Ladies, We Need To Talk

By ABC Radio

Sexuality

What's Ladies, We Need To Talk about?

Don't know what turns you on anymore? Looking forward to that glass of wine just a little too much? Have no idea what your vagina looks like? You’re not the only one.

Ladies, We Need To Talk is a podcast for women, by women, that isn’t afraid to dive head first into the tricky topics we often avoid talking about. Join host Yumi Stynes as she tears open the sealed section on life. With sensitivity, personal stories, and serious smarts, this is for women who feel the squeeze between work, their private life, and their pelvic floor.

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The secret lives of vaginas

10.19.2020

Sex, babies, periods, discharge. Our vaginas do a lot. But how well do you really know your vagina? Get comfy for a guided tour of your vagina with Dr Elizabeth O'Farrell. Plus, you'll meet Deanna, owner of possibly the world's ...

Ladies, We Need To Talk episodes:

10.19.2020 The secret lives of vaginas Sex, babies, periods, discharge. Our vaginas do a lot. But how well do you really know your vagina? Get comfy for a guided tour of your vagina with Dr Elizabeth O'Farrell. Plus, you'll meet Deanna, owner of possibly the world's ...
10.05.2020 To pube or not to pube Pubic hair — it's one of the most scrutinised patches of hair on our bodies. Research says 80 per cent of women groom their hair regularly. But why? What's really behind our choices? Data journalist Mona Chalabi muses on the ...
09.21.2020 Escaping monogamy Monogamy is the default, but for lots of people it doesn't work. More and more people are actively looking for alternatives to monogamy, according to research. So why are many of us abandoning monogamy in favour of polyamorous and open ...
09.11.2020 PRESENTS — Parental As Anything, with Maggie Dent Worried about passing on crappy body image to your kids? Over having to do EVERYTHING around the house? Struggling to co-parent with your ex? Parenting author Maggie Dent is the parent whisperer and she's going to change your life in ...
09.07.2020 How to break up well It can take months or years to get through a breakup, and the fallout can be totally devastating. Whether it's money, legal stuff, kids, or all the feelings, we're giving you practical tools to break up well and flourish afterwards. ...
08.24.2020 Anal Sex — the biggest taboo Warning: explicit content. One in five women in Australia has had anal sex. It's everywhere in porn and many of us, especially young women, are feeling the pressure to do it. It's uncomfortable discussing anal sex, so let's talk about ...
08.10.2020 Solving the mental load — update A movement's begun to expose the mental load women shoulder. All that relentless, unpaid, thankless and invisible work women do. Naming it is powerful, right? But we want solutions! Author Eve Rodsky breaks down the mental load and teaches you ...
07.27.2020 Emotional abuse One in four Australian women have experienced emotional abuse from a partner. You don't get physically hurt, but psychologically it's devastating and it erodes your identity and trust in yourself. Hear from Investigative Journalist Jess Hill and Inez Carey from ...
07.13.2020 Clitoris 101 When most of us picture our clitoris, we think of it as being the size of a tiny jellybean. But sisters, your clitoris is so much more than that! It's going to blow your mind just how amazing the clitoris ...
06.29.2020 The answer's no Women are pretty bad at saying no — we're socialised to please and serve others. Author of F*** No!, Sarah Knight, political commentator Jamilla Rizvi and emotional intelligence coach Rachel Green are going to teach you how to say no, ...
06.15.2020 Propping up your partner Caring for partners is something women do well and often. But what's the limit, how do you know if your support is causing more harm than good and how do you do it without sacrificing yourself? We speak to women ...
06.08.2020 Coronavirus — Are we panic buying partners? You'd think a pandemic would stop all romance and the dating game. But it's seen an acceleration of relationships and romance as some single people panic bought partners like toilet paper. Ladies Producer Cassandra Steeth takes a look at love ...
06.01.2020 The gender beauty gap It's no secret women spend way more time, energy and hard-earned cash on our appearances than men do. But what else could we be firing our mental bullets at if we weren't so worried about what the hell we looked ...
05.27.2020 PRESENTS —The Pineapple Project: The C Word Ladies, we need to talk about the C word. NO! Not THAT C word! We mean ... connection. The Pineapple Project has made a mini-series on how you can find community and connection in these crazy times.
