Sex Spoken Here – Details, episodes & analysis

Part 1 can be found on The A to Z of Sex.

Welcome to Sex Spoken Here. I’m Dr Lori Beth and I am your host.  Just a reminder this podcast deals with adult content, so if you don’t have total privacy, you might want to put on your headphones.

Intimacy is defined as a close familiarity, deeply knowing another person.  Emotional intimacy is built by getting to know someone deeply – sharing confidences.  Physical intimacy includes many forms of sexual contact.

Joining me today is Georgia Rose, found of G’s Spot – her digital platrom that is devoted to female sexual pleasure and sensuality.  She says she has ‘launched this digital platform because it has profoundly affected me that beneath the projection of a progressive, educated and liberated society there lies the murky reality that female sexuality is still largely misunderstood, mystified and miscommunicated and I want to do something to change that.’  She has carried out her own survey on female sexual pleasure and over 500 people have completed it.  She is using her data and her platform to open up conversations about female sexuality that place the female body and experience at the core.

www.gs/spot.co.uk

@georgias_spot

Thanks for joining me for the Sex Spoken Here this week. Write to me with suggestions for the show, questions you want answered at drbisbey@the-intimacy-coach.com , follow me on twitter, Instagram and Facebook.  Check out my YouTube channel: Dr Lori Beth Bisbey.  For a free 30-minute discovery session with me, go to https://the-intimacy-coach.com/ and head to my contact page to click on my calendar and schedule directly.  Look out for my new radio show in January. If you enjoy the show, please leave me a review on iTunes and Stitcher.

Please enjoy again:

Sex Spoken Here: Sex Love Stories:  R

Welcome to my virtual therapy room!  I am Dr Lori Beth Bisbey and this is Sex Spoken Here. Remember that this podcast deals with adult themes so if you don’t have privacy you might wish to put on your headphones. 

Today we will be talking about bisexuality and BDSM.

Joining me is Rudo Mashongomende.  She is 33 years old, bisexual and she works in fashion. She has always been drawn to the world of BDSM but always felt, or was made to feel that it was a sordid world, so clearly she was perverted. She realises now that even as a teen she didn’t mind that, but finding like minded people, just to discuss it was the problem. She found Scarlet Ladies this year, and she was proudly part of their #italksex campaign. Turning 30 was very positive for her because she finally felt like she was in her prime, so she is allowing herself to do things she’s always been curious about. She went to her first Torture Garden last month, and she will now go to fetish events regularly, say once a every month or two. She has two subs whom she has just acquired, so she’s enjoying building dynamics with each of them. Being dominant feels so wonderfully natural, and is an effective outlet for the stresses of everyday life!

I asked Rudo to tell me about her background and culture.   Rudo is Black British and is proud of this identification.   She was raised Catholic and by choice attended church until she was 18.

I asked about her first sexual awareness and she told me that she first found she had an interest in some of the catalogue models in the men’s underwear section when she was about 11.  She spoke of noticing ‘the bulges’ and having a physical response and even cutting out one picture to keep.  She spoke about losing her virginity at 17 to a boyfriend and that this was a really positive experience.  We spoke about how lucky she was to have a positive first sexual experience and she says that she still remembers it well. 

Rudo talked about being heterosexual through university.   She told me she went to school in Brighton and that she went to a few gay bars and was aware of an attraction to women but didn’t want to act on it or even fully acknowledge this.  She spoke about moving back to London and living with a partner for 5 years and during that relationship telling him that she realised she was attracted to women and wanted to have a threesome to explore this attraction.   In the end, this didn’t happen and it wasn’t until after the relationship ended that she began to explore.

Rudo talked about finding a group through Meetup and making friends with bisexual women and that meeting people to experiment with flowed from here. 

From there, we spoke about her interest in BDSM.  She spoke about enjoying power exchange and enjoying being dominant.  She spoke about finding partners through the Whiplr app and we talked a bit about the use of apps to find partners.

