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 …

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 …

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…

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 s…

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…

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…

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…

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…

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 ab…

Do you know the difference between sex and gender? Or what it means to be “gender nonconforming”? Trans or transgender? Genderqueer and gender non-binary? Our understanding and language around sex and gender has been rapidly expanding, and we don’t blame you if you’re not super familiar with it all. In Episode 50, Dr. Zhana and Joe talk to Dr. Seth…

The dangers and risks for gay men in coming out of the closet is widely acknowledged, but what about bisexual men? More bi men, compared to gay men, keep their sexuality strictly on the down low. Why is this the case? How are these men’s experience different? In Episode 49, Dr. Zhana and Joe talk to Dr. Eric Schrimshaw from Columbia University abou…

Some people are into sexually aggressive and humiliating acts, from biting & spanking, to spitting and verbal humiliation. This is usually referred to as paraphilias, or uncommon sexual desires, but how uncommon are these sexual desires, actually? And, perhaps more controversially, could there be some evolutionary bases for some of our BDSM desires…

Some people are far more interested in and comfortable with casual sex, a trait called unrestricted sociosexuality. In Episode 47, Dr. Zhana and Joe ask a question that’s on a lot of people’s minds: Are these “sluttier” folks (and we use this term lovingly and without judgment) less satisfied in and committed to their partners in long-term romantic…

Research has shown that sexual orientation is greatly determined by genetics. We also know that identical twins share 100% of their genetic material. Then how is it possible that only about 30% of all identical twins have the same sexual orientation as their co-twin? In Episode 46, Dr. Zhana and Joe speak with Dr. Gerulf Rieger about his research o…

Are women’s sex drives really weaker than men’s? Are women really less likely to cheat–or want to cheat? Are they really better suited for monogamy? And how much are these gender differences due to nature vs. nurture? In Episode 45, we bring best-selling author Dr. Wednesday Martin on the show to talk about her new book UNTRUE: Why Nearly Everythin…

In Episode 44, Dr. Kirstin Mitchell returns to talk to Dr. Zhana and Joe about the differences between sexual partners reported by men and women. It’s been an age-old question: Do men really have more sexual partners than women? Or are there other reasons for men reporting twice as many partners as women on average? Joe thinks it’s as simple as “th…

In Episode 43, Kaci Mial joins Dr. Zhana and Joe to talk about the female condom. Some people (including Joe) don’t even know what a female condom is! But this stops with this episode where we learn a lot more about the female, or internal, condom. Kaci discusses the benefits and differences of the internal condom, compared with the more familiar e…

In Episode 42, Dr. Justin Lehmiller returns to talk with Dr. Zhana and Joe about sexual fantasies and what they say about us! Most people have sexual fantasies, and some fantasies are not as rare as you might think. What do our fantasies mean? Should we act on them and if so how? Dr. Justin Lehmiller talks about his new book Tell Me What You Want: …

This week, Joe and Dr. Zhana switched things up and decided to dedicate an entire episode to answering some of your questions! Dr. Zhana gives science based answers to listener’s most pressing questions while Joe chimes in with some witty banter and some of his own questions. This week’s episode covered a range of topics including, vaginismus, open…

In Episode 40, Dr. Zhana and Joe talk with Tierney Lorenz on sex and the immune system! It’s been known that sexual activity can have an effect on the immune system. What do those effects look like? A healthy sex life can be great for the immune system which can in turn increase things like sex drive or pleasure. On this week’s episode we were able…

In Episode 39, Dr. Zhana and Joe talk with Jimmy Moran on Snapchat use and sex! Snapchat is a popular social media platform, founded in 2011, that allows users to send images and videos with the option of having the content automatically deleted after being viewed. Furthermore, most of the app’s users are under 24 and most non-users assume the app …

Welcome back to the Science of Sex Podcast! In the Season 2 premiere, your favorite hosts, Dr. Zhana and Joe talk with Dr. Amy Muise on Communal Sexual Motivation, or CSM. CSM, or being Good, Giving, and Game (GGG), in a relationship is all about being motivated to be responsive to a partner’s sexual needs or interests. According to Dr. Muise, CSM …

In episode 35, Dr. Zhana and Joe talk to Dr. Amy C. Moors about her research on non-monogamy! Non-monogamy often gets a bad rep in our society, but also in academia. A lot of research conducted on polyamory has been biased, showing stigma even among researchers. Hence, this makes it difficult to have clear and accurate statistics about non-monogamy…

In episode 36, Dr. Zhana and Joe talk to Dr. Patrick Jern about the romantic side effects of hormonal birth control! We often talk about the physical side effects of hormonal birth control methods (i.e. the pill, the IUD, the patch, the shot, the ring…) like weight gain, acne, cramping, spotting, headaches, and so on. But we rarely talk about how t…

In episode 36, Dr. Zhana and Joe talk to Dr. Christian Grov about his research on coming out in America and how it might have changed. Coming out as gay and bisexual has changed over the years, but there is also another layer to coming out and that is coming out as HIV-positive. Due to modern advancements in medicine, an HIV-positive status no long…