Haus of Vagina Podcast (April Davis)

Sixty years after the pill revolutionized women's emancipation, "The Business of Birth Control" examines the complex relationship between hormonal birth control and women’s health and liberation. The documentary traces the feminist movement to investigate and expose the pill's risks alongside the racist legacy of hormonal contraception and its ongoing weaponization against communities of color. Weaving together the stories of bereaved parents, body literacy activists and femtech innovators, the film reveals a new generation seeking holistic and ecological alternatives to the pill while redefining the meaning of reproductive justice. As many of you know, Ricki Lake and Abby Epstein first collaborated on their landmark documentary, The Business of Being Born—a grassroots phenomenon that has become required viewing for expectant parents and childbirth educators. ​The revelation that pregnant people were unaware of their childbirth options ignited a passion in Ricki and Abby to lift the veil on other areas of reproductive health. After examining birth culture in America, they began investigating the business of hormonal contraceptives and the lack of birth control options. ​We are in a moment where women, non-binary, and trans folks are seeking body literacy and empowering forms of healthcare. The more informed we are about our bodies and our choices, the more we can advocate for ourselves.

I am so excited to introduce Dr Lindsay Kite! She and her identical twin co-authored the book More Than a Body: Your Body Is an Instrument, Not an Ornament and co-director the nonprofit Beauty Redefined. They both received PhDs from the University of Utah in the study of female body image and have become leading experts in body image resilience and media literacy. Lindsay and Lexie help girls and women recognize and reject the harmful effects of objectification in their lives through their significant social media reach, online Body Image Resilience course and facilitator program for dieticians and therapists, their popular book (More Than a Body), and regular speaking engagements for thousands of people of all ages. Their work centers on the truth that positive body image isn’t believing your body looks good, it’s knowing your body is good, regardless of how it looks. This refined definition of positive body image provides the foundation for their work to arm people with the tools to build resilience in a culture that objectifies and commodifies bodies. I ask Lindsay how they started into this work and we talk about reassessing how we think about ourselves and our bodies. I ask her the following questions: How to talk to the next generation about their bodies. What is the difference between body positivity and body neutrality? I feel like your book "More Than a Body" is a necessary read every year for the rest of my life, do you feel the same? Valuing ourselves beyond what we look like isn't just about weight, it's about aging, it's about everything our body goes through. Let's talk about that. Let's talk about the word fat and people's reactions to the word, including shattering the world views around fatness and fatphobia. If you could narrow the book down to one major takeaway, what would it be? Is there hope for the next generation? Are we doing better?

I get many, many questions about plastic surgery, so I felt like it was time to pull in an expert! I've been very Dr. H. Elise Min is a board-certified, fellowship-trained plastic surgeon, with specializations in breast reconstruction, microsurgery, and aesthetic breast and body surgery. She is known for consistently beautiful results and an exceptional level of patient care with an emphasis on informing and educating patients. Dr. Min has numerous publications and presentations, and her research in surgical education won an excellence in research award at the American College of Surgeons. She served as a medical education research fellow at the Academy at Harvard Medical School and a resident representative at Association for American Medical Colleges. Her interests in surgical education translate to her commitment to informing and educating her patients and adapting treatment plans to the individual patient's need and desire, resulting in aesthetic harmony and balance. Dr. Min's surgical practice focuses on breast and body surgery. She has worked with thousands of breast patients. She is meticulous and thorough during consults, taking time to clearly discuss all options and ensure all her patients' questions are answered. I asked Dr Min about: Her background and how she got into the profession of plastic surgery. What should patients be looking for in a plastic surgeon? Breast reductions, breast augmentations and replacing/revamping previous breast augmentations. Do breast reductions potentially cause issues with breastfeeding? Do you see decreased nipple sensitivity with breast reductions or breast augmentations? What improvements have you seen in the world of plastic surgery since it was pioneered? What does the process of having a procedure done look like? Walk me through... What are some misconceptions coming from reality tv? Do you feel like you suffer from extra pressure as a plastic surgeon to look a certain way? If someone has breast implants, what are some warning signs that something has gone wrong (ie rupture, silicone leaking, etc)? Dr Min is located in Beverly Hills California, and you can find her practice at https://www.drcassileth.com/

