Embodied

Athletes who push their bodies to muscular limits take Anita inside their physique sport. She explores their personal motivations and talks with a health professional about the toll this kind of training takes on competitors' physical and mental health.

Meet the Guests:

- Coryne Butler, a bodybuilding lifestyle and transformation coach with FitBody Fusion, shares her experience as a woman in the sport of bodybuilding

- Tommy Murrell, a personal trainer and former bodybuilding competitor, explains how his time in the gym helped him to improve his mental health — and grappled with his gender identity

- James Leone, a professor of health and kinesiology at Bridgewater State University, talks about the consequences both physically and mentally of bodybuilding-style training

This episode also features the voices of bodybuilders Joshua Langbein, Alex Edwards, Luke Nathan, Elijah Busier and Alex Tilinca.

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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 Lingerie" shares the history of certain pieces of lingerie, like crotchless underwear

- Jake DuPree, burlesque artist, fitness instructor and lingerie lover with *killer* intimate apparel photo shoots on Instagram, talks about the power he feels when he wears and performs in lingerie

- Catherine Clavering, founder of the UK based lingerie brand Kiss Me Deadly, takes Anita into the lingerie design industry

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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 Zhuang-Estrin, clinical social worker and psychotherapist, explains how her own relationship with rest has evolved and why rest is so important

- Dom Chatterjee, meditation and yoga teacher of South Asian descent and the community organizer behind Rest for Resistance, discusses the relationship between community and rest

- Fannie Sosa, artist and co-creator of Black Power Naps, a sculptural installation and curatorial initiative, shares the history and philosophy behind their art

- Navild Acosta, artist and co-creator of Black Power Naps, gets into the cultural roots of his art

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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 mindset shifts about aging

- Vega Subramaniam and Mala Nagarajan, nonprofit social justice consultants, coaches and life partners, share their vision for creating a community in which they can age in place with other queer older folks

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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 her own

- Yasmin Benoit, model and asexuality activist, pushes back on assumptions about asexuality with her campaign #ThisisWhatAsexualLooksLike

- Sebastian Yūe writer, editor and model discusses how to increase representation of asexual characters in literature and fiction

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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, associate professor of anthropology at the University of Arizona, discusses some of the history of this set of procedures and how we define a "feminine" face

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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, explains what's happening in the body during menopause and some of the options for symptom management

- Omisade Burney-Scott, Embodied guest host and creator of the Black Girl's Guide to Surviving Menopause, interviews Paris Hatcher, founder of Black Feminist Future, about her experience going through menopause in her 20s

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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 check nonprofit set to launch later this year

- Audace Garnett, technology safety specialist with Safety Net at the National Network to End Domestic Violence

- Eva Galperin, director of cybersecurity at the Electronic Frontier Foundation and a founding partner of the Coalition Against Stalkerware

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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 coordinator who shares how we can expand our definition of intimacy.

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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 the skin and why focusing on a few small things consistently will go a long way

- Anay Castro is a certified physician assistant at the North Carolina Center for Dermatology. She talks about how our skin changes as we age, and why she works to give culturally-sensitive skincare advice

- Leo Louie takes Anita inside the beauty and skincare industry. He shares insights from years working jobs ranging from Sephora brand representative to writer for the website Beauty Tap

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