The Pleasure Podcast

It’s our Bonus Edinburgh Episode! At The Pleasure Podcast HQ we are delighted to welcome theatre maker, actor and award-winning spoken word artist Katie Greenall. She’s been a resident artist at The Roundhouse for the past year and created the show Fatty Fat Fat about living in a body which the world tells you to hate which she will be performing at the Edinburgh Fringe this August - do catch her there. 

An advocate for the fat acceptance movement with the Fat Liberation manifesto above her bed, Katie urges people to leave their diet books at the door, whilst she sheds a light on what it’s like to be constantly judged on your body size. 

In an interview with The Stage she said “Theatre should hold a mirror up to society and there are people who look like me whose stories are eradicated. This show isn’t about saying ‘this is my body and I love it’, because that isn’t my truth – this show is about life.”

In today’s episode, Katie reclaims the word fat for herself and learns to love her body by increments, an ongoing process. 

We discuss the lack of fat people in the media, and fat fictional characters who aren't merely the comedy character. It’s a journey to empower herself, now able to ask for what she needs as a fat person and to stop policing herself. Katie shares the unsatisfying sex of her teens that ticked experiential boxes but left her unmoved. She talks about exploring her queerness, to find a word that fits how she feels and the people she loves; how bigger bodies fit together and enjoy pleasure. 

We would love to continue the conversation and hear from you: email us at [email protected] or tweet us @ThePleasurePod.

Social Media:

Naomi Sheldon: @NaomiSheldon1

Anand Patel: @therealdranand

Katie Greenall: @Katie_Greenall

Follow us at: @ThePleasurePod and visit us at www.thepleasurepodcast.com

Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

It’s the season finale! What a journey we’ve been on. Thank you to all our glorious guests and thank you especially to you, our listeners. We’re at 10k listens! We're building an amazing community and we couldn’t have done it without you. We’ll be back in September with a glittering series two. First up is Sara Pascoe on Sex, Power, Money. Make sure to subscribe and keep alert for a bonus episode we’ll be dropping later this week.

Without further ado, here is the final episode of the series! It’s a banger.

We welcome, journalist, author, panelist, speaker, activist, Lynn Enright. She’s written for almost every publication you can think of spanning from Vogue to The Financial Times and everything in between. She has this particular skill of blending the personal with the political, making her subject relatable and the message powerful.

We interview Lynn on her book, Vagina: a re-education; part memoir, part practical guide- she breaks down the myths women have been told about their bodies for generations. A book which has rightly earned its place in the feminist canon.

We talk about the rise of labiaplasty, the clitoris, and if you’d ever want your labia tickled. Lynn speaks brilliantly on the lack of education about getting pregnant and explores the ‘we’ve left it too late’ fallacy/reality when it comes to fertility. Anand’s GP knowledge comes into its own as he educates us on male infertility and what to look out for when using lube. We look at the gap in female sexual health making way for companies like Goop to come to the rescue. Ever wondered if a jade egg is a good investment? Anand tells us exactly why it’s a risky business. Naomi does a rendition of *that* Fleabag speech on pain (move over Kristin Scott Thomas) and we discuss how the medical profession need to take women's pain seriously. It’s a funny, open, educational episode that’s wide ranging and warm-hearted. What a delicious finisher to season1!

Get your copy of Vagina: a Re-education, published by Allen and Unwin, from all good bookstores.

We would love to continue the conversation and hear from you: email us at [email protected] or tweet us @ThePleasurePod.

Social Media:

Naomi Sheldon: @NaomiSheldon1

Anand Patel: @therealdranand

Lynn Enright: @lynnenright

Follow us at: @ThePleasurePod and visit us at www.thepleasurepodcast.com

Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

We bring you a Pride special this week of The Pleasure Podcast with the incredible Tom Glitter/Crystal Rasmussen. This non-binary quintuple threat is a Drag Queen, writer, presenter, singer and most importantly, professional Celine Dion Stan.

