Sex With Emily - Dating Younger Men, Canceling Threesomes: Emily Tells All

Episode Date: June 6, 2023

How did you discover who you were as a sexual being? Are you still figuring it out? Your desires, your sexual turn-ons, your overall attitude towards sex itself? Well, today, we’re doing something a... little different: I’m answering all those questions and letting you in on my sexual journey. That’s right! I’ve got author, anthropologist, and my dear friend Dr. Wednesday Martin on the show today as we turn the tables and let her ask me how my career as a sex educator got started, the first time I had legitimately good sex, and how my relationship with sex has evolved. I also share the backstory behind this podcast, why I was so curious to launch a career in sex education in the first place, and how it's all led up to my book, Smart Sex. Listen in… it’s a juicy one.Show Notes:Your Guide to Mutual MasturbationHow to Train Your VaginaORDER MY NEW BOOK! Smart Sex: How to Boost Your Sex IQ and Own Your PleasureMEET ME ON TOUR! Sex With Emily Book Tour: SMART SEX Event DatesTAKE THE SEX IQ QUIZ! Email proof of pre-order purchase to smartsex@sexwithemily.com and I’ll send you a link to take the quizSMART SEX PRIZE PACK (submit your pre-order proof of purchase at the bottom of the page, be entered to win the prize pack and everyone that enters receives a copy of my new and improved Yes! No! Maybe? Guide)Promescent.com/Emily (use this link to automatically save 15% at checkout)Untrue: Why Nearly Everything We Believe About Women, Lust, and Infidelity Is Wrong and How the New Science Can Set Us Free: Amazon | Barnes & Noble | BookshopMore Dr. Wednesday Martin: Instagram | Twitter | Website Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

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Starting point is 00:00:00 Another question that came in is somebody said, can you talk about your decision to be single and to not have children? And I want to tack one other little thing on there, which is that in your 50s for the first time in your life, you decided to live with a partner. So could you just talk about sitting in our living room? As much as you're comfortable with it. I can talk about all of these things. You're listening to Sex with Emily.
Starting point is 00:00:27 I'm Dr. Emily and I'm here to help you prioritize your pleasure and liberate the conversation around sex. So how did you discover who you were as a sexual being? Are you still figuring it out? Your desires, your sexual turn-ons, your overall attitude towards sex itself? Well, today we're doing something a little different. I'm answering all those questions and letting you in on my sexual journey. That's right, I've got author, anthropologist, and my dear friend, Dr. Wednesday Martin, on the show today as we turn the tables and let her ask me how my career as a sex educator
Starting point is 00:01:03 got started. The first time I had legitimately good sex and how my relationship with sex has evolved. I also share the backstory behind this podcast, why I was so curious to launch a career in sex education in the first place, and it's all led up to my book Smart Sex, which comes out next week. So listen in, this is a GC1. In tangent to the Emily for each episode, I want to start off by sending an attention for the show and I encourage you to do the same.
Starting point is 00:01:28 My intention is to open up and share with you what it's been like for me over the years, learning about sex and who I am as a sexual person. I really hope this conversation inspires you to ask yourself the same questions because it's an area life where you never stop growing. Hope this inspires you as much as you all inspire me every day. Please rate and review Sex with Emily wherever you listen to this show.
Starting point is 00:01:49 Buy new articles, your guide to mutual masturbation and how to train your vagina are up at sackedwithemily.com. Check out my YouTube channel social media and TikTok. It's all at Sex with Emily for more sex tips and advice. And if you want to ask me questions, leave me your questions or message me at sexwithemily.com slash ask Emily or call my hotline 559 Talk Sex or 559 8255739. It just includes your name, your age, where you live and how you listen to the show. All right, I am going on a book tour. This is my partial tour. I hope you'll join me. I have a live event in New York on June 13th, which is gonna be so fun.
Starting point is 00:02:30 I never get to meet you all in person. We're gonna answer questions, Q and A's. We're gonna talk. I can't wait to see you there. Virtually, this one I'm really excited about. It's on June 15th via Crowdcast, which means that wherever you live in the world, we're gonna have an intimate conversation.
Starting point is 00:02:46 Join me on there by your ticket. Your ticket includes a book and I'll be in the San Francisco Bay Area on June 17th. Also, if you want me to come speak in your town, in your place to your organization, just email me feedback at sexwithelmay.com because we're just getting started here. Can't wait to meet you guys face to face, answer all your Q&As in person. So when you buy a ticket, you'll automatically get a copy of my new book, SmartSax. And we have an article on our site with all the info which you can also find in the show notes.
Starting point is 00:03:19 I'll see you all next week. I can't wait. Lastly, this episode is brought to you by ProMessant. So I'm reflecting on my experiences with Sactacklands episode, both of my career and my personal life, and ProMessant, well, they've been part of most of that journey. Their founder, Jeff Abraham, I probably met him over 10 years ago. He's been on the show many times, one of my long time supporters, I'm one of his, and he has been so innovative with this company ProMessant.
Starting point is 00:03:43 Truly, if anyone is looking to delay their orgasms, I always direct them to Probesent, nowhere else. Their delays perhaps penis owners last up to 64% longer in bed. It's long lasting, it doesn't transfer to your partner, and they also have this incredible warming arousal gel for vulva owners, which I love to put on before partnered sex, solo sex, or even during the day just for some tingle. It feels really, really good.
Starting point is 00:04:09 Promescent has been a long time supportive sex with Emily, and if you want to support them and have better sex while doing it, well, go to promescent.com slash Emily, say 15% off your order, that's PROMESCET.com slash Emily, or just click the link in the show notes for 15% off. I would like to enjoy this episode. Wednesday Martin is an author, cultural Researcher, most known for her book Untrue, why nearly everything we believe about women less than infidelity is wrong, and how the new science can set us free. And her number one bestselling memoir primates a park avenue, a hilarious touching and insightful
Starting point is 00:04:57 look at into the exotic world of Manhattan motherhood. She's provided insights on topics including gender, parenting and motherhood, popular culture, and female sexuality for the New York Times Atlantic, the daily beasts and Harper's Bazaar among others. She's also a very dear friend of mine. I love this woman. And you can find her Wednesday Martin PhD on Instagram. Doctor Emily Morse. My hero. I could not be more excited or honored about two things. First of all, this is our third show together, right? You interviewed me on serious radio when on Tru came out. Then you and I did a rock and podcast episode where I was the guest. And we talked about my open marriage and other fun things. Now, you are so open-minded.
Starting point is 00:05:48 When I made this suggestion, hey, what about an interview you? You're beloved, but I don't know that everybody knows you, the way I know you, and there's so much curiosity about who you are as a person, and you were so gay and you said, yes, you can interview me about myself. So this is so great because you're the guest on Sex with Emily.
Starting point is 00:06:11 Welcome to Sex with Emily, Dr. Emily Morris. Thank you, Dr. Wednesday Martin. It is good to be here on the show. This is a first. And I'm so grateful for you because when you suggested that to me, I thought no one's ever interviewed me before and I can't think of anyone else that I would rather do it than you.
