Shows
Doing It! with Hannah WittonPenis Health, Erections and Ejaculations with Dr Anand PatelIn this episode, Hannah is joined by Dr Anand Patel, who is a doctor specialising in sexual function. Anand discusses his experience as a biology teacher and with teaching sex ed in school as well as why it’s important for more GPs to have training around sexual health. He and Hannah talk about men’s and people with penises’ sexual function, from early ejaculation to delayed ejaculation and the physical and psychological causes of erectile dysfunction. Finally, Hannah and Anand discuss Viagra, performance anxiety, and some “dick housekeeping”.✨MORE ABOUT DR ANAND PATEL✨I’m a doctor specialis...
2020-12-0250 min
The Pleasure PodcastS4, Ep 10 Lady Phyll: Black Pride and Same Gender Loving WomenIt’s the finale of season four! Thank you to all our guests and pleasure podders for making this a brilliant season, we’ve reached more people than ever before. We love our growing community and thrilled to know you’re as passionate as us when it comes to talking about pleasure. I’m taking a break to have my babies, but we’ll be back in January with a brand-new season. Don’t worry, there’s a juicy archive of episodes to explore so please dig in. But now for our finale guest, and this really is a special one…
2020-09-1454 min
The Pleasure PodcastS4, Ep 9 Sangeeta Pillai: The Price of Indian FeminismToday on the Pleasure Podcast we welcome Sangeeta Pillai, founder of feminist online platform Soul Sutras and fighter of Indian Patriarchy! Sangeeta developed SoulSutras to be a safe space for South Asian womxn to tell their stories openly without shame or fear, connecting with one another, sharing a common cultural identity.Soul Sutras has developed into a feminist platform hosting the award-winning taboo-shaking Masala Podcast to developing Masala Monologues, a series of writing workshops and theatre shows in the UK and US.Sangeeta talks to us about her childhood, growing up in the slums of...
2020-09-0738 min
The Pleasure PodcastS4, Ep 8 Julia Schönstädt: The Feminist Porn MovementThis week on The Pleasure Podcast we welcome German portrait photographer, music video and lesbian feminist porn director Julia Schönstädt. Julia is passionate about platforming unheard voices, working with prisoners, refugees as well as sex workers, helping the world to see them beyond their labels. Her 16 Bars Project, a prisoner's portrait series that aimed to raise awareness for the penal system, led to a Guardian award.Her work as a guest director for Erika Lust, the pioneer in feminist porn, was her first foray into the adult film world. Fed up with the mainstream representation of...
2020-08-3130 min
The Pleasure PodcastS4, Ep 7 Paapa Essiedu: Lads Mags, #MeToo and how men are moving on.This week on The Pleasure Podcast we welcome actor Paapa Essiedu. He’s been named a BAFTA breakthrough Brit and won huge acclaim for his performance as the RSC’s first black Hamlet. In Michaela Coel’s series I May Destory you he plays the sex positive Kwame, a gay man whose assault is ignored by the Police – a beautifully nuanced performance. But Naomi will always think of him as the man she met at the RSC who in one memorable show played a singing seal as her understudy – a role she'll never let him forget.Paapa grew up in...
2020-08-2432 min
The Pleasure PodcastS4, Ep 6 Janine David: Sex and Sexual Identity During PregnancyNext week we’ll be returning to business as usual but for now it’s the finale of our mini-series on parenthood. This week we welcome doctor and sexual function specialist, Janine David to speak to us about sex and sexuality in pregnancy. Janine is a GP working in Wales who specialises in Men and Women’s sexual health. She developed an interest in sexual health in 2013 and, like Anand, is a Fellow of the European Committee of Sexual Medicine (FECSM). This is the highest qualification you can achieve in this field and she is the only active GP in Wal...
2020-08-1732 min
The Pleasure PodcastS4, Ep5 Anna Jordan: Miscarriage and Becoming a MotherThis week’s guest is Bruntwood Prize winning playwright, screenwriter and director Anna Jordan. Her work has been performed in theatres around the country from the Royal Court to the Royal Exchange. On screen you’ll have heard her whip smart dialogue in shows such as Succession and Killing Eve. Her down to earth charm is combined with a furiously wicked humour – finding laughter and hope in the darkest of places. And it’s this combination that is so striking in her monologue for The Bunker’s Everywoman, in which playwrights wrote confessions on parenting and identity. Anna’s piece was on...
