Embodied

Embodied

Sex and relationships are intimate — and sometimes intimidating to talk about. In this weekly podcast from North Carolina Public Radio WUNC, host Anita Rao guides us on an exploration of our brains and our bodies that touches down in taboo territory. Follow the show on Instagram and Twitter @embodiedwunc. You can find Anita on Twitter @anisrao.

Episodes

February 13, 2025 49 mins

Food and sex have been deeply intertwined in our cultural imagination for millennia. Anita talks with a cultural historian who has combed through centuries of sex and food chronicles to understand what makes that connection so strong. Plus, Puerto Rican chef Manolo López shares a Valentine’s recipe and his favorite sexy food.

Meet the guests:

- Rachel Hope Cleves is a historian, a professor at the University of Victoria and...

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In the hours and days following President Donald Trump’s re-election, online searches about leaving the U.S. surged. Historically, most folks who have considered a move haven’t taken action, but Tina Strawn is an exception. Anita talks to her about why, as a queer Black woman, she left America in 2020 in search of freedom. Tina answers listener's questions about expat life and shares why she encourages everyone to ask them...

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Anita is committed to self-improvement but skeptical of self-help. She brings her qualms and questions to the experts: Kristen Meinzer, a podcaster who has lived by the rules of more than 50 self-help books, and Beth Blum, a scholar who's traced the genre back to its roots. Plus Sondra Rose Marie, a former self-help fan, shares how the industry has failed her as a woman of color.

Meet the guests:

- Kristen Meinzer, pop cultu...

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January 23, 2025 36 mins

Anita finds a lot of ASMR videos to be deeply relaxing, but she doesn't get the well-hyped/well-documented 'brain tingles.' Why? She puts the question to a physiologist who's been exploring the science of ASMR for the past decade. Plus, she meets an ASMR artist who's entranced hundreds of thousands of people with her medical role play videos and a woman who turned to the world of Boyfriend ASMR to heal her broken heart.

Mee...

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January 16, 2025 48 mins

How does selling sexy online affect your offline relationship with sex and your body? Anita poses that question to two creators: Paris Bush, who in four years on Only Fans has become one of the site’s top earners, and Maxim Lupin, who says that online sex work is the profession that best supports his mental and physical health. 

Meet the guests:

- Paris Bush creates content that runs the gamut from nude and spicy to spoofy a...

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January 9, 2025 49 mins

It's been half a century since the psychedelic era, but some baby boomers are returning to the drugs of their youth — not for rock and roll, but to confront aging. Writer Abbie Rosner re-experienced mushrooms in her 60s, and she tells Anita about her subsequent investigation into why other boomers are taking psychedelics to grapple with aging. Plus, a medical professional shares what it’s like to facilitate these experienc...

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January 2, 2025 49 mins

There are few things that are certain about 2025, but one of them is that at some point, you’ll be called upon for advice. Anita talks to Meghan Keane, the founder of NPR's Life Kit and author of “Party of One,” about how to give good advice. Meghan shares her personal journey to striking the balance between overthinking, venting and actually getting to the root of a problem. Plus, she sits in the hot seat to answer some b...

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December 26, 2024 31 mins

As a child of two immigrants, Anita has a tumultuous relationship with the question: "Where are you from?" So, too, do many third culture kids — people who spend a significant number of their developmental years living in places that are not their parents' homelands. She talks with two third culture kids — one 35 and one 12 — and their moms about growing up between cultures and how they’ve built identity and relationships ...

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December 23, 2024 19 mins

Anita hands over the mic to Embodied’s intern, Nina Scott. After listening to our episode about food and cultural identity from a couple of weeks ago, Nina started talking to her friends about how their family recipes help them feel connected to their heritage. She shares some of those conversations and reflections. 

Meet the guests:

- Sari Ghirmay-Morgan, Nina’s friend who is of Ethiopian and Eritrean heritage

- Rebecca Wu, ...

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December 19, 2024 31 mins

Anita has heard one resounding truth from her friends who lost a parent in early adulthood: That death was the biggest thing that has ever happened to them. She meets two people who've built specific communities around their grief on the internet and a writer who experienced losing his dad twice. 

