Our Better Half

Our guest, Aleece Fosnight, talks with Rosara, Sabitha, and Jane all about lube. Lube with sex toys, silicone-based lube, water-based lube, CBD and lube, parabens in lube, queer sex and lube, anal sex and lube. She even breaks down osmolality.  She’s from Ashevile, North Carolina and she’s an AASECT Certified Sexuality Educator, Certified Sexuality Counselor, and Supervisor. She has been a Physician Assistant for the past 10 years providing all-inclusive comprehensive sexual and reproductive health, basic urologic care, and gynecological care to people of all generations.  Join us for an informative and fun conversation about lube! If you’d like to find out more about her practice you can contact her here.  And if you’d like to hear more, visit our website and please subscribe! We love our listeners and welcome your feedback. You can find us on Facebook and Instagram. Or you can write to us at this address. We can’t wait to hear your thoughts. As always, thanks for listening!

Our guest this time is Jessica Badonsky, a board-certified Family Nurse Practitioner with about 20 years of experience in the wellness space. For the last decade, her focus has been as an intimacy and erotic power coach at Private Parts of Wellness. Jessica is a holotropic practitioner, which means that she considers all parts of her clients. She is a parent of 3 amazing children, partner of a veteran, and constant student of emotional intelligence, sex, sexuality, intimacy, science, wellness, consciousness, psychedelics, and movement. To find out more, please visit her website, and follow her on instagram Listeners, we want to learn from you! We are inviting your feedback for our next season. What do you want to hear more of, less of, or something new? When you fill out our survey, we’ll enter your name into a drawing for a $50 gift card to That Drawer. So do it today! If you’d like to hear more of our episodes, visit our website and please subscribe. We love our listeners and welcome your feedback. You can

Our guest this time is Dr. Ateret Gewirtz, a Certified Sex Therapist, senior faculty member at the School of Social Work at the University of Haifa, and the director of the Science of Sex Research Lab. Dr. Gewirtz explores with us why older adults have sex, why sex may be better as we age, what health professionals need to learn, and why we need to change the images of aging bodies in online dating sites.To access her extensive and impressive research discussed on the show, please click here.    And if you’d like to hear more, visit our website and please subscribe! We love our listeners and welcome your feedback. You can find us on Facebook and Instagram and Twitter. Or you can write to us at this address.   We can’t wait to hear your thoughts. As always, thanks for listening!

Our guest this week is Elizabeth Dell, the founder of Amorus, the digital intimacy app for partners.  She’s a certified sexuality educator with a Masters in Public Health from UC Berkeley.     Elizabeth is a serial entrepreneur who has built five successful companies, and a longtime film producer, producing multiple indie features, including  Destination Wedding, starring Winona Ryder and Keanu Reeves.  She is the Chair of the International Committee for the Producers Guild of America (PGA).    She is with us to talk about Amorus, a new app she built that is safe, welcoming, and inclusive for secret, sexy, delicious conversations. Available for free. You can find out more about Amorus and how to get connected here!   And if you’d like to hear more, visit our website and please subscribe! We love our listeners and welcome your feedback. You can find us on Facebook and Instagram and Twitter. Or you can write to us at this address.   We can’t wait to hear your thoughts. As always, thanks for listening!

Dr. Rosara Torrisi has always loved to talk with clients about sex toys and sexual health aides. Then, in January of 2021, she opened That Drawer, an eritic boutique, sexual health supply and gender expression gear shop. Listen in as Rosara talks with her co-host Dr. Jane Fleishman about the wonderful world of sex toys that will warm you up this winter– just in time for Valentine’s Day! In this episode, we talk about the following products and people:  The luxurious Sensory Brush from Sexual Healing The important OhNut for avoiding sexual pain  The diamond BumpHer from Banana Pants The open sleeve Pulse Duo from Hot Octopuss The extraordinary Kelly Gordon at Hot Octopuss Our amazing sponsor and the best lube for older adults, Uberlube (and don’t forget your listener discount!) The fun and friendly Starsi from Cute Little Fuckers The brilliant sexologist Joan Price The pulsating Sundaze from Fun Factory The warming anal Tilt from Lora DiCarlo An outstanding medical sexuality educator, Dr. Gretchen Frey

Our guests today are two extraordinary people who have tackled the issues of bisexuality, biphobia, and bi-visibility: Lani Ka’ahumanu and Dr. Sarah Jen. Lani was the strategic political architect of the early bisexual movement in the US and co-editor of the acclaimed, Bi Any Other Name: Bisexual People Speak Out. Dr. Sarah Jen is a researcher who focuses on older adults and bisexuality. It’s a fascinating conversation about history and current realities and we think you’ll really get a sense of the issues bisexual older adults often have to contend with.   If you’d like to read more, you can access the book Lani edited with Loraine Hutchins here and the article Sarah wrote with Rebecca Jones here. Listeners, we want to learn from you! We are inviting your feedback for our next season. What do you want to hear more of, less of, or something new? When you fill out our survey, we’ll enter your name into a drawing for a $50 gift card to That Drawer. So do it today! If you’d like to hear more of our episodes, v

