In 2018, the sex toy company Dame decided to advertise in the New York City subway, run by the MTA. In September, the MTA's ad agency, Outfront Media, began working with Dame on a campaign that would run in subway cars, showcasing sex toys against neutral backgrounds and featuring slogans that read, “Toys, for sex” and customer reviews. By late November of that year, however—after Dame says it spent significant money revising and developing ads in an attempt to meet the ad agency's suggestions f...
May 31, 2023•48 min
Today’s guest is Dr Avgi Skatepolou, author of “Sexuality Beyond Consent; Risk, Race and Traumatophilia”. Avgi maintains that society has become overly focused on healing trauma and needs to reroute its attention to what subjects do with their trauma. She calls attention to a series of challenging questions: Why is sexuality beyond consent worth risking, and how does risk become a way of engaging with the opaque parts of ourselves? And in what ways does eliminating risk remove the potential for ...
May 08, 2023•1 hr 16 min
Back in March, we hosted our first live event with Australia's leading architecture commission, MPavilion. This week, we're releasing the recording with you all. This conversation explores how design impacts our most intimate moments and how technology can be designed as a catalyst for connection. To help investigate, Caroline invited three panellists; RMIT professor and sex toy designer Judith Glover, founder of sexual wellness brand Normal, Lucy Wark, and author and sex-tech researcher, Jenney...
Apr 19, 2023•59 min•Season 3Ep. 2
The Philosophy of Sex, season two is here! In this episode, we’re exploring the complex relationship between sexuality and religion. You’ll hear from three religious leaders who’ve worked hard to reconcile their beliefs and their sexualities; Rabbi Denise Eger, Imam Mushin Hendricks, and Minister Josephine Ipkin. These three religious leaders defy expectations of what it means to exist within their respective faiths and show how modern characterisations of religion, and its relationship to sex, ...
Mar 13, 2023•54 min•Season 3Ep. 1
Has anyone ever called you ‘anal’, or maybe suggested you have ‘mummy’ or ‘daddy’ issues? Perhaps you’ve been the one to dish out these titles. For all these terms, we have Sigmund Freud to thank. Freud is widely regarded as the founder of psychoanalysis, a field of theory and therapy that grapples with the unconscious mind. In modern times, Freud is also often regarded as a woman-hating cokehead. His work has been the subject of decades of criticism and but also absolute praise. Irrespective of...
Nov 07, 2022•56 min•Season 2Ep. 11
Hey, hello. Caroline here. After a brief hiatus, we’re back with another episode of The Philosophy of Sex! In this episode, I discuss sex and law with author, journalist, and activist, Bri Lee. A lot has changed within Australian consent law in the last 12 months. In June, NSW enacted affirmative consent laws that require people to give and obtain consent before sex. Victoria followed suit a few months later. After a disheartening 2021 awash with allegations of sexism and sexual violence within ...
Oct 26, 2022•52 min•Season 2Ep. 10
The contraceptive pill has an interesting and, at times, ethically dubious history. Biologists John Rock and Gregory Pincus team up to develop the birth control pill, funded by two million dollars from philanthropist Katharine Dexter McCormick and spurred on by contraceptive crusader Margaret Sanger. For years Pincus had been searching for a project that might establish his greatness. While there were many possible risks in taking on the pill project, it concerned the area of science he knew bes...
Aug 15, 2022•1 hr 6 min•Season 2Ep. 9
In September 2021, the International Organisation for Standardisation (or ISO) published its first design and safety requirements for sex toys after a two-year project . The ISO project was kicked off by, today’s guest, Swedish surgeon Dr Martin Dahlberg, who realised he was increasingly performing operations to remove sex toys lodged in people’s rectums. Martin is a surgeon at the Södersjukhuset Hospital in Stockholm, Sweden. He got his medical degree back in 2011, and has performed several hun...
Jul 04, 2022•50 min•Season 2Ep. 8
Today we’re talking about sex and technology. The world’s relationship with technology is complex and ever-changing. Dating apps, the pill, and digital mass porn, to name only a few, are technological innovations that have radically impacted our sexual lives and how we relate to each other. Technological innovations often inspire fear. Socrates worried about writing replacing oral culture. The hunter-gatherers probably moaned about the advent of agriculture. But who’s to say they weren’t right t...