Finally we talked about Scarlet Ladies and the #italksex campaign and 23 Paul Street.  Rudo spoke of her belief in gender equality especially when it comes to sex and desire.  She spoke of the importance of speaking out in public so that change happens.  We spoke about the joys of Scarlet Ladies and the wonders of 23 Paul Street.

You can find Rudo at:

https://www.scarletladiestalk.com/italksex-because-they-cant-we-can-and-we-should/

https://twitter.com/stylist_face

https://instagram.com/stylist_face

23 Paul Street is the Gentleman’s Club we discussed.

You can find out more about Scarlet Ladies

Sex Spoken Here Pam Costa

Welcome to my virtual therapy room!  I am Dr Lori Beth Bisbey and this is Sex Spoken Here. Remember that this Vlog deals with adult themes so if you don’t have privacy you might wish to put on your headphones.

Today I am on location, in NJ, in my childhood bedroom, and we are talking about what happens when you discover that you and your partner have mismatched levels of desire.  It is often not easy to spot this at the beginning of a relationship because of the excitement and energy that new relationships bring.  Once you are in a long term relationship, the mismatch becomes apparent and that is when the difficulties begin.  

Joining me to discuss this topic is Pam Costa founder of Down to There.

After a decade-and-a-half at Apple and Facebook, Pam left her career in high tech to found Down To There to share her real-life stories of challenges and successes around sexuality in her marriage. Through her writing, speaking and coaching, she hopes to inspire individuals and couples to find ways to renew and deepen desire and intimacy in their own relationships.

Pam is also passionate about raising awareness within the medical and mental health communities about the positive impact of peer support on female sexual health, recently presenting her research on this topic at the 2018 International Society for the Study of Women’s Sexual Health conference and TEDx Palo Alto.

We talked about how important your history can be, the messages you received in childhood about sex, to determining your current adult view about sex. We talked about how many people have issues with sexual desire and that often there is nothing physically wrong.  Pam talked of being someone who often couldn’t tell if she wanted to have sex until she was already involved.  There are many people whose libido is response driven.  It means that more conversations have to occur.  We talked about being disconnected from your body and she said she asks her clients if they feel like ‘floating heads’. 

We spoke about the importance of good judgmenet free sex education for all and the importance of peer support as well as coaching and therapy.    We talked of using multiple mediums to learn and for support. We spoke about how men’s genitals are obvious and so there is an additional cue to having sexual desire and feelings and women having the clitoris hidden can find it more difficult to connect to their bodies.  We spoke about masturbation and learning about desire.

To find Pam, head to downtothere.com. 

Check out these links as well:

Blog: Why I started a blog about sex

Circles: Free content for women to talk to their friends about sex

TEDx Talk: Reclaiming Female Sexual Desire

Thanks for joining me this week for Sex Spoken Here with Dr Lori Beth Bisbey.  Write to me with suggestions for the show, questions you want answered at drbisbey@the-intimacy-coach.com, follow me on twitter and instagram @drbisbey.  For a free 30 minute strategy session with me, go to https://the-intimacy-coach.com and head to the contact page and click the button that says Schedule Now!  I look forward to seeing you next week

Sex Spoken Here Pam Costa

Welcome to my virtual therapy room!  I am Dr Lori Beth Bisbey and this is Sex Spoken Here. Remember that this Vlog deals with adult themes so if you don’t have privacy you might wish to put on your headphones.

Today I am on location, in NJ, in my childhood bedroom, and we are talking about what happens when you discover that you and your partner have mismatched levels of desire.  It is often not easy to spot this at the beginning of a relationship because of the excitement and energy that new relationships bring.  Once you are in a long term relationship, the mismatch becomes apparent and that is when the difficulties begin.  

Joining me to discuss this topic is Pam Costa founder of Down to There.

After a decade-and-a-half at Apple and Facebook, Pam left her career in high tech to found Down To There to share her real-life stories of challenges and successes around sexuality in her marriage. Through her writing, speaking and coaching, she hopes to inspire individuals and couples to find ways to renew and deepen desire and intimacy in their own relationships.

