Horniness (AKA being sexually aroused) is a special state of body and mind. It’s a state during which we are much more likely to make risky decisions, not just about our sexual health, but about other things too. What else can make us forgo condoms, or lead us to believe our partners are not as risky as they may be? Our guest this week, Dr. Shayna Sparling, has been getting people sexually aroused in the lab (for research only!) and then tracking how this affects their thinking and decision-making. It’s a fascinating episode with some good take-home messages about sexual health. (Also, a glimpse into Dr. Zhana’s personal life and how she navigates using or not using condoms with new partners.) About our Guest Dr. Shayna Sparling is a postdoctoral research fellow based at Ryerson University in Toronto and the National Team Manager for the Engage Study – a multi-site national study on the sexual health of gay, bisexual, and other men who have sex with men. She has a PhD in Applied Social Psychology, with a focus in Community Psychology and in Health Psychology. Her research focuses on sexual health decision making and condom negotiation and the factors that can affect these two processes, including sexual arousal, relationship motivation, interpersonal power, and partner familiarity. To read Dr. Sparling’s papers yourself, go here, here, here, and here.  Before Next Time… Remember to like The Science of Sex Podcast on Facebook, Twitter, and Instagram! Dr. Zhana and Episode #56 guest, Kenneth Play, recently put together the world’s largest and most comprehensive survey on squirting – head on to squirtingsurvey.com and take it! Anyone regardless of gender or squirting experience can take it!! Are you in Boston? Come see Dr. Zhana talk about building safe and healthy open relationships at the Good Vibrations store in Brookline on Wed, 3/27. More info and tickets here. Remember to submit comments, questions, and everything in between on our Get in Touch Page! Do you love The Science of Sex Podcast and all the work Dr. Zhana does? Support her by becoming a monthly Patreon Supporter! Facebook Twitter Google+ Pinterest LinkedIn 72Shares

Sex work is one of the most stigmatized and misunderstood aspects of human sexuality. There are many different types of sex work, including phone sex, camming, stripping, “happy ending” massages, professional domination, and porn, to name a few. But the greatest stigma is probably reserved for the “full service” type of sex work (i.e., penetration and all), like that done by the workers at the Nevada brothels. (There are many other ways of doing “full service” type of sex work, from street walkers to illegal brothels to independent or agency-run escorts, but the Nevada brothels are the only fully legal and transparent avenue for this work). So what does it look like to live and work in these brothels? Who are the people doing these jobs, why are they there, what kinds of services do they provide, how much do they like the job, how often do they have orgasms with their clients…? Our guest on episode #58, Christina Parreira, answers these questions (and more) from both personal and professional experience – she actually worked at a couple of these brothels so she could collect data for her doctoral thesis research on sex work! Don’t miss this fascinating interview! About our Guest Christina Parreira is a PhD candidate in the department of sociology at the University of Nevada, Las Vegas. She obtained her Masters degree in clinical psychology in 2010 from University of Hartford. Parreira is currently conducting an ethnography of Nevada legal brothels; her areas of interest are emotional labor and stigma in sex work. Parreira also works at Trac-B needle exchange & harm reduction center in Las Vegas, doing STI testing, counseling, and outreach. In addition to studying the topic of sex work, Parreira is a 10 year veteran in the sex industry, currently doing phone & webcam work as well as BDSM in Las Vegas. You can read about more of Christina’s work here. Before Next Time… Remember to like The Science of Sex Podcast on Facebook, Twitter, and Instagram! Dr. Zhana and Episode #56 guest, Kenneth Play, recently put together the world’s largest and most comprehensive survey on squirting – head on to squirtingsurvey.com and take it! Anyone regardless of gender or squirting experience can take it!! If you live in Boston, Dr. Zhana is coming to you on Wed, March 27, to do a workshop at the Good Vibrations store in Brookline on the topic of navigating sexual health and difficult emotions in nonmonogamous relationships. More info and tickets here. Remember to submit comments, questions, and everything in between on our Get in Touch Page! Do you love The Science of Sex Podcast and all the work Dr. Zhana does? Support her by becoming a monthly Patreon Supporter! Facebook Twitter Google+ Pinterest LinkedIn 32Shares