Jun 08, 2022•1 hr 1 min•Season 2Ep. 7
According to Pornhub data, Australia ranks 7th in the world for porn consumption. With data from other sources suggesting the average age of first consumption of porn is nine, it’s easy to see why porn use has become a contentious issue. So what gives porn its allure? What makes watching specific videos enticing? In light of what porn has the potential to reveal about human nature, can porn ever be merely entertainment? Today, to help explore what our porn use says about individuals and culture ...
May 25, 2022•1 hr 16 min•Season 2Ep. 6
Welcome to The Philosophy of Sex. Today we’re talking about consent. The idea of affirmative consent first attracted attention in the early 1990s. Since then, consent laws have been passed in a number of countries. Alongside legislation, women are often told to know what they want and know how to communicate this to their partners. While women asserting their pleasure sounds positive, it assumes communication guarantees safety and that a satisfying experience will follow. But might the pressure ...
May 16, 2022•1 hr 1 min•Season 2Ep. 5
On the face of it, the sex industry appears to be a sex-positive haven. Growing rapidly, it's become a highly competitive industry and an attractive investment opportunity for those with a buck or many to spare. However, with this comes the expected; individuals willing to put profit over honesty and integrity. Despite appearances, the sex toy industry in Australia and elsewhere is hugely male-dominated. Greenwashing is quickly becoming part of the industry's rhetoric. Social ideas, like feminis...
May 02, 2022•1 hr•Season 2Ep. 4
Have you ever thought about the relationship between time and pleasure? Sex and pleasure are temporal experiences, meaning how we relate to time can impact how frequently we experience pleasure both while we’re having sex, and when we’re not. As Philosopher Willam James suggested, time is something we can sense. “A day full of excitement will pass ‘ere we know it.’ On the contrary, a day full of waiting, of unsatisfied desire for change, will seem a small eternity.” Our consciousness is like a s...
Apr 04, 2022•1 hr 3 min•Season 2Ep. 3
It’s likely that at some point, you’ve found your morals have felt incongruent with a sexual scenario you’ve found yourself in. While this can feel pretty blindsiding, what would it mean to stop and think about it? Damon Young is an award-winning philosopher and author of “On Getting Off”, a book about sex and philosophy. In the book, Damon urges us to grapple with the complexity of sex in an honest and self-deprecating way. In this episode, Damon and Caroline discuss what it means to think abou...
Mar 21, 2022•1 hr 7 min•Season 2Ep. 2
Gloryholes have long been associated with gay culture. As a great way to maintain anonymity in contexts where gay sex is illegal or socially unacceptable, they come from a history of persecution. However, they're certainly not a new thing. There is evidence Gloryholes existed in ancient Greece, Egypt, and Japan, before being exported to Europe in the 1700s. Given their history of concealment, it shouldn't come as any surprise that Vatican city has one of the largest numbers of glory holes per ca...
Mar 07, 2022•1 hr 18 min•Season 2Ep. 1
Welcome to The Philosophy of Sex, long-play. This week, we’re speaking with Janet Hardy from the sixth episode of season 1 ‘Hardcore tenderness. Reinterpreting what we think about kink and BDSM.’ Janet W. Hardy is the author or co-author of thirteen books about alternative sexuality, including the groundbreaking bestseller The Ethical Slut. She is also the Founder of the Greenery Press, a publishing house based in California , specialises in books on BDSM and polyamory , with over 50 titles in p...
Dec 01, 2021•1 hr•Season 1Ep. 10
Welcome to The Philosophy of Sex, long-play, I’m your host Caroline Moreau-Hammond. You might remember the name Lisa Wade from our first episode of season 1 ‘Are we doing it right?Putting sex into perspective’. Professor and Sociologist, Lisa Wade is an associate professor at Tulane University in New Orleans where she teaches gender and sexuality studies. Before receiving her PHD in sociology at The University of Wisconsin-Madison, Lisa earned an MA in human sexuality from New York University an...
Nov 17, 2021•47 min•Season 1Ep. 9
Welcome to The Philosophy of Sex, long-play, I’m your host Caroline Moreau-Hammond. You might remember the name Jeanne Proust from our third episode of season 1 ‘Why is sex still taboo?’. Professor and Philosopher, Jeanne Proust (no relation to Marcel Proust) is a post-doctoral teaching fellow at Fordham University and an adjunct professor at New York University and Pace University in the United States. She has studied Philosophy and Visual Arts in Bordeaux, Berlin, and Paris and her PhD dissert...
