktovianus is a photographer and user experience designer living with HIV - Eka Nasution is a project management professional and Rainer's husband - Dian...
Sep 05, 2024•49 min
Anita's highly-anticipated (and highly-awkward) first kiss was in eighth grade … but she remembers it like it was yesterday! A scientist tells her why our brains respond so strongly to kissing and how our kissing customs have changed over time. She also unpacks the power of a kiss with a photographer who documents queer Black love in public and three Gen-Zers school her on contemporary kissing culture. Meet the guests: - Sheril Kirshenbaum , science communicator and author of “ The Science of Ki...
Aug 29, 2024•33 min
Anita brings you into part of our family secrets variety show from earlier this year, featuring North Carolina country duo Blue Cactus. She talks with the band about creating and performing an original song inspired by an anonymous secret. The secret was gathered by Song Confessional, an Austin-based podcast that matches songwriters with “confessions.” Meet the guests: - Walker Lukens , co-creator and co-host of the Song Confessional podcast - Steph Stewart and Mario Arnez , members of Blue Cact...
Aug 26, 2024•39 min
It's a small procedure, but a big question. Anita talks with a urologist about what medical advice to consider while making the circumcision decision (and where medicine doesn't have the answers). She also meets a rabbi and mother who offers alternatives to centuries-old circumcision rituals and hears from a circumcised father raising an uncircumcised son. Meet the guests: - Dr. Emilie K. Johnson , a pediatric urologist and associate professor of urology at Northwestern University, answers Anita...
Aug 22, 2024•32 min
In Anita's lifetime, the divorce rate for Americans over 55 has doubled. People are living longer, divorce stigma has decreased and women are more financially independent. But leaving a decades-long marriage … is a big life upheaval. Anita gets personal accounts from two gray divorcees about what it was like to rebuild their identities, finances and freedom post-divorce. They discuss money management, surfing and why women initiate divorce most often in heterosexual partnerships. Meet the guests...
Aug 15, 2024•50 min
Anita's been deep in romantasy land this year reading Fourth Wing & ACOTAR. And it's gotten her thinking about the skill required to make steamy sex scenes come alive on the page and out loud. She goes behind the scenes with two prolific erotica author-editors and a former producer for the audio erotica app Dipsea to figure out how the sausage — and the butt slaps — get made. Meet the guests: - Rachel Kramer Bussel has been published in more than 100 erotica anthologies, edited at least 70 o...
Aug 08, 2024•50 min
Anita and her partner John have started talking more openly about how his hearing loss informs their relationship and how they'll continue to navigate that as they age. She meets another interabled couple (Anna and Vika) who share the sometimes humorous, sometimes challenging moments that accompany sex and dating with hearing loss. Plus, former guest Yat Li returns to talk about deafness, disclosure, and disabled identity. Meet the guests: - Anna Pulley , author and columnist, talks about her jo...
Aug 01, 2024•40 min
Tested is a new podcast series from CBC and NPR that asks the question, who gets to compete? Since the beginning of women’s sports, there has been a struggle over who qualifies for the women’s category. Tested follows the unfolding story of elite female runners who have been told they can no longer race as women, because of their biology. As the Olympics approach, they face hard choices: take drugs to lower their natural testosterone levels, give up their sport entirely, or fight. To understand ...
Jul 29, 2024•39 min
It took Anita 12 years and five therapists to find someone who could help her tackle questions of racial and cultural identity. She meets two therapists of color working to make that kind of support more accessible. Sahaj Kaur Kohli, founder of Brown Girl Therapy, talks about approaching wellness from a more collectivist lens, and Jor-El Caraballo shares how he helps clients build tools for resilience in the face of systemic oppression. Meet the guests: - Sahaj Kaur Kohli is a psychotherapist, t...
Jul 25, 2024•50 min
Long-term stays in psychiatric institutions were once a relatively common treatment in this country. They’re not anymore, but that doesn’t mean they’ve gone away entirely. Anita meets someone who spent three years living in a psychiatric hospital in the early 90s and talks with an activist whose time spent in contemporary psychiatric hospitals pushed them to fight for alternatives. Meet the guests: - Suzanne Scanlon spent three years living inside the New York State Psychiatric Institute in her ...
Jul 18, 2024•49 min
When you live in a disabled body, you don’t always get to see yourself in the love stories you consume. Anita talks with three folks changing that through their own writing. She meets a novelist, essayist and activist who share their disability love stories and how writing has changed their relationships with others and themselves. Meet the guests: - Keah Brown , journalist and author of " The Pretty One ," talks about her experience with cerebral palsy and her multi-year journey to self-love - ...
Jul 12, 2024•50 min
Anita's nail habit has evolved in the past decade from $10 drop-in manicures to 90 minute appointments with a nail artist. That artist joins her for a conversation about how Black women have shaped nail culture. Plus a fashion historian details nail history from Egyptian mummies to ‘90s Chanel colors, and a Vietnamese-American woman tells the story of growing up inside her parents' nail salons. Meet the guests: - Crystal Sanders , nail artist and entrepreneur, shares her business and artistic ph...
Jul 05, 2024•36 min
It’s been two years since the Supreme Court revoked the federal right to an abortion. Now, nearly one in five people seeking abortion care has to cross state lines to get it. Anita meets someone who spent 20 hours on the road to get her abortion, learns how folks afford thousands of dollars worth of travel and reviews the ways that Hollywood has taken on the abortion road trip. Meet the guests: - Taylor Shelton , abortion-seeker who traveled from her home state of South Carolina to North Carolin...
