Women Like Sex

Justin Hancock – creator of BISH (one of the most comprehensive sex ed websites), author and podcaster – busts two of the most important yet ignored sexuality myths. And shares many thoughtful, nuanced insights that he’s gained in his nearly three decades in youth relationships and sexuality education. He’s got plenty of great advice for adults too.

In the inaugural episode of the WLS mini-series on sex and aging, Dr. Justin Lehmiller (Kinsey Institute senior research fellow) discusses why sex gets better with age, how older men fantasize about romance more than older women, and the importance of masturbating for menopause.

Tia Levings chronicled her narrow escape from extreme Christian patriarchy, and an abusive husband, in her best-selling memoir A Well-Trained Life (2024). This year, she published I Belong To Me, walking us through how she regained a voice silenced by men for decades. These powerful cautionary tales help others flee the same dangerous oppression she faced, and explain the religious fundamentalism shaping US politics. Tia is strong as hell, has a great laugh and curses like a sailor – my favorite kind of guest. 

Tracy DeTomasi, national gender violence expert, offers great, simple guidance on the best sex ed to teach kids, how to respond to "It's not all men," what we can all learn from beaches, and so much more. Always with a ready laugh and a magical ability to call out problematic thinking on the spot, without ever alienating the thinker.

Award-winning NPR and PBS journalist and host Khalil Ekulona shares his experiences and reflections on how myths about sexuality often remove humanity from one of our most human acts. We also discuss his honor system (and my honor-ish system), what his sisters taught him about women, and what Ella Fitzgerald, Wayne Newton and Tony Bennett taught him about relationships

Kate Downey explains how living with menstrual “death cramps” for decades led her to pick up a mic and record her journey to a successful diagnosis, in the investigative podcast CRAMPED. As well as some of the new science she’s learned about the female reproductive systems, our problematic medical system, and sexist crash test dummies and countertops.

As walking sociologists, who better than our trans peers can teach us just how much of a cultural construct gender is? That’s exactly what my friend Professor Queerstrokes does here, with one of the world’s greatest laughs to boot. We discuss how gender tropes constrict, confuse and hurt us all; how to be the best ally to trans people; and how men supported his transition much more than the women in his life.

Of all the myths we're busting, virginity is among the biggest, and most persistent. It’s a social construct with no biological or medical definitions, yet heavy religious, personal and social baggage. Historian Anke Bernau and sociologist Laura Carpenter help us unpack the millennia-old obsession with female (yet rarely ever male) sexual purity and its consequences.

What do cabbage and Stalin’s mustache have in common? How did the Mesopotamians view sex? Were the Victorians even more repressed than we think? Award-winning author, historian and podcaster Dr. Kate Lister answers these questions and more with crackling wit and insight, and an enviable Yorkshire brogue.

Gender violence expert Tiffany Brec and I discuss how accurate, inclusive sex ed reduces harm; why she’s now teaching leadership skills too; what to do when someone calls a man a girl in your presence; and what Tiffany’s wife does to ward off shady men. 

Despite being told that women don't, or shouldn't like sex much (or as much as men), asexuality in women isn't exactly welcome either.

Purity culture teaches the same messages most girls and women get – to disregard your own body and intuition while being a sexual gatekeeper for boys and men – but to the godzillionth degree. This week’s guest shares what it means to spends years shedding purity myths, to rediscover her body, spirit, joy – and great sex too!

Black sexologist and educator Dr. Shemeka Thorpe shares insights into her work and the importance of letting Black women tell their own stories.

From hookups and "swipey dating" to sex myths and toxicity: A look at what has and hasn't changed for young women today.

Have you ever wanted to watch porn that was…not porn? Videos of healthy sex – from people who like one another, who aren’t actors, or egregiously violent? Videos vetted by humans who ensure inclusivity and flip the scripts on the male-dominated porn industry? If so, you're among the millions who already enjoy Make Love Not Porn, the brainchild of Cindy Gallop.

Two fathers of teenage girls share insights, humor and questions about what they’re doing to avoid harmful myths and stereotypes as they navigate the sometimes embarrassing road of teaching healthy sexuality.

Senior Kinsey Institute scientist Cynthia Graham debunks one of the worst pieces of “dysfunction” data, and agrees that the messaging about female orgasm is as bad as if we told men that the best way for them to orgasm is by sticking a finger up their bum.

Jonynne shares what the myths of female sexuality have meant in her personal life. She talks about being taught the mechanics – rather than emotions – of sex as a kid. About finally learning to value her pleasure above a man’s. About being a Black woman dating white men in the US, where she was once asked to slavery cosplay. And unexpectedly finding her best-ever relationship in Denmark.

With razor-sharp wit and wisdom, medieval historian Dr. Eleanor Janega dissects the lies we tell about human sexuality of the past, when – spoiler alert – women were considered hypersexual, and men were chaste.

Hetero men – and lesbians – have more orgasms than hetero women in relationship sex. And it's not because the female orgasm is "elusive."