Nov 03, 2021•55 min•Season 1Ep. 8
You might remember Euphemia Russell from our first episode ‘ Are we doing it right? Putting sex into perspective’ . This is the full-length uncut version of our interview with Euphemia. Euphemia Russell is a pleasure coach, facilitator and author. In this conversation we examine wants and desires, social conditioning, inherited gender binaries, slow pleasure, and the unsexy reality of sex. Visit Euphemia’s website https://www.iwishyouknew.net/ for courses, coaching, writings and the imminent ann...
Sep 29, 2021•45 min•Season 1Ep. 7
Would you consider yourself kinky or maybe more vanilla? Have you ever wanted to explore the world of BDSM, but felt a bit lost and intimidated? In this episode, we explore the softer side of kink. By deconstructing some of the many misunderstandings surrounding kink and BDSM, we begin to see kink in a whole new light. Along with Professional Dominatrix and Gestalt Therapist Emma Steel, and author Janet Hardy, we traverse the nuances of power dynamics, communication, and safety. Sex educator and...
Sep 01, 2021•39 min•Season 1Ep. 6
As an industry that has nearly tripled in size in the last three years, the future for sex toys is seemingly bright. With an influx of brands emerging and toy use becoming less stigmatised and more commonplace, we explore how the world of sex toys is rapidly changing. Lora DiCarlo shares how one mind-blowing orgasm led her to found her namesake company. Changing the way we think about sex toy design, industrial designer and Professor, Judith Glover shares her experience creating toys that put pe...
Aug 25, 2021•40 min•Season 1Ep. 5
When you hear the word Tantra, what comes to mind? Marathon sex sessions or ancient Eastern spiritual practice? Depending on where you look, you might get the impression that Tantra is anything from a lifestyle choice, to sexual therapy, to a religious practice. In this episode, we explore the grey areas surrounding Tantra. Advocates of Tantra, such as Tantric practitioner Elisa Caro, report improved intimacy and healing from trauma, while others, such as cultural critic Vikram Zutshi, warn of c...
Aug 18, 2021•31 min•Season 1Ep. 4
Google “sex and taboo” and you’ll be returned results like “It’s 2021. Why is sex still taboo?” It’s a fair question. It is 2021, so why is sex still taboo? In this episode, we explore the underlying purposes taboo serves when it comes to sex. We interrogate whether sexual taboos are fundamentally at odds with shame-free sex, and discuss how our erotic imaginations can contradict our ethical positions. Some taboos may contribute to sexual desire, but is there a way to explore them while reducing...
Aug 11, 2021•33 min•Season 1Ep. 3
Would you take an orgasm pill, if it existed? If you didn’t want to, what other roads to more pleasurable sex are available? In this episode, we examine the influences impacting how women relate to their pleasure. Women have been taught to have a voice and demand egalitarian treatment in all areas of their lives. Yet, this doesn’t seem to have extended to sex. Today we’ll be interrogating how we got here… We hear from Liz Canner, creator of the documentary Orgasm Inc., about the race to medicali...
Aug 04, 2021•36 min•Season 1Ep. 2
This episode explores the many forces that shape our sexual behaviour. From college campuses to public sex beaches, we scrutinise how Western philosophy, dualistic thinking, gender, and binary defaults have shaped the way we have sex. We examine hookup culture with author and researcher Lisa Wade. Her book American Hookup: A New Culture of Sex on Campus explores the casual sex ‘scripts’ found on college campuses in the US. Lisa explains what hook up scripts are, why they’re so prevalent on campu...
Jul 28, 2021•26 min•Season 1Ep. 1
Everyone's talking about sex. But, where's the information really coming from? I’m Caroline Moreau-Hammond and this is a show called The Philosophy of Sex, where I want to talk more deeply about what sex means to us - and why? This podcast is for anyone who’s interested in why we think and behave the way we do. What are the philosophies we’ve inherited through history? How do we deal with Taboo? What role does medicalisation play? What is Tantra and BDSM? How is technology transforming the sex t...
Jul 19, 2021•2 min•Season 1Ep. 1
