This has been a busy year for the Securing Sexuality Home Team! Wolf and Stef talked to some incredible experts and recorded dozens of podcast episodes, Comms Director Frank and the crew helped us host our first ever live conference, and we even visited a cyber brothel! But which episodes were our favorite of 2023? In a year full of so much, what sticks out in our minds as the most impactful moments? Tune in this week to discover Wolf's pick!
Dec 24, 2023•57 min•Season 2Ep. 66
It's that time of year again! PornHub has released its annual report on viewer trends and Stefani can't wait to unwrap it. Join Wolf and Stef this week as they discuss what surprised them about 2023's top fantasies, offers their insights into why some themes are more popular than ever, and they debate whether or not she should start her own channel in 2024. Show Notes on SecuringSexuality.com...
Dec 17, 2023•39 min•Season 2Ep. 65
It seems like it's impossible to live in the 21st century without sharing parts of our lives on different social media platforms. LinkedIn for professional networking, Facebook to keep up with the family, the website-formerly-known-as-Twitter when you're just dying to ruin your mood. Every facet of life has it's own dedicated website- including our most intimate identities. The BDSM community has been online for as long as there's been a world wide web, but how safe are our kinky social media op...
Dec 10, 2023•43 min•Season 2Ep. 64
Perhaps the most common question people ask Wolf these days is how they can evaluate an app or other digital product before using it themselves or sharing it with others. This week, we'll use the recent example of Speaker of the House Mike Johnson's revelation that he and his son use the Covenant Eyes "accountability" app to track their digital behaviors online as a case study. Wolf walks Stefani step-by-step through the process of researching a digital product, how to use publicly available inf...
Dec 03, 2023•49 min•Season 2Ep. 63
Life is weird these days. Everyone is polarized. The news is a clusterf!ck. And now we have to hang out with Racist Uncle Joe and eat some overcooked turkey. Thankfully (see what we did there?!) Wolf and Stef are joined this week by Tilly Bridges, the author of Begin Transmission: the Trans Allegories of the Matrix to talk about how we can use our post-parade TV time to brush up on all the ways the Matrix Trilogy teaches us how to be better humans. Show notes on SecuringSexuality.com...
Nov 26, 2023•36 min•Season 2Ep. 62
How much would you pay for a stolen credit card number? A social security number? Can you put a price on someone's online identity? What about just their medical records? In this weeks episode, Stefani has questions about healthcare hacking: why it happens, how to recognize it, and why someone would bother stealing the records of her last flu shot. Have you ever wondered why criminals target hospitals? Do you ever worry that your colonoscopy pics can be weaponized against you? Is the farm supply...
Nov 19, 2023•36 min•Season 2Ep. 61
Social media is full of commentary on masculinity these days. As gender norms change and evolve, more and more men are thinking about what it looks like to be a good man in the 21st century- both online and off. This week, author Eric FitzMedrud is here to join Wolf & Stef in these conversations. Listen in as they chat about the evolution of masculinity, consent for men, what Ted Lasso can teach us about ethical tech, and what it means to be The Better Man today. Show notes on SecuringSexua...
Nov 12, 2023•45 min•Season 2Ep. 60
Wolf and Stef got an early holiday gift in the mail from Lovehoney! Join us this week as Sarah Tomchesson, Lovehoney's Resident Sexual Wellness Advisor, guides Wolf & Stef through unboxing a sexy advent calendar! As each new treat is revealed, Sarah, Stefani and Wolf share tips, tell stories, and gear up for the most decadent holiday season ever. Show notes on SecuringSexuality.com...
Nov 05, 2023•50 min•Season 2Ep. 59
Michael Kaye is the Director of Brand Marketing & Communications for Archer- a new dating app for gay men. He's here to give Stef & Wolf a glimpse into the world of online dating platforms- how sites are designed, how safety and inclusivity are prioritized, and how folks from under-represented gender, sexuality, and relationship communities can find friendship, connection, and love in cyberspace. There's someone out there for everyone- and Michael wants to help them find each other. Sho...
Oct 29, 2023•44 min•Season 2Ep. 58
It's finally here! The Securing Sexuality Conference is live in Detroit and it's sold out!! People are making new friends, learning from experts, and picking some locks... but just beneath the surface, a scheme is brewing. Join us as Wolf and Stef share their favorite conference moments and recount their behind-the-scenes adventure as someone tries to pull off a targeted phishing attack against the conference. Will our harried heroes catch on in time? Tune in to find out! Show notes on Securing...