Starting point is 00:06:29 You are such a good friend and you're brilliant and so full of love and support. And so I figured, why not? Why not be a guest? This is the least prepared I've ever been for a show. Oh my gosh, I think it's great to be unprepared for certain things. And we have something to really celebrate
Starting point is 00:06:43 and talk about on the show. I want to talk about two things. I want people to know Emily Moore's better. And a bunch of followers sent me questions. And I also want to talk about this huge achievement, which is your book, which is really the culmination of 20 years of sex parties. But as a person who was so lucky that I got an
Starting point is 00:07:06 advanced copy of the book, which I read, Lake Crazy, I want you to see all the pages folded down, like I'm a sex furt too, but I needed this. And what I love about this book is how the you I know comes through. This book is compassionate. This book is nice. This book is smart and this book is so helpful. So congratulations on the book. Thank you. And I just want to start if we could with how we got to this moment, how you got to this point where you said it's time to write this book. You are the OG Sex podcaster, so I wanna take us back in time a little bit because this book is intimately connected to your career
Starting point is 00:07:53 as the first sex podcaster in the United States. How did sex with Emily start? That's a really great question. It started Wednesday with this curiosity and confusion I personally had around sex and relationships and dating. I was 35 years old. I've been in a series of relationships,
Starting point is 00:08:21 some committed and then I got to was playing around with some open relationships, and I just thought, what, how do you keep relationships interesting for the long haul? And while doing so, how do you keep sex going? It seemed that sex in so many relationships, including mine, when I was in a relationship about six to nine months in, the sex ceased
Starting point is 00:08:40 to be incredible anymore. It ceased to be great, interesting. And I thought, well, if the sex is a great anymore, that means the relationship should be over. I had none of the skills that I teach today. So I sat on a journey. I was faking orgasms, I was faking full-on, for like pleasure.
Starting point is 00:08:55 And I thought, I really want to understand relationships. So I can make an educated decision myself about what kind of relationship I want to be in. I thought something was wrong with me that I didn't want the traditional monogamous relationships as everyone else. So it was the first year of podcasting. I had heard about podcasting through an intern I had
Starting point is 00:09:11 on a film I had made. You know, I said, I really want to interview you about sex. It said, you should try podcasting. And I love the fact that it was, there was no cameras at the time. And it was audio. And I just thought, I'm gonna start there. And I started interviewing people about their sex lives
Starting point is 00:09:25 and their relationships. And I realized after that very first show that this was gonna be my path. I thought, this is it. We all need these answers. I need these answers and people were so open and people were still searching for answers. There wasn't a lot of information out there.
Starting point is 00:09:40 So you, you really felt it after the first podcast, this is my calling. Now, I want to go back in time just a little bit more because it's so amazing and inspiring that you say that your career started with a problem, a personal and apparently personal problem, but then you probably realize that it was like a vast cultural problem, are really messed up relationship to sex and our culture. And I love the specifics that you're hitting like that women do tend to get bored in an exclusive co-habiting relationship
Starting point is 00:10:14 before men do in the aggregate. And I love that you're hitting on the fact that you faked orgasms, which there's a whole thing on Instagram and tick talk about it now and shaming women for it. We need to get back to all that. But first of all, it wasn't just that you had a problem. You were a highly educated person in precisely these fields with the problem. Can you explain your academic background? Yes. And why, you know, how you decided to do that? Okay.
Starting point is 00:10:41 And why why didn't it help you with your sex life automatically? Well my background was I had a degree in psychology and political science. With both what's the anniversary of Michigan? That's right. Go blue. That's right. So I my career path so when I got graduated from Michigan I drove from Ann Arbor to San Francisco in my little geoprism car. I can see it. Can you imagine this little red geoprism, which I think is a funny little car. They don't think they make it anymore, which is probably a good thing.
Starting point is 00:11:09 But I drove out there to work in politics. I wanted to work for women. There was a lot of women in office at the time. And then when I started the podcast in 2005, I didn't have any degrees in sex. So I went back to grad school and got my doctorate in human sexuality. I went back in 2009. God. Well, I was doing the show because people were asking me questions and while I had read every sex book,
Starting point is 00:11:32 I was reading every sex book and interviewing people and had a great background in psychology. It's like another beautiful thing you bring. But it didn't give me the academics, the credibility, the experience. You wanted to do credentials as well. I wanted the credentials. Right. Right. Exactly. So back to grad school and got that. So I started 2009 and I got my degree in 2012. There is a whole thing going on on Instagram that's insane where I literally cannot say sex. And a lot of us can't, we get shadowed band, we get taken out of the algorithm.
Starting point is 00:11:59 And it's not just bad for our careers. It's really bad because people can't then learn about our messaging and about positive messaging about sex, but you know all this. But plusa-shaans, right? Because I think you faced, we're facing some of the same stuff 20 years ago. What was it like to be the first podcast in America about sex? What were the responses like? and did you get censored? That was the amazing thing about podcasting
Starting point is 00:12:28 is that there was no censorship that I could just do a podcast and say whatever I wanted. So that was like the freedom in that. And I think because it was probably one of the first podcasts and it was about sex, people were interested in it. And people was just kind of listening and emailing. And so there was no censorship. But then soon after that, I got a show on the radio,
Starting point is 00:12:45 on live radio, on free FM. It was an FM talk station, CBS Radio in San Francisco. And that was about a year into my podcast. They said, do you want to come in on Saturday nights and do a live radio show? And I'd never been on the radio before. I didn't have experience in radio, but I love, there were like, here's what you do.
Starting point is 00:13:01 And it was 11 o'clock at night. So it was what they called the safe harbor, where that's like, when love line was out, where you could say some things, you still couldn't swear. But you had a little bit more freedom to say a few more words that were, you know, like I could say masturbation.
Starting point is 00:13:15 I could never say, I don't think I could say penis. I could only say it once every hour. I could only say masturbation once ever. So I was definitely censored. And there was something called a dump button. So whenever you do say that, if sometimes I go fuck and they like dump me, then you get in trouble.
Starting point is 00:13:28 But they run out of dump tape. And what happened was I kept getting dumped because I would say masturbation. I'd say, why can't I say masturbation? They dumped me again. And there were certain things and you could only say like once every hour. So then I had to come up with all this stuff
Starting point is 00:13:41 because I was doing a masturbation. So and I was like, well, when you're bopin' the baloney, when you're twiddling the bean or whatever, I had to come up with all this stuff because I was doing a masturbation. So, and I was like, well, when you're bopping the baloney, when you're twiddling the bean, or whatever, I had this whole thing of, you had to do like a list of euphemisms that were okay because you literally couldn't use the accurate terms. Exactly.
Starting point is 00:13:57 You had to be so creative. It'd be very creative. And I think, you know, I guess I had back, maybe I'd go into a crowd, you're like, oh, what does she do? And they make judgments around somebody who talks about sex. But I mean, that's the thing about podcasting is there's so much freedom in it.
Starting point is 00:14:11 It took me a while to learn how to make a living doing it. And that probably took me about five, six years. I did everything for free. I wrote for free for different columns, and different magazines, and spoke for free. You know, that is just kind of like giving back and being like, well, maybe eventually there'll be some People would also tell me that I need to change the name of the show because I'll never get a sponsor and it won't work and sex and all that So it was very much censored in those ways and but I still can't believe that in 2023
Starting point is 00:14:37 We are still facing some of the very same challenges Fast for a rip everyone 20 years and you cannot say a lot of stuff on Instagram, on TikTok. It's a huge risk to be accurate. Yes. But you know what, thank you for paving the way. I mean, there were so many sex and relationship podcasts now and you were really a trailblazer
Starting point is 00:14:58 and I just want people to understand that about you. How tough that was, how brave that was. And I think a lot of people look at you, look at us and we're like these nice midwestern girls and we're people, pleasers. You and I have that in common all the way. I always say that you're nicer than I am. But I think that people really need to understand
Starting point is 00:15:21 how tough you were and how brave to do that and how it opened the way for so many really, literally hundreds of relationship podcasts. They wouldn't be here if it weren't for you. So I just want to say, thank you. Thank you for saying that. At the time there really wasn't anyone to go to. There was Dr. Ruth and Kinsey Institute, but there really wasn't, right? There's at the time.
