Stay ConnectedDig into the underdiscussed corners of the human experience. Each week, host Anita Rao leads intimate conversations with people unafraid to question what we think we know about identity, relationships and health.
Follow the show on Instagram at @embodiedwunc and on Bluesky at embodiedwunc.bsky.social. You can find Anita on Bluesky at asrao.bsky.social.
Copyright: © 2022 WUNC Podcasts
Anita knows how frustrating it can be to find the right doctor and get good healthcare. Transgender people have to navigate all those challenges and take extra measures to advocate for their wellbeing with medical providers who are too often untrained to treat them.
Meet the guests:
- Max Brown, a transgender teenager living in North Carolina, talks about being misgendered in the healthcare system and how finding a supportive healthcare provider has changed his physical and mental health.
- Frances Brown, Max's mom, talks about advocating for her son and advice for parents of other trans teens.
- Katherine Croft, nurse and program manager for the UNC Transgender Health Program, shares the importance of delivering gender-affirming care.
- Rebby Kern, director of education policy at Equality NC**,** talks about the role in-classroom educators play in creating positive experiences for trans kids.
- Morgan Givens, storyteller and audio producer, talks about his long road to finding a supportive healthcare provider and the difference that doctor has made in his life.
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Anita is thinking more and more about entering the club of motherhood. But first, she'd appreciate a reality check on things we don't often talk about — like child care and health concerns around pregnancy and labor.
Meet the guests:
- Angela Garbes, writer and author, talks about the cultural baggage surrounding American motherhood and how she separates the signal from the noise
- Dani McClain, journalist and author, outlines how racial bias shapes the personal and professional experiences of Black mothers
- Katherine Goldstein, journalist and creator of "The Double Shift," talks about rethinking the nuclear family
- Anita’s parents talk about the changes they’ve noticed in their aging bodies and how it’s affected their relationship.
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Anita loves podcasts, especially ones that make space for intimate, unexpected conversations. "The Only One In The Room," hosted by Laura Cathcart Robbins, is one of those shows. This episode explores the excitement and emotions of being in an open marriage.
Anita has a gut feeling none of us know as much as we should about the connection between our intestinal health and how our minds work.
Meet the guests:
- Ian Carroll, assistant profession of nutrition at UNC-Chapel Hill teaches us what we need to know about our gut microbiome.
- Lin Chang, a gastroenterologist and co-director of the G. Oppenheimer Center for Neurobiology of Stress and Resilience, explains the science behind the "gut feeling."
- Lydia Greene, a postdoctoral fellow at the Duke Lemur Center, explains what lemur poop teaches us about humans.
- Anita's parents talk about why it was okay to talk about poop at their family dining table.
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Anita is a workaholic. Being overworked stresses Anita out. Too much stress leads to poor health. Don't be like Anita.
Meet the guests:
- Amelia Nagoski, conductor and co-author of "Burnout: The Secret to Unlocking the Stress Cycle" talks about the physical and psychological signals our body sends when its in distress.
- Emilio Vicente, activist and communications manager for Familia: Trans Queer Liberation Movement, shares the unique burnout challenges for activists and how changing his relationship with success has helped him experience less burnout.
- Anita's parents talk about where Anita's tendency to overwork comes from (her dad) and how he's learned the health consequences of burnout the hard way.
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Anita questions whether her inner feminist will ever let her come around to enjoying porn without shame.
Meet the guests:
- Monèt Noelle Marshall, an artist and activist, talks about creating an artistic project exploring sexual shame.
- Shine Louise Houston, founding director and producer of Pink and White Productions, takes us behind-the-scenes of creating ethical porn.
- Mia Little, an adult film actor and content creator, talks about challenging the sexual stereotypes about Asian people while they are hard at work.
- Gina Gutierrez, co-founder and CEO of Dipsea, talks about why audio erotica can help folks access their sexuality.
- Anita's parents talk about their relationship with porn...and Anita's dad surprises them both on mic.
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CORRECTION: Mia Little uses they/them pronouns and identifies as Filipino-American. An earlier edit of this episode used incorrect pronouns to identify them. This has since been corrected. But we're still bummed about it.
Anita realizes she never got 'the sex talk' growing up. And even if she had, it probably wouldn't have gone like this.
Meet the guests:
- Emily Nagoski, author and sex educator, introduces a new framework for thinking about sex and pleasure.
- Carin Bondar, biologist and science communicator, talks about what humans can learn from understanding how sex works in the animal kingdom.
- Anita's parents reflect on why they never gave her the sex talk and what they hope to do differently with their grandkids.
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