Oct 22, 2023•41 min•Season 2Ep. 57
Maya Brooks is a legit genius. An award-winning educator, speaker, and entrepreneur, she is Founder & CEO of Privy Labs, an anti-piracy protocol designed to protect media content from harm, abuse, and misuse. And this week, Maya is here to tell us how to keep our spiciest images safe online. In order to do that, through, she'll first have to get Stefani to understand what the blockchain actually is.. a task many (including Wolf) have tried and failed. Whether you're already a blockchain afic...
Oct 15, 2023•44 min•Season 2Ep. 56
What counts as cheating online? Is watching porn cheating? Is having friendships with folks you only know from social media emotional infidelity? Is buying time with your favorite cam performing the same as having an affair? The answer is YES. Or maybe no. It all depends on your specific relationship agreements. But no matter what counts as infidelity for you and your partner(s), everyone agrees that technology has changed what being unfaithful looks like and in this episode, Wolf and Stef are g...
Oct 08, 2023•40 min•Season 2Ep. 55
If you've ever wondered what the coolest job EVER was, Simon Dubé has it. Simon is a post-doctoral research fellow at the Kinsey Institute, where he specializes in erobotics, sextech and space sexology. YES.... he is a space sex scientist! And he is here to tell us all about his work in erobotics, the International Congress on Love, Sex and Robots, and why the future of space exploration might be more female than most sci-fi movies have led us to believe. This interview is can't-miss for anyone ...
Oct 01, 2023•50 min•Season 2Ep. 54
Breakups are never easy. It never fails to surprise us how quickly love can turn to anger and hurt. Knowing that our now-ex has a record of the good times, the sexy times, can make a breakup feel even more stressful and disorienting. This week, Wolf and Stef are here to talk about how to navigate the tech side of a breakup- what to do with all of those saved flirtations and deeply personal pics you have saved once the person you shared them with is no longer around. We discuss the ethics of livi...
Sep 24, 2023•33 min•Season 2Ep. 53
Sex-positive Punk-Folk musician Rachel Lark, creator of the rock comedy musical "Coming Soon" which explores themes of connection and healing from trauma, visits Securing Sexuality this week! Her hits include “ Polyamory Blues ,” “ Shut Up & Hit Me ,” " Warm, Bloody, And Tender ,” “ It’s Hard To Be A Feminist ," and she's here to tell Wolf and Stef all about her journey into music, her thoughts on internet fame, her upcoming tour, and how bawdy music-making can change a life and rock...
Sep 17, 2023•50 min•Season 2Ep. 52
What do you do when your photo pops up somewhere you DON'T want to be? Do you have any options? Heck... do you even own your image? Inspired by a recent call from a concerned therapist, this week Wolf tells Stefani all about the Digital Millennium Copyright Act- how it can protect you when unwanted images, recordings, and other content is shared online and where it's usefulness is limited. What does ANY of this have to do with baby hippos? Tune in this week to find out. Show notes on Securi...
Sep 10, 2023•37 min•Season 2Ep. 51
Shakun Sethi had a vision: she wanted to create a user-friendly, approachable s3x education platform that would let people get answers to the questions they were too embarrassed to ask anywhere else. She wanted to teach, to empower, to amuse. So when her site, Tickle.Life was deplatformed by her payment processors? She approached the situation like any passionate teacher would: she immersed herself in the world of credit card processing and online banking regulations in order to become an expert...
Sep 03, 2023•57 min•Season 2Ep. 50
This August, Stefani was invited to speak at SquadCon- one of the many community events that happen in Las Vegas at Hacker Summer Camp. Join us as Wolf offers color commentary on her presentation, hear her thoughts on why developers need to be designing with mental health in mind, and learn why Stef STILL f*cking hates the Elf on the Shelf. Much like Summer Camp itself, this is not to be missed.
Aug 27, 2023•44 min•Season 2Ep. 49
We all know someone who logs on to Only Fans these days, either as a content creator or as a consumer. But what many of us don't realize is that the nature of the site has changed dramatically. In this episode, we are joined by Christine Leistner, a relationship scientist and public health scholar at California State University- Chico, who tells Stef and Wolf all about the ways in which Only Fans has become a go-to resource for education about intimacy and relationships. Sure, OF will still let ...
Aug 20, 2023•42 min•Season 2Ep. 48
Tune in for our first ever cross-over episode and listen in as our intrepid hosts join Rachel Arnold and Will McCullen for an episode of The Coffee Table Talk cybersecurity podcast. Join us for a heavily caffeinated conversation between three cybersecurity experts (and Stefani) as they explain why technologists need to be paying attention to the way people form and foster their relationships online and off.
