Girl Boner Radio: True Sex and Relationship Stories

Pleasure (Behind Pain) and Orgasmic Living

·24 min·2 clips

August McLaughlin asks what it takes to feel pleasure without touch, then guides listeners to breathe into their pelvis.

The episode opens with host August McLaughlin introducing the concept of an 'orgasmic life' and guiding listeners through a brief somatic exercise to feel pleasure in the body without touch. Guest Susanna Weiss, a writer and sexologist, joins to discuss her book 'Eve's Blessing: Uncovering the Lost Pleasure Behind Female Pain.' Weiss begins by recounting her early experiences with puberty and menstruation, describing how she first learned about periods from a friend at summer camp through a Mad Libs game, which framed it as a negative event. She reflects on the lack of positive education around female puberty, contrasting it with boys' lessons about pleasurable experiences like wet dreams, and links this to studies showing women's self-esteem drops in adolescence. Weiss then shares her journey with sexual pleasure, noting she didn't have a clitoral orgasm with a partner until age 25, partly due to SSRIs and difficulty communicating needs. A class by sex therapist Vanessa Marine, where Marine observed that men actively pursue orgasm while women are often shy, served as a catalyst for change. Weiss describes practicing with a partner by demonstrating how she touches herself and giving feedback, which led to success. She connects this to her health struggles, detailing her diagnosis with chronic Lyme disease after seeing 17 doctors who dismissed her symptoms, and how advocating in medical settings mirrored her sexual advocacy. Weiss also discusses specific health issues like a clitoral yeast infection (balanitis) that went undiagnosed for months due to lack of awareness, and interstitial cystitis, which she later found was linked to infections. The conversation expands to include gender-diverse experiences, with Weiss mentioning interviews with intersex activist Hida Valoria and trans and two-spirit individuals who face erasure in healthcare. She emphasizes reclaiming body positivity and pleasure across identities. Weiss defines an 'orgasmic life' through examples like interviewee Josephine Bashout, who savors daily sensual delights, and contrasts this with work-centric Western culture. The host interjects with a promotion for Beducated's course on chronic pain and sex, offering a quiz and discount. Weiss concludes with practical advice, such as meditative breathing into the pelvis and starting the day with a pleasurable ritual like drinking cacao, to cultivate bodily awareness and joy. The episode ends with calls to action for reviews and subscriptions.

As heard by us

A candid episode connects sexual pleasure with bodily pain, cultural shame, and small practices for returning to sensation.

Pleasure becomes a way to understand pain in Girl Boner Radio's conversation with Susanna Weiss. Weiss, a writer, sexologist, psychotherapist, and author of Eve's Blessing, follows a personal path through puberty, menstruation, painful sex, and biblical language that ties female…

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Why you'd press play

Curious whether pleasure can start with breath, even when pain, puberty stories, and inherited shame are already in the room?

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