Embodied – Details, episodes & analysis

Anita's highly-anticipated (and highly-awkward) first kiss was in eighth grade … but she remembers it like it was yesterday! A scientist tells her why our brains respond so strongly to kissing and how our kissing customs have changed over time. She also unpacks the power of a kiss with a photographer who documents queer Black love in public and three Gen-Zers school her on contemporary kissing culture.

Meet the guests:

- Sheril Kirshenbaum, science communicator and author of “The Science of Kissing: What Our Lips Are Telling Us,” explains what's happening in our brains when our lips touch another person's and digs into the cultural history and evolution of kissing

- Kadar Small, photographer, director and filmmaker, shares his photo series "PDA," which aims to highlight and normalize images of Black and brown queer intimacy

- Donna Diaz, Parys Smith and Chris Williams, all current and past WUNC Youth reporters, talk together about their first kisses, how they think about boundaries and what makes a good kiss

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Anita brings you into part of our family secrets variety show from earlier this year, featuring North Carolina country duo Blue Cactus. She talks with the band about creating and performing an original song inspired by an anonymous secret. The secret was gathered by Song Confessional, an Austin-based podcast that matches songwriters with “confessions.”

Meet the guests:

- Walker Lukens, co-creator and co-host of the Song Confessional podcast

- Steph Stewart and Mario Arnez, members of Blue Cactus

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Anita's nail habit has evolved in the past decade from $10 drop-in manicures to 90 minute appointments with a nail artist. That artist joins her for a conversation about how Black women have shaped nail culture. Plus a fashion historian details nail history from Egyptian mummies to ‘90s Chanel colors, and a Vietnamese-American woman tells the story of growing up inside her parents' nail salons.

Meet the guests:

- Crystal Sanders, nail artist and entrepreneur, shares her business and artistic philosophy and talks about the overlooked role Black women have played in the history of nail art

- Suzanne E. Shapiro, fashion historian and author of "Nails: The Story of the Modern Manicure," explains the historical context of manicures and nail art and ties both art forms into larger cultural forces

- My Ngoc To, Vietnamese-American writer, talks about her experience growing up in the nail salons that her parents owned and how that has influenced her relationship with nail art today

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Dig deeper:

Crissy Shined Nails on IG

Blkgirlnailfies on IG

More context on Black women in nail art

NYT nail industry expose

My Ngoc’s piece about her family’s nail salons

Nailed It documentary

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Anita agrees to a suggestion posed by a listener: Explore why the hair-pulling disorder trichotillomania is so taboo. She talks with an artist who started pulling their hair more than two decades ago but only recently told her parents…after publishing part of their story in a national news outlet. A psychologist on the front-lines of studying trich treatment talks about the importance of acceptance; and a hairstylist with trich takes us into why her salon is a safe haven for other folks with hair loss.

Meet the guests:

- Haruka Aoki, a writer and illustrator who recently published a comic about their trichotillomania journey in The Washington Post, shares what it was like to learn a term for the disorder later in life

- Dr. Suzanne Mouton-Odum, a licensed psychologist and board member for the TLC Foundation for Body-Focused Repetitive Behaviors, describes her counseling work with folks who experience trich

- Dorin Azérad, a hair loss hairstylist, shares how her ongoing journey with trich shapes the services she offers to other folks with hair loss at her salon

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Dive deeper:

- Self-Care Provider Directory for folks with BFRB

- The TLC Foundation on Trich

- Haruka’s children’s book “Fitting In”

Anita is getting married next year, which means she's been thinking a lot about money and what kind of spending aligns with her values. Turns out that her money behaviors (and yours) are shaped by experiences and beliefs that have accumulated since childhood. She talks with a financial therapist and a money coach about their work to help people better understand their money hang-ups and explores some unconventional ways to think about your money.

Meet the guests:

- Steven M. Hughes, a financial therapist and money reiki practitioner, helps us go deep when we think about our relationship to money — and how that can help our relationships to each other

- Morgan Curtis, an organizer and money coach, explains how we can translate feelings of shame or guilt about money into tangible action that can help our communities

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Dive deeper:

- Morgan’s resource library

- Net worth calculator

The first time we did an episode about the pelvic floor, Anita learned that y'all needed that education just as much as she did. She revisits the topic with a focus on access for trans and gender nonconforming folks. Two providers reflect on the sexuality education that has informed their approaches to treatment, and a patient shares his experience navigating pelvic pain with providers who weren't always well-informed about treating trans patients.

