Ladies, We Need To Talk

Egg freezing is sold as a way for women to hack their fertility and buy some more time on the biological clock.

Fertility companies are marketing the procedure as an insurance policy, but some experts argue it's better thought of as a lottery.

Rates of egg freezing have almost doubled in recent years but the number of people coming back to use those eggs are staggeringly low and even then, there's no guarantee of a baby. Then there's the cost, between $5000-$10,000 per cycle.

Alongside egg freezing, the AMH test, or egg timer test, is also being promoted as a way for women to take control of their fertility but the only way to know if you're fertile is to try and get pregnant.

This episode sorts the science from the sell around egg freezing and fertility tests.

Featured in this episode:

Dr Tessa Copp, University of Sydney School of Public Health.

Samhita had it all. As the executive editor of Teen Vogue she was living the Devil Wears Prada life — fashion shows, fancy dinners and towering heels.

She was a girlboss. But at the height of her success, cracks began to appear. She was anxious, burnt out and her body was falling apart.

But Samhita was at New York Fashion Week in a fur coat and clutching a Gucci handbag, having just put Malala Yousafzai on the cover of her magazine, who was she to complain?

After spending a lifetime trying to climb the corporate ladder, she started to wonder whether it was possible, as a woman, to have it all. And if so, was it worth the cost?

Samhita sits down with Yumi Stynes to talk about redefining success and happiness.

There's an expectation that couples share a bed, but what if sleep isn't compatible with being in the same room as your other half? Maybe they snore, maybe they starfish, or maybe you just need a few hours without another human touching you.

Is a sleep divorce, AKA, having separate bedrooms, the answer?

There's a trend towards normalising sleeping separately from your partner. Cameron Diaz is doing it. So are the Beckhams. But does this arrangement spell the end of sex and intimacy? Or does it make for a better night's sleep and a better waking relationship?

Ladies is making a special series about WTF happens when we go through perimenopause and how to make it to the other side intact. There’s a ton of information out there about this phase, some of it confusing, a lot of it nonsense. Never fear, we’re here to help you sort fact from fanny fart!

We want to hear your stories of change, from what’s going on with your bodies and brains, to sex and relationships. Has your libido hidden in a cupboard? Is the sound of your children fighting enough to send you over the edge? Does it feel like your brain has turned to sludge and your waistline is breaking new barriers? Whatever it is, we want to know!  Send a voice note or an email to [email protected]

Is Ozempic the drug of our lifetime? Since it burst onto the scene it's become synonymous with weight loss, with everyone from A-list celebrities to your next-door neighbour rapidly slimming down.

The popularity of the drug and others like it such as Mounjaro and Wegovy, has led to demand outstripping supply, with the price of these medications falling out of reach for some. 

And along with the cheekbones Ozempic face has unearthed, it's also forcing us to have some uncomfortable conversations around fatness, fatphobia and what it means to be 'healthy'.

For some Australian women, it's changed their lives. Others are still grappling with how the world treats their new body.

In this episode of Ladies, We Need to Talk, Yumi Stynes finds out what the Ozempic era means for all bodies.

There aren't many people on your Instagram feed who are as loved and as loathed as Abbie Chatfield.

Ever since Abbie shot to fame as the slut-shamed villain on The Bachelor Australia in 2019, she's been a public and controversial figure who's hard to look away from.

Five years and almost 500K followers later, Abbie's built an empire on sharing her trauma dumps, UTIs, political rants and sexcapades.

Abbie's openness has earnt her lots of fans but it's also made her the target of sexist and violent online threats.

So how does this former real-estate girly from Brissy manage living a life in the spotlight while staying sane in the real world?

What if your man has another, equally important woman in his life: his mum?

For some sons, the aprons strings are tied so tight, it’s impossible to compete with mummy. She’s his number one fan, dotes on him and interferes in his life, including his relationships. It’s not sexy.

So, can a mama’s boy ever reform and stand on their own two feet in a relationship? Or will you always come off second best?

Yumi Stynes and Jess McGuire lay down the law when it comes to being with a mama’s boy. Hint: they must be able to do their own washing. 

As we get older, wiser, more resilient, and better placed to back seat drive, the world does not reward us. Or our grey hair.

If the advances of human progress can make a potato chip taste like a beef rendang curry, why are women still, after all this time and progress, so judged by the way we look?

The Australasian College of Cosmetic Surgery estimates Australians spend around $1 billion a year on cosmetic procedures. We're talking facelifts, tummy tucks, brow lifts, neck lifts, rhinoplasties, breast implants. And the training bras of plastic surgery, Botox and fillers.

So if we're spending so much money on looking young, are we complicit in society's obsession with youth?

Women, young and old, tell us their stories of what drew them under the knife (or needle) while dermatologist Dr Ritu Gupta, marketing expert Karen Ferry, make-up artist Linda Jefferyes and beauty editor Cecily-Anna Bennett help to make sense of how we got here.

This episode is one of the best from the grand cathedrals of the Ladies, We Need to Talk archives.

Note: Karen Ferry is now an Advertising Executive Creative Director, no longer at Leo Burnett.

Aubrey Gordon is a fat woman. She's not on a diet or trying to get thinner and that pisses some people off, but she's done apologising.

This self-acceptance has been hard fought. All her life, Aubrey has had to swallow comments about her size from strangers and family alike. Like all of us, she was force-fed the idea that there is only one ideal body: a thin one.

Aubrey's resistance started with her blog, Your Fat Friend, where she wrote about what it's like to live in the world as a fat person and dared to suggest that fat people deserve the same rights as everyone else. The blog touched a nerve, giving a voice to people who had been silenced and launched Aubrey’s public career.

Aubrey is the co-host of the Maintenance Phase podcast, which calls bullshit on the so-called wellness industry. Oh, and she has a laugh that fills up the room.

Yumi and Aubrey talk about anti-fat bias, online hate and the myth of the perfect body.

You're on a date and there's a spark, the chat is great, the vibes are flowing. But come the time to disrobe, all that potential sexual brilliance comes crashing down. They're a dud root. So what on earth do you do if you've got a connection with someone, but they're not rocking your socks off? How do you have a conversation about what you like, without hurting their feelings? And can you ever turn a jackhammer into a magical orgasm wand? Yumi Stynes and sex therapist Aleks Trkulja get under the sheets and figure out how to communicate your way to the pleasure palace.