The Francesca Luca Show

Having received a monumental amount of online vitriol for amplifying the stories of abuse victims, Alia Dastagir joins us Wednesday night at 8pm on The Francesca Luca Show on 95.9 WATD FM. She is an award winning journalist, former USA Today Reporter and author of “To Those Who Have Confused You to be a Person”. Alia published a story as part of an investigation of child sexual abuse. In response, she was subjected to a...

 Third-quarter 2023 Google Trends indicated a 2,400 percent increase in searches for “AI girlfriends.” Millions of people are currently in what they consider to be serious relationships with AI. Thousands have engaged in ceremonial weddings with their AI companions and stay as faithful to them as they would a human partner. Could legal marriage to AI be far off? 

In The Friend Machine, Victoria Hetherington de...

Evelyn Resh is a certified sexuality counselor and certified mid-wife who has been in practice for more than 20 years. With her integrative approach to women’s health, she helps women to create the life and sex life they desire by looking at their relationship to pleasure in general. With a refreshing and disarming sense of humor, she explores the importance of all types of pleasure from a simple coffee break to mind blowing ...

Rick Manabat is a seasoned sexual addiction therapist known for cutting through shame and getting to the real story underneath compulsive behavior. His work focuses on helping individuals and couples understand the emotional drivers behind addiction—whether it’s trauma, attachment wounds, or unmet needs—and guiding them toward accountability, healing, and healthier intimacy. Rather than labeling people, he looks a...

Imagine you’re sitting on your couch, living your best life, maybe contemplating what to have for dinner or finally finishing that book, when a notification pops up. It’s a name you haven’t seen in two decades. It’s him.

The tone of the message is so casual you’d think he just stepped out to the corner store in 2006 and got caught in a very, very long line at the checkout. He’s back, he’s &...

(Be Careful What Lawn You Water)
It’s a tale as old as time: the classic case of the “Grass is Greener” Syndrome. You have a partner who is kind, consistent, and follows the rules, yet you find yourself peering over the fence at the “bad boy” types, wondering where the spark went.
Before you go looking for a “fix” of excitement, remember the grass is usually greenest where you actuall...

The Oxygen and the Icing: Why We Need to Stop Downplaying Sexual Incompatibility

Let’s stop the polite nodding and get real: Sexual incompatibility isn’t “shallow.” In the world of “serious” relationships, we’re often told that if the conversation is deep and the values align, the bedroom stuff is just a footnote. But that is a fundamental misunderstanding ...

Let’s talk about something most people experience… and almost nobody admits.
You’re happy at home. You’ve got a solid relationship. You love your partner.
And then there’s… him. The guy at work.
It starts small. A look that lingers half a second too long. A joke that feels just a little more charged than it should. You notice what he’s wearing. He notices when you change your hai...

A question came up recently on Love Bites that stuck with me:
What happens when one partner says, “If you were a real man, you’d talk about your feelings”and the other shuts down completely?

That comment is a low blow. Full stop.
Using someone’s identity, especially their masculinity as a bargaining chip to force intimate conversation is like trying to open a flower with a sledgehammer. Fortress built!

 Third-quarter 2023 Google Trends indicated a 2,400 percent increase in searches for “AI girlfriends.” Millions of people are currently in what they consider to be serious relationships with AI. Thousands have engaged in ceremonial weddings with their AI companions and stay as faithful to them as they would a human partner. Could legal marriage to AI be far off? 

In The Friend Machine, Victoria Hetherington de...

Have you ever been in a relationship where it feels like your every move is being monitored even though you’ve done nothing wrong?

Not in an obvious, dramatic way. More subtle than that.

A missed call becomes a problem or a delayed response sparks tension.
Quiet time feels like an offense.

And suddenly, you’re wondering how something that looks like “care” can feel so constricting.

We All Come From Differ...

We don’t usually question our relationships when they’re obviously broken.
We question them when they’re just not quite right.

When there’s still love.
Still history.
Still moments that make us think, “Maybe I’m expecting too much.”

Letting go isn’t just about ending a relationship.
but also releasing the version of the future we’ve been holding onto.

And for many pe...

Stephanie Coontz was active in the Free Speech and civil rights movements; her work has been cited in the U.S. Supreme Court’s landmark Obergefell v. Hodges decision on same-sex marriage rights. She has also testified before Congress on family issues.She’s appeared on shows like Oprah, The Today Show, The Colbert Report, and a variety of NPR programs. Her writing is featured in The New York Times,&nb...

Stephanie Coontz was active in the Free Speech and civil rights movements; her work has been cited in the U.S. Supreme Court’s landmark Obergefell v. Hodges decision on same-sex marriage rights. She has also testified before Congress on family issues.She’s appeared on shows like Oprah, The Today Show, The Colbert Report, and a variety of NPR programs. Her writing is featured in The New York Times, Wall Street Journal, W...

There are seasons when a couple’s future shifts because the emotional landscape around them is changing in unexpected ways. A parent falls ill, responsibilities multiply, or a family experiences a loss that quietly reshapes priorities. What once felt straightforward can suddenly feel layered, as a subtle tension emerges between caring for others and maintaining the partnership’s balance.

Changes in family needs whether ...