05.18.2020 A gender gap of pandemic proportions Guess who is way worse off in pandemics? Yup — women. While we're leading the charge on the frontline by slogging away in jobs like nursing, teaching and aged care, our purses are copping a flogging now and into the ...
05.04.2020 The secrets we keep Most of us have a secret we've never told anyone. Secrets are self-protective and universal, but some are hard to keep and impossible to share. If your secret is eating you up or has the propensity to blow up your ...
04.20.2020 50-shades of erotic literature What if you could read something that would radically change your sex life and your whole relationship dynamic? What if, a few pages could actually make you feel like sex with your long-term partner? Cue the case for erotic literature ...
04.06.2020 Anxious? We got you While one in three women will experience anxiety in normal circumstances, when COVID-19 hit, for many it was the first time they'd ever felt anxious. And for many of us, that feeling isn't going away because there's a lot to ...
04.02.2020 Coronavirus — hot tips on how you can get through Whether you're juggling working at home with kids or figuring out how to pay rent as a single mum after losing your job — life just got a whole lot tougher for women. Many women are on the front line ...
12.09.2019 BONUS — The concrete ceiling You’ll have heard of the glass ceiling — the invisible barrier that stops women getting ahead at work. For women of colour, that ceiling is actually concrete. And while you can (sometimes) shatter a glass ceiling, the concrete ceiling is ...
11.04.2019 Ladies, we love your boobs Boobies, tits, cans, your rack. Ladies, we want to celebrate your boobs. Despite what the beauty mags tell you, boobs come in all shapes and sizes. Some are big, some small, some are great at breastfeeding, others are not. Some ...
10.23.2019 Ladies LIVE in western Sydney Does Australia take women of colour seriously at work? Or is there a ton of unconscious bias, double standards, and casual racism on the career ladder? Ladies, we are heading to western Sydney for a special live show! We’ll be ...
10.21.2019 Toxic mums There’s a whole lot of mythology around the so-called sacred mother-daughter bond, but it isn’t always reality. Mumming is hard work. It’s a tonne of unpaid emotional and physical labour, and mums don’t always get it right. We speak to ...
10.07.2019 Sex after sexual assault One in five Australian women over the age of 15 have experienced sexual violence. 1.4 million Australians have lived through childhood sexual abuse. So if that’s you, how do you find the courage to be intimate again? For this episode ...
09.23.2019 Sexually transmitted isolation Around four million Australians have had an STI at some point in their life, but who ever talks about it? STI’s are shrouded in loads of shame, secrecy and regret. And it’s not just young people getting them — women ...
09.09.2019 Walking away from your kids — update Women are still expected to be primary caregivers — but what happens when they choose to walk away from this role? In season one we heard from women who "broke the motherhood contract". They were no longer living with their ...
08.26.2019 How to make friends as an adult At a certain point in life, making friends gets trickier and feels super awkward. Many of us want and need new friends though — so how do you do it? At a live recording of Ladies, We Need To Talk, ...
08.12.2019 The patriarchy of poo Do you feel embarrassed if you have to poo in public? You're not alone. Whether it's poo, farts, discharge or sweat — women are constantly self-conscious about our odour because it's considered 'unladylike' to smell. But if everyone on the ...
07.29.2019 Esther Perel — how to have a hard conversation How do you tell a mate your friendship isn't working? Or a partner you can't stand the way they kiss? Hard conversations are tough to have but sometimes necessary. Psychotherapist Esther Perel is the world's best known couples counsellor and ...
07.15.2019 Birth control — choose your own adventure We're totally spoilt for choice when it comes to birth control. There are 12 different types of contraception to choose from and about 30 different brands of the pill. Having all these options is awesome, but how do you know ...
07.01.2019 Stone cold sober — alcohol update In season one, we looked at why so many Australian women drink at risky levels. Yumi Stynes revealed her battle with drinking and quit alcohol. We also met Jo, who drank at really risky levels. This episode, we check back ...
