Ladies, We Need To Talk

Latest Episodes:

BEST OF - To pube or not to pube Jul 25, 2023

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Yumi Stynes has pinched the keys to the ABC podcast dungeon and has pulled out her absolute fave episodes for you.

Are you team Dolphin or team Pubus Maximus?

Pubic hair — it's one of the most scrutinised patches of hair on our bodies. Research says 80 per cent of women groom their Map of Tassie regularly. But why do we feel the need to pluck, shave, scrape, or zap our pubes at all? Yumi Stynes find out the meaning behind our pubey grooming choices.

Featured in this episode:

Mona Chalabi - Data journalist
Maeve Marsden - Podcaster
Christina Zheng – Comedian

Sex in a fat bod Jul 11, 2023

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Getting naked in front of someone you’re about to get down and dirty with is a really vulnerable thing to do for even the most confident among us.

But what about when you’ve spent your whole life being told your body isn’t desirable or sexy?

And those messages are hitting you from everywhere. From television, movies, strangers on the street and even from the very people who are supposed to be into you.

That’s the reality for a lot of women living in fat bodies out there, so how do you say a big F*** you to that narrative and start having great sex?

Two hot, fat babes, Bec Shaw and April Hélène-Horton got together with Yumi Stynes for a no-holds barred DNM to chat about all things sex.

Featured in this episode:

Bec Shaw – writer and podcaster

April Hélène-Horton aka The Bodzilla – advocate and activist

Female rage – why are we so damn angry? Jun 27, 2023

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Do you scream foul obscenities at bad drivers? Chuck your phone violently on the bed when seething? Heard “that time of the month?” when you’re furious?

Babes, you’re not alone.

Women are foaming at the mouth with fury and we’re screaming at the top of our lungs. From the mental load to workplace bullying; sexism and just the patriarchy in general plus - HORMONES - there’s a hell of a lot to be ticked off about.

Grab your safety gear and come smash some stuff with Yumi Stynes as she releases her fury with a baseball bat. Who knew destruction could be so cathartic?

Featured in this episode:

Dr Chelsea Watego – Professor of Indigenous Health at QUT’s School of Public Health and Social Work.

Dr Jayashri Kulkarni - Professor in Women's Mental Health. Psychiatrist and Director of Monash University’s Health Education Research Centre.

Dr Liz Summerell – Postdoctoral researcher at the University of New South Wales School of Psychology studying anger, aggression, and humility.

Esther Perel on Intimacy Jun 13, 2023

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So you hugged a workmate having a rough time – is that intimacy? Locked eyes and shared a giggle with a stranger in a spin class – does that count as intimacy? You just had some hook up sex – was it intimate?

Here at Ladies HQ, we want to know: What even is intimacy? And when we think we're craving sex is what we are actually wanting, intimacy?

(Lucky) Yumi Stynes gets up close and personal with Esther Perel (IRL!) about the importance of intimacy how we can all enjoy a bit more connection with others.

Featured in this episode: World renowned relationship psychotherapist; host of Where Should We Begin and How’s Work podcasts and creator of Where Should We Begin the Game, Esther Perel.

Choking during sex – can it ever be safe? May 30, 2023

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You're horny. You're hooking up. It's hot and heavy. Then, a hand makes its way to your throat… wait WTF? Yup. Choking during sex has hit the mainstream.

Choking was once the kinda thing you'd only come across in the world of BDSM, but now thanks to our easy access to porn it's literally everywhere and young women are in its grip.

A recent study discovered almost 60 per cent of female college students have been choked during sex, with a quarter having been choked by the time they're 17.

Yumi Stynes finds out why some women love to be choked during sex and talks to others who aren't so enamoured with it.

Some names have been changed to protect identities.

Life Line: 13 11 14

1800 Respect: 1800 737 732

Featured in this episode:

Dr Debby Herbenick - Professor at Indiana University’s School of Public Health, sexuality researcher, educator and author of Yes, Your Kid: What Parents Need to Know About Today's Teens and Sex
Aleks Trkulja – Sex therapist at The Pleasure Centre

Heartbreak — why does it feel so bloody awful? May 16, 2023

Show notes

Are you guilty of compulsively stalking your ex on socials whilst ugly crying and eating ice cream out of the carton? Join the club baby.

The soul-shattering, unbridled agony of a devastating break-up, is something we tend to avoid really letting ourselves feel. The most we might get from our mates is "get back on the apps babe, there are plenty more fish in the sea".

Even though it’s a universal experience, heartbreak sits in the domain of teenage girls writing in their diaries rather than being taken seriously as a mental and physical ailment.

Yumi Stynes talks to heartbroken women about how they’re stitching their hearts back into their chests after being tortuously ripped out.

Get in touch with your stories of heartbreak and how you made it through: ladies@abc.net.au

Featured in this episode:  

Jessie Stephens, podcaster and author of Heartsick.

Alice Haddon, counselling psychologist and founder of The Heartbreak Hotel

INTRODUCING — our most brutally honest season yet May 09, 2023

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Had your heart pulverised? Been choked during sex? Is your partner a narcissist?

Ladies is back and we’re going there.

Our Fear of farting Nov 08, 2022

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Even though we all crack a turd whistle once in a while, it doesn't mean we're not ashamed of the noises and smells that erupt from our bums, especially if it happens in public. And according to research, women hold that shame more deeply and are judged more harshly for their eruptions than men. 

Yumi Stynes sniffs out how we can disperse the cloud of shame around women and farting.  

Featured in this episode:  

Professor Clare Collins, Laureate Professor in Nutrition and Dietetics at the University of Newcastle .

Dr Kirsten Bell, Professor of Social Anthropology, University of Roehampton 

Additional production: Kelly Ung & Yimeng Hu 

Clean eating Oct 25, 2022

Show notes

Search #cleaneating on social media, and you'll come across over 50 million posts. Vegan, paleo, raw, protein shakes, juice cleanses, gluten-free, dairy-free, chia seeds… all of these things, social media and diet culture will tell us, are the types of foods we should be putting into our bodies.   

These diets offer the promise of perfect health and the perfect body…But for some they tip over into unhealthy obsession.  

Yumi Stynes discovers what happens when food choices stop being about "yuk" and "yum" and become a battle between good and evil. When clean eating tips over the wafer-thin line into Orthorexia Nervosa.  

 Featured in this episode: Dr Gemma Sharp, Clinical Psychologist and Head of Body Image research at Monash University 

Update — Discharge, the gooey taboo Oct 11, 2022

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Lots of women are super self-conscious about the sticky stuff in our undies. The way it looks and the way it smells. So much so that up to a third of us wear a panty liner each day.  But how much do you actually know about discharge? What should it smell like? What should it look like? And should we just stop dissing our discharge? 

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