I’m sure you’ve heard of straight women making out in public with other women in order to attract male attention? It’s a phenomenon called “performative making out” or making out for an audience, and in Episode #57, we invited one of the main researchers studying it, Dr. Kate Esterline, to tell us all about it. Are straight(ish) women the only ones who do it? How about gay women and men? How about straight(ish) guys? Why do you people do it? How is it different when people make out with someone of the gender that is congruent versus incongruent with their sexual orientation? Do people actually get what they were after with their makeouts? Listen on… About our Guest Dr. Kate Esterline earned her doctorate in Clinical Psychology from the University of Kansas in 2018. She is now working as a post-doctoral therapist at Purdue University’s Counseling and Psychological Services. Her research has focused on gendered experiences of performing sexual behavior, such as making out, in front of others and on understanding how people conceptualize and experience outness about sexual orientation. The majority of her time currently is spent doing clinical work, but she continues to collaborate with colleagues at the University of Kansas. You can read up on Kate’s studies here and here.   Before Next Time… Remember to like The Science of Sex Podcast on Facebook, Twitter, and Instagram! Dr. Zhana and Episode #56 guest, Kenneth Play, recently put together the world’s largest and most comprehensive survey on squirting – head on to squirtingsurvey.com and take it! Anyone regardless of gender or squirting experience can take it!! Are you in Boston March 27? Come see Dr. Zhana talk at the Good Vibrations store in Brookline on Playing It Safer: Navigating Sexual Health and Difficult Emotions in Open Relationships! Visit Adam & Eve and use promo code SCIENCE for 50% off just about any product. And if you order before 2/14, you get 10 FREE gifts (including FREE shipping)! Remember to submit comments, questions, and everything in between on our Get in Touch Page! Do you love The Science of Sex Podcast and all the work Dr. Zhana does? Support her by becoming a monthly Patreon Supporter! Facebook Twitter Google+ Pinterest LinkedIn 32Shares

Every time Dr. Zhana teaches about almost any topic, someone asks a question about squirting, often referred to as female ejaculation. It seems like squirting is having a moment right now, with everyone and their mother wanting to know if all vagina-owners can squirt, what the ejaculate is made of, and how to make it happen. There is very limited science on this, which Dr. Zhana recently sifted through extensively while working on the online squirting course that her business partner, Kenneth Play, launched recently to teach people how to squirt. So in this episode, Dr. Zhana and Joe do something a little different. Instead of an academic researcher, we invite someone with an impressive amount of hands-on “research” when it comes to making vagina-owners squirt – Kenneth Play. Just how many vaginas has Kenneth had an opportunity to try and make them squirt? What’s his success rate? What’s the most reliable technique for making this happen? This and so much more in Episode 56 of the Science of Sex Podcast. Oh, and want to help us learn more about squirting? Dr. Zhana and Kenneth recently put together the world’s largest and most comprehensive survey on squirting – head on to squirtingsurvey.com and take it! Anyone regardless of gender or squirting experience can take it!! About our Guest Kenneth Play is an international sex hacking expert, sex educator and coach, and former celebrity fitness trainer. From a deeply sexually insecure Asian immigrant to becoming the most viewed sex hacking expert on PornHub and being named the World’s Greatest Sex Hacker by GQ, Kenneth develops and teaches sex hacks to help people learn new ways to play and overcome challenges in the bedroom. With his accelerated learning approach and playful style, he helps people gain sexual confidence, experience more pleasure, and cultivate deeper intimacy in record time. His teaching has been described as a mashup of Bruce Lee’s “knowing is not enough, we must apply” mantra, Martha Stewart’s step-by-step show-you-how, and Tim Ferriss’ personal experimenting-to-mastery. Meanwhile, he co-founded the globally-recognized sex-positive intentional community, Hacienda Villa; he teamed up with Dr. Zhana Vrangalova to work on The Casual Sex Project; and his projects have been featured in Vice, Thrillist, Elite Daily, Refinery 29, Time Out, The New York Times, Playboy, and Cosmopolitan. He has devoted his life to empowering people to experience incredible sex, and his mission is to make unapologetically explicit sex education mainstream.) Connect with Kenneth via Facebook, Instagram, Twitter, and his website. You can order his Kenneth’s Sex Hacker Bundle Course here. Before Next Time… Remember to like The Science of Sex Podcast on Facebook, Twitter, and Instagram! Visit Adam & Eve and use promo code SCIENCE for 50% off just about any product. And if you order before 2/14, you get 10 FREE gifts (including FREE shipping)! Remember to submit comments, questions, and everything in between on our Get in Touch Page! Do you love The Science of Sex Podcast and all the work Dr.