This week's episode with Scott Benner, Host of the Juicebox Podcast: Type 1 Diabetes is completely selfish because I care deeply about the type 1 diabetes community and I wanted to create an episode specifically for people with type 1 and vaginas. Scott is a father of a daughter with type 1 diabetes and has created a podcast about managing her diabetes. He shares more information than any other resource I've personally found and interviews experts, product creators and educators about the complicated world of managing type 1 diabetes. Just to provide some background - type 1 is not type 2. Type 1 is an autoimmune disease. Once you have type 1, you have type 1. It is not a lifestyle disease and after diagnosis, you're dependent on insulin for life. Having type 1 diabetes affects every other area of life. Each and every carbohydrate eaten needs to be counted and covered with insulin, blood glucose needs to be monitored always, and allowing blood glucose to get too high or too low can have severe consequences, including death. Scott's podcast takes a practical approach to manage diabetes and covers information that you won't get at your doctor's office like masturbation + diabetes, drinking and birth control. How did you get started with the Juicebox Podcast? You're managing a teenage girl with diabetes, how has it affected her menstrual cycle? Have you seen insulin needs change with using birth control vs not? Were you able to figure out an "autopilot" on the insulin pump around your daughters menstrual cycle? Have you seen insulin resistance since birth control use? Let's talk about blood glucose levels and masturbation. We review and talk about the female anatomy. You can check out Juicebox at: juiceboxpodcast.com

Jen resides in the Blue Ridge Mountains of Roanoke, Virginia. She lives with her loving husband, 4 year old son, a 13 year old dog, and four crazy cats. Her nursing experience ranges from Resource Pool to Neurotrauma ICU, and Hospice Home Health. These experiences taught Jen a lot about the vulnerability in times of trauma, chaos, and tragedy. It was during this period when she realized her heart's desire wasn't in nursing - which was a painful awakening. She eventually left her short nursing career and followed her heart towards intuitive and energetic healing. Jen now teaches Reiki workshops, facilitates guided meditations, and provides 1-1 holistic healing sessions. Last year, she started a podcast called Motherhood + Holistic Wellness, and recently became the new director of operations for the Monthly Healing Expos taken place a local gathering center called The WellNest, where also she hosts free JMC Mom Meetups. It was during one of her meetups last Spring that she had an intimate conversation with a mom who shared about her traumatic coming-of-age story. With fire in her heart and a passion to make a global shift on the perception of womanhood, Vagina Conference came to fruition. VAG CON envisions a shift in cultural perspectives by rising up and celebrating the divine feminine through the acceptance of women of all backgrounds. We see a gathering of soul sisters who are ready to ignite the divine feminine within us and around the world. We find new meaning to womanhood and femininity through a holistic approach by recruiting experts from the health, wellness, spiritual, business, and creative industries. The goal of this first VAG CON is to bring together diverse women of all ages, ethnicities, sexual orientations, religious or spiritual beliefs, political and socioeconomic backgrounds. We believe in the divine feminine, a sacred energy force that stands for justice, peace, unity, creativity, love, and light. It is time to raise women’s voices through education, connection, and inspiration.

After sobbing in her boss’s office, Julie Duffy Dillon, registered dietitian and PCOS expert, never taught another diet. It was then she appreciated the harm of anti-fat bias and couldn't unsee it. She now helps people with PCOS burn their diet books, regain the energy to live their life and reclaim their power. Together we will change PCOS health care. "I want you to know that you did not cause your PCOS, and there's no magic bullet waiting for you, so don't believe the hype. What works well, of course because people experience PCOS differently, is going to be different for each individual. As someone who has worked with people for a number of years on this I've had the privilege of seeing people long term, to see what helps and what doesn't. You know, there's some things that will initially help for like 2-3 months, but long term they seem to just make it worse. So if you're ready for the long haul, you need to make sure you're eating enough food. And I think for most people who are socialized as women, we're taught that we don't need to eat that much and really we need to eat a lot more than we think." I ask Julie: What is PCOS? What works and what doesn't work when it comes to managing PCOS? What is the cis-male counterpart to PCOS? What management have you seen work well for people with PCOS? Let's talk about exercise and PCOS: Let's talk about inflammation and PCOS: Let's talk about cannabis and PCOS: How can you rebuild a relationship of trust with your body when you have PCOS? What is intuitive eating? Where can we find you? The Love Food Podcast JulieDillonRD.com PCOSandFoodPeace.com

Dr. Uchenna “UC” Ossai is a sex-positive pelvic health physical therapist and sexuality educator and counselor. Dr. UC is assistant professor at the University of Texas Dell Medical School and also serves as pelvic health program manager at UT Health Austin. She is on faculty for the University of Michigan, School of Social Work’s Sexual Health Certification Program. Dr. UC is one of few licensed physical therapists in the world with an AASECT certification in sexuality counseling; as well as the only Black physical therapist with this specific designation. Dr. UC spends her days treating people with both sexual and pelvic floor dysfunction, and her evenings educating the masses on everything that has to do with “sexytime”. When it comes to sexual intelligence and great sex education, UC embraces always being unapologetically real, happily crunk, and deliciously kind. "On average it takes women with pelvic floor dysfunction 5 years to find help. Be tenacious about your health." I ask UC: What is pelvic floor physical therapy? Do I still need pelvic floor physical therapy if I had a c-section? What is common but not normal when it comes to pelvic floor health? Tell us about vaginal laxity. Is it as much of a thing as the media tries to make it? Should I see a specialist? When do I need to go see someone? Do injections actually help the pelvic floor? Let's talk about pleasure. Let's say I just had a baby and things don't feel like they're where they used to be. Who do I see? When? What does a good postpartum team look like? What can we all be doing to take better care of our pelvic floor? How can we make pleasure the focus of intimacy instead of only orgasm? Any common misconceptions or myths you see that you want to address?