2020-08-1048 min
The Pleasure PodcastS4, Ep 4 Freddy McConnell: The Dad who Gave BirthToday we welcome award-winning Guardian journalist, writer and full-time single dad, Freddy McConnell. Freddy is perhaps most well-known for the film Seahorse: The Dad Who Gave Birth directed by acclaimed director Jeanie Finlay which documented his journey into fatherhood as a trans man. Freddy speaks to us about the empowering experience of realising he was trans, of coming off of testosterone to become pregnant, and how being trans is not necessarily a transition but a state of being.We also discuss the misinformation given to trans men about the effects of testosterone therapy on their fertility...
2020-08-0337 min
The Pleasure PodcastS4, Ep 3: Lindsey Bliss: What Does a Doula Do?Today we welcome renowned child-birth coach and author Lindsey Bliss. Lindsey is co-founder of doula agency Carriage House Birth which has assisted in more than 1100 births across the US and is mother of seven including two sets of twins! As Naomi has been pregnant with twins for all of lockdown, Lindsey was the perfect person to speak to about the role of a doula in supporting people through a momentous but often stressful time. Anand had been taught to be suspicious of doulas at medical school but speaking to Lindsey was transformational and totally turned around his understanding of...
2020-07-2745 min
The Pleasure PodcastS4, Ep 2 Emma Gannon: The Choice to be Child-FreeOur guest is Sunday Times Bestselling author, award-winning podcaster, novelist, blogger and speaker Emma Gannon. Her debut novel Olive follows the lives of women whose friendship shifts as babies enter the frame. Emma adds a refreshing voice to the dialogue around motherhood, through a story whose main character has actively chosen to live a child-free life without regrets. When Emma asked if there was anyone out there who is child free by choice, she was inundated with responses from women who felt like they weren’t seen, from those saying they regret having children to simply not wan...
2020-07-2040 min
The Pleasure PodcastS4, Ep 1 Candice Brathwaite: Black British MotherhoodCandice Brathwaite launches us into our brand-new season 4 and our mini-series on parenthood. And WHAT guest! She’s the Sunday Times Best-seller author of I Am Not Your Baby Mother and the founder of Make Motherhood Diverse, an online platform to provide visibility for all the “types” of mother you can possibly think of to stand tall, proud and heard. In her memoir she explores her childhood, her pregnancies and what it’s like to bring Black children into a racist society in which Black British women are 5 times more likely to die in childbirth.We talk to...
2020-07-1351 min
The Pleasure PodcastS3, Ep 10 Teddy Lamb: Trans and Gender EuphoricIt’s the season finale! Our guest sends us off with hope and solidarity. We welcome femme non-binary trans writer and performer Teddy* Lamb. I first spotted Teddy roaming around Soho with pink hair, frills, and a prominent, sexy moustache. The combination felt somehow audacious and I’ve been longing to speak to them about gender and identity ever since. Teddy was using they/them pronouns long before being non-binary was even part of their vocabulary. They describe theirs as a gender rather than a sexuality story. But their pansexuality and description of the joy of T for T...
2020-05-1837 min
The Pleasure PodcastS3, Ep 9 Alex Cowan: Sex and Skydiving - Looking Beyond DisabilityToday we welcome Alex Cowan, a leading disability activist, performer and writer challenging the sexual erasure of differently abled people around the world. Alex has been a real pioneer, In 2014 she appeared in Alternative Miss World - their first contestant in a wheelchair, and appeared on Channel 4 discussing her relationship with her husband. She was the first disabled person to attend the world-renowned European Society of Sexual Medicine Summer school and has worked with Alistair Morrison, photographer to Hollywood royalty, reinterpreting the iconic Christine Keeler photos replacing the Arne Jacobsen chair with her wheelchair. Alex developed M...
2020-05-1131 min
The Pleasure PodcastS3, Ep 8 Charlotte Josephine: The Joy of Queer SexHello! Today we welcome award-winning actor and writer Charlotte Josephine onto The Pleasure Podcast. I’m delighted to introduce our listeners to Charlie, they are one of my personal heroes having given me the strength and permission to write when I was just setting out and they were already on the way to prolific playwrighting. They swept onto the theatre scene with solo show Bitch Boxer which won the Soho Theatre Writers award and is now being adapted for film. The host of plays which followed have received awards, huge praise and sell out houses. They recently play...