Starting point is 00:15:46 And so now I love that there's so many young people who are interested and there is a little bit less shame around it, maybe not on social media, but I think that we live in a bubble. We live in a bubble of relatively shameless bubble, but like we're talking about, we come up against the culture at large that is still so incredibly messed up about this. And you slipped around it. Okay, I have a deeper question about why you went into the study of sexuality. What were the childhood attitudes around you about sexuality? Was there a lot of communication about it? Was it a mystery? There wasn't a lot of communication around it. It was more like, and I didn't have a lot of the shame,
Starting point is 00:16:26 which I like. I didn't grow up in an environment where it wasn't okay to be sexual. There just wasn't a lot of information about sex. And let me set the scene a little bit for people. You grew up in the Midwest in a suburb of Detroit. You're from a Jewish family, culture and ecology always plays into our relationship
Starting point is 00:16:45 as sexuality. I have met your mom and she seems like a pretty open person. But in your book, you get into a little bit how you had an encounter with your mom about. We don't want to give away too much about this incredible, but there's one really cool part about something. Okay, well, a lot of people read that part about it. Parents are cool and open, many are, but yet they still don't know how to talk to their kids about sex. Even in 2023, I talk to a lot of friends who have kids,
Starting point is 00:17:20 and you know this too, it's very hard to know what are the right things to say to kids today because I think that parents didn't have the education around it. And so they don't wanna be the one home where their kids are going home with their friends and saying like, you know, so and so is mom or you know, said this about sex
Starting point is 00:17:36 and they're the ones who are teaching the kids everything. So I think parents are still very confused about. But back then, I think my mom said to me, if you have any questions about sex, ask me. And I think that a lot of parents take that stand still. And the challenge around that is kids don't really know the questions to ask or they think they know everything.
Starting point is 00:17:57 Yeah, that's a great point. Yeah, I mean, as a mom, I encountered this issue early on. And you know, I have a funny story to share which is that one of my kids I won't tell you which one you know was in the process of learning to read and I got my kids this book that a girlfriend of mine recommended she's a real free spirit and it was I think the book was called it's perfectly normal and I just put it in my kids's room, right? My kid who was in the process of learning to read.
Starting point is 00:18:27 Literally 20 minutes later, my kid comes out with the book open in his hands. He goes, mom, this is the best book I've ever read. He was into it. How long is it? I, well, you know, learning to read was a process. But he must have been about seven at the time when it all starts to come together.
Starting point is 00:18:49 So maybe he was a little older, and it was the way I got him interested in reading was to help him get some positive messages about sexuality. I have made so many mistakes as a parent, but like I felt like that was a good one. So my strategy was just to have books around. So my kids could pick them up and that maybe could spark a conversation. But you know, I love it. It's a great way to do it.
Starting point is 00:19:10 I love your point that it might not necessarily be enough to say any questions you have. Ask me because kids don't necessarily know the question. I wouldn't have known the question. And also the information that's out there is kind of misleading. And the thing that I also find with kids today,
Starting point is 00:19:26 a lot of young women who I talk to and men, but they'll say, oh, maybe they're 15 or 18, like this is more like friends kids, or they'll say, oh, how do I, like if they're with men, like how do I give a good blow job? Or how do I, how do I, basically, it's how do I please a partner? And I think when they finally get the courage
Starting point is 00:19:44 to ask a question, they want to know about, how do I perform, how do I please a partner? And I think when they finally get the courage to ask a question, they want to know about how do I perform, how do I do this thing. So that's what concerns me is that even if they do have the questions once they get up the nerve, or once they find someone's talk to, they're not asking is like, how do I have more pleasure? How do I experience joy and pleasure? Because I know for me, one of my problems around sex was that I didn't have a lot of
Starting point is 00:20:05 pleasure. I felt I love the kissing and the making out and the foreplay but actual penetration which is what sex is so centered around and what I'm trying to change in smart sex and in the work I do and I know you do too is not centering everything on penetration. Please. It's not all that P and the V is not all that exactly so and only 17% of women who like penetrative set Who have penetrative sex can have an orgasm from it? Okay, that's less than one and five women if you can't Don't even worry about it exactly But no one was telling us that but I think that a lot of young people and young men are still they don't have this information yet So great the question they have to be asking is about what they do learn in schools is, you know, the same stuff we did, like
Starting point is 00:20:49 how a pregnancy works or your menstruation cycle, STDs, STIs, but nothing about pleasure. So that's what's still absent in the conversation about. And that's what I love about this book. It's so pleasure centered. And that helps me kind of pivot to the next question that I had for you tied to your book question that I had for you. Tied to your book and tied to your whole career.
Starting point is 00:21:09 So many people don't even know what good sex is. They think it's a performance. What is your definition as a sexist, as a person who went from not liking sex that much to telling people how to get their pleasure on. What is good sex? I think good sex, we all get to decide first off what good sex is. It's an individual decision. So what might be great sex to me might not be great sex to you.
Starting point is 00:21:36 And in fact, we're close, we know by chance sex lives, so I'm not sure that we would let the same thing sometimes. I love to let people know that you get to decide what good sex is. But the overall experience of good sex I think would be where you feel safe, you feel emotionally physically safe, you feel pleasure in your body. Most the time that you're doing it. So you feel physically and emotionally safe and you're feeling pleasure and sometimes it might even be pleasure
Starting point is 00:22:00 Emotional pleasure that you're doing a position that you know your partner likes, but your own Feeling pleasure feeling it you have is there. Also feeling pleasure. I'm feeling pleasure. I'm feeling comfortable in my body. I'm not like uncomfortable or in a weird position. And that's undoing the performance, my. Exactly. So I know what I hear from young people asking me is like, what about my orgasm face or
Starting point is 00:22:18 what if I look awkward? There's a lot of like people worrying about how they look. So for me, it's dissolving of my ego. I'm not thinking about how I look. So for me, it's the dissolving of my ego. I'm not thinking about how I look or how I'm performing at all. You're in the present pleasurable moment. This is a term that Emily Morris taught me. It's a mashup of Buddhism and sexology that only Emily Morris could do.
Starting point is 00:22:39 The present pleasurable moment. It changed my life. What did I tell you? You just said sex is about the pleasurable moment. It changed my life. What did I tell you? You just said sex is about the pleasures being able to give yourself the gift of the present moment pleasurable moment. Okay, so these are some of your pleasures. Pleasure is presence.
Starting point is 00:22:56 Pleasure is presence. Right, instead of and what you mean by that, I think if I'm understanding correctly, is you're not like, how do I look in the mirror? You can't show it. I said, my stomach and did it. It's like feeling it, being it and having it. I'm really present with this moment, with this person, with this situation, I'm in my body, I am embodied. It's consensual.
Starting point is 00:23:15 And yeah, I'm present to what's happening, and I'm fully aware I'm not disassociating, I'm not wishing I wasn't here. I'm not like, oh, I've got to turn the lights off or on. You know, so I'm impressed. And present. That is true. What else? It, oh, I've got to turn the lights off or on. You know, so I'm impressed. And that is you. So what else? It's pleasure.
Starting point is 00:23:27 I've got enough lube. I've got toys, cards. If I should need those. I'm with a trusting partner. Yeah. Yeah. And you feel safe. And what do I miss?
Starting point is 00:23:38 What am I able to be present? Yeah. I don't know that there's so much more to it than that. It's not great. Like it wasn't about penis size. It wasn't about my breasts. It wasn't about how you look. How I looked. It was about being present.
Starting point is 00:23:47 It's not even about an orgasm, per se. It's not even necessarily about me having an orgasm. So let's talk about this. When in your life history, as we say in anthropology, when did you start experiencing sexual pleasure? I would say that my most pleasurable sex really started when I started doing the show when I started studying sex and becoming a student of sex and realizing that I had to kind of unlearn what I was doing and relearn
Starting point is 00:24:17 how to be present with my body. Which is what I want smart sex to do for many people. I want people to know that wherever you're at right now, you can start from there, you can wipe the slate clean, you can start over, you can start from wherever, and just like say, okay, well today I'm gonna start to learn how to be a little bit more, it's actually present aware, it's actually intelligence.