Alison Faulkner is a branding and events expert, host of the podcast Awesome with Alison, consultant for Fortune 500 companies, writer, speaker, self-proclaimed nonsense dancer, and CEO of Alison's Brand School. She is obsessed with her kids, husband, family, and friends. She is a personal friend of mine and I am so excited about her newest book You're Already Awesome: How to Silence Your Inner Critic and Step Into Greatness. Today we are talking about her book, but more importantly, the process behind writing her book, what it means to be a public figure, and everything in between. Please enjoy this conversation with Alison Faulkner!

As the daughter of a gynecologist, Lauren has been around the topic of vaginal health her entire life. Inspired by her own experience and fueled by her frustration with the feminine care product market, Lauren founded Queen V in 2018. Lauren successfully pitched Queen V to retailers at the age of 24 and launched the brand nationwide in Walmart stores. Within 2 years Queen V gained retail distribution with Target, CVS and Urban Outfitters. Globally she launched the brand with Sephora. She earned national recognition making the Forbes 30 Under 30 list and Ad Age 40 Under 40. Lauren led the brand to a Reckitt acquisition in January of 2021 and at just 28 years old became the Global Brand Marketing Director working on Queen V under Reckitt’s intimate wellness division. Lauren and I discuss good vaginal health including healthy practices, smashing taboos and loving your vulva and vagina. I hope you love our conversation!

Nicole Jardim is a Certified Women’s Health Coach, writer, speaker, mentor, and the creator of Fix Your Period, a series of programs that empower women to reclaim their hormone health using a method that combines evidence-based information with simplicity and sass. Her work has impacted the lives of tens of thousands of women around the world in effectively addressing a wide variety of period problems, including PMS, irregular periods, PCOS, painful & heavy periods, missing periods and many more. Rather than treating problems or symptoms, Nicole treats women by addressing the root cause of what’s really going on in their bodies and minds. She passionately believes that the fundamentals to healing any hormonal imbalance lie in an approach that addresses the unique physiology of every woman. This is essential to reclaiming and maintaining optimal health and vitality at any age. Nicole is the author of Fix Your Period: 6 Weeks to Banish Bloating, Conquer Cramps, Manage Moodiness, and Ignite Lasting Hormone Balance, and the co-author of The Happy Balance, a recipe book filled with over 80 hormone balancing recipes. Finally, she’s the co-host of The Period Party, a top-rated podcast on iTunes—be sure to tune into that if you want to learn more about how to fix your period—and has been called on as a women’s health expert for sites such as The Guardian, Well+Good, mindbodygreen and Healthline.

Gabrielle Stanley Blair is the author of the book, Ejaculate Responsibly: A Whole New Way To Think About Abortion — available for pre-order now. She is also the founder of DesignMom.com. Started in 2006, it has been named a Website of the Year by Time Magazine, praised as a top parenting blog by The Wall Street Journal, Parents, and Better Homes & Gardens, and won the Iris Award for Blog of the Year. Her first book, Design Mom: How to Live with Kids, a New York Times Bestseller, was published in 2015 by Artisan. Gabrielle is also a founder of Alt Summit, the blockbuster annual conference for online content creators and creative entrepreneurs, currently in its 13th year. As a thought leader for over 15 years, Gabrielle has written and moderated hundreds of discussions on difficult topics, and interviewed some of the most influential people in the world. Her writing is quoted and shared across the globe daily. Gabrielle and her husband, Ben Blair, have six children — Ralph, Maude, Olive, Oscar, Betty, and Flora June. After six years in Oakland, they moved to a small town in Normandy, France where they are renovating a house from the 1600s. Follow her on Instagram, Twitter, Pinterest, and Facebook. Over 6000 blog posts and two books later, Gabrielle is considered a top expert in creating accessible conversations about hard topics, parenting engaged and independent kids, and creating a home where both parents and kids can thrive. Endlessly curious, she shares projects she’s working on, starts discussions about newsworthy topics, amplifies women’s voices, introduces new ideas and cool discoveries, and lends her passion for engaged parenting to everyone who reads her work. Gabrielle is a mother of six with a BFA in graphic design who has raised her family on both coasts and across the ocean. The family spent 8 years in New York, then moved to Denver, Colorado for 1.5 years, then Normandy, France for 2.5 years, then Oakland, California for 6 years, and then back to Normandy in September 2019. You can follow along with the on-going renovations of their house, built in the 1600s. I ask Gabby about: The cultural differences in how we approach nudity and sex. How to talk to your kids about sex. Her very important abortion thread that went viral.

