In episode 33, Dr. Zhana and Joe talk to Dulcinea Pitagora about what marks the difference between abuse versus consensual kink in a relationship.
Many believe that because BDSM is founded upon consent, communication, and negotiation that abuse cannot make its way into a kinky relationship. However, just like vanilla relationships, BDSM dynamics are not immune to the possibility of abuse. It can sometimes be even harder to identify abuse in kink-oriented relationships. It is extremely important to be able to identify this (sometimes very fine) line between consensual BDSM and abuse. To talk about this distinction, we sat down with Dulcinea Pitagora, aka The Kink Doctor.
About Our Guest
Dulcinea Pitagora holds a Master of Arts in Psychology from the New School for Social Research, a Master of Social Work from New York University, a Master of Education from Widener University, and is an AASECT Certified Sex Therapist and doctoral candidate at Widener University’s PhD program in clinical sexology. Pitagora has a psychotherapy/sex therapy practice in NYC working with individuals, couples, and multiple partners that is trans-, poly-, kink-, and sex work-affirmative. Pitagora is an adjunct professor of sexual health at New York University; has published articles in peer-reviewed journals; and presented at conferences on the topics of alternative sexuality and gender diversity. Pitagora conducts research, lectures, and seminars pertaining to these communities; is the founder of ManhattanAlternative.com, an alternative lifestyle affirmative provider listing; and is a co-organizer of the AltSex NYC Conference. Pitagora is Kink Doctor in the Web series by the same name.

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#33 – Kink V Abuse

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Horniness (AKA being sexually aroused) is a special state of body and mind. It’s a state during which we are much more likely to make risky decisions, not just about our sexual health, but about other things too. What else can make us forgo condoms, or lead us to believe our partners are not as risky as they may be?
Our guest this week, Dr. Shayna Sparling, has been getting people sexually aroused in the lab (for research only!) and then tracking how this affects their thinking and decision-making. It’s a fascinating episode with some good take-home messages about sexual health. (Also, a glimpse into Dr. Zhana’s personal life and how she navigates using or not using condoms with new partners.)
About our Guest

Dr. Shayna Sparling is a postdoctoral research fellow based at Ryerson University in Toronto and the National Team Manager for the Engage Study – a multi-site national study on the sexual health of gay, bisexual, and other men who have sex with men. She has a PhD in Applied Social Psychology, with a focus in Community Psychology and in Health Psychology. Her research focuses on sexual health decision making and condom negotiation and the factors that can affect these two processes, including sexual arousal, relationship motivation, interpersonal power, and partner familiarity.
To read Dr. Sparling’s papers yourself, go here, here, here, and here. 
Before Next Time…
Remember to like The Science of Sex Podcast on Facebook, Twitter, and Instagram!
Dr. Zhana and Episode #56 guest, Kenneth Play, recently put together the world’s largest and most comprehensive survey on squirting – head on to squirtingsurvey.com and take it! Anyone regardless of gender or squirting experience can take it!!
Are you in Boston? Come see Dr. Zhana talk about building safe and healthy open relationships at the Good Vibrations store in Brookline on Wed, 3/27. More info and tickets here.
Remember to submit comments, questions, and everything in between on our Get in Touch Page!
Do you love The Science of Sex Podcast and all the work Dr. Zhana does? Support her by becoming a monthly Patreon Supporter!

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#59 –  Under the Influence of Horniness

Sex work is one of the most stigmatized and misunderstood aspects of human sexuality. There are many different types of sex work, including phone sex, camming, stripping, “happy ending” massages, professional domination, and porn, to name a few. But the greatest stigma is probably reserved for the “full service” type of sex work (i.e., penetration and all), like that done by the workers at the Nevada brothels. (There are many other ways of doing “full service” type of sex work, from street walkers to illegal brothels to independent or agency-run escorts, but the Nevada brothels are the only fully legal and transparent avenue for this work).
So what does it look like to live and work in these brothels? Who are the people doing these jobs, why are they there, what kinds of services do they provide, how much do they like the job, how often do they have orgasms with their clients…?
Our guest on episode #58, Christina Parreira, answers these questions (and more) from both personal and professional experience – she actually worked at a couple of these brothels so she could collect data for her doctoral thesis research on sex work!
Don’t miss this fascinating interview!
About our Guest
Christina Parreira is a PhD candidate in the department of sociology at the University of Nevada, Las Vegas. She obtained her Masters degree in clinical psychology in 2010 from University of Hartford. Parreira is currently conducting an ethnography of Nevada legal brothels; her areas of interest are emotional labor and stigma in sex work. Parreira also works at Trac-B needle exchange & harm reduction center in Las Vegas, doing STI testing, counseling, and outreach. In addition to studying the topic of sex work, Parreira is a 10 year veteran in the sex industry, currently doing phone & webcam work as well as BDSM in Las Vegas.
You can read about more of Christina’s work here.
Before Next Time…
Remember to like The Science of Sex Podcast on Facebook, Twitter, and Instagram!
Dr. Zhana and Episode #56 guest, Kenneth Play, recently put together the world’s largest and most comprehensive survey on squirting – head on to squirtingsurvey.com and take it! Anyone regardless of gender or squirting experience can take it!!
If you live in Boston, Dr. Zhana is coming to you on Wed, March 27, to do a workshop at the Good Vibrations store in Brookline on the topic of navigating sexual health and difficult emotions in nonmonogamous relationships. More info and tickets here.
Remember to submit comments, questions, and everything in between on our Get in Touch Page!
Do you love The Science of Sex Podcast and all the work Dr. Zhana does? Support her by becoming a monthly Patreon Supporter!