Starting point is 00:24:37 So I did it 35, I started to think like, okay, well I can't fake this anymore. I'm going to ask for what I want. I'm gonna learn that my orgasms have to come about in different ways, not in traditional ways. And I focus on partners that understood that, that weren't intimidated, that were interested in my pleasure, as well as their own.
Starting point is 00:24:56 And sometimes I had to teach them that, but I was okay with it. And usually they were happy to follow suit. Luckily I think I've chosen partners who are more open to that. But in the past, I didn't. OK. But now I'm just like, oh, it was a process.
Starting point is 00:25:08 It was like a reeducation process. It reminds me of when I thought I knew how to play tennis. I had just taught myself. And then I go to Central Park and I have this really cool tennis instructor. And he watches me play for a while. And he said, OK, we have to change everything. I said, what do you mean we have to change everything?
Starting point is 00:25:24 He said, do you want to look like you're playing tennis? Or do you want to really play tennis? And when it comes to sex, I want to really play tennis. And in your book, as much as I've studied sex, cross culturally, as many women as I've interviewed, as many experts as I've interviewed, looking at the worldwide ethnographic data, blah, blah, blah. Your book was so helpful to me in terms of what is sex for me, what do I want sex to be? But you know, I love that this is part of your book too, and I love that you're sharing your journey with people that you are having crappy sex. Okay? Yes, it happens,
Starting point is 00:26:04 and it's a commitment. I think part of what I love about your book and I won't give away too much, but you give people permission to commit to a pleasurable sex life. And you tell people pleasure is health. Can you say a little bit more about that? I think it's important that we look at pleasure
Starting point is 00:26:24 as part of our overall health and wellness. It's not the kind of thing that we have to put on the back burner or we compartmentalize. I think that's the other thing. I want sex to be under the wellness umbrella of how the wellness, I think that if you are mentally and physically healthy in all these ways, but yet you have all these challenges around sex or you don't feel good in your body or sex something that you hope will just go away one day and you want to deal with it. That I would say that overall,
Starting point is 00:26:48 that there's some work to do there and you can't just say you're overall healthy. If we have sexual issues, they're going to impact our overall wellness. I mean, I've heard you say, and I've said that people think that pleasure is the icing on the cake, but it's actually the cake
Starting point is 00:27:04 and it's actually the vegetables, right? It's like, it's the healthy part. The pleasure is that mechanically having sex with your partner or somebody just because you feel you're supposed to or it's good for the relationship or whatever we call that service sex, as you know. But the difference between service sex
Starting point is 00:27:24 where you're doing it for the good of the relationship, to keep your partner happy, because society says you should. And the kind of sex you're talking about, smart sex, the gap is so huge between those two different kinds of sex. And people have so many questions, and I just want them to know that these questions will be answered in this book, which has been amazing for me. Okay, I have some personal questions. I have some personal questions.
Starting point is 00:27:50 We talked a little bit about sexual intelligence. Would you please just tell us, you said being embodied is really important and being present. Is there one more thing, and by the way, she gets into it in such detail in this book, but is there one more thing, and by the way, she gets into it in such detail in this book, but is there one more thing you're willing to share about what you think makes for smart sex? It's hard to pick one of my favorite. I know. There's so many good
Starting point is 00:28:15 things in there. Self acceptance is one of them. Accepting my body and accepting my, it level experience and where I'm at at any given day, any given moment with any given partner. So accepting myself and not being tripped up on how I'm looking or how I'm feeling and realizing that that's just a really important part of it. Like I can easily get in my own way of pleasure.
Starting point is 00:28:39 But realizing that if I accept myself and I love myself or even like myself, that day, that moment, that sex will be that much better. Self-awareness is healthy sex to me. Yes. Self-awareness and self-acceptance. Self-acceptance is pleasure. Your book is so inclusive. But one of the things I love about your messaging
Starting point is 00:28:58 is that you also frame how self-acceptance can be a very radical act if you're a minoritized person. For women, self acceptance is such an act of rebellion for a lot of queer people who were told, look, your sexuality is there's something shameful about it. For people of color who have been, you know, experiencing racial stereotypes their whole life about their sexuality, that they're hypersexual, oh, that they're like- Fetishized, there's-
Starting point is 00:29:29 Fetishized objects. So I love how you talk about how self-acceptance is harder for some of us. Yes. That was one of the most important interventions that I saw in your book was the inclusiveness and always the acknowledgement. Don't assume this is something that somebody can easily do.
Starting point is 00:29:50 This is work, especially from an advertised people. Yes, absolutely. Absolutely. Yes, it's important for all of us to work on that. I'm not going to tease anymore about your book, which comes out a week from today and such huge congratulations. And everybody just pre-order it, order it, do all the things. I'm now gonna pivot to some more personal questions
Starting point is 00:30:13 because I am on a mission for people to have the opportunity to know the most you're comfortable disclosing. Okay. Because people feel so connected to you. First thing I wanna say is that, Dr. Emily Morris, you and Todd Barrett's at your diagnosis, are two people in my life who I met when I came to LA,
Starting point is 00:30:32 and you really changed the way I thought about friendship, because you had such next level connection skills, compassion skills, and pathic skills, and real curiosity within the friendship. This is a question that somebody sent me to ask you, but I have the question too. Are the same skills that you see in a person who's a good friend? Are those the skills that make people a great lover as well, not that I want to have sex with you, all the maybe I do. Well, first, I am just very, I'm, you got the clamped.
Starting point is 00:31:12 Emily Morse, when I moved to LA, I'm just gonna, I'm gonna let her cry for a minute. When I first moved to LA, there was this terrible dark moment when I was so sad and lonely. And I knew you from podcasts and our work. And I realized that you were here. And I reached out to you and you were so receptive. It's so rare in a big metropolitan city where people are rushing and it was so rare during COVID for people to have the bandwidth and the skills to say yes I'm here you know and then it it has been a next level friendship. Oh Wednesday thank you you ruined other friends for me.
Starting point is 00:32:01 Wednesday you are just I just love you so much. You are such a dear friend. Well, we met because you are my podcast for your book Untrue, which is brilliant. You've all heard me. I talk about, I quote your book all the time. And you came in to the studio, and it was probably, it was 2018 now, and I just was, first of all, I was nervous, intimidated, interview,
Starting point is 00:32:19 because I thought your book was so, my version of your book is like dog ear, and highlighted. I was just so excited. You were such fantastic interview, but you were so dear like that night. You're like, oh, come to our house for dinner. And you invited you for Shabbat.
Starting point is 00:32:31 For Shabbat dinner. And you were so open. And then when somebody told me that you would move to your to LA, I was just so thrilled. And I just feel like our friendship is it is next level. And it's so special. And it's rare. And I'm just sitting here.
Starting point is 00:32:44 It's so rare watching you. Because I want to tell you guys about Emily Morris because this is about revealing a little bit more of her. You have been there. Emily Morris has been there ghost writing my texts to my boyfriends with whom I'm having problems. Giving me advice about my relationship with my husband which has been so helpful.
Starting point is 00:33:03 I love that you helped me. Right, I'm afraid the boyfriend texts. And literally like text. I'm like, can you help me? And you're like, sure. And not only are you writing the text for me, which is helping me, you're teaching me, but it's so natural.