Early in Alyx’s health coaching career it became obvious to her that her desire to do certain tasks varied based on where she was at in her menstrual cycle. Detailed observation revealed that sales calls that happened when she was ovulating had higher conversion rates. Cycle syncing- or adapting your diet/exercise/ work engagements to best match the different phases of your monthly cycle is a super power that every woman needs access to! That is why we launched The Agenda. Period a planning system and app that helps high achieving women use their cycle to improve their productivity and impact. The Agenda. Period is a health & education empowerment company. We are a confident, exciting, disruptive brand that provides an innovative, ground-breaking service. We bridge a gap in the understanding around the menstrual cycle and strive to help women understand the nature and power of their cycle in order to inform strategic planning and professional endeavors. I ask Alyx: Alyx, how did you get to this point? What got you started in the world of women's health and cyclical living? What is cyclical living? How does the menstrual cycle work? Tell us more about the app and how it teaches people to work with their menstrual cycle and live more cyclically. Let's talk about the period power campaign.

Lily, owner of MedAmour has been helping folks, couples, and primarily women or vagina owners find comfort, empowerment, and pleasure in their intimate health and sexual wellness. She is most passionate about learning about the different challenges and health conditions our bodies experience through like aging, pregnancies, periods, menopause, post surgeries/cancers, which cause low libido, dyspareunia, vaginismus, incontinence..... how do we self-care, take care of our vulva, clitoris, pelvic muscles to enhance better sex lives? MedAmour is an online resource that shares educational information on sexual health conditions AND offers a boutique shop of high-quality products that are all body safe, if not medical grade, naturally clean or organic for lubricants, and an array of book offerings! Check it out! I ask Lily: How did you get started with MedAmour? We talk about lubricants and sex toys. We talk about how toys can be helpful to those using SSRIs. We break down some of the myths around sex toy use. Let's talk about the different kinds of sex toys - not all of them are vibrators! Toys are not just for vaginas, they're for penis' and anus' too! Can toys be used during intercourse? www.MedAmour.com @MedAmour1 https://www.instagram.com/medamour1 https://www.facebook.com/medamour1 https://twitter.com/MedAmour1 https://www.pinterest.com/MedAmour https://www.linkedin.com/company/medamour https://www.tiktok.com/@medamour1 https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCgBG7g6Ws5cxY6cJMSzbc-w Want $10 off?? Use my code: VAGINABLOG Free US shipping on $55+ Always discreet shipping!

Bobbi Giudicelli is a serial entrepreneur whose journey from severe eating disorders to Whole-Food Plant-Based (WFPB) food choices brought her to co-found, with her oldest son, her latest venture. Read The ingredients offers the cleanest full-meal (breakfast/lunch), baked and packaged products on the market. After struggling with food issues for so many years, she is passionate about sharing her journey with others who struggle in their relationship with food. That was the origin of Read The Ingredients, and that was the motivation to write and publish "Freedom From A Toxic Relationship With Food: A Journey That Will Give You Your Life Back." I ask Bobbi: About her story that lead her to writing her book and starting Read the Ingredients. How did you transition from an eating disorder to having a healthy relationship with food? What would you say to someone that is currently working through eating disorder recovery? What is actually more important than dieting... www.rtifoods.com www.foodfreedomadvocate.com IG: @readtheingredients @foodfreedomadvocate email: bobbi@foodfreedomadvocate.com

In 2019 Shuari founded Moraka Menstrual Cups, an initiative to raise awareness of period poverty and provide a cost-effective, hygienic, sustainable and affordable alternative to disposable period products. Shuari has worked with The Period Place, Endo Warriors Aotearoa, BOP Pride, Tautoko Mai Sexual Harm Support, Waipua Hauora, The Tauranga Women's Refuge, Lions, and Rotary Clubs to spread awareness and donate cups to people in the community. She won the 2019 YES Entrepreneur of the Year for the Bay of Plenty and in 2020 Moraka Menstrual Cups was runner up for BOP Business of the Year. She has been a finalist for the Girls in Business award and a YES community award. The Victoria University Feminist Organization and Women's Collective have invited Shuari to work alongside them plus she puts energy into educating people about period poverty through socials and her podcast Once Upon a Feminist - all while studying Politics and Criminology at Victoria University. I ask Shuari: How did you get started in all of this? Why is education about menstrual cups so important? How does switching to reusable products impact the health of the globe? How does a cup work? How do you clean a menstrual cup? What makes Moraka menstrual cups unique? How old do you need to be to use a menstrual cup? https://www.morakamenstrualcups.com/ @moraka_menstrual_cups