Aug 13, 2023•1 hr 10 min•Season 2Ep. 47
Melissa Saavedra is a Navy Veteran, romance novel connoisseur, and the founder of Steam Box- an artfully assembled, intentionally diverse, monthly box of hot reading, self-care products, and the occasional toy or two. This week, she's here to tell Stef and Wolf all about her path towards becoming an inclusive erotica entrepreneur as well as the conference she's hosting this fall for Romance aficionados, Steamy Lit Con. If you're a lover of steamy literature, if you've always wondered what the ap...
Aug 06, 2023•41 min•Season 2Ep. 46
Anyone who knows Stefani knows that she is pink OBSESSED. From her hair to her desk, her brand can be summed up (in the words of her Rabbi) as "pink, controversial, and Jewish." So it's no wonder that Stef & Wolf's first post-pandemic trip back to the movie theater was to see Greta Gerwig's summer hit, the Barbie movie. It was slightly more surprising to Wolf to learn exactly what Stefani used to do with her Barbie's back in the day. Listen in as Wolf and Stef talk about the role that these ...
Jul 30, 2023•34 min•Season 2Ep. 45
Straithe is a social robotics, privacy/security, and human-computer interaction researcher and all-around badass. She's an expert in the ways our use of technology inform how we engage and form relationships with others- coworkers and grocery store clerks, partners and doctors, and everyone in between. Straithe believes that we build empathy for each other when we show empathy to the robots in our lives and she's here to tell us all about why this is and how we can become better humans by intera...
Jul 23, 2023•44 min•Season 2Ep. 44
Flash back with us to early May, when Wolf and Stef were still on their European Sabbatical. Somewhere on the continent, there exists a cyber brothel- probably more than one, actually- and Stefani decided to check it out... for science. If you've ever wanted an experience that can only be described as somewhere between Labyrinth and Taken, this episode is for you. Listen in as Wolf and Stef recap her adventure, complete with audio recordings of what Stefani describes as "the least sexy thing I'v...
Jul 16, 2023•44 min•Season 2Ep. 43
Brad "RenderMan" Haines" has been hacking things his whole life, but has been doing it professionally for over 20 years. Based out of Edmonton, Alberta, Canada, he has done work to expose vulnerabilities in wireless networks, Government and corporate networks around the world, Air Traffic Control systems, and most recently, connected sex toys. He is the founder of the Internet of Dongs project (https://internetofdon.gs) where he and his wife, Circuitswan, work to educate consumers, retailers and...
Jul 09, 2023•43 min•Season 2Ep. 42
Recently, Wolf was asked by some friends of ours to offer safety suggestions for therapists working with clients who belong to targeted people- trans folks, queer people, women accessing reproductive healthcare, and others. This conversation is necessary because those who are fighting against the rights of these communities aren't just attacking legislatively- they're going after individual providers directly. In this week's episode, Wolf explains the systemic and institutional barriers to priva...
Jul 02, 2023•42 min•Season 2Ep. 41
Did you know that only 29 states require schools to teach sex education... and that 1/3 of those do NOT require this education to be medically accurate? Most of us were lucky enough to learn the "birds and bees basics" at some point before graduation; but how many of us were taught how to turn down unwanted attention with grace and tact- or to receive that no without shame or anger? That's where Unhushed comes in. Unhushed is a values-based, comprehensive educational curriculum for kids of all a...
Jun 25, 2023•41 min•Season 2Ep. 40
Recorded live at the AASECT (American Association of Sexuality Educators, Counselors and Therapists) annual conference, Wolf and Stef sit down with author and activist Jane Fleishman to discuss her book The Stonewall Generation: LGBT Elders on Sex, Activism, and Aging. Jane tells us about using 1-800 numbers to find the next protest, singing songs while stuffing envelopes, and the best possible way to hand someone a leaflet. Along the way, she offers her advice for bridging the digital divide be...
Jun 18, 2023•44 min•Season 2Ep. 39
Wolf and Stef are joined by Jackie Rotman, founder and CEO of The Center for Intimacy Justice, a nonprofit advocacy group focused on challenging ongoing censorship of information about sexual health for women and people of diverse genders by social media conglomerates. In this episode, Jackie explains why advertising menstrual products on Instagram is an act of social justice, how visibility impacts mental health, and what we can do to advocate for access to real, inclusive, medically accurate, ...
Jun 11, 2023•47 min•Season 2Ep. 38
Can ChatGPT make us better at flirting? Can AI replace my therapist? Should Stef & Wolf outsource this whole darn podcast to our future robot overlords? What does it mean to form a romantic attachment to a personality that may or may not actually exist? This week we explore all the ways in which people are using artificial intelligence to mediate their relationships- romantic, professional, and all points in between. Where is a philosopher when we need one?! Show Notes...
Jun 04, 2023•36 min•Season 2Ep. 37