Starting point is 00:33:20 And that's the thing about you as an expert. It comes from, like I said, your relationship skills and you have these relationships with literally millions of people who listen to your work. So now we're going to get into who you are a little bit and if you're not comfortable with it, you can just say, hey, I'm not going to answer that. I'm open, but let's go back to the friendship thing. So I want to talk about being a friend is that that's always been something like, I don't know, I feel like I so value my human my relationships with with with with everyone really
Starting point is 00:33:49 But that's been something that I've always prioritized. I've chosen not to have family I've been that I have children of my own okay That's it. You know, and I think that for me my friends ships are my family Yes, and I feel like you've been a family like my mom was in town like you came over we all hung out They keep you at the when asking, when's it? I love when's it? I love them. But I feel like to me, and I think it is,
Starting point is 00:34:08 I think if you are no or somebody who has, you know, empathy and emotional intelligence, that yeah, I think that that does probably both well for your ability to be in a healthy, romantic relationship as well as a healthy friend. Thank you for bringing me back to the point with my ADHD. Because yeah, that was the question, you know, and so I guess one of the best things that I've learned from my friendship with you is it's good to raise the bar.
Starting point is 00:34:36 And when you raise the bar and have higher expectations, when you grow yourself, as I've grown, reading your words in a friendship with you, listening to your podcast. Sometimes when you grow, it ruins relationships. But you end up with people who really can be there with you and present and meet your expectations and you can meet theirs. And I don't know, it's just been a beautiful journey with you. Stick around because when we're back, Wednesday asked me top questions from her listeners and the book, like, have I ever been a woman? You guys had questions for Dr. F. This is from your audience, right?
Starting point is 00:35:24 This is from my audience. And we can find you on Instagram. What's your Instagram? Uh, when's day martin PhD? When's day martin PhD? Yeah, okay. Here's the thing. I posted a story to Instagram.
Starting point is 00:35:36 What would you like to know about Dr. Emily Morse? I was overwhelmed. And here are some of the questions. Okay. In no particular order. I love people's curiosity about you. And by the way, all these questions were tingeed with love and admiration. So many, so many Emily Morse fans have such big crushes on Emily Morse. And I'm sorry, but your crush is going to be even worse than her.
Starting point is 00:36:03 Did you know her a little better? Okay, have you ever been with a younger man? Would you date someone 20 years younger? I have such a crush on you. So is that an invitation? Yes, I have dated younger man. In fact, for a long time, I did. I had a series of younger male, boyfriends. How much younger were they?
Starting point is 00:36:22 I would say the youngest was probably, maybe 20 years younger. 20 years younger, so there's hope for this guy. Yeah, exactly, maybe. Let's see. Is he with you? And you know, in anthropology, we call them age, hypogamous relationships,
Starting point is 00:36:36 because in anthropology, we can ruin anything sexy with a technical term for it. So age, hypogamy, meaning, and usually, when we think of it, right, we're thinking of older men and younger women, but things have sort of flipped recently. And now older women and younger men is kind of a thing. I can notice that. I notice it. I'm going to think about that. I remember when I first started the show and there's so many things like I go back and listen, I'm like, oh God, that would not fly today or
Starting point is 00:37:02 it's cringey. But I remember one of my first years was doing the show, I heard the term Cougar. I never heard that before. So at the time, it was like 2005. Yeah. Remember Cougar, like older and I very much. And I don't know if people still use that word term anymore. Maybe it's sort of dated, but I never knew why there was
Starting point is 00:37:16 in a term for an older man dating younger woman. But I don't know if it's just now, it's more, if it's marketed or there's been more media attention to it, but I don't know, I think since the beginning of time, I think that men have found older women attractive because of our wisdom, our experience, and our hotness, and knowing who we are.
Starting point is 00:37:33 I mean, have you seen a, I've seen, yeah, I have seen a shift in the culture where young men are feeling that it's like a feather in their cap to be with an older woman, whether it's like that it's like a feather in their cap to be with an older woman, whether it's like that it's something on their bucket list, or like you said, they enjoy our maturity and experience and find that hot that were established, whatever it is. Sometimes, guys find it hot that like I'm, you know, just 57, like just that fact is hot to them. And I think that is kind of, there's a new,
Starting point is 00:38:06 maybe there's a new culture, more of a cultural acceptance about it. But yeah, and then I've heard Kougur, and I've heard Sugar Mama, and there are two very different things. Very different things. We'll talk about that in a minute. Yeah, but no, I haven't seen that, and I just think, I think, and I think this whole, yeah, I've definitely seen it, and I have.
Starting point is 00:38:23 Okay, so that's fine. It's a good time. To the follower who asked that question, maybe there's no for you. But I'm not sure because another question that came in is somebody said, can you talk about your decision to be single and to not have children? And I want to tack one other little thing on there, which is that in your 50s for the first time in your life, you decided to live with a partner. So could you just talk about this in our living room? As much as you're comfortable with it. which is that in your 50s for the first time in your life, you decided to live with a partner.
Starting point is 00:38:45 So could you just talk about this? Sitting in our living room. As much as you're comfortable with it. I could talk about all of these things. Yeah, so for me, I was always on this path that I wanted to find a way to really make a difference in the world, to empower others and myself to make change. Like that's what got me excited.
Starting point is 00:39:02 That's what got me up in the morning, which is why I talked about starting in politics and organizing around women's issues and then around sex. I was like, how do we not have all this information other? So I've been very passionate about the freedom to explore whether it's career or places or people. And that's what got me going in the morning. But when I looked at relationships and I looked at monogamy and I looked at raising children, it just didn't, it wasn't a hell yes. It just never, I never felt that, and I didn't feel pressure from my family,
Starting point is 00:39:35 and I think a lot of people have, you know, family pressure when you get married, when you get a kid, I think some people have that, and some people just immediately have their biological clock and they feel that. And I just thought, I didn't have either one of those things. And so I just really had this, but I loved my life and I loved it by friends and I loved having freedom.
Starting point is 00:39:53 I always really valued freedom over commitment and I think children and relationships were sort of just, I don't know, was it really didn't speak to me. I mean, that was really the decision. And I think that some people feel this guilt around, like, oh, well, what if I regret it? And I don't really believe in regrets.
Starting point is 00:40:11 I believe that you do the best you can in the moment. You make decisions day by day that are serving you where you're at as much analogies you have. And so for me to look back at, oh, I wish I would've could've showed up. I just don't do that. I don't do that about life. I don't do that about these decisions.
Starting point is 00:40:26 And so, and also to be really friggin' honest, because that's what we're doing here, I know myself so well that I was like, I don't think that raising children, like I always felt that certain things were hard for me, right, and they still are. And you know me as a dear friend, but like executive functioning, Getting out the door,
Starting point is 00:40:45 making sure that I have my keys, my water bottle, my wallet, my phone, was like a journey sometimes. And then to think that I'm responsible for another human's ability to get their keys and their water and their phone, right? And again, being old and I realized like, oh, you have a partner and you might be better at that than you are,
Starting point is 00:41:06 but you bring the love and I get all that partnership. You find, you match with somebody who's better at getting people out the door. But yeah, but at the years when that was happening, I was like, this just doesn't seem like it would be, but I always have loved kids and love teaching people. I love my niece, I love my friends, because all the things I love, I love
Starting point is 00:41:22 I love talking around young people. It's like, one of my favorite things I get more of, I get energy by being around kids and young people, but I just never made that connection if I'm like, oh, and I wish I had a quicker answer for it, but people, no one would ever ask me to say that. No, we needed to hear. Publicly, and so that's the one thing about kids,
Starting point is 00:41:36 and I just, yeah, that was my thing. And now it's funny, because I think a lot of young people today, for the first time ever, because I want to say something now, being in my 50s, it was very, very rare. I didn't have any friends at the time who didn't want kids. And I maybe had one.
Starting point is 00:41:51 And now I meet a lot of young people, and who knows, they might change, but they were like, I don't want it, and they feel fine with that, and it's much more commonplace. Yes. And you're all gonna be fine with the vibe, and you might have a little side.