Pam is also passionate about raising awareness within the medical and mental health communities about the positive impact of peer support on female sexual health, recently presenting her research on this topic at the 2018 International Society for the Study of Women’s Sexual Health conference and TEDx Palo Alto.

We talked about how important your history can be, the messages you received in childhood about sex, to determining your current adult view about sex. We talked about how many people have issues with sexual desire and that often there is nothing physically wrong.  Pam talked of being someone who often couldn’t tell if she wanted to have sex until she was already involved.  There are many people whose libido is response driven.  It means that more conversations have to occur.  We talked about being disconnected from your body and she said she asks her clients if they feel like ‘floating heads’. 

We spoke about the importance of good judgmenet free sex education for all and the importance of peer support as well as coaching and therapy.    We talked of using multiple mediums to learn and for support. We spoke about how men’s genitals are obvious and so there is an additional cue to having sexual desire and feelings and women having the clitoris hidden can find it more difficult to connect to their bodies.  We spoke about masturbation and learning about desire.

To find Pam, head to downtothere.com. 

Check out these links as well:

Blog: Why I started a blog about sex

Circles: Free content for women to talk to their friends about sex

TEDx Talk: Reclaiming Female Sexual Desire

Thanks for joining me this week for Sex Spoken Here with Dr Lori Beth Bisbey.

Write to me with suggestions for the show, questions you want answered at drbisbey@the-intimacy-coach.com, follow me on twitter and instagram @drbisbey.

For a free 30 minute strategy session with me, go to https://the-intimacy-coach.com and head to the contact page and click the button that says Schedule Now!  I look forward to seeing you next week

Sex Spoken Here Is Polyamory for You

Welcome to my virtual therapy room!  I am Dr Lori Beth Bisbey and this is Sex Spoken Here. Remember that this Vlog deals with adult themes so if you don’t have privacy you might wish to put on your headphones.

polyamory and non-monogamy have become incredibly trendy in the last few years.  One of the main reasons people give for non-monogamy is how hard it is for one person to meet all of your needs.  

People who are monogamous and have strong friendship networks as well know this as well.  They look to their friendship networks and their families to meet needs that their partners do not meet.  However, the myth that your partner should be your everything still persists.  Many people end up in relationship therapy or ending their relationships because their partner does not meet all their needs. 

The idea that I am responsible for my own needs is one that is only just really gaining popularity.  It is hard to take responsibility for your own needs.  It requires the ability to first to distinguish between needs and wants.   Then it requires the ability to acknowledge your needs and accept them.   Finally it requires the person to take responsibility for getting their needs met – with the understanding that prioritising can become very difficult when trying to balance needs.

 In non-monogamous relationships, multiple partners, friends and families meet needs.  Having more people who are committed to you available to help meet your needs is a big bonus.  And it adds lots of complication as there are more people whose needs must be met and balanced, juggled and prioritised.

How do you know if polyamory is for you?

Do you love emotionally intimate relationships?  Do you find yourself falling in love with more than one person at a time? 

If so, then polyamory might well be a good fit for you. 

Have you had difficulty remaining faithful in monogamous relationships?

This can be an indication that non-monogamy would be a better choice for you.  However, this depends on why you had difficulty remaining faithful.   Affairs are possible in polyamorous relationships.  Whenever someone is dishonest and secretive about other relationships it is a problem.  If you break the rules of your non-monogamous relationship, that is an affair.  If your difficulty in remaining faithful is because you fall in love often or feel you have more love to share, then non-monogamy may well work.  If it is because you find it hard to commit or you tend to be impulsive or you find honest communication difficult, then it is not going to work any better than non-monogamy and in fact may even be worse for you.

Do you like to share your life with more than one person? 

If so, non-monogamy may well be ideal.

Are you an expert communicator (or willing to learn), happy to negotiate to get your needs met?

Good communication is essential to all relationships.  Great communication is vital to polyamorous relationships.  All non-monogamy takes far more communication than monogamous relationships.  This probably seems obvious  - more people = more communication.    Metacommunication is necessary as well.  As I have said previously, metacommunication is when we talk about how we communicate and what we communicate, how often we communicate.  It creates the structure around the rest of our communication, the rules for communication. 