06.17.2019 Footloose and childfree Grow up, find a partner, have kids — we’ve been doing it for thousands of years. But more and more women are choosing to ignore that path. And the latest research says they’re actually happier for it. So why do ...
06.03.2019 Body image — why do we hate our bodies? Have you ever felt like a massive failure when you've looked in the mirror or felt depressed about the size of your thighs? You're not alone — research says almost 80 per cent of Australian women are unhappy with their ...
05.20.2019 Discharge — the gooey taboo Lots of women are really self-conscious about the way their vaginas smell. We quickly hide our undies the second we take them off and up to a third of us wear a panty liner every day. But how much do ...
05.06.2019 Abortion — beyond the stereotype If you’re in your 30s and have had an abortion or are going to, you’re not going through it alone. It’s a myth that only the young and reckless have abortions. The stats show that older women, and those who ...
04.22.2019 When bad sex is your life We’ve all got a bad sex story. The partner who’s selfish in the sack. The horribly uninspiring one-night stand. The lover with 'performance anxiety'. Most of us have been there. There’s this idea though that we grow out of it ...
04.08.2019 INTRODUCING — Series 3 of Ladies, We Need To Talk We're back! Join Yumi Stynes as she once again tears open the sealed section on life to talk all about your forbidden lady business. This is the podcast where we can confess all our secret ladies' stuff and learn something ...
01.21.2019 PRESENTS — The Pineapple Project: Work Do you ever put your head on your desk in the middle of the day and wonder "what the hell am I doing here?"
11.26.2018 PRESENTS — Mindfully Do you have too many brain tabs open, keeping you up at night? Probably. Is your head exploding with the mental load of all the stuff you’ve got to do? Definitely. Have you ever wished your life was simpler, but ...
11.05.2018 Ladies, we love you You trusted us with some of your deepest, darkest and most intimate secrets and you let us share them with the podcast universe. For our final episode of 2018, we check in with the women we’ve met and hear from ...
10.22.2018 Anxious much? Everyone gets a little bit anxious at times, but is what you’re feeling normal? Anxiety is the most common mental health issue in Australia. Up to one in three women will experience anxiety, for men it’s one in five. So ...
10.08.2018 Perimenopause — coming to a uterus near you Sore boobs, loss of libido, hot flushes, irregular periods. Sound familiar? While you may think you’ll only experience these symptoms when you’re of a 'certain age' and hitting menopause, it turns out, they can creep in way earlier. Welcome to ...
09.24.2018 Mean girls — our secret sexism How often have you casually heard the terms "bitch" or "mean girl" being used to describe another woman? And, be honest, how often have you used them? In a world where we’re sold the idea that women constantly compete, compare ...
09.10.2018 The secret life of hormones Every month you go on a hormonal rollercoaster but most of us ride it blindfolded. Reproductive hormones control ovulation but they can also affect how you think. Oestrogen can make you feel fantastic, while progesterone can make you feel crappy. ...
08.27.2018 When sex hurts Sex that feels like your vagina is about to tear open isn’t exactly dinner party conversation, but it’s common. One in five women experience painful sex, according to a study by the University of NSW.
08.13.2018 Obsession with youth If we are intelligent, ambitious and capable women, why are we still judged by the way we look? The Australasian College of Cosmetic Surgery estimates that Australians spend around $1 billion a year on cosmetic procedures. Most of that is ...
07.30.2018 Settling for average A healthy relationship is meant to feel like a warm hug from your mum after about a year, according to psychologists. But if your partner doesn’t feel like your perfect soul mate all the time, you might feel like you ...
07.16.2018 Ladies Live — closing the orgasm gap Women don’t orgasm as often as men during sex. A US study of 50,000 people found 95% of men orgasm during sex, but only 65 per cent of straight women do.
07.03.2018 The pelvic flaw in all of us Do you wee when you sneeze? Or avoid star jumps at the gym? One in four of us experience pelvic floor problems which can lead to incontinence, or even prolapse.
06.18.2018 Foreplay — getting what you want When was the last time you talked about foreplay? Women tend to need more foreplay than men — so if your partner’s just a bit crap at foreplay — get them to listen to this. We talk to psychotherapist Esther ...

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