2020-05-0447 min
The Pleasure PodcastS3, ep 7 Marisa Bate: How to Recognise and Survive Domestic AbuseToday we welcome journalist, author and feminist trailblazer Marisa Bate. Marisa was one of the founding members of The Pool and writes extensively about domestic violence. Issues that affect women’s lives are at the forefront of her writing, whether that be in Grazia, The Guardian, The Independent, Cosmopolitan – the list goes on. Her journalism is prolific, smart, hard hitting and very, very moving. Anytime that families are together for long periods without normal routine, domestic abuse goes up…throw in alcohol, stress, it’s no wonder that during lockdown the phone lines for Refuge and Women’s Aid have...
2020-04-2739 min
The Pleasure PodcastS3, Ep 6 Susan Wokoma: Narcissistic RelationshipsIn this episode we welcome a multi-talented actor, writer, and regular co-host of The Guilty Feminist, she’s genuine, warm, and ferociously loyal to her friends, she’s one of my favourite people, it’s stage and screen’s Susan Wokoma.Suzie was named one of Forbes 30 under 30 in 2017 and a BAFTA breakthrough brit in the same year.Her breakthrough role as Cynthia in Chewing Gum firmly put her on the map as one the UK’s most brilliant comedy actors and she continues to bring huge depth and generosity to all of her roles. You can se...
2020-04-2052 min
The Pleasure PodcastSPECIAL EPISODE! S3, Ep5 Dr Karen Gurney: Love in LockdownIt's an emergency isolation episode! We welcome clinical psychologist and psychosexologist Dr Karen Gurney. Karen joins us in these extraordinary times to talk about sex, pleasure and relationships during this pandemic. How we can manage our anxiety and maintain our intimacy whilst distancing ourselves from others.This is a practical conversation with lots of tips and tricks for us all, whatever our sexuality or gender, whether living on our own, apart from our loved ones, in couples, in house shares or back home with less than supportive families.Karen is lead psychosexual therapist for 56 Dean...
2020-04-1338 min
The Pleasure PodcastS3, Ep 4 Leïla Slimani: Sex, Lies and Morocco's fight for feminismIn this episode of The Pleasure Podcast we welcome Leïla Slimani. She was the first Moroccan woman to win France’s most prestigious literary prize, the Prix Goncourt, which she won for Lullaby. A journalist and frequent commentator on women’s and human rights, she is French president Emmanuel Macron’s personal representative for the promotion of the French language and culture. We speak to Leila about her collection of essays Sex and Lies which examine the sex lives of women in Morocco. In these essays Slimani gives voice to young Moroccan women grappling with a conser...
2020-04-0630 min
The Pleasure PodcastS3, Ep 3 Richard Gadd: Art and Sex after TraumaThis week of The Pleasure Podcast we welcome the award-winning comedian, actor and writer Richard Gadd. In 2016 he won the esteemed Edinburgh comedy award, with Monkey See Monkey Do, a raw, personal account about his sexual assault. It was a performance which pushed the boundaries of comedy and which felt monumentally cathartic for its win.In 2019 his first solo theatre show Baby Reindeer was the talk of Edinburgh. In it he relives his experience of being stalked by a woman with a dangerous obsession with him, about wrestling with his sexuality, and trying to come to terms...
2020-03-3044 min
The Pleasure PodcastS3, Ep 2 Stephanie Yeboah: Dating and (Self) Love When You're Big, Black and BeautifulWelcome to episode 2 of The Pleasure Podcast. This week we speak to multi-award winning, plus size style blogger, journalist, and author Stephanie Yeboah. This year she was the cover girl on Glamour’s self-love issue. And on Instagram she is making waves celebrating the bodies of plus size, black women. Her sexy, witty, and insightful posts redefine accepted beauty standards and challenge the co-option of body positivity by socially acceptable white bodies.Stephanie has experienced racism and fat-phobia from a young age, from being bullied at school to being fetishized and objectified in her romantic life. The wa...