Crystal tells us about their new book Diary Of a Drag Queen, a searingly honest memoir detailing their journey from New York, to London, via Lancaster, and the journey to coming out as non-binary, all whilst being an absolute drag legend. Crystal moved us to tears, made us laugh and even squeezed in tips on the best sex clubs in London. We loved discussing how it's possible to stretch the boundaries of what pleasure is and from where we can receive it. Crystal shares with us their queer experience of a world dependent on boundaries and rules, and the challenges of non-conformity when it comes to sexuality and gender. We're given an insight into the hazards of visibility, from stares to physical violence, which has had a profound effect on how they feel they can exist in public.

It’s a very explicit discussion. Movingly we talk the power of logical and biological families, delve into dark rooms and the rules of negotiating open relationships. Most of all it’s a story about realising who you are and recognising your self-worth

Content Warning: Homophobic abuse and violent hate crime

If you or any of your friends or family are affected by issues raised by this podcast, Switchboard can signpost you to local resources and groups.

Get your copy of Crystal’s Diary of a Drag Queen published by Ebury Press from all good bookstores.

Catch the first episode of Comedy Central’s Dragony Aunts on YouTube

You can catch Crystal at the Edinburgh Festival where she presents The Bible 2 (Plus a Cure for Shame, Violence, Betrayal and Athlete's Foot) Live! Tickets here

As always, we would love to continue the conversation and hear from you: email us at [email protected] or tweet us @ThePleasurePod.

Social Media:

Naomi Sheldon: @NaomiSheldon1

Anand Patel: @therealdranand

Follow us at: @ThePleasurePod and visit us at www.thepleasurepodcast.com

Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

In this episode of The Pleasure Podcast, we look at the changes that occur in our sexual relationships as we age. We are thrilled to speak with Woet Gianotten, world-renowned sexologist from the Netherlands. Woet worked his way through surgery, tropical medicine, gynaecology, contraception and now specialises in sex and relationships in older people and those with physical re-ablement needs, such as following cancer or paralysis.

Woet addresses coming out, not only about sexuality and gender, but the challenge and importance of coming out about your health issues, physical difficulties and sharing your sexual desires. We discuss how pleasure evolves over a lifetime, the importance of sex for our general health and the incredible sexual satisfaction we can find as we move away from the performative sexuality of youth.

Woet reveals his tips on maintaining our relationships as we grow older together and how time can enhance our sex lives. We discuss the impact ageing in the LGBTQIA+ community who can find themselves being forced back into the closet, and how positive change is happening. Movingly, he talks about patients in the terminal part of their lives and the importance of connection, touch and humour in creating powerful sexual legacies for those left behind.

If you or someone you know is affected by any of the issues discussed in this podcast, please have a look at The College of Sexual and Relationship Therapists website. They provide information and psychosexual support to people at all stages of their lives.

We would love to continue the conversation and hear from you: email us at [email protected] or tweet us @ThePleasurePod.

Social Media:

Naomi Sheldon: @NaomiSheldon1

Anand Patel: @therealdranand

Follow us at: @ThePleasurePod and visit us at www.thepleasurepodcast.com

Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

This week are delighted to welcome award-winning DJ, author and podcaster Gemma Cairney on The Pleasure Podcast.

Her star-spangled music career has spanned 10 years. In her BBC R4 series The Sound Odyssey she travelled the world with British musicians to collaborate with local musicians of the areas they visited. She presents the BBC 6 Leisure Society interviewing cultural icons about their loves beyond what they're known for. Her Grace Jones interview for Amazing Grace won the Best Music Show Rose d'Or. Her book Open: A toolkit for how magic and messed up life can be was reviewed by The Guardian as "full of reassurance for teenagers that they are not alone, whatever they may feel". It's, in short, bloody marvellous. This year she'll be presenting at Glastonbury.

An alternative format for this week! We take you through 8 tracks that Gemma has chosen as part of her special one-off Pleasure Playlist. She takes us through each track discussing the part it played in her life and how it has brought her pleasure. As we are not the BBC (we wish we were Desert Island Disks for this one) we've provided the playlist for you to listen to either alongside of after the podcast.

We were so happy to have Gemma with us as she shared her insights into what music and movement can do as part of living a full and pleasurable life. We spoke about the physical and emotional release of music, how it can be a cohesive social force, a short cut to memory and about why women of colour can be often underestimated and labelled as "too much". We also look at how music can help us find our tribe, our identity and make us feel sexual and desirable.