Are you possessive?

If so, polyamory may be problematic for you.  Possessiveness makes polyamory very hard.  Some people still manage to be polyamorous and possessive.  These people tend to form closed group relationships or engage in authority transfer based relationships where they are the owners and the others they are in relationship with are the property.  If you don’t gravitate towards that type of...

Sex Spoken Here Vlog Rewards and Punishments

Welcome to my virtual therapy room!  I am Dr Lori Beth Bisbey and this is Sex Spoken Here. Remember that this Vlog deals with adult themes so if you don’t have privacy you might wish to put on your headphones.

Today I am talking about rewards and punishments.  This may seem an unusual topic for sex and relationships.  However, I was talking about authority transfer based relationships recently with a friend about rewards and punishments and when I thought more about it, the topic applies to other relationships as well.

Rewards are the things that feel good to us.  Punishments are the things that don’t feel good to us.  If you want to shape behaviour, using both can work extremely well.  One thing I have noticed working with people over the years is that often others make assumptions about what their partner or child will find rewarding or punishing.  If you get this wrong, you will not get the effect you are looking for.

Often parents send children to their room as a punishment.  However, usually, in a child’s room is all their favourite things – laptop, tablet, phone, toys, stuffed toys, etc.  So being sent to their room is actually a reward as they are being given time to go play on their own.

I advise couples to discuss what they find rewarding and punishing.  For example, one partner might find time and undivided attention to be the best way of showing them how much they are loved.  Another might want lots of presents.      I also advise couples to look at their expectations at the same time.  Making agreements about expectations, rewards and punishments can strengthen a relationship.

In authority transfer based relationships, spelling out rewards and punishments is common.  Again it is important to make sure that a punishment is truly a punishment and a reward truly a reward.   It is useful too look at what type of system works best for your person.  Some people modify behaviour best as a result of being rewarded when they do well.  Others work best when they are punished for doing wrong. 

It is important to remember that we can only truly control ourselves so truly to modify someone else’s behaviour does not have guaranteed results.  It is also essential to have consent from the person whose behaviour you are seeking to modify.

If you are interested in the history of behaviour modification, have a look at Pavlov’s work and BF Skinner’s work.

Thanks for joining me this week for Sex Spoken Here with Dr Lori Beth Bisbey.

Write to me with suggestions for the show, questions you want answered at drbisbey@the-intimacy-coach.com, follow me on twitter and instagram @drbisbey.

For a free 30 minute strategy session with me, go to https://the-intimacy-coach.com and head to the contact page and click the button that says Schedule Now!

I look forward to seeing you next week.

Sex Spoken Here Vlog Intro

Hi everyone.  This week begins the first Sex Spoken Here Vlog.

From now on, a video will be published on YouTube here, the audio will remain available as a podcast through Apple podcast, Stitcher, Libsyn etc and published on my website.    Podcast notes will be on my website and Libsyn etc. 

I will be on my own some, joined by some amazing guests and sometimes out and about.

Please subscribe to my YouTube channel to keep up to date!

Thanks for listening to Sex Spoken Here and I look forward to presenting things for you to watch and seeing you soon.

Please enjoy again: Care and Feeding of the Penis Part 2

Welcome to my virtual therapy room!  I am Dr Lori Beth Bisbey and this is Sex Spoken Here. Remember that this podcast deals with adult themes so if you don’t have privacy you might wish to put on your headphones.

Today I finish my series about the care and feeding of the penis.  Joining me today is Dr Pat Williams. Dr. Pat has been a psychologist and Life coach for over three decades and focuses on people living on purpose, mentally, emotionally, and physically and spiritually.

Patrick Williams, Ed.D., MCC, is founder of The Institute for Life Coach Training, the first-of-its-kind training institute that specializes in training psychotherapists, psychologists, counsellors and helping professionals in building a successful coaching practice. He was licensed as a psychologist in 1980 and began executive coaching in 1990 with Hewlett Packard, IBM and Kodak. He was an International Coach Federation founding member and one of the first Master Certified Coaches.