2020-03-2357 min
The Pleasure PodcastS3, Ep 1 Emma Thompson: Pleasure is PoliticalWe're baaaaack! Welcome to Season 3 of The Pleasure Podcast. We're kicking off with a woman who needs little introduction. I think it's fair to say she is the nation's sweetheart. And not just because she speaks openly about bonking Jeff Goldblum with a piece of toast stuck to her bum (onscreen).Some of you may have grown up with her in Nanny Mcphee, had your hearts broken by her in THAT SCENE in Love Actually, or fell in love with her in Sense and Sensibility, Howards End, Last Christmas, or.... the list goes on. Alongside her screen...
2020-03-161h 00
The Pleasure PodcastS2, Ep10 Rain Dove Dubilewski: Breaking the Chains of GenderIt’s the SEASON 2 FINALE people! Not only has it zipped by, but we added on TWO MORE EPISODES from season 1 for your pleasure. Don’t say we don’t treat you well.And are we finishing this round with a bang or what?! (we are, yes) We have an extraordinary, golden guest for you to see us out. Welcome Rain Dove Dubilewski. You’ll likely know them better by face than by voice, but that’s soon to change… Rain Dove was the first model EVER to be in both male and female magazine covers at the same...
2019-11-041h 01
The Pleasure PodcastS2, Ep9 Flo Perry: How To Have Feminist SexIn this week’s episode of the Pleasure Podcast we talk to writer and illustrator Flo Perry. Flo’s work on Buzzfeed is always a viral sensation, and she has just published the wonderful How To Have Feminist Sex – A Fairly Graphic Guide. Flo is on a mission to improve our sex lives. Her graphic novel is a manual on how to have the sex you want whilst navigating the niggles and neuroses we've built up over a lifetime when it comes to getting down and dirty. This joyful and sexy book is filled with Flo’s gorgeously drawn humans t...
2019-10-2842 min
The Pleasure PodcastS2, Ep 8 Alix Fox: On Being a Sexpert, Sex Toys and Sex in Long Term RelationshipsThis week on The Pleasure Podcast we welcome a woman who has heard it all. It’s Multi award-winning writer, broadcaster and sex educator Alix Fox. Alix co-hosts BBC Radio 1 show Unexpected Fluids, in which comedic ‘real life tales of sexual fails’ are used as a springboard for frank, constructive conversations. Over on Netflix, she’s a script consultant for hit series Sex Education, whilst on The Modern Mann podcast with Olly Mann, she’s fronted her own X-rated agony aunt segment for almost half a decade, answering listeners’ most intimate queries in ‘The Foxhole’. A proud ambassador for both Brook young...
2019-10-2153 min
The Pleasure PodcastS2, Ep 7 Amrit Matharu: The 2nd Gen British Asians Searching for LoveThis week on The Pleasure Podcast we welcome radio producer, presenter, and writer Amrit Matharu. She's currently working for the Asian Network, and has contributed to Radio London, Radio Northampton, and BBC Stories to name but a few. Amrit published her dissertation "Desi and Desire" focusing on British-Asian female identity and has become well known for discussing taboo topics such as sexuality, a subject rarely talked about amongst the South Asian community.She’s passionate about promoting body confidence and works as both a body positive activist and plus size model.We talk to Amrit ab...
2019-10-1440 min
The Pleasure PodcastS2, Ep 6 Kate Lister: A Curious History of SexThis week on the Pleasure Podcast we welcome an expert in all things historically sexual. It’s the incredible award-winning historian, lecturer, and author Dr Kate Lister. However you might know her best as the mind behind Twitter’s very own behemoth Whores of Yore.Kate is a lecturer and researcher in the literary history of sex work at Leeds Trinity University and she regularly writes for inews, Vice, and the Wellcome Trust. Kate has also graced our screens, most notably giving historical context to our sexual desires in Channel 5s My Secret Sex Fantasy (which is w...
2019-10-0759 min
The Pleasure PodcastS2, Ep 5 Jen Brister: Same Sex Motherhood, told by The Other MotherThis week we welcome Jen Brister to The Pleasure Podcast. She’s a critically acclaimed stand up comedian, actor and author of the frank and funny book The Other Mother. She’s regularly been on our radios, toured six solo shows around the world and graced our screens on Live at the Apollo, Live at the comedy store and Frankie Boyle’s New World Order. Later this year she’ll star in the Sara Pascoe series ‘Comedy Lectures’ and ‘Hypothetical’, and she’ll be touring her hilarious show Under Privilege around the UK in 2020. I saw it at the Edinburgh Fringe t...