Testosterone is having a moment these days. T-boosting has grown into a $2.5 billion industry, with guys of all ages trying to up their T levels in hopes of increasing everything from libido to mood to energy. But what does testosterone do how about our cognitive processes? Could testosterone increase how quickly and automatically we make decisions about sexual situations, and could that lack of deliberation have a dark side that contributes to sexual assault and harassment? These are some of the questions that our guest, Dr. Gideon Nave from the U Penn Business School, attempted to answer for us in episode #55, based on several of his studies on how testosterone affects men’s reasoning and decision making processes in areas relevant to the last of the 5 Fs of basic, instinctive behaviors: fight, flight, freeze, feed, and, um, fornicate 😉 At the end of the episode we also briefly touch on yet another neurotransmitter that has received a lot of media attention over the past decade: oxytocin. Hailed as the “love hormone,” the “cuddle hormone,” or “liquid trust,” oxytocin is supposed to increase intimacy and trust, not just between romantic or sexual partners, but also among complete strangers. This story about oxytocin sounds awesome and we’d all love to believe in it, but does it stand up to scientific scrutiny? Dr. Nave’s recent review of the research suggests we should be a bit more skeptical. If you’d like to read the studies discussed in this episode, here they are: on T and cognitive reflection, on T and status goods, and on oxytocin & trust. About our Guest Gideon Nave is a marketing assistant professor at The Wharton School of the University of Pennsylvania. He got his PhD in Computation and Neural Systems at Caltech, how the mind works. His research uses a medley of quantitative and experimental methods from the fields of Computational Neuroscience, Cognitive Psychology, Game Theory and Machine Learning for reverse-engineering the decision-making process in humans. You can visit his website here. You’ve Had the Same Number of “Romantic Partners” as Your Mom A 2018 study out of Ohio State University looked at more than 7,000 mothers and their children, and they found an unexpected connection:  The number of, quote, “romantic partners” you’ve had is probably right around the same number your mom had.  And that’s true even if you never witnessed her in most of those relationships. The researchers say it’s probably because our mothers pass on relationship skills to us, which influences how we interact with everyone . . . including people in our dating life. It could be genes, too, but then you’d expect dad’s romantic history to matter as well. Yet, oddly enough, the researchers found no connection between a father’s number of romantic partners and his kids’ number. You can read more about the study here. Monogamy: Is It for Everyone? Are you in NYC on Tuesday, Feb 12? Interested in learning more about the pros and cons of monogamy vs nonmonogamy, and which one might be right for you? Come grab some drinks and see Dr. Zhana discuss this (and more) for her first live Think & Drink NYC event of the year, at Bar Subject on the Lower East Side. More info and tickets here. Before Next Time…

Happy belated New Year! Given that the holiday season is a time when a lot of people consume significant amounts of alcohol AND get frisky while under its influence, we thought we’d kick off 2019 with an episode that ties drinking and sexual consent. Specifically, how does being intoxicated impact people’s perceptions of their own and their friends’ ability to consent to sex? In her unusual “naturalistic bar study” (more on that in the podcast), Dr. Michelle Drouin from Purdue University enlisted drunken bar goers and their friends to take a half-hour break from drinking so they can blow into breathalyzers and answer questions about sexual consent! Her findings and our conversation on just how much alcohol impedes people’s ability to consent, and how our society should deal with this issue is absolutely FASCINATING! Don’t miss it! About our Guest Dr. Michelle Drouin is a professor at Purdue University with a PhD in Developmental Psychology from the University of Oxford. She is an internationally-recognized speaker on sexuality, technology, and relationships, including online relationships, social media, and sexting. Dr. Drouin’s research on sexuality, social media, and mobile phone addiction has attracted international attention, and she regularly does interviews for television, radio, newspapers, and magazines. Her TEDx talk on “Online Love and Infidelity” has more than 150,000 views. Dr. Drouin also serves as an expert witness for sexuality, social media, and online relationship cases. You can follow Dr. Michelle Drouin on Twitter, here. You can read the full study discussed in the episode, here. Monogamy – Is It for Everyone? That’s the question Dr. Zhana will discuss in her first live event of 2019. Don’t miss it: February 12, 7:30pm, Bar Subject (188 Suffolk street). More info and tickets here. Before Next Time… Please consider supporting The Science of Sex Podcast and all the work Dr. Zhana does by becoming a monthly Patreon Supporter! Like The Science of Sex Podcast on Facebook, Twitter, and Instagram! Remember to submit comments, questions, and everything in between on our Get in Touch Page! Facebook Twitter Google+ Pinterest LinkedIn 106Shares