Meet the guests:

- Liz Zorn, photographer and model, talks about the sudden loss of her father and how it's changed her views on ...

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December 12, 2024 49 mins

Like the majority of American men over 35, Anita's partner is balding...and they're both a little distressed about it. But why? She brings her questions to two men who've interrogated baldness from all angles: race, sexuality, science, media, culture and lived experience. They'll explore where this fear comes from and how many other men feel this way.

Meet the guests:

- E. Patrick Johnson is dean of the School of Communicati...

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December 5, 2024 49 mins

Anita's been reckoning with what it means to stay connected to cultural identity as a mixed-race adult. And in pursuit of what things to prioritize, she's turning her focus to food. She talks to mixed-race foodie and writer Raj Tawney, whose hours in the kitchen with his mom and grandma have grounded his search for belonging. Then, she picks up the phone and calls the primary chef in the Rao family: her mom, Sheila.

Meet th...

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November 28, 2024 33 mins

A growing number of American adults have the same feeling about romantic partnerships: They don’t want one. Anita meets three people who have chosen singlehood: a scholar who examines the double standard of relationship status, a single mother of two by choice and a man shedding toxic masculinity to build a deliberately single life.

Meet the guests:

- Dr. Kris Marsh, associate professor at the University of Maryland and auth...

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November 21, 2024 47 mins

The option to end one's own life through prescribed, lethal medication is legal in 10 states and in Washington D.C. Guest host Anisa Khalifa talks to two researchers about what the assisted death debate illuminates about dying in the United States. 

Meet the guests:

- Mara Buchbinder, a medical anthropologist and the author of "Scripting Death: Stories of Assisted Dying in America," shares her research into how patients, doc...

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American Sign Language is the third-most used language in the U.S. ASL has its own culture and art forms, and for many Deaf folks, ASL is about much more than just communication. Anita talks to Deaf author Sara Nović and Deaf ASL Slam poet Douglas Ridloff about how ASL gave them tools for self-understanding and artistic expression. Then she learns from scholars Carolyn McCaskill and Joseph Hill about Black American Sign La...

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November 7, 2024 49 mins

Mainstream adaptive fashion lines are relatively new, but creating clothes to fit and flatter a range of bodies has long been part of disability culture. Anita meets three disabled fashionistas who design with disabled bodies as a starting point, not an afterthought.

Meet the guests:

- Dr. Ben Barry is the Dean of Fashion at Parsons School of Design who's pushing for further inclusion in fashion – particularly when it comes ...

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October 31, 2024 49 mins

A new crop of children’s book authors are trying to help kids develop curiosity about their physical bodies. But how exactly do they turn fraught body politics into compelling children's stories? Anita gets answers when she meets Tyler Feder and Shelly Anand, the creators behind the books "Bodies Are Cool" and "Laxmi's Mooch."

Meet the guests:

- Tyler Feder, the author and illustrator behind the book “Bodies are Cool"

- Shell...

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October 24, 2024 49 mins

While early biology lessons often teach us about sex as a binary, our bodies tell a different story. An intersex physician tells Anita about the decades-long attempt to erase intersex folks from existence, and a parent and two young adults share their advice on how to best support adolescents who defy the sex and gender binary.

Meet the guests:

- Suegee Tamar-Mattis, a physican who is also an intersex person, describes the d...

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Many autistic people assigned female at birth remain undiagnosed at 18, so what's it like to get an autism diagnosis in your adulthood? Anita meets two women whose paths to a diagnosis started on the internet. Plus a non-binary photographer shares how their late autism diagnosis has informed their marriage and sense of self.

Meet the guests:

- Irene Chon, neurodivergent creator and self-empowerment coach, talks about the cha...

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October 10, 2024 50 mins

Our understanding of the term bisexuality has been in a state of constant evolution. In a moment when bisexual adults make up the largest share of the LGBTQ+ population, how is bisexuality being re-imagined, reclaimed — and sometimes relinquished? Anita meets two people who have grappled with the term’s history, meaning and power for building community.

Meet the guests:

- J.R. Yussuf is the author of “Dear Bi Men: A Black Ma...

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