2019-09-3052 min
The Pleasure PodcastS2, Ep 4 Liz O'Riordan: Sex, Intimacy and Breast CancerThis we speak to consultant breast cancer surgeon, author, TEDx Speaker, triathlete, and nominee for Woman of the Year 2016 Liz O’Riordan.Liz was diagnosed with stage 3 breast cancer in 2015 and had a recurrence in 2018. She went viral when she dressed as Elastagirl from the Incredibles for the last day of her radiotherapy. Liz uses her unique perspective of being both surgeon and patient to write her award-winning blog about living with breast cancer and more recently a book: The Complete Guide to Breast Cancer.She writes to empower cancer patients, separating fact from fiction. We s...
2019-09-2351 min
The Pleasure PodcastS2, Ep 3 Wild Iris: The Violence of (Sex) WorkIn this week’s episode of The Pleasure Podcast we have a rare interview with Wild Iris - sex worker and Queer woman of colour. Her name and voice have been altered to protect her anonymity.Wild Iris speaks eloquently and openly about her experiences of having sex with men in order to fund her true passions in life. Iris shares how her autism, negotiating the social interactions and office politics, meant keeping a ‘regular’ job was virtually impossible and how that led her to consider sex work. We discuss the various forms of sex work and he...
2019-09-1655 min
The Pleasure PodcastS2, Ep 2 Jason Domino: Lessons of a Porn Star and Sex WorkerIn this episode of The Pleasure Podcast we welcome the talented multi-hyphenate Jason Domino: activist, porn performer, sex worker, and head of the sexual health think-tank: The Domino Foundation. Jason was raised as a committed Christian and tried to change his sexuality as a teen using aversion therapy and conversion camps. He shares with us how he started in sex work and porn and how a health scare following a porn shoot opened his eyes to the need for sex education, particularly around HIV prevention. This led to the creation of Porn4Prep, a groundbreaking film c...
2019-09-0945 min
The Pleasure PodcastS2, Ep 1 Sara Pascoe: Sex, Power and the Animal WithinWe're back! Welcome to the second series of the Pleasure Podcast. We are thrilled to be kicking off our first episode with multi-award winning comedian, author, actor, documentary maker and fellow podcaster Sara Pascoe. This year her comedy show Lads Lads Lads, had a primetime BBC2 special, and her new BBC2 sitcom has just been announced. It’s on family dynamics, sex and the reason humans behave the way they do, a theme Sara has become master of. Sara’s work is characterised by the studious findings of a ferocious intelligence delivered with warmth and wit, and her latest offer...
2019-09-021h 10
The Pleasure PodcastS1, Ep 8 Katie Greenall: Fat and Queer, Finding the Words that FitIt’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 th...
2019-07-1926 min
The Pleasure PodcastS1, Ep 7 Lynn Enright: The Sex Education We Should Have HadIt’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.
2019-07-1551 min
The Pleasure PodcastS1, Ep 6 Crystal Rasmussen: Drag and the Performance of PleasureWe 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...
2019-07-0843 min
The Pleasure PodcastS1, Ep 5 Woet Gianotten: Sex and Ageing - The Key to a Longer and Happier LifeIn 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...
2019-07-0139 min
The Pleasure PodcastS1, Ep4 Gemma Cairney: Her Pleasure PlaylistThis 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...
2019-06-2436 min
The Pleasure PodcastS1, Ep 3 Monty Moncrieff: Chemsex and the Search for IntimacyIn 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...
2019-06-1743 min
The Pleasure PodcastS1, Ep2 Sarah Perry: Literature and the Erotic ImaginationThis 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 w...
2019-06-1044 min
The Pleasure PodcastS1, Ep1 Laura Dodsworth: Womanhood and 100 VulvasWelcome 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...
2019-06-0337 min
The Pleasure PodcastThe Pleasure Podcast TrailerTrailer 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 novelist...
2019-05-1901 min