The Longest Shortest Time

The Longest Shortest Time

Stories about the surprises and absurdities of raising other humans—and being raised by them. But you don’t need to be a parent to listen. Created and hosted by Hillary Frank. The Longest Shortest Time is back after a 5-year hiatus! New episodes drop every other Wednesday. Join LST+ for community, ad-free listening, and access to You Know What, our premium show featuring college students speaking candidly about sex, dating, and relationships. If you’re new to the show or want to get reacquainted, check out some of our classic episodes: • #27 Rewriting Your Birth Story • #88 W. Kamau Bell Asks His Mom About Sex • The Accidental Gay Parents Series (#60, #62, #80, #81, #125, #211) • #79 Terry Gross on Not Having Kids • It's a Real Mother: A Series About Workplace Discrimination (#141, #142, #143, #145)

Episodes

January 7, 2026 38 mins
As the daughter of an OBGYN, Danielle Bezalel learned all about vaginas — but pleasure wasn’t part of the conversation. Now she’s on a mission to help people prioritize pleasure. Today, she shares the incident that motivated her to become a sex educator, her own struggles with birth control, the orgasm experiment she did on herself, and tips for getting in the mood as a busy parent. … Recommendations from the archive Sex & Paren...
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Alex was itching to ask her partner Ben whether he’d be up for having kids one day — a question that felt scary and extra complicated because she has Cerebral Palsy. To muster some courage, she turned to an unexpected ally: a tiny stuffed lamb that can see the future. ⭐️ This episode originally ran on August 16, 2017 and is a favorite from the archives. We hope you enjoy, and we’ll be back next week with a brand new episode. … •...
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College student Zaraia Fabunmi became a sex educator and a doula as a teenager. Today she shares how she's used that training to help her peers — and, at times, her teachers — plus the fascinating reproductive health research she did in India.   … Recommendation from the archive Zaraia is also in Ep #237: YOU KNOW WHAT: An LST Spinoff, a pilot we made featuring three super cool college kids talking about sex, dating, and relatio...
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December 3, 2025 42 mins
A young Mormon plays a long con on his childhood crush—in the hopes of starting a family with her. ⭐️ This episode originally ran on January 17, 2016 and is a favorite from the archives. We hope you enjoy, and we’ll be back next week with a brand new episode. … Sponsors (using our links supports the show!) Blueland: 30% off during Blueland’s holiday sale by 12/7/25 at blueland.com/longshort … • Join LST+ for community and acc...
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Pop culture critic Kristen Meinzer joins us to share how as a tween, The Golden Girls — a show with grownup themes — helped her bond with her mom and grandma. She also recommends contemporary shows she loves watching with adolescents to spark fun and deep conversations. … Recommendations from the archive #118 All the Feels with Rob Huebel #140 Zombies, Caillou, and Other Creepy Things … Kristen’s full list We couldn’t fit Kr...
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November 19, 2025 43 mins
Actor and comedian Rob Huebel talks about sneaking onto airplanes, why he doesn't share a bed with his wife, and what it was like to have their daughter live in the hospital for her first 117 days. And! The best placed fart noise ever. ⭐️ This episode originally ran on April 12, 2017 and is a favorite from the archives. We hope you enjoy, and we’ll be back next week with a brand new episode. … Sponsors Blueland: blueland.com/lo...
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Bobbi Brown built a career making people look beautiful. Behind the scenes, she was mired in breastmilk, spit-up, and sleepless nights. Executives told her to hide her motherhood; instead, she put her soccer-momness front and center. … Recommendations from the archive #77 Behind Family Lines It’s a Real Mother: our series about workplace discrimination … More Bobbi • Bobbi’s memoir: Still Bobbi • Jones Road Beauty … • Joi...
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November 5, 2025 32 mins
Darlene's childhood dream was to join the military. She didn't imagine she'd also be raising three children solo. Tune in to hear what it’s like to be pregnant, breastfeed, and raise kids on your own in the Army. And to get shot in the back. Twice. ⭐️ This episode originally ran on March 7, 2016 and is a favorite from the archives. We hope you enjoy, and we’ll be back next week with a brand new episode. … Recommendations from th...
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October 29, 2025 43 mins
When Jean Hannah Edelstein went to college, she realized she had great breasts. Like, the kind that could win a wet T-shirt contest. But they also made her a target for harassment. Later, when she started nursing, her feelings toward her breasts got even more complicated. Then, when her son was four, she learned she would have to say goodbye to them. Today, Jean walks us through the life cycle of her breasts — from when she first n...
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October 22, 2025 41 mins