It's a light-hearted, joyful conversation on the simple pleasure of music. After 40 minutes in her company you may find yourself wanting to dance wildly to her favourite Garage tunes. I know we did.

Gemma's Pleasure Playlist

Spotify

iTunes

1. Just The Way You Are - Barry White
2. Nothing Even Matters - Lauryn Hill
3. Plenty - Guru feat Erykah Badu
4. I Love It - Icona Pop
5. Tutti Frutti - Little Richard
6. Too Many Man - Boy Better Know
7. Oops - Tweet feat Missy Elliot
8. Closer Than Close - Rosie Gaines

Gemma's bonus Sunshine Garage playlist in Spotify

Do get in touch with what would be in your pleasure playlist @thepleasurepod

Gemma's book Open is available to order HERE

Listen to her interview with Grace Jones on The Leisure Society HERE

Gemma's beret collaboration with Mary X are available to buy HERE

Social Media

Naomi Sheldon @NaomiSheldon1

Anand Patel @therealdranand

Gemma Cairney @gemcairn

Follow us on @thepleasurepod

Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

In this week’s episode we speak to the trailblazing Monty Moncrieff MBE, Chief Executive of London Friend, a charity for the health and well-being of LGBTQ+ people. The London Friend headquarters acts as a safe space and is one of the longest established LGBTQ+ community centres. It also manages Antidote, a specialist drug and alcohol service, which was the first in the UK to observe the rise of chemsex amongst gay and bisexual men.

Having grown up in the north of England, Monty has been working and volunteering with LGBT organisations for over 20 years, starting as a helpline volunteer and subsequently a trustee with Switchboard LGBT in 1996. Monty was included in the Independent on Sunday’s Rainbow List of the top 100 most influential LGBT people in Britain between 2013 – 2015 and was awarded an MBE in 2018 for his services.

Monty discusses the appearance and rise of the chemsex phenomenon and the impact this has had on a subsection of the gay community. It’s a warm, broad-ranging discussion covering intimacy and emotional connection, loneliness and belonging, mental health and drugs, sex and consent.

Monty shares his experiences growing up gay, his coming out story, #NoOutsiders and the importance of good and early relationship education. We talk apps like Grindr and Scruff and the impact that harnessing technology has had on how men who have sex with men meet each other. Pick your gay tribe! Naomi learns A LOT.

Content Warning: This conversation does go to some dark places and there is mention of sexual abuse and rape.

If these issues have affected you or anyone you know or you’re interested in learning more about the work that Monty does please go to London Friend

The Pleasure Podcast is hosted by Naomi Sheldon and Anand Patel, and is edited by Matt Peover.

Social Media

Monty Moncrieff @MontyMoncrieff

Anand Patel @therealdranand

Naomi Sheldon @NaomiSheldon1

Follow us on @ThePleasurePod

Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

This week on The Pleasure Podcast, our guest is the brilliantly bright, best-selling author Sarah Perry.

Sarah's novels After Me Comes The Flood, The Essex Serpent, and Melmoth have made her into a house-hold name. The Essex Serpent was a number one bestseller in hardback, was shortlisted for the Costa Novel Award and was named Waterstones Book of the Year. It is currently being adapted for screen. Melmoth, a Gothic masterpiece of moral complexity, asking us profound questions about mercy, redemption, and how to make the best of our conflicted world, was a Sunday Times Bestseller and was shortlisted for The International Dylan Thomas Prize. She's been compared to Dickens, Bram Stoker and Kafka. But her writing refuses to follow conventions and genre and her Gothic spirit is always accompanied by sharp originality.

She also happens to be one of the most interesting, worldly women I've ever had the pleasure to meet. Sarah's puritanical upbringing led her to find a secret world of pleasure and erotic imagination in literature, whether in Tess of the D'Urbervilles or her sisters' Jilly Cooper books stashed under the bed. Her tastes are wide and her conversation deep. We talk about what makes the great erotic moments in literature, what we're programmed to find erotic, the ethics of writing, the inadequacy of filthy language... and if there there really should be a Bad Sex Awards at all.