Dr Pat is a past ICF board member and past president of ACTO, (Association of Coach Training Organizations) and honorary VP of the International Society for Coaching Psychology Pat’s graduate education is in Humanistic and Transpersonal Psychology. 

 He co-authored Therapist as Life Coach: Transforming Your Practice and Total Life Coaching: 50+ Life Lessons, Skills, and Techniques to Enhance your Practice and Your life. 

His best-selling book (with Diane Menendez), is Becoming a Professional Life Coach: Lessons from the Institute for Life Coach Training.    Pat also co-edited Law and Ethics of Coaching used at many academic institutions and training schools.

His newest book,
 Getting Naked: On Emotional Transparency at the Right Time, the Right Place and with the Right Person is available on Amazon and audiobooks.

We spent most of our time talking about how important it is to be authentic with a partner and to show up authentically.  Dr Pat spoke about the importance of being able to be naked emotionally with a partner before, during and after sex and we talked about how hard it is for men to be emotionally naked. 

Dr Pat suggested that the millennials find sharing emotions easier and I agreed but said that we have not yet made as much progress as I had hoped.  Dr Pat suggested that there should be a broadway show ‘The Penis Monologues’ to compliment the Vagina Monologues and I agreed that this would be a brilliant idea.    We both agreed that men and women still find it hard to create that safe space where they can explore their emotions, work through difficult issues and bring their full selves – warts and all.

Dr Pat spoke about how many couples would have longer lasting relationships if they learned to express their full selves and how to work with the ups and downs in relationships.  We spoke about how men are not often taught how to deal with the different issues that arise at different stages of life.  I briefly mentioned the changes men go through physically and emotionally as they get older.  We then talked about how important touch is for all human beings.  Dr Pat highlighted that people are meant to be in relationship to each other.  I agreed and pointed out that people need to learn themselves first and he highlighted that people also learn themselves in relationships.

You can find Dr Pat at:

Website:

http://drpatwilliams.com

Free gift for listeners: www.drpatwilliams.com/winner

Facebook: http://facebook.com/doccoach

Linked In: https://www.linkedin.com/in/drpatwilliams/

Twitter: @drpatcoach

He is also an expert on Yourtango.com and has a channel on the BonBonNetwork.

Thanks for joining me for Sex Spoken...

Please enjoy again:

Sex Spoken Here: Let’s Talk about Gender part 3

Welcome to my virtual therapy room!  I am Dr Lori Beth Bisbey and this is Sex Spoken Here. Remember that this podcast deals with adult themes so if you don’t have privacy you might wish to put on your headphones.

Today I am continuing my series about gender.

Joining me today to continue the discussion is Dr Meg-John Barker.

They are a writer, therapist, and activist-academic specialising in sex, gender and relationships. Meg-John is a senior lecturer in psychology at the Open University and a UKCP accredited psychotherapist, and has over a decade of experience researching and publishing on these topics including the popular books Rewriting the Rules, The Secrets of Enduring Love and Queer: A Graphic History.

We started by talking about language and definitions.  Meg-John highlighted that non-binary is the overarching term used now for anyone who doesn’t identify as male or female.  We spoke about how many other terms there are that fall under non-binary including but not limited to: gender queer, gender fluid, demi (boy, girl), trans.  We spoke about how hard it is for people to understand the gender journey and how important it is for everyone to look at this journey as even folks who are happy with the gender assigned at birth go through gender changes throughout the life span.  Meg-John used the example of a woman going on the pill which is taking hormones and a woman who has had breast cancer and her breasts removed as a result having to look at how she expresses her female gender.  They also mentioned men who have larger boobs and choose to do breast reduction or men who take steroids to do body building.   Gender does not stay static through the life span.

We spoke about how hard people find ambivalence and uncertainty and how badly people want to categorise and box people, places and things.  We talked about how much pressure there can be for trans people to make the decision to transition and then do it quickly and that this is unhelpful.  We both feel this comes from the difficulty people have with uncertainty and ambivalence in part.