Dr. Jordan Robertson is a Naturopathic Doctor, the host of the Women’s Health Unplugged Podcast and a women’s health author. She published a book on miscarriage and recurrent pregnancy loss titled Carrying to Term: How to get pregnant, stay pregnant and carry a healthy baby to term (Amazon 2020). Her passion for women’s health began when she experienced three consecutive miscarriages in her final year of schooling. She turned her personal experience and her background in medical research into a springboard to support women in their own health journeys. She’s known for her relentless search for the best quality evidence in integrative medicine and her willingness to stand up for women as they pursue their health goals. Her passion is to educate and empower women to understand their health and how to care for themselves from PMS to menopause. I ask Dr Robertson: How did you get into naturopathic medicine? We talk about the differences between western medicine and naturopathic medicine. We've "normalized" a lot of female pain, what can we do to resolve this? How can we work with our menstrual cycle instead of fighting it? How do our hormones affect our mental health? Let's talk about perimenopause... Let's talk about PCOS and Endometriosis... Where can we find you? Instagram: www.instagram.com/drjordannd and https://twc.clarityhealthburlington.ca/hormones-101-lmgwqgen2p which is my hormones 101 free e-book.

Jill Blakeway is a Doctor of Acupuncture and Chinese Medicine (DACM), a licensed and board-certified acupuncturist (LAc), and a clinical herbalist practicing energy healing for over 20 years. Jill founded the Yinova Center in NYC in 1999 and acts as Clinic Director. Blakeway is the co-author of Making Babies: A Proven 3-Month Program for Maximum Fertility, the author of Sex Again: Recharging your Libido, and recently published her third book Energy Medicine: The Science and Mystery of Healing. She traveled the world for two years for her book, Energy Medicine, interviewing and apprenticing with top scientists and energy healers to explain the science behind energy healing. Jill was the first acupuncturist to ever give a TEDTalk, at TEDGlobal in 2012. To learn more, please visit www.yinovacenter.com. Tell us about how you got into Traditional Chinese Medicine. What is the difference between Western and Eastern Medicine? Is there a balance between Western and Eastern Medicine? Let's talk about the benefits of having a support group while navigating fertility issues. Let's talk about your multiple books - Sex Again, Energy Medicine and Making Babies. How can we balance our own energy and chi? Where can we find you? https://www.yinovacenter.com/ https://www.yinovacenter.com/fertility-coaching-with-dr-jill-blakeway/ https://www.yinovacenter.com/team/jill-blakeway/

Kate Morton is a registered dietitian and owner and founder of Funk It Wellness. After years of struggling with the many life-altering side effects of birth control, she decided enough was enough. She wanted to embrace her period and learn about her cycle. After stopping birth control her period decided to ghost me for 6 months which really freaked her out! When it finally did return, it was horrific. Ear-to-ear hormonal acne, thinning hair, cramps so bad I couldn’t go to work, and intense mood swings. After doing tons of research and looking for food-based approaches to menstrual health (putting her dietitian degree to good use) she was introduced to seed cycling. TBH she didn’t believe it would work but she was desperate. After 3 months her acne, cramps and mood had done a total 360 and she knew she had to share that method with other menstruators! Her goal is to make Funk It a safe nutrition-backed space for anyone struggling with hormone imbalance so we can honor our cycles and bodies. I ask Kate: How did you get into what you're doing? We talk about the need for fiber in hormone balancing. We talk about the harmful effects of hormonal birth control and being pro-knowledge, not anti-birth control. Let's unpack misogyny in medicine. Let's talk about how our nutrition affects our hormones and PMS. Let's talk about detoxing naturally, for free (drink some water and eat some fiber). How can I get started with seed cycling and how does it work? Where can we find you? https://funkitwellness.com/ https://www.instagram.com/funk.it.wellness/