Jun 28, 2024•50 min
The vast majority of people living with dementia receive essential care from their own family and friends. This work is emotionally rigorous, but also filled with joy, surprise and creativity. More than 11 million Americans are doing this unpaid caregiving, and Anita meets two of them: a millennial who supported her mom and grandmother through different stages of Alzheimer's disease and a man in his 70s who is a care partner for his wife of 50 years. Meet the guests: - Jacquelyn Revere , creator...
Jun 21, 2024•51 min
Male fertility issues make up half of all infertility cases … but you’d never know it from consuming fertility content through culture, media and even medicine. Anita meets three men breaking the silence in hopes that others get the help and support they need. Meet the guests: - Jared Wright , journalist who wrote a piece about his infertility journey for VICE , talks through his first time in a fertility clinic, the treatments he and his wife have undergone since their marriage in 2020 and abou...
Jun 14, 2024•32 min
Puberty is a right of passage that most of us experience as teenagers. But for some trans folks, big hormonal changes happen again in adulthood. Anita meets three transmasculine people who started taking testosterone as adults...and experienced everything from emotional fluctuations and voice changes to acne and new body hair in a period of second puberty. Meet the guests: - Julian Socha , actor, shares his experience of second puberty after being on T for eight years and how the physical change...
Jun 07, 2024•49 min
Building intimate friendships can be difficult, especially for men and masculine-of-center people. And once you add up the challenges presented by patriarchy, racism and sexism, it’s even tougher for Black men. Guest host Omisade Burney-Scott talks to four Black men about masculinity, friendship and vulnerability. Meet the guests: - Derrick Beasley , artist and community organizer, links male friendships and climate change in his art and shares how he thinks about building friendships with other...
May 31, 2024•49 min
When you’re living with a stigmatized mental illness like bipolar disorder, opening up to romantic partners can be tough, but Anita brings on two people who’ve found their own way through love and mental health. A writer-poet talks about navigating new romantic connections, and a married couple shares how they’ve built a strong foundation for weathering mental health ups and downs over 15 years together. Meet the guests: - Michelle Yang , a writer and advocate, shares her journey to a bipolar I ...
May 24, 2024•49 min
Anita learned in the early days of this show that there's no such thing as "normal" sexual behavior. But what *is* worth considering: how your relationship with sex affects your life. She meets two women whose compulsive sexual behaviors led them to seek support, and a sex-positive psychologist shares how she helps folks with sex addiction in their recovery. Meet the guests: - Krista Nabar , the executive director and founder of the Carolina Sexual Wellness Center , explains her sex-positive app...
May 17, 2024•30 min
Since late 2020, Jordyn Hakes has been on a quest to bring more pleasure and playfulness into her own relationship and those of her many listeners. Anita talks to Jordyn about the upheaval in her life that set her on this path and her best tips for sustaining connection in long-term intimate relationships. Meet the guest: - Jordyn Hakes , host of " The Horny Housewife " podcast, shares tips to keep the connection alive in the wake of parenting, body changes and other changes that long-term relat...
May 14, 2024•24 min
There's a growing number of women challenging the expectation that you need a partner to have a child. In honor of Mother's Day, Anita meets two single moms by choice. They talk about why they chose this parenting path and how they navigate everything from false assumptions to dating. Plus, one of their daughters – 10-year-old Estela – joins the conversation to share her take on growing up in a nontraditional family. Meet the guests: - Hera McLeod , mother and civil rights activist, walks us thr...
May 10, 2024•50 min
Something Special for you all: an episode from " Me and My Muslim Friends ," featuring Sameera Qureshi. She is a therapist and founder of Sexual Health for Muslims . Her approach to sex education, therapy, and health is grounded in the Islamic framework and the Islamic understanding of the soul. Unfortunately, most Muslims don’t have access to a comprehensive sex education growing up. Host Yasmin Bendaas and Sameera dive into the consequences of that and talk about some of the most common issues...
May 03, 2024•35 min
Religion and sexuality are often pitted against one another...so where does that leave folks who feel attuned to both? Anita interrogates that question alongside Lamya H., the author of "Hijab Butch Blues," a memoir they wrote to be "unapologetically queer and unapologetically Muslim." Meet the guest: - Lamya H. , author and activist, explains how their identity as a Muslim and as a queer are intertwined and talks about the intersection of both Read the transcript | Review the podcast on your pr...
May 03, 2024•18 min
People with disabilities are disproportionately affected by climate change yet often sidelined from policy conversations. Anita marks Earth Day by meeting three disability activists working to turn the tides. They share how their lives and bodies have been impacted by global warming — and how their wisdom could shift climate conversations. Meet the guests: - Daphne Frias , youth activist, shares how some policies aimed at addressing climate change disproportionately affect people with disabiliti...
Apr 26, 2024•49 min
Sharing something special today, an episode of the Love Letters podcast. Love Letters tells stories about romance, marriage, partnership, sex, loss and the human heart, all served with a side of advice by Boston Globe columnist Meredith Goldstein. On this episode: When Nimish left Nepal for college in the United States, he expected some serious challenges, like adjusting to a new culture and studying in a new language. Finding love was not top-of-mind. But as he got older and started to date mor...
Apr 23, 2024•34 min
A significant portion of the funeral home workforce is entering retirement...but there's a crop of young people who are ready to take the helm. Anita meets two young funeral directors who felt called to this work at a young age. They take her inside their world -- from organizing end of life ceremonies to learning how to embalm for the first time. Plus, they share their hopes for a more death-positive future. Meet the guests: - Jasmine Berrios , licensed funeral director and embalmer, shares how...
Apr 19, 2024•49 min
