The LGBTQIA+ community is a diverse, expansive group of people, but not everyone enjoys the same amount of respect and recognition. Asexual and aromantic (or "aspec") people are the ones we’re meant to recognize with that “A”, because their lives and stories are essential to queer history and liberation.

Aria chats with the hosts of the podcast Sounds Fake, But Okay, which explores love and relationships from an aspec point of view. Kayla Kaszyca and Sarah Costello (she/her for each) had a platonic meet-cute that blossomed into a creative collaboration, one that illuminated their places on the asexual/aromantic spectrum.

We also hear from writer Bob O’Boyle (he/they), a writer whose work explores the intersection of kink and asexuality through the lens of their life experience. Bob talks about accessing intimacy when you're ace, plus why it's so important not to conflate kink with sex, especially in order to ban it at Pride.

You can follow us @lusterypov on Twitter and Instagram. Our host Aria is on Twitter @vegadreamcast.

Have thoughts, feedback, or story ideas to share? Send an email or voice memo to [email protected].

This show features explicit language and sexual content, and is intended for a mature audience.

In the show’s first solo episode, Aria kicks off Pride Month with a meditation on “We Will Not Cancel Us: And Other Dreams Of Transformative Justice” by adrienne maree brown. It’s a revolutionary message wrapped in a tiny pink package, one that leads us away from the toxicity of call-out culture, and toward true unity.

You can find the book at Bookshop.org, where each sale supports independent bookstores across the U.S. and Europe. For more about the author, see adriennemareebrown.net.

You can follow us @lusterypov on Twitter and Instagram. Our host Aria is on Twitter @vegadreamcast.

Have thoughts, feedback, or a story to share? Send an email or voice memo to [email protected].

This show features explicit language and sexual content, and is intended for a mature audience.

Feminist sex shops with progressive politics and education-driven missions are a huge part of how sex-positivity became mainstream. Where do you think Charlotte bought that rabbit vibe, anyway? Aria chats with Lisa Finn, the brand manager of Babeland, about the company’s inspiring origins, trailblazer status, how it’s weathering the pandemic.

Lisa Finn is an sex educator, actor, and the brand manager of Babeland. You can follow the shop on Twitter and Instagram @babeland_toys.

You can follow us at @lusterypov on Twitter and Instagram, and Aria is on Twitter at @vegadreamcast.

We're still collecting stories on how you're feeling about changes in your appearance since the pandemic began! If you'd like to contribute to an upcoming episode, send a voice memo or an email to [email protected].

This show features explicit language and sexual content, and is intended for a mature audience.

Getting in Bed with Puck & Gila by Aria Vega, Paulita Pappel

We know you're curious about what's new at The POV Podcast! Paulita and Aria tune in together to share some exciting updates.

You can find us at @LusteryHQ on Twitter, and @lusterypov on Instagram. Follow Paulita on Twitter & Instagram @PaulitaPappel, and Aria on Twitter @vegadreamcast.

We're collecting stories on how you're feeling about changes in your appearance since the pandemic began. If you'd like to contribute to an upcoming episode, send a voice memo or an email to [email protected]. 

This show features explicit language and sexual content, and is intended for a mature audience.

The adult entertainment industry is responding to greater demand for authenticity in its output. Searches on tube sites for “amateur porn” have soared in recent years, while platforms like OnlyFans thrive on the apparent accessibility of its stars. But it’s not only image-driven media that has seen such a shift. Readers of erotica are also ravenous for more real-life stories.

Enter AURORE, a burgeoning community of women and/or LGBTQ+ writers and readers of nonfiction erotica. But while AURORE is focused on the personal, its creator and curator likes to keep her own profile low. Influencer culture has made mysterious figures rare among business owners, but Carly is happy to cede the spotlight.

Carly is a writer, teacher, dancer, traveler, and founder of AURORE. She lives in Los Angeles and longs for New York. Her days are full of food, sex, sleep, and all the other pleasures that life has to offer. You can follow AURORE on Instagram @readaurore.

Silky and Velvet have the kind of love story that gives small towns a great name. Silky was a babysitter for two little boys who loved to tell her stories about their adventurous, nomadic uncle. As it turned out, they'd been telling that same uncle about their gorgeous babysitter, and when he returned home to Northern Italy after a journey south to Rome, Velvet's brother/Silky's boss finally introduced the two. It was like they already knew each other.

These two never let the hard times get them down, not even last year. They had the kind of pandemic experience that lots of us would have lusted after, writing music and making porn together. You can even hear an exclusive recording of a song they wrote last March, as they reeled from the shock of the first lockdowns. In this episode, Silky and Velvet chat with Aria about bonding through anger, strange side hustles, and the best parts of being with another bisexual.

Are you ever scared of ending alone? Do you fight over small things that seem to mean the world? Do you struggle when having different sexual needs that your partner? What if the answers all of these questions, and many more, would have a common denominator. One that is rooted deep in your heart.

Our guest on this POV podcast episode is the kind of person that once you’ve heard her speaking you’d wish she’d be your best friend, your sister, or at least the president of the United States. Shadeen Francis is a licensed marriage and family therapist, that specialises in sex therapy, emotional intelligence and social justice. Francis tells us from her perspective and approach to vulnerability, sexual shame, how our inabilities to negotiate consent are linked to global politics, and how you can shift your narrative to centre your feelings, and find compassion. And live happier.

It’s almost impossible to imagine the internet without porn. In fact, some of the earliest exchanges of photos and cash that ever happened online were transactions involving porn. Believe it — smut shaped e-commerce as we know it. And yet, there are still so many trying to legislate it out of existence, as we learned about when Gustavo Turner from Xbiz stopped by the show in February. So, what’s the plan to fight back?

This week’s guest has the answer for us: our very own Paulita Pappel.

Our new co-host Aria Vega spoke with Paulita on her work establishing a European chapter of the Free Speech Coalition, a collective that lobbies to protect sex workers and other businesses in the industry. Paulita is seeking to amend the Digital Services Act, new legislation in the EU aiming to instil a code of ethics for the internet, to include language that issues specific protections for creators of erotic content.

You can sign the petition to amend the DSA here: http://chng.it/BTRnjhJqrf

Paulita Pappel is a feminist filmmaker and pornographer based in Berlin. She’s the co-founder of Lustery, a platform for real-life couples around the world to document and share their sex lives. She also co-organizes and curates the Pornfilmfestival Berlin. Paulita is also a producer, performer, director, intimacy coordinator, podcaster, and advocate for a sex-positive and consent-based culture.

Twitter & Instagram | @paulitapappel

Music by Sky Deep: www.skydeepofficial.com/

Editing by Hyenaz (www.hyenaz.com/)

When opposites attract, the results can be explosive. That’s something Hanna and Jin know very well. They love how it helps them each unearth new knowledge of themselves, and make space for the traits that never had a chance to shine. Together, they’ve weathered some serious storms. Now, as they settle into their new Seattle home, rainy days aside, the future they’re building looks bright.

This month we’re honoring women: their triumphs, their struggles, their growth - their stories. And this pair had plenty of those to share. Aria’s conversation with Hanna and Jin revealed some incredible wisdom on everything from building intimacy across a big distance to the sexual awakening that can come with motherhood. Plus, the best-kept secret of tantric sex.