Dr. Williams is a board-certified gynecologic surgeon and founder of the Gynecology Institute of Chicago. Growing up in East St. Louis, Illinois, she always knew she wanted to make an impact in the world, especially helping women. Dr. Williams is dedicated to international mission work and travels to third world countries regularly, providing much needed surgeries to women in need. Her world travel experiences and core belief in “giving back” has not only shaped her medical practice, but her entire life. She specializes in fibroids, dysfunctional uterine bleeding, female sexual dysfunction, menopause, pelvic pain, female incontinence and prolapse. Dr. Williams resides in Chicago and enjoys playing piano and writing short stories and poetry. I ask Dr Williams: To tell us all about herself and how she became a doctor. Let's talk about your new book, This is How You Vagina: All About Your Vajayjay and Why You Probably Shouldn't Call it That. Let's talk about menopause, what do we need to know? What kind of maintenance does a vagina actually need? What is normal? Instagram: @gynecologyinstitute @drnicolelife Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/GynecologyInstituteOfChicago/ www.thisishowyouvagina.com

Ashley Cobb is the millennial microphone for people of color seeking ultimate pleasure and sexual liberation. Ashley, “your favorite friend in filth” is dedicated to bringing the conversation of Black Sexuality to the forefront, and across generational lines. Ashley is a sexpert, blogger, and influencer known for her fun, down to earth and practical commentary that's been featured in top media outlets to include Huffington Post, Cosmopolitan, Self Magazine, Women's Health, Black Love Doc, Shape, and many more. She's also the sex advice columnist for Madame Noire. ​Ashley is the creator of the digital news platform, Gossip and Gasms, which has been coined "The Shade Room of Sex." She also co-hosts a sexuality-centered podcast, "Hoe And Tell" that features real-life sex stories from strangers. I ask Ashley: How did you get into blogging about sex? What is "normal?" What are some of the most common questions you get or common topics you cover? Let's talk about orgasms... How can we get more familiar with what we like and our own anatomy? How can we own our sexuality? How can we talk to our kids about sex? Where can we find you? www.sexwithashley.com IG: @sexwithashley

Come to college with me! This week I'm interviewing 2 of my favorite professors, starting with Dr Meng, my Marriage and Family Therapy Professor. I ask Dr Meng What are you couples struggling with? What are couples struggling with sexually? How do we talk to our partners about sex? What advice do you have for a couple with mismatched libidos? How do we teach our kids about sex? You may not menstruate, but how do periods go at your house?

Dr Sarah Bell is one of my professors at Utah Tech. Dr Bell has extensively studied: - Dimensions of women’s sexual health and well-being, including sexual desire, sexual pleasure, and orgasm. - The influence of social and sexual norms on women’s sexuality and sexual pleasure. - How specific sexual contexts, such as hook ups, influence women’s sexual pleasure and sexual health. - Use of mixed-methods designs, both qualitative and quantitative, to study women’s sexuality using a phenomenological approach. I ask Dr Bell: How she got started in all of this. We talk about feminism, the waves and how this affects us. We talk about where we're going as feminists We talk about the orgasm gap and female pleasure. What is female orgasmic disorder? What else do we need to know about female pleasure?

Chrissy is a wife, mother to 3, licensed therapist and embodiment coach living in San Diego, CA. Through her own healing journey through trauma Chrissy has found freedom from anxiety and panic attacks and is now living a more embodied and authentic life. Chrissy is a licensed Marriage and Family Therapist and creative career coach, and podcast host of Sure, Babe Podcast in Southern California. I ask Chrissy: How did you decide to go into therapy, specifically Marriage and Family Therapy? What's your favorite population you work with? What is purity culture and why is it problematic? What is female embodiment and how is it so helpful in the treatment of trauma? Why is working through your trauma so important? What is the best part of doing therapy for you? What is the next best step in our post-COVID world? Find her at chrissypowers.com

A little taste of what's to come on the Vagina Blog Podcast!

One of the biggest questions I get asked at The Vagina Blog is about orgasms, especially how to have one if you never have or used to but can’t anymore.  Kristin Hodson is a Licensed Clinical Social Worker and an AASECT Certified Sex Therapist. She has a unique ability to break down the topics of sexuality into easily digestible pieces empowering people to further develop their sexual identity. On this episode we talk about orgasm, libido and becoming your own sex expert.

Lisa Hendrickson-Jack is the author of the book The Fifth Vital Sign and today we're talking about the fertility awareness method, charting and why it's beneficial for ANYONE (as birth control, for you health, to get pregnant, everyone) and how important informed consent is when it comes to taking the medication that is hormonal birth control. This episode will prepare you with important questions to ask you doctor, how to get started with charting and why you should listen to your intuition when it comes to your health.

Beth Hardy is a queer doula and music therapist and offers her insights into birth, music therapy, inclusivity, language, pronouns, and so much more that helps educate us on how to better support and love each other.