She also reads out some delicious poetry by Hannah Sullivan and sexy James Joyce letters. Best to listen on your earphones for this one.

The Pleasure Podcast is hosted by Naomi Sheldon and Anand Patel, edited by Matt Peover and hosted by Acast.

After Me Comes The Flood, The Essex Serpent, and Melmoth are published by Serpent's Tail

The Hannah Sullivan poem we discuss is You, Very Young in New York from Three Poems

Elizabeth Smart's By Grand Central Station I Sat Down and Wept is available here

You can read some of James Jocye's letters to Nora here

And here's quotes from the full shortlist of the 2018 Bad Sex Awards

Social Media:

Naomi Sheldon @NaomiSheldon1

Anand Patel @therealdranand

Sarah Perry www.sarahperry.net

Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Welcome to the very first episode of The Pleasure Podcast. Join your hosts Naomi Sheldon and Anand Patel as they and a guest delve into the world of pleasure and the relationship we have to our bodies when it comes to sex and intimacy. This week they are joined by photographer, artist and author Laura Dodsworth.

When do we ever see a photograph of a vulva which is not sexualised? What happens when we see 100, each accompanied by a woman's story?

Laura's books The Bare Reality and Manhood documenting 100 photos of breasts and penises alongside intimate personal testimonies have been making waves around the world. Her new book Womanhood completes this triptych with photos of 100 vulvas giving a powerful insight into what it means to be a woman in the 21st century.

Not only is Laura a pioneer of documenting the stories of the body, but she is one of the most articulate and inquiring minds we could have hoped to have spoken to on this subject. We talk about internalised misogyny when it comes to how we feel our vulvas should look like, the radical act of showing how they really look outside of the 'porn perfect pussy', childbirth, the pleasure women are capable of and much more...

Most poignantly, Laura speaks about shame and anger as a way to hold women in their place. She describes how sharing stories can help us let go of our shame and tap into our collective anger and sexuality as a source of strength and a force for change. "Pleasure is about more than nerve endings. Because I've let go of some of some shame, I've actually let go of some armour... I feel like a stronger person but more capable of vulnerability." She is, in short, a revelation and we hope you fall in love with her as deeply as we did.

NB This is our first recording and it's a bit more echo-y than the rest of the series - but it is full of wisdom, wit and wonder!

Laura Dodsworth's 100 Vagina's documentary on C4 is available to watch here, her books Womanhood, Manhood and Bare Reality are available here. Naomi's play Good Girl is available here

Naomi Sheldon @NaomiSheldon1, Anand Patel @therealdranand, Laura Dodsworth @BareReality

Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Trailer to launch The Pleasure Podcast with writer and actor Naomi Sheldon and sexual function doctor Anand Patel.

In this new series Anand and Naomi will be talking to special guests on the relationship we have to our bodies when it comes to sex, sensuality and intimacy. As adults we’re supposed to know it all, but how much do we really? The Pleasure Podcast is a response to the UK’s ad hoc approach to sex education and society’s reticence to discuss the intimate.  

Guests vary from sexologists and therapists to novelists and DJs, who speak with openness, wit and expertise on sex and pleasure and challenging preconceived ideas. They hold conversations that are inquisitive and non-judgemental, casting a broad net, not limited by sexuality, gender, culture or belief. They don’t pretend to know it all and they really want to learn from others. A deeper understanding of our relationship with our bodies can help us find more joy in our daily lives.

Anand brings the perspective of a practising GP and sexual function specialist, of a man seeking insight into women’s stories, and with the experience of growing up gay in a religious family in the 1980s under the shadow of AIDS. Through his practice he sees how genuine conversations around sex and intimacy about adult wants and concerns are rarely brought into the open. Naomi has acted at the RSC and in the West End, and is developing various TV projects including adapting Good Girl for C4. Her writing deals with themes of intimacy and emotion. Growing up in the hyper-sexualised 90s left her with a complicated relationship to sex, self-worth and sexuality. She wants to deconstruct those early lessons and learn afresh what it is to experience pleasure.

If you like the sound of our trailer, you’ll love the frank conversations about sex and pleasure. Be part of the conversation by emailing us ([email protected]) or tweet us @ThePleasurePod.

Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.