Optimizing Sexual Satisfaction We all know having sex with our romantic partners is good for our relationship and sexual satisfaction. But why you’re doing it can make a difference; not all sexual motives were made equal. Some reasons to have sex lead to better and healthier outcomes than other reasons. Optimizing your intimate life is partly about making sure you’re doing “it” for the right reasons, and not doing “it” for the wrong reasons.   In Episode 53, Dr. Zhana and Joe talk to Dr. Jessica Wood about her research on the different types of reasons people have sex, how these different motives affect their relationship and sexual satisfaction differently, and whether this differs between folks in monogamous versus consensually nonmonogamous relationships. Curious about what the “good” and the “bad” reasons are? Tune in to learn more! You can read the full study discussed in the episode, here. About our Guest Dr. Jessica Wood is a Research Associate in the Department of Psychology at York University and the University of Guelph. Her research examines how sexual motivations are associated with relationship and sexual satisfaction, needs fulfillment, and sexual problems and challenges. Jessica also conducts research on the determinants of sexual health behaviors and barriers to healthcare access for people with developmental disabilities. She is currently a research specialist with the Sex Information & Education Council of Canada (SIECCAN). You can follow Dr. Jessica Wood on Twitter, here. Before Next Time… Please consider supporting The Science of Sex Podcast and all the work Dr. Zhana does by becoming a monthly Patreon Supporter! Like The Science of Sex Podcast on Facebook, Twitter, and Instagram! Visit Lelo to fulfill your high-quality vibrator needs with a wide selection of vibrators for all! Use discount code SCIENCE to get 20% off on your new vibrating toy. Visit Adam & Eve and use promo code SCIENCE for 50% off just about any product. Plus 3 FREE adult DVDs, FREE mystery gift and FREE shipping. Remember to submit comments, questions, and everything in between on our Get in Touch Page! For more sex science articles, events and discussions please join our Science of Sex Facebook group! Facebook Twitter Google+ Pinterest LinkedIn 24Shares

What is it about teachers that make them so hot? According to the popular college professor reviewing website, Rate My Professors, it’s more than just looks. But how does their rating system work? How are female professors rated versus their male peers? In Episode 52, Dr. Zhana and Joe talk to New York University professor Pascal Wallisch about how students rate and tag their favorite (or not-so-favorite) professors on the divisive yet popular website, Rate My Professors. Does the site enable students to label their professors in a way that affirms gender stereotypes? And while Dr. Zhana and Pascal savor their hot pepper status, some professors would prefer that not to be a factor. Also— do you know the difference between a psychopath and a sociopath? Pascal provides us with some more info on the 1% of the population who is psychopathic and answers the first question on our minds— do they have sex? Tune in to learn more! About our Guest Pascal Wallisch serves as clinical assistant professor at New York University, heading the Fox lab. Pascal received a PhD in Psychology from the University of Chicago. Wallisch’s main research interests lie at the intersection of neuroscience, psychology, and data science. Pascal co-founded the “Neural Data Science” summer course at CSHL and wrote several books on the analysis of data in neuroscience. Pascal’s efforts were recognized with the “Golden dozen” teaching award by NYU.   Before Next Time… Remember to like The Science of Sex Podcast on Facebook, Twitter, and Instagram! Also check Dr. Zhana out on December 11th at The V Club where she teams up with one of our favorite researchers, Dr. Justin Lehmiller, to discuss one of our most popular topics: gender differences in sexuality. RSVP to The Mars/Venus Debate: Are Men and Women Really That Different When It Comes to Sex? here. Visit Lelo to fulfill your high-quality vibrator needs with a wide selection of vibrators for all! Use discount code SCIENCE to get 20% off on your new vibrating toy. Visit Adam & Eve and use promo code SCIENCE for 50% off just about any product. Plus 3 FREE adult DVDs, FREE mystery gift and FREE shipping. Remember to submit comments, questions, and everything in between on our Get in Touch Page! For more sex science articles, events and discussions please join our Science of Sex Facebook group! Do you love The Science of Sex Podcast and all the work Dr. Zhana does? Support her by becoming a monthly Patreon Supporter! Facebook Twitter Google+ Pinterest LinkedIn 35Shares