Tara Thompson is the owner and creator of the Hello Vagina Podcast. She is a personal trainer and owns a pelvic floor and postpartum recovery focused gym. She’s trained and certified to help people with vaginas recover and strengthen their pelvic floor and body. “6 weeks” doesn’t apply to everyone when it comes to recovery. Tara has created a space in her gym where people can exercise safely and ease back into exercise as they feel like they can. “6 weeks” is just an average figure. Many trainers don’t understand much of what’s happening in postpartum recovery and won’t understand how different exercises could be affecting you. Your focus postpartum should be rebuilding your inner core and pelvic floor and being mindful of how your other exercises could be affecting that. Get checked. Get checked and know what you’re doing. Put value on this. We’ll go out to a fancy dinner and spend $150, but we won’t spend that to have our pelvic floor checked. Having a healthy pelvic floor impacts your entire life! It’s so important, we need to make our pelvic floor part of our everyday life!

I just knew once I started doing boudoir photography, it was my calling. I knew how I wanted women to feel about themselves and that this was a way for me to do that. I wanted to make people feel beautiful. Once I got past being worried about judgement from others, it has been so fun. Women usually come into their session shy, even shaking sometimes. I try to create a safe space where people can just feel themselves, love their body and feel beautiful. I want to applaud them for their bravery and validate their beauty. Everyone needs a boudoir shoot!

It is so exciting to take back control of our bodies and celebrate! I love to learn and I have experienced so much healing learning about empowerment and discovery and feeling great in my body and finding my voice and sharing with other women.

Megan has been teaching yoga, meditation and mindfulness for 5 years now. She has a passion for mindfulness and meditation and she loves to incorporate it into every area of her life that she can. This episode will help you get started down the road of being more mindful and finding peace in your life.

The most asked question on The Vagina Blog is “how do I get rid of my bacterial vaginosis?” Natasha Semago, owner of VeeFresh has boric acid answers.

From Courtney Killpack from Bra Fittings by Court: "Getting a good fitting bra is an immediate difference, it's not like an exercise program that can take weeks to see a difference. I’m helping women find confidence in their skin and I feel like that’s such a gift to help people see, so that’s why I love what I do. I help women take their boobs and help them look amazing."

Jen Fairchild is a photographer in Salt Lake City, UT and is starting a non-profit called Jen 1N's Table where she photographs portraits of women and will be hosting her first gathering to view and celebrate these intimate portraits. Being nude is such an interesting path to our fundamental selves. Being photographed nude can be a life changing experience and an opportunity to embrace a part of ourselves that we maybe haven’t before.

Cameron Glover is a Black femme from New Jersey who’s built a career on creating her own path. Officially, she's a sex educator, business coach, and content creator in the realm of writing, podcasting, and public teaching. Cameron has so much to offer us in the way of education, not only about sex but race as well.

Sofia Ashley is the founder of The Happy Vagina Project. It began over 5 years ago when Sofia went on a journey to find “the grand orgasm” and make peace with her vagina. She basically learned through all of that that her vagina is a huge part of her and so is her sexuality. She could either be at war with her vagina or honor her and her wisdom and what she was trying to tell her. What has happened as a result is better sex, more fulfillment in work and parenting and feeling more like herself in general.

Cory Ruth is a Registered Dietician with a Masters Degree in Nutritional Science. She began her career as a chef in food service and transitioned to working in a Women’s Health Clinic with OB/GYNs and loved working with women and endocrinology and that’s what led her to starting her own private practice as The Women’s Dietician. I ask Cory Ruth: How do we know what diet to do? What are the pro/cons of some of these different “fad” diets? (including Intermittent Fasting, Ketogenic Diet, quitting gluten/dairy) How can we use our diet to help support a healthy menstrual cycle and ovulation? Ovulating is so good for us, how can we help support that happening? For the average female that wants to take better care of herself but doesn’t know where to start, what do you recommend? And much more!

Miranda Anderson is the author of More Than Enough, the story of her family’s one year long no-shopping challenge. She enjoys educating people and loves to share advice and help in any way that she can. She loves minimalism and simplifying her life and teaching others how to do the same. She has found so much fulfillment leaning into her truth and encourages others to discover what that is for them and align their actions with their personal values. Today as we’re doing through this pandemic, and stay at home orders, we all need to make peace with what we have so this message from Miranda seemed very on-point. We’re going through a forced pause.

Hehe Stewart is the founder of Tranquility Birth Services in Boston, MA. She is a doula and the owner and creator of The Birth Lounge, a membership that helps birthing people prepare for birth and avoid trauma. Hehe believes that 99% of birth trauma can be avoided and is working to make that a reality. Today I wanted to talk about not just avoiding birth trauma, but how empowering birth can be. Your birth is not only going to transform who you are, but it is now an integral part of your identity. It is everything. It is the way that you started out motherhood, it is the way that you bonded with your child. It is the way you reconnected with your spouse. It is the way that you have more children and bond with those children and bond with your grandchildren. It is how you parent your children in their adulthood. It is so cyclical.