We talked about how gender is not just socially influenced but that it is biologically influenced as well and that sex is not just biological but can and is socially influenced. 

We spoke about Meg-John’s book coming out in the autumn which is about how to figure out issues around your gender.  We noted that having a gender identification outside of male or female seems to upset people more than issues around sexuality, kink and polyamory versus monogamy.

You can find Dr Meg-John Barker at:

Website: www.rewriting-the-rules.com. Twitter: @megjohnbarker.

All of their books are available on the website. 

Check out their podcast: Meg-John and Justin

Thanks for joining me for Sex Spoken Here with Dr Lori Beth Bisbey.

Write to me with suggestions for the show, questions you want answered at drbisbey@the-intimacy-coach.com, follow me on twitter, Instagram and Facebook..  Check out my YouTube channel: Dr Lori Beth Bisbey.  For a free 30-minute strategy session with me, go to www.the-intimacy-coach.com and click the button that says Schedule Now!  I look forward to seeing you next week.

Please enjoy again:

Sex Spoken Here:  Choosing the Right Sex Toy

Welcome to my virtual therapy room!  I am Dr Lori Beth Bisbey and this is Sex Spoken Here. Remember that this podcast deals with adult themes so if you don’t have privacy you might wish to put on your headphones.   This week I am talking about choosing the right sex toy.

Joining me today, is Katy, the public relations director and resident sexologist at Adam and Eve.

Katy is a native of Tennessee (Go Vols!) and a graduate of the University of Tennessee, Knoxville, with a B.S. in Journalism and Public Relations. After working for Maytag and in publishing in New York, she started working at Adam & Eve in November of 1993 as a catalog copywriter (remember catalogs?!). In 1997, Katy was promoted to Adam & Eve Director of Public Relations. She received her certification in Clinical Sexology in 2017 and holds an Associate in Sex Education from the Institute for Advanced Study of Human Sexuality. She is currently working towards her AASECT certification as a Sex Educator.

Personal: Divorced mother of two teen girls. Lives a block from ex and we still have weekly family dinners and even vacation together. Pescaterian (Mostly vegetarian but occasionally eats fish). Loves dogs, monkeys, travel and red wine.

We spoke about choosing a sex toy. We started by talking about the different types of toys available for women from clitoral stimulators to vibrators.  We talked about the toys available to men from masturbators to prostate stimulators and those for couples as well.  Cutting edge toys include Bluetooth controlled toys and prostate vibrators.  Katy said they have experienced an upsurge in sales for prostate stimulators and we both agreed that now there are a number of these toys marketed for heterosexual men.  We spoke about the increase in heterosexual men willing to consider prostate stimulation.

We spoke about how toys might develop and what virtual reality toys are coming.  All of the current ones are meant for one person to be having sex with a virtual character.  I asked about the possibility of ones where people could have sex with each other in the virtual sphere.  Katy raised the ethical issues that might come as a result of that including issues around cheating and underage use.  I suggested that raising ethical issues is a good idea as it gets people to think through their sexual and relationship choices.

We spoke about how sex toys have helped many women to reach orgasm who had not been able to without a toy and how they can help around menopause and after so that people can continue a healthy sexual life into their mature years. 

I asked for a recommendation of a first toy and Katy said for women she would recommend a bullet vibrator or a pocket rocket.  For men, a masturbator.  She recommended that people try some less expensive toys out to figure out what works best for them. 

Katy has graciously offered us a code ‘SPOKEN’ to use to get 50% off any one item at https://www.adamandeve.com.  So go and grab that must have toy now!

Check these links:

Https://www.adameve.com

Facebook:

https://www.facebook.com/adamandeve

Twitter

https://twitter.com/adamandeve

Thanks for joining me for Sex Spoken Here with Dr Lori Beth Bisbey.

Write to me with suggestions for the show, questions you want answered at drbisbey@the-intimacy-coach.com, follow me on twitter, Instagram and Facebook.

Check out my YouTube channel: Dr Lori Beth Bisbey. For a free 30-minute strategy session with me, go to