We have covered some kink, fetish and BDSM ground on the show, but this time we delve deep into the details of one specific kink: pup (or puppy) play. What is ‘pup play’? Who are ‘bio-pups’, and why are they so into this? Is this related to zoophilia / bestiality, or the world of furries? In Episode 51,  Dr. Zhana and Joe talk to Dr. Liam Wignall about his research on pup play and the people who are into it.  He became the first to research this topic after it just kept “pupping” up for him in his research on kink for his PhD. Pup play is exactly what it sounds like; people who are into behaving as puppies socially and sexually. This kink has gotten more attention recently because of the internet, which is the primary way many people discover and start exploring it. Tune in to find out more about pup play from its foremost expert. You can read the full study discussed in this episode, here. About our Guest Dr Liam Wignall is a Lecturer in Psychology at Bournemouth University and a member of its Research Centre for Behaviour Change. He is a qualitative psychologist who studies kink subcultures, sexual identities and virtual media from interdisciplinary perspectives. He received his PhD from the University of Sunderland where he researched individuals who engage in kink activities but differ in levels of immersion into kink communities, examining the transformative effect of the internet on these sexual cultures. His research on pup play was the first to study the kink activity, published in Archives of Sexual Behavior and Sociological Research Online. He is interested in social change and sexualities more generally, and is currently working on a project on drag performers experiences of LGBT cultures. You can follow Dr. Liam Wignall on instagram @liamwignall and on twitter @liamwignall. Before Next Time… Remember to like The Science of Sex Podcast on Facebook, Twitter, and Instagram! Check out Dr. Zhana on December 6th for her next event at The Assemblage, Doctor’s Orders: Real Doctor’s Debate Your Toughest Questions. Zhana will join a biologist, a physician and a neuroscientist to provide holistic answers to YOUR audience questions. Use guest password DOCTORSORDERS to RSVP. Also check Dr. Zhana out on December 11th at The V Club where she teams up with one of our favorite researchers, Dr. Justin Lehmiller, to discuss one of our most popular topics: gender differences in sexuality. RSVP to The Mars/Venus Debate: Are Men and Women Really That Different When It Comes to Sex? here. Visit Lelo to fulfill your high-quality vibrator needs with a wide selection of vibrators for all! Use discount code SCIENCE to get 20% off on your new vibrating toy. Visit Adam & Eve and use promo code SCIENCE for 50% off just about any product. Plus 3 FREE adult DVDs, FREE mystery gift and FREE shipping. Remember to submit comments, questions, and everything in between on our Get in Touch Page! For more sex science articles, events and discussions please join our Science of Sex Facebook group!

Do you know the difference between sex and gender? Or what it means to be &#8220;gender nonconforming&#8221;? Trans or transgender? Genderqueer and gender non-binary? Our understanding and language around sex and gender has been rapidly expanding, and we don&#8217;t blame you if you&#8217;re not super familiar with it all. In Episode 50,  Dr. Zhana and Joe talk to Dr. Seth Pardo about his research on the gender identity and gender presentation of 170 folks who were assigned female at birth but identify as gender nonconforming to some extent. From defining important gender terms to giving direction for the best way to ask about people&#8217;s pronouns, Dr. Pardo manages to inform and advise people like Joe, who are less familiar with the trans community. We had so much to talk about with Dr. Pardo, that we decided to skip the foreplay this week and get right into it. For more first-person narratives of trans lives, check out the memoirs Dr. Seth Pardo references in the episode: Becoming a Visible Man &#8211; Jamison Green The Woman I Was Not Born to Be &#8211; Aleshia Brevard Stone Butch Blues &#8211; Leslie Feinberg About our Guest Seth Pardo, Ph.D. is currently a Lead Evaluator and Researcher with the San Francisco Department of Public Health. He has worked for over a decade to raise awareness about the various factors that facilitate healthy development of gender identity, sexuality, intersectionality, and medical decision making for people with trans and gender diverse identities. Specializing in both academic and public health settings, Dr. Pardo has conducted federally-funded research as well as hosted, developed and presented workshops on sexual health, HIV prevention, substance use and recovery, diversity, cultural humility, medical necessity of gender affirming surgeries, and predictors of healthy identity development. He is considered a subject matter expert on transgender health and has a long history of developing innovative ways to move cultural competence from abstract ideas to implement best practices. Before Next Time… Remember to like The Science of Sex Podcast on Facebook, Twitter, and Instagram! Check out Dr. Zhana on December 6th for her next event at The Assemblage, Doctor&#8217;s Orders: Real Doctor&#8217;s Debate Your Toughest Questions. Zhana will join a biologist, a physician and a neuroscientist to provide holistic answers to YOUR audience questions. Use guest password DOCTORSORDERS to RSVP. Also check Dr. Zhana out on December 11th where she&#8217;ll team up with one of our favorites Justin Lehmiller to discuss one of our most popular topics: gender differences! Visit The V Club to RSVP for the event. Visit Lelo to fulfill your high-quality vibrator needs with a wide selection of vibrators for all! Use discount code SCIENCE to get 20% off on your new vibrating toy. Visit Adam &amp; Eve and use promo code SCIENCE for 50% off just about any product. Plus 3 FREE adult DVDs, FREE mystery gift and FREE shipping. Remember to submit comments, questions, and everything in between on our Get in Touch Page! For more sex science articles, events and discussions please join our <a...