Starting point is 00:42:00 You were an outlier at a certain time, but you had the same desire so many women had, which was to be child free. And that, you know, and I love how part of your lesson there is about regret. You say that you don't go and revisit decisions. You do your best in the moment and then you move forward. I mean, what a great formula for a happy sex life and a happy life. I see that in you. You are not a person who revisits things and says, oh god, why did I how could I blood?
Starting point is 00:42:29 And that's part of you being present. Okay, let's pivot to another. Oh, we did really talk about it. Oh, the relationship. So then relationships, yeah. And I was always in sort of relationships that were monogamy, I've tried a little bit of everything. But then, yeah, I don't know, I met, I met a man.
Starting point is 00:42:43 He was wonderful. And we thought, we were already spending a lot of time together and we thought, I don't know. I met I met a man. He was wonderful and we thought we already spending a lot of time together We thought let's try it. Let's move it together. So here we are about nine months in it's new it's seven months in seven months in Living together Doctor and more you know no one can believe it former bachelor at forever. I was a bachelor Forever a bachelor my refrigerator. There was like champagne and mustard for years. My friends would joke like all you have are condiments in your refrigerator.
Starting point is 00:43:09 And now I've like sliced vegetables and fruit. So living together with your partner has ushered in a whole new relationship. It sounds like it's like a third person. There's you, there's him, and there's the relationship. And the relationship is buying sliced vegetables. Yeah, exactly. And a lot of fun things.
Starting point is 00:43:29 I figured this is time to experience it. So yeah, we're experiencing it. It's a good time. I love, I want to try everything, right? I want to try it all out and see how it goes. But I'm learning, and I feel like all these years, I've been helping people and setting relationships, you know, a lot of those skills are important right now.
Starting point is 00:43:44 And it's just so great. You can be on any timeline. That's what you've modeled for me. You can be on any timeline you want. You can live on your own independently, and then in your 50s, you can change your mind and say, I want to try living with my boyfriend, my girlfriend, my person. Exactly. Or for you Wednesday, which we talk about in the book too, about being, and also people want to listen to the past episode that Wednesday's been on, but talk about being in open relationship about being, and also people want to listen to the past episode that Wednesday's been on, but talk about being in open relationship after being married for 20 years. 23 years. It's been Wednesday, a lot of this stuff I know, but I can just turn the mic on you, but
Starting point is 00:44:13 that is such a great, a great model for our community. I think it all can work out. And that's part of what I love about smarter sex is that you're saying that part of smarter sex is arranging things the way that works for you and your partner. For me and my partner what works is living apart literally my husband jokes that he snores so we sleep on separate coasts. I love him so much. It just had a nice long weekend with him, but we live on separate coasts and we're married and we're open. And your book and your example, I think, are giving people permission to think in creative ways about relationships, time frames, what they want.
Starting point is 00:44:50 I love that about your work. Thank you. All right, shall we go to other questions? Let's go. There were so many. Have you done a threesome? And if so, how did you make sure it didn't turn into a disaster with hurt feelings and stuff? That's a great question. Yes, I have had three songs. They've been
Starting point is 00:45:09 fun. How did I make sure? Because I just, I think it's about like what I was thinking about having a healthy sex, you pick someone that you trusted partners, people that you that you feel good with. I didn't just jump into it. I wasn't really drunk and I wasn't really messed up and it wasn't a last minute thing. It wasn't, you know, it was just sort of, I don't know, you're saying have a plan. Have a plan. Be with people that you trust that you feel good with. I think, and if it doesn't feel good, I actually had an aborted three so once.
Starting point is 00:45:38 Oh, right. I remember just being called out with my friend and being aborted because it just wasn't, it didn't feel good. I realized it wasn't like that, but I wasn't really into the, either one of them. And I, instead of being a pleaser, which I probably used to think, and I read about this in the book, how I used to think that you couldn't stop sex once it started, I thought that you was like, impolite. If things didn't feel good, you gotta keep going, because like, blue balls and all this stuff.
Starting point is 00:45:56 I was like, no, you guys, neither one of these, I'm out, but you got it. And then I left them to have sex with each other. But most of my three subs besides that, they were good because I just, I think I knew how to communicate, how to get make sure that everyone was having a good time. And again, I was people that I felt safe with and that I was trapped in. That's great.
Starting point is 00:46:16 I mean, just things to know. I might throw in one other thing. Yes, throw a thing which is, just if you are the person who has initiated the threesome, you best not be only or mainly paying attention to the third. That you've invited in. Yes, that's such a no. There is an etiquette to this.
Starting point is 00:46:34 Spread the love, spread the attention, spread the dick, or the, you know, who revolve, whatever, whoever initiated this, you best make it. That is such good advice. Yeah, how would you, what else would you add to that? People, like, I always want three some tips. Nothing, I love your three some tips. I mean, I think those are the good things.
Starting point is 00:46:52 I'm gonna talk about it. Don't just fall into it. Don't be wasted. Sorry, no judgments, but like, I don't think it's a thing. Yeah. So have a plan. Be with people you trust and respect and can communicate really well with and like
Starting point is 00:47:06 If you initiate it and remember to pay attention to your partner Exactly that is just not a good thing right pay attention to everybody you're all Maybe I would say after care like sometimes a third can feel really left out by the couple afterwards So after care is really nice check in with your partner, but check in with the third. Exactly. And also it's good to have the third ahead of time, like how it's gonna end. Like, are they sleeping over? Where's it gonna end? Are you guys cuddling?
Starting point is 00:47:30 Are you leaving? It's important, because sometimes it's a little bit unknown. And I think it's important if you are the third to kind of have clear boundaries ahead of time. I love that. I have a plan. Okay, here we go.
Starting point is 00:47:39 This is so cute. What do your parents think about your work? My parents are cool with my work. They are. I think for many years my mom used to say that I had a dating show and not a sexual show. Okay. Because that was more acceptable.
Starting point is 00:47:53 Are there healthy kinks? Do you and Wednesday have any kinks? This is about you. You go first. You go first. Me go first? Yes. I have one of the weirdest kinks.
Starting point is 00:48:02 Oh my god, what is it? I have a money kink. Oh, let's talk about that. Yes, I have one of the weirdest kinks. Oh my god. What is it? I have a money kink. Oh Let's talk about that. I just like it when somebody pays for me I Like being spoiled and I think it's very counterintuitive, you know because I'm very I Outwardly I'm super competent and she doesn't need their money percent. Right. It's just that I like it. Yeah. I know.
Starting point is 00:48:27 I have a money, Kink, and I accept it, and I think it's healthy. Oh, God, I love it. This is one of the reasons that I love Wednesday Martin so much is because I remember one of our first times we went out here that you showed me your dating profile. And I think we talked about it on the episode. You were on, but you literally full out say exactly what you're looking for that you want to be spoiled. What is the word I like to be pursued?
Starting point is 00:48:46 I like to be spoiled. And I like people who are sane and sober. If you haven't done the work, don't like the photo. Yeah. And by the way, she's been very busy. She's had a lot of suitors. It is like her dance card's very, very full. Okay, now.
Starting point is 00:49:04 And I just think that clarity, I use that example all the time for people, and I say to them, I pray, like, because Wednesday, we often hear people who say, like, oh, I don't wanna say exactly what I'm looking for, because what if it turns people off? I'm like, how great! Like, you're saving yourself so much time
Starting point is 00:49:19 to be specific on the exact people. These apps are your opportunity to just say, like, I only wanna be with a guy who's sober. I only wanna be with a guy who's six, two, sorry, I have a height k say like I only want to be with a guy who's sober I only want to be with a guy who's six two. Sorry. I have a height kink. I only want this I only want that yet's an opportunity to do that But let's talk about kinks in general because one of the things that some shrinks have told me is we leave kinks alone They bring people pleasure and this follower is asking are are there healthy kinks? I don't know that they're any unhealthy kinks
Starting point is 00:49:45 unless they're non-consensual. Exactly. If it's healthy and it's consensual and you're about to communicate it and you find a good collaborating partner and everyone feels good and they're having pleasure. Right. You're guys, it's not like you're stealing their ATM card.