Meet the guests:

- Markus Harwood-Jones, an author and TikTok user under the name @markusbones, shares his experience with pelvic floor physical therapy

- Alex Papale, a pelvic health physical therapist and sex educator, talks about the barriers to pelvic PT for trans, nonbinary and gender nonconforming folks

- Dr. Uchenna “UC” Ossai, a sex-positive pelvic health physical therapist and sexuality counselor, introduces ways that patients can advocate for themselves

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Anita is well aware that bringing a new baby into the world is a lotttttt of work (even though she's never done it herself). But when she heard about friends and family members choosing surrogacy to build their families, she realized how little she knows about that process — and how many misconceptions exist. She talks to a three-time surrogate about why she chose this path. A father who has had a child via surrogacy details how his family navigated the process from a financial, legal and emotional perspective; and a sociologist zooms out to give the big picture of the surrogacy industry.

Meet the guests:

- Eloise Drane, founder of Family Inceptions, talks about her experience as a three-time gestational surrogate. Family Inceptions is one of the only Black-owned surrogacy agencies in the country

- Brian McGunagle, founder of Westport Pride, shares his experience going through the surrogacy process with his husband to have their now-toddler son

- Heather Jacobson, professor of sociology at the University of Texas at Arlington, shares her ethnographic research on gestational surrogacy in the United States

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Dive deeper:

- Surrogacy law map state-by-state

- Heather Jacobson’s book “Labor of Love”

After Anita watched the Netflix docuseries "Keep Sweet," it was on her mind for weeks. She sat down with Elissa Wall, one of the central figures in the series, to talk about growing up in an isolated, polygamist religious community in which everything was decided for her – from what she could wear to whom she would marry. Elissa talks about adjusting to life outside the FLDS Church, her process of healing after a traumatic childhood and her ongoing journey of embodiment.

Meet the guest:

- Elissa Wall, speaker, advocate, mother and author, talks to Anita about her upbringing in the FLDS church, her forced marriage at the age of 14, and her ongoing journey to re-establish a relationship to her body after leaving the community. She is the author of the memoir "Stolen Innocence: My Story of Growing Up in a Polygamous Sect, Becoming a Teenage Bride, and Breaking Free of Warren Jeffs."

Please note that this episode contains references to religious trauma, pregnancy loss and sexual assault of a minor.

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For most of guest host Omisade Burney-Scott's life, she was a reluctant viewer of horror films — squinting through her fingers long enough to get to the closing credits. In recent years, that trepidation has turned into thrill as she's watched the Black horror genre evolve. She talks with a filmmaker, director and horror scholar about how they see their own experiences reflected in the Black horror renaissance.

Meet the guests:

- Lana Garland, writer, director, producer and curator of the Hayti Heritage Film Festival, reminisces about the Black horror films that left their mark on her and how the genre has evolved

- Dr. Kinitra Brooks, Leslie Endowed Chair in literary studies at Michigan State University, shares her own Black horror memories and examines key ingredients in the genre

- Bree Newsome Bass, artist, organizer and filmmaker, talks about the evolution of the genre both on and off camera

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Anita pretty much stopped wearing bras in the pandemic, and she's likely not going back. But she knows that for many, a good bra is clutch for daily comfort. She traces the surprising history and technology of the brassiere with the inventor of the sports bra and an expert who consulted with the Army on their first-ever tactical bra. Then she meets two people whose bra stories bump up against how we define and redefine gender and social norms for ourselves and others.

Meet the guests:

- Lisa Lindahl, an author and entrepreneur, tells the story behind the invention of the sports bra

- Jené Luciana Sena, a bra expert, author and host of the podcast "Visible Panty Lines," explains the technicalities of bra fit and shares her work collaborating with the Army on their first-ever tactical bra

- Destiny Liley, a freelance content creator, talks about the challenges of being a larger-chested person and her thoughts on bralessness

- Ren Gutierrez, a first-generation Latine advocate for queer and trans mental health, reflects on going through his bra collection in the weeks before getting top surgery

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Dive deeper:

- The origins and evolution of the bra

- Behind the invention of the sports bra, via the National Inventors Hall of Fame