When you get pregnant, your body changes (duh). One of the most common changes happens in your boobs (double duh). But sometimes your boobs change in ways that you don’t at all expect. Today we hear from two women whose boobs caught them off-guard, back when they became moms. First, there’s Emily, whose nipples seemed to, uh, multiply. Then there’s Tara, whose boob betrayed her at age 26, when she was diagnosed with breast cancer....
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October 15, 2025 36 mins
Shafia Zaloom is a sex educator and advisor to Big Mouth, Nextflix’s fantastic series about puberty. Join us as she walks us through her innovative approach to teaching young people about healthy relationships, which includes games, music, and complicated scenarios based on real-life situations. … Recommendations from the archive • #237 You Know What: An LST Spinoff (Shafia is in this pilot!) • #221 How to Not (Accidentally) Ra...
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Today we bring you an episode of "The Second Opinion with Dr. Sharon Malone."  On Dr. Sharon’s new podcast, women take back the conversation on health with straight talk, real experience, and the care we all deserve. You’ll hear prominent female advocates, experts and patients just like you sharing how they confronted gaps in our healthcare system and got second opinions that saved their lives. Alongside each guest, Dr. Sharon tack...
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Strange but real lessons of American sex ed. Historian Lisa Andersen walks us through the decades. ⭐️ This episode originally ran on August 23, 2017 and is a favorite from the archives. We hope you enjoy, and we’ll be back next week with a brand new episode. 📚 The book Lisa talks about developing in this episode is now available. She co-wrote it with Lauren Bialystok and it’s called Touchy Subject: The History and Philosophy o...
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October 1, 2025 36 mins
Does more sex make you “wider”? Is it bad to swallow sperm? How do you clean a sex toy? In the pilot episode of our spinoff show, YOU KNOW WHAT, college students answer anonymous questions from teens and young adults — with help from sex educator Shafia Zaloom. This episode is a pilot for a concept we very much want to keep making. As you can imagine, it’s not easy to get funding for a sex ed show for young adults, but we know it ...
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September 24, 2025 33 mins
If pregnant people need to eat for two, why do so many of us puke morning, noon, and night? Our friends from Vox's Unexplainable investigate.  Guests: Julia Longoria, host, Unexplainable; Marlena Fejzo, Ph.D., ⁠geneticist⁠, and Research Director at the ⁠HER Foundation⁠.  For more, go to ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠vox.com/unexplainable⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠  Contact Unexplainable: ⁠⁠⁠unexplainable@vox.com⁠⁠⁠ … Join LST+ for community and access to You Know...
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In this episode, Elise Hu gets personal. Tune in for her dad’s refugee story involving sharks, the unique challenges of parenting a tall girl, what she ate in childbirth, and a 3rd grade disappointment that shaped her career in journalism. … Recommendations from the archive #19 The Mortality of Motherhood #183 Postpartum House Arrest … Check out Elise’s work! • Raising Us: a parenting podcast from A Kid’s Co. • Flawless: Le...
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September 10, 2025 35 mins
NPR’s Kelly McEvers compares and contrasts childbirth vs being a war correspondent. ⭐️ This episode originally ran on July 25, 2013, with an update on June 13, 2016, and is a favorite from the archives. We hope you enjoy, and we’ll be back next week with a brand new episode. … Join LST+ for community and access to You Know What, another show in the Longest Shortest universe! Follow us on Instagram Website: longestshortesttime....
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Eight years after It’s a Real Mother, our series on discrimination against working moms, Brigid Schulte returns to share how we’ve conquered the motherhood penalty! Just kidding, it’s still alive and well. But there are some bright spots. We’ll talk about the highs, the lows, and simple things we can do to improve working conditions for moms — and everyone! … It’s a Real Mother Check out the full series. • Our first episode wit...
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Why do stock images of working moms look frazzled, while stock images of working dads just look like... guys at work? Author Brigid Schulte gets to the heart of why discrimination against working moms is so deeply embedded in our culture—and what we can do to change it. ⭐️ This episode originally ran on November 8, 2017 as a part of our critically acclaimed series about working moms, It’s a Real Mother. We hope you enjoy, and we’l...
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August 20, 2025 50 mins
Eight years ago, Matt Katz came on the show after nervously revealing to his 5-year-old daughter that the man she thought was his biological father was not, in fact, his biological father. But Matt would later learn that the truth about his biological father was much more complicated than he even realized. As he followed the twists and turns of this story, Matt became a bio dad detective — chasing clues at home and abroad, and conc...
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