Starting point is 00:49:57 Right. They're willingly buying you Chanel suits, which I am in such awe of. I want to, can I change my kink? Can I sign up for that kink? But I don't know that I have a kink. Do you have a strong preference? Yeah, because let's define kink is like,
Starting point is 00:50:18 it's just kind of like, yeah, it's like a strong erotic preference. You say that? Yeah, let's say that. I think we share one. We do. Height. Height.
Starting point is 00:50:29 God, I never say that on this show because I feel like a short man feel bad. Short people, but yeah, I like it. That's okay. They might have a king too. Yeah, I like tall. You like tall. Okay. Both do.
Starting point is 00:50:42 Yeah, I do. I do. You told me that one of the things you about your boyfriend is he he's tall and you just want to climb up him And I love that that's just beautiful. I love that he's yeah, I love these tall and I love that he's kind Honestly, I think he's you have a kind I do I do so when he's just a kind and good He's such a good a good man and that's so important to me like his really great morals Yeah, he's hot and he's down and he's such a good man. And that's so important to me. Like, his really great morals. Yeah. And he's hot and he's down and he can be dominant,
Starting point is 00:51:10 which I, we know, when I require that. Yeah. And that's hot too. Love that. Thanks for sharing some of your kinks with us. Yeah, I'm sure the person who asked is going to be thrilled, but I'm also thrilled. Okay, Emily, love your work.
Starting point is 00:51:24 Have you ever been with a woman? I have. I've dabbled and I've never dated a woman full on in a relationship, but I've explored women. And it was fun. Do you feel comfortable talking about what you especially liked about that and what made you feel brave enough to follow up on your curiosity? Yes, the first time was actually at a sex party and this was really, it was so fun being new at something. And I think actually maybe many people listening are actually new on their sexual journey too, right? Like I think if I was 35, I'm gonna have a sex party.
Starting point is 00:51:58 Even people probably haven't been to sex parties or experienced things like that. And it's never too late. So hopefully everyone's starting now, but it was so fun being new in this field and in this world and realizing people were so open to sexuality and to exploring. So I was at a sex party and there was a woman
Starting point is 00:52:14 and she was really, I found her really attractive and she was kinda hitting on me and we made out and touched each other's bodies at the sex party. That was my first experience and I think I just felt, I was in a really open environment. And that's the thing about sex parties too. I think people picture them being, that we did a whole show on it.
Starting point is 00:52:30 If you guys want to check out our sex party episode, definitely check it out. But I think that people think, oh, it's just people having sex the whole time, and that does happen. However, you're with like really consensual, like-minded people, and you might feel safer at a sex party
Starting point is 00:52:44 than you feel at a club or at a bar meeting somebody because you know everyone's there, to for pleasure, to feel good, to make everyone feel good. So that felt great. And then I think the other one was when I really got into it, it was like in the threesome, there was a couple once. And I don't know, I just felt safe and open exploring.
Starting point is 00:52:59 Being with a woman too, I was like, oh, I know what to do. I know what I would want to do. Oh, it would feel good to me. And so let me just see that feels good to her. And it did. It was kind of fun. It was like, I only knew my own Volvo, my own vagina, but to really kind of get to give that to someone else who mirrored my parts. It was really hot. Yeah. Yeah. It sounds like it. This is one of the things that I want people to really understand about you is your openness.
Starting point is 00:53:26 Sometimes I ask you for advice, you ask me for advice, we ask each other for support, and sometimes you ask each other for advice. I don't think that I have ever had you come to me for advice, and I tell you something, like maybe this would work for you, I've read about this, I've tried this about whether it's our mental health, our relationships, whatever it is. I don't think I've ever heard you say, I'm not gonna try that.
Starting point is 00:53:51 You're one of my friends who, when you come to me for advice, I always try to be very careful about advice because I'm an Allen on. And we don't really like tell anybody what to do, we stay on our side of the street, whatever. But so many times I have thought about how open you are to experiences and advice and really listening and really taking things in. And it's amazing how it's improved your sex life that you are like open in general.
Starting point is 00:54:21 Yeah, I love that. And I love that you shared that experience with the woman with us. Thank you. Have you been in the moment? Yes, I have. You know, I don't know if you're listeners know about the Kinsey scale, but it is a really fun scale that's basically zero. I'm completely heterosexual. And is it, does it go up to five or six? Six, but it goes zero to six. Okay. Yeah, and I have girlfriends who are an absolute zero. Meaning zero just only under- Exactly, only under-
Starting point is 00:54:51 Yeah, only under- Only under- And then I have people, friends and mine, who are like threes. I think I actually did an assessment and I was like a two. Okay. So I have been with women in three sums.
Starting point is 00:55:07 For sure, and I had that same experience that you did, where I just enjoyed like, hey, I've kind of been expert at this because I've been doing this for a while. I mean, every vulva and clitoris and gin are different, but it was, I had that same thing that you did. I also just had this feeling on them, several occasions, maybe a dozen, when I've been with women, that it was about the person.
Starting point is 00:55:31 I just found this person so incredibly sexy, and their gender didn't really matter to me. And I have a question for you, because this brings up the whole thing about sexual fluidity, right? We all have an orientation. Our orientation is a real thing. And in the book you talk about sexual fluidity, some of us, not all of us, have this other thing, fluidity. And we might act on it or not. And we're more likely to act on it as we age, which was so blue in my mind.
Starting point is 00:56:05 But are you sexually fluid? What can you say to people who are? What do you want to tell them about? I think that it's OK. I want to give people permission to look at sexuality and attraction and who you're attracted to as a, I don't know, as sort of an experience where you're actually really embodied when you make decisions about who you're attracted to as a, I don't know, it's sort of an experience
Starting point is 00:56:25 where you're actually really embodied when you make decisions about who you want to sleep with or how you want to present yourself and that you get to decide in the moment and when you take away all the pressures of society or what you thought was attractive yesterday or last year, you could kind of set that aside and be present with a person in front of you
Starting point is 00:56:43 and find like, do I find this person attractive or do I feel? Energy circulating my body do they make me feel a certain way and pay attention to those feelings rather than letting your head letting your brain decide who you're attracted to so I think a full-body Yes of attraction is the way to follow is the way to go into situations So I was encouraged people because I think that I think that a lot of women can identify or both of the older's kind identifies being more.
Starting point is 00:57:07 I think that's the thing about the Kenji Stales like that they always said that they're women. And I'd love to hear what you think about this. That women are more of like, oh, was there the one or a two? Were more likely to be flexible, right? Or were like to be attracted to different genders, but were men, most men are like a zero. Yeah. But I'm wondering if that is true, meaning, or if it's just more that men don't feel that
Starting point is 00:57:34 there's any way that it is safe for them to explore. I think it's the latter because you know what I want to tell you. I know you love her as much as I do. So I interviewed Lisa Diamond and it's so aligned with your message about permission. So I interviewed her and I said, what is this stuff about women being more sexually fluid than men? And she said, funny, you should say that because she basically, that was her first finding that women are just inherently more fluid than men. Then, so she published that data. Then she did another study. And what came out of the study was a paper that she wrote called I Was Wrong. And I love this about this diamond. So what she found is, before she had been talking to men 35 and older, maybe 40 and older, she then found a group of younger men in Salt Lake City of all places, which is a really super conservative in certain ways, but she found these younger men. And she asked them the same question, one of which
Starting point is 00:58:38 was, you know, do you watch porn of men? You stated that you're heterosexual, but do you watch pornography with men on men action? And a really large proportion of them said, yes, a really large proportion of them answered questions in ways that show that they were sexually fluid. And Lisa Diamond said, it's really more about socialization, that when you're old, you tend to have perceived more negative messaging as a man that somehow you're old, you tend to have received more negative messaging as a man that somehow you're in less of a man if you're attracted to men.