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#58 –  Sex Work in America

I’m sure you’ve heard of straight women making out in public with other women in order to attract male attention? It’s a phenomenon called “performative making out” or making out for an audience, and in Episode #57, we invited one of the main researchers studying it, Dr. Kate Esterline, to tell us all about it.
Are straight(ish) women the only ones who do it? How about gay women and men? How about straight(ish) guys? Why do you people do it? How is it different when people make out with someone of the gender that is congruent versus incongruent with their sexual orientation? Do people actually get what they were after with their makeouts? Listen on…
About our Guest
Dr. Kate Esterline earned her doctorate in Clinical Psychology from the University of Kansas in 2018. She is now working as a post-doctoral therapist at Purdue University’s Counseling and Psychological Services. Her research has focused on gendered experiences of performing sexual behavior, such as making out, in front of others and on understanding how people conceptualize and experience outness about sexual orientation. The majority of her time currently is spent doing clinical work, but she continues to collaborate with colleagues at the University of Kansas.
You can read up on Kate’s studies here and here.
 
Before Next Time…
Remember to like The Science of Sex Podcast on Facebook, Twitter, and Instagram!
Dr. Zhana and Episode #56 guest, Kenneth Play, recently put together the world’s largest and most comprehensive survey on squirting – head on to squirtingsurvey.com and take it! Anyone regardless of gender or squirting experience can take it!!
Are you in Boston March 27? Come see Dr. Zhana talk at the Good Vibrations store in Brookline on Playing It Safer: Navigating Sexual Health and Difficult Emotions in Open Relationships!
Visit Adam & Eve and use promo code SCIENCE for 50% off just about any product. And if you order before 2/14, you get 10 FREE gifts (including FREE shipping)!
Remember to submit comments, questions, and everything in between on our Get in Touch Page!
Do you love The Science of Sex Podcast and all the work Dr. Zhana does? Support her by becoming a monthly Patreon Supporter!

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#57 – Why People Make Out in Public

Every time Dr. Zhana teaches about almost any topic, someone asks a question about squirting, often referred to as female ejaculation. It seems like squirting is having a moment right now, with everyone and their mother wanting to know if all vagina-owners can squirt, what the ejaculate is made of, and how to make it happen.
There is very limited science on this, which Dr. Zhana recently sifted through extensively while working on the online squirting course that her business partner, Kenneth Play, launched recently to teach people how to squirt. So in this episode, Dr. Zhana and Joe do something a little different. Instead of an academic researcher, we invite someone with an impressive amount of hands-on “research” when it comes to making vagina-owners squirt – Kenneth Play.
Just how many vaginas has Kenneth had an opportunity to try and make them squirt? What’s his success rate? What’s the most reliable technique for making this happen?
This and so much more in Episode 56 of the Science of Sex Podcast.
Oh, and want to help us learn more about squirting? Dr. Zhana and Kenneth recently put together the world’s largest and most comprehensive survey on squirting – head on to squirtingsurvey.com and take it! Anyone regardless of gender or squirting experience can take it!!
About our Guest

Kenneth Play is an international sex hacking expert, sex educator and coach, and former celebrity fitness trainer. From a deeply sexually insecure Asian immigrant to becoming the most viewed sex hacking expert on PornHub and being named the World’s Greatest Sex Hacker by GQ, Kenneth develops and teaches sex hacks to help people learn new ways to play and overcome challenges in the bedroom. With his accelerated learning approach and playful style, he helps people gain sexual confidence, experience more pleasure, and cultivate deeper intimacy in record time. His teaching has been described as a mashup of Bruce Lee’s “knowing is not enough, we must apply” mantra, Martha Stewart’s step-by-step show-you-how, and Tim Ferriss’ personal experimenting-to-mastery.
Meanwhile, he co-founded the globally-recognized sex-positive intentional community, Hacienda Villa; he teamed up with Dr. Zhana Vrangalova to work on The Casual Sex Project; and his projects have been featured in Vice, Thrillist, Elite Daily, Refinery 29, Time Out, The New York Times, Playboy, and Cosmopolitan. He has devoted his life to empowering people to experience incredible sex, and his mission is to make unapologetically explicit sex education mainstream.)
Connect with Kenneth via Facebook, Instagram, Twitter, and his website. You can order his Kenneth’s Sex Hacker Bundle Course here.
Before Next Time…
Remember to like The Science of Sex Podcast on Facebook, Twitter, and Instagram!
Visit Adam & Eve and use promo code SCIENCE for 50% off just about any product. And if you order before 2/14, you get 10 FREE gifts (including FREE shipping)!
Remember to submit comments, questions, and everything in between on our Get in Touch Page!
Do you love The Science of Sex Podcast and all the work Dr.

#56 – Squirting School

Testosterone is having a moment these days. T-boosting has grown into a $2.5 billion industry, with guys of all ages trying to up their T levels in hopes of increasing everything from libido to mood to energy. But what does testosterone do how about our cognitive processes?
Could testosterone increase how quickly and automatically we make decisions about sexual situations, and could that lack of deliberation have a dark side that contributes to sexual assault and harassment?
These are some of the questions that our guest, Dr. Gideon Nave from the U Penn Business School, attempted to answer for us in episode #55, based on several of his studies on how testosterone affects men’s reasoning and decision making processes in areas relevant to the last of the 5 Fs of basic, instinctive behaviors: fight, flight, freeze, feed, and, um, fornicate 

#33 – Kink V Abuse

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