Jema Lee is an expert in living your best life through your menstrual cycle. She works as a women’s health educator. She’s worked exclusively with women for the last 7 years and has worked in the health field for 14. She does ayurvedic coaching and psychology, chakra and spiritual work and nutrition. Nutrition is where she started and she saw how many people were not helped well and wanted to provide better support. She has PCOS and has gone through the work of rebalancing her body through getting to know her cycle. Your menstrual cycle relates to everything. It relates to how you eat throughout the month to how you move, to your emotions, your moods, your energy, your gut health, your general passion for life, your creativity, so even though it’s menstrual cycle, it has nothing to do specifically with just your bleeding time, IT’S YOUR ENTIRE LIFE AS A WOMAN.

Burgess Powell owns Casco Cup, a USA owned menstrual cup company that makes everything in house. Their entire mission is to empower women with quality menstrual cups at factory direct prices. Burgess loves to educate and teach people how to use menstrual cups and loves working in the menstrual cup market. You have to go into using a menstrual cup like you did when you were 13 and your only choice if you wanted to go to the pool party was to figure out a tampon. You just have to have that same drive. We didn’t master tampons the first time, we didn’t figure out the correct absorbency the first time, we had to use them over and over again, sometimes for years before we really got good at them. It kills me when people try a cup once and say “It didn’t work great, I’m just going to go back to what I know.” You have to do it enough to get the hang of it.

Adrienne Rommel is a Yoni nutritionist. She became a nutritionist based on her own health issues and her interests in women’s health. She became interested in nutrition after suffering from her own candida overgrowth. She suffered from symptoms that took over not only her vaginal health, but her entire body. After doing her own research she realized she had candida and she was able to heal that using nutrition and lifestyle changes. She quit her corporate job to pursue nutrition full time so she could help people the way she helped herself.

Today I interview the creators of Welcome To My Vagina, Jessy Caron and Rebekah Frank. Their podcast, Welcome to My vagina is about sexuality, gender rights, and sex education. Destroying the taboo of sex and shutting down misogyny via the black hole of the vagina. A laugh til you queef adventure in sex education made up on the spot, but probably (definitely) researched. We talk ALL things vagina include myths, shame and building a community.

Beatrice Dixon is the owner and creator of Honey Pot Co. She talks us through starting Honey Pot Co, a line of hygiene products for vaginas and vulvas. She shares her favorite products, inspirations and why it's important to her to be a successful WOC business owner.

Brian Shelley is an attorney and is working on a national lawsuit involving Johnson & Johnson baby powder and ovarian cancer and also damages due to the paraguard (copper IUD). “It goes beyond the individual claim itself. What these claims do on a larger scale is they send a message to product manufacturers, that if they conceal known evidence that their product is harming people, people are going to band together and hold them responsible. The claims have a broad societal impact...We owe it to the next generation, to society, to tell our story and hold these companies accountable for what they’ve done to people.”

Alyssa Dweck is an OB/GYN practicing in New York. She is speaking to me today on behalf of Intimina and their products. Her practice focuses on menopausal health, sexual health and general gynecology and surgery. Her books include The Complete A to Z for your V, V is for Vagina, and The Sexual Spark.

Brianne Taggart is an RN and IBLCE (lactation consultant) expert. She began helping people breastfeed as a nurse and became an IBLCE while also teaching childbirth and breastfeeding classes. Her mission is to educate and help people with breastfeeding and infant massage.

Hilary Erickson has been an OB nurse since 2001. She has worked Labor and Delivery in both San Jose and now in the Phoenix area.  As an RN she has also worked pediatrics, geriatrics and hospice. She has 3 kids and one husband. She has written Pulling Curls since 2005, which includes thousands of articles on Pregnancy, Parenting & Home/Life Organization.

Anna Louise Burdett is the founder and CEO of Toca, a CBD based lube. There are lots of questions and misconceptions around CBD based products and Anna is going to help explain what it’s all about! Anna has been studying and working in herbalism for over 20 years now and started to work more in sexual health, developing a curriculum in sexual health for children. For the last few years her work has focused on educating children, working with adults on their unresolved illness that often came from trauma and sexuality and creating actual products to help that.

Rochelle White is the owner of Frisky Friday, a date night subscription box for couples looking to have some fun in their dating life. Today we’re talking about what inspired Rochelle to start Frisky Friday and more of her story.

Hilde Atalanta is the creator and owner of The Vulva Gallery. The Vulva Gallery is an educational platform centered around illustrated vulva portraits and personal stories, and a wonderful, supportive and positive community – celebrating the vulva in all its diversity all over the world. Hilde Atalanta is an Amsterdam-based illustrator.