Starting point is 00:59:09 Hello, I always, I was always like, when I was a kid, I was like, wait, doesn't that make you more of a man? Yeah, exactly. Right. But anyway, so that, you're so right that it's about permission and that's what you found. You can't keep your permission to explore it.
Starting point is 00:59:24 That's what, okay. There is that. She found that. She found that. Okay, there is a great part, my favorite part, personally, of Smart Sex by Dr. Emily Morse, is on page 137. I'm not obsessed with it. I didn't read it a million times or fold the corner down or mark it up. You have a really fun exercise.
Starting point is 00:59:42 I don't want to say too much, but it is called 69 questions. And it's a fun and sexy game to play with your partner or partner, as you say, to open up the conversation about sex. This is so in line with your message that you started your sexual awakening journey at age 35, but people can do it at any time, right? At any time. Any place, anywhere you're at. Anywhere you're at.
Starting point is 01:00:09 That's such a radical message. Oh my God, I feel so happy for so many people right now. Me too. Who haven't started yet. Sex is a skill that you can learn, it can grow, you can change, being sexual, understand your sexuality. Yeah, we're always growing and changing,
Starting point is 01:00:24 like start where you're at today. Start where you're at today. And one of the places you might start is with this fun quiz for you and your partner, or your partners. And do you mind if I just ask you? Yeah. And I want to say that I made this in collaboration
Starting point is 01:00:38 with Jennifer, another PhD, Dr. Jennifer Freed. Great. Oh, Dr. Jennifer Freed. We love her. Hi, Jennifer Freed. Cool! Oh Dr. Jennifer Freed! We love her! Hi Jennifer Freed! Yeah! Cool that you did that together. So the exercise is called 69 questions and if you don't mind I'm going to ask you the first five. Okay! And then people have 64 more questions to enjoy. What part of your body do you find the sexiest? Dr. Emily Mars? Oh, God. That's a tough question.
Starting point is 01:01:05 My lips. They are beautiful. Thank you. They're so kissable. What part of your body do you want sexual compliments for? Oh, I guess my ass. Just such a cute ass. So do you, by the way.
Starting point is 01:01:23 Thank you. I always tell her that. Thank you. Yeah, you do. Always tell me, oh, you have to be cute. She does have a great ass. So do you, by the way. Thank you. I always tell her that. Thank you. Yeah, you do. You always tell me, oh, you have to take it. She does have a great ass. You're just saying, so do you. Number three.
Starting point is 01:01:32 What celebrities turn you on? This is tough for me. Can I be honest with you guys? I don't have celebrity crushes. Although last night, I'm going to say, I really don't. It's okay. Okay. Because I'm such a sepiosexual.
Starting point is 01:01:44 I need to be in the presence of somebody, having a conversation with them and feeling aroused. I don't, I don't look at celebrities and have crushes. Okay, we're gonna ask the next question. Okay, we're skipping that question. What are your top sexual turn-ons? Ah, there's so many things that are running through my head. I like just dirty talk.
Starting point is 01:02:05 Dirty talk. I like being dominated. Like being told, I feel like I'm always deciding what to do so I like being told what to do. Yeah. I like slow sex. Slow sex. I like sex that lasts a while.
Starting point is 01:02:21 There's anticipation and a build up and around my beats throughout an evening or throughout a day. And my top turn on, what else, how many was that? Was that two or three? I would say, you know, I always think about the outdoors. Like I love like outdoor shower sex or peak outdoors in nature and in ocean swimming. Oh yeah. I love the sand and the water.
Starting point is 01:02:42 I just learned a lot. I picked up the and the water. I just learned a lot. I think I'm in more sense than convocation. This is my favorite text I've ever heard. Are you ready? What are your sexual taboos? I don't think I have any. I do not have any. I don't have any.
Starting point is 01:03:02 I mean, wow, look where you are in your journey. I just want people to know that she started her journey at 35 and you can start your journey at any time and perhaps get to the point where you have no sexual taboos. I mean, I can't imagine it's consensual. Like we sat in this open and my partner was down. Yeah, I would be open. I'm like, why not?
Starting point is 01:03:21 Let's see what it was. See where it goes. Right, right. A lot of people have taboos around anal sex. I've noticed like they write to me about it. They're really preoccupied about it. You know, they DM me and all these things. And um, ask Guens of your questions by the way. Yeah. I'll put them. But I, you know, so when I hear people talk about sexual taboos, I hear how there's such intense curiosity. Anil's a big taboo for me.
Starting point is 01:03:46 And it is? Yeah, Anil's a big taboo for many people. Well, it's not. Oh, I thought you said for you. No, no, not for me. But maybe it wasn't 35. I think it probably was. I don't think I hadn't had an anal sex before.
Starting point is 01:03:57 I was 35. I remember having a boyfriend in college who was interested in it. And I just said, absolutely not. Like I was so dismissive, I just thought automatically, like, oh, that's gonna hurt. That's about male pleasure, not my pleasure. I didn't know that the perineal sponge,
Starting point is 01:04:13 which is part of the female erectile network, can make it very pleasurable for some vulva clithabers. Exactly. And you know one of the things that I really like about anal sex. Tell me. Well, whenever anybody asks me tips, I tell them receptive partner on top, penetrating partner on bottom, because then you can feel like you have more control, but you're also
Starting point is 01:04:38 face to face. So I tell people like you can communicate better, just look at each other's eyes. Like before you even say that's look at each other's eyes like Before you even say that's too much. That's too far. That's too fast or go deeper or whatever Just you want to say you're looking at each other and you're on top. So you're controlling How things go a little bit more the depth and the speed and all that I hear from lots of women that they like it But when I was young I was taboo for me to that's a great That's a great tip. That was good Wednesday. Wow, that was so fun. I loved learning about you. Oh my god
Starting point is 01:05:12 I just learned a lot. Yes, thank you Wendy. You are just that was a treat so fun. I saw it as you would say I have to stop interviewing you now. No, this was so fun. I know I'm very to stop interviewing you now. No, this was so fun. I know. I'm very sad. This was a good idea. Thank you, Wednesday. Dr. Martin, you are a brilliant friend.
Starting point is 01:05:29 We're on a big, pussy energy to you. We're wearing big, you've checked out our videos. We are wearing big pussy. Thank you. This was my gift. Yeah, I gave you that. Yeah, thank you. I love it.
Starting point is 01:05:37 We got it from Nisha Crossland. I love it. It's a big, pussy energy to bring it. Thanks for bringing big, pussy energy into the world. Thank you so much, Wednesday Martin, for being my dear friend. You are brilliant and kind and loving and beautiful and you do for great else. I love you Emily. You also have a great ass and your book is going to change people's lives just like your whole career has.
Starting point is 01:06:04 That's it for today's episode. See you on Friday. Thanks for listening to Sex with Emily. Be sure to like, subscribe, and give us a review wherever you listen to the podcast and share this with a friend or partner. You can find me on YouTube, Instagram, Facebook, and Twitter at Sex with Emily. Oh, I've been told I give really good email. So sign up at SexWithEmily.com and while you're there, check out my free guides and articles
Starting point is 01:06:27 for more ways to prioritize your pleasure. If you'd like to ask me about your sex life, dating, or relationships, call my hotline 559 talk sex. That's 559 825 5739. Go to sexwithemily.com slash Ask Emily. Special thanks to ACAST for powering the Sex with Emily podcast. Was it good for you? Email me feedback at sexwithemily.com.

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