Lena Queen, our guest this week, is a clinical social worker and an intersectional LGBTQIA+ and poly supportive life coach, psychotherapist, and kink-aware sex therapist. She is interested in healing the erotic self through somatic sexology. She helps adolescents, individuals, couples, and others heal and improve their overall personal and sexual wellness. Her work has tremendous application to older adults. If you are interested in her beautiful perspective on healing the whole self through somatic sex therapy, you can reach Lena on her website or Twitter. Listeners, we want to learn from you! We are inviting your feedback for our next season. What do you want to hear more of, less of, or something new? When you fill out our survey, we’ll enter your name into a drawing for a $50 gift card to That Drawer. So do it today! If you’d like to hear more of our episodes, visit our website and please subscribe. We love our listeners and welcome your feedback. You can find us on Facebook and Instagram. Or you can wri

Our guest this week is Dr. Anne Katz, a certified sexuality counselor and author of a multitude of books on cancer and sexuality. Her latest book, Woman Cancer Sex (2nd ed.), is an accessible and comprehensive resource for women living with and surviving cancer as they navigate sex and sexuality.  Women who survive cancer remain sexual beings despite the challenges of cancer treatment, and they often have nowhere to go with their questions and concerns. This text interweaves stories from clinical practice with evidence-based tips and interventions for a range of physical and emotional side effects resulting from cancer and its treatment.  Anne describes the experiences of women with a particular kind of cancer and a variety of related problems, including loss of libido, physical pain, body image issues, depression, and struggles communicating with a partner and health care providers.  Please join us for Anne’s insights and experience. You can find our more about Anne Katz here. And here’s the link to Sabitha

Our guest today is Dr. Gretchen Frey. Her specialty is Obstetrics and Gynecology. She graduated from the University of Colorado Medical School in 1985 and fulfilled her residency at the University of Colorado in 1989. She was on the faculty as an Associate Clinical Professor in the Department of Family Medicine at the University of Colorado School of Medicine. She began her obstetrics and gynecology practice in Littleton, CO in 1989 and gradually became more interested in integrative medicine. She practiced office-only gynecology from 2010 until 2019, and is now retired from clinical practice. ​During her years of practice, Dr. Frey developed special expertise in menopausal medicine. This included prescribing a wide variety of hormonal preparations including compounded bioidentical hormones. ​Another area of interest became the treatment of sexual difficulties, including low desire and vulvar pain syndromes. Sexual pain syndromes can be challenging to diagnose and treat. She often found that a team approach

Our guest today is a journalist and sex writer, Michael Castleman. Michael has covered sexuality and sex therapy for 47 years. He is the world’s most popular sexuality writer. His twice-monthly blog on PsychologyToday.com, “All About Sex,” launched in 2009, has amassed more than 53 million views. The free Q&A site he has published since 2010, GreatSexGuidance.com, has attracted 2 million more. His two previous sexuality guides—Sexual Solutions (1980) and Great Sex (2004)—have sold more than 600,000 copies. Michael Castleman has answered more than 12,000 sex questions from people of all ages and sexual inclinations around the world. In addition to his Q&A site, he spent 10 years (1997-2007) answering sex questions from customers of Xandria, then a major sex toy marketer, and five years (1991-1995) answering the sex questions submitted to Playboy’s “Advisor” column. He has also answered questions for WebMD and several other Web sites, magazines, and call-in radio shows. For more, visit his Wikipedia pag

Dr. Elisabeth “Eli” Sheff is a researcher, expert witness, coach, speaker, and educational consultant specializing in gender and sexual minority families, consensual non-monogamy, and kink/BDSM. Sheff is the foremost academic expert on polyamorous families with children, and her 20+ year Polyamorous Family Study is the only longitudinal study of poly families with children to date. Dr. Sheff co-chairs the Consensual Non Monogamies Legal Issues Team for the American Psychological Association, Division 44.  Dr. Eli is also editing a series of books on diverse sexualities, genders, and relationships with Dr. Richard Sprott and the publishers Rowman & Littlefield. If you’re interested in contributing, please contact them here. In collaboration with three colleagues, Dr. Eli developed the Bonding Project, a test you can take to explore your preferred bonding styles. And if you’d like to hear more, visit our website and please subscribe! We love our listeners and welcome your feedback. You can find us on Face

Rev. Michael J. Crumpler works as the LGBTQ and Multicultural Programs Director at the Unitarian Universalist Association and is an ordained minister in the United Church of Christ. Michael lives in Harlem and is very active in social justice ministry at the historic Judson Memorial Church of New York City, where he served as President of the Board, 2016-2018.  Michael is most passionate about intersectional ministry centered in blackness, queerness, HIV/AIDS, economic justice, and emotional well-being. Michael has been published in two groundbreaking works related to HIV and AIDS, OnCurating Issue 42: What You Don't Know About AIDS Could Fill a Museum and Spiritual Care in the Age of #BlackLivesMatter.   And if you’d like to hear more, visit our website and please subscribe! We love our listeners and welcome your feedback. You can find us on Facebook and Instagram and Twitter. Or you can write to us at this address. We can’t wait to hear your thoughts. As always, thanks for listening!

Our guest this week is Terri Clark, an accomplished public health advocate with over 30 years of experience working on issues that advance the field of sexuality and aging, including the sexual health of older adults and working with aging services providers to insure inclusive, responsive services for LGBTQ older adult communities. Terri is co-author/editor of 25 Great Lesson Plans about Sexual Orientation and the expanded version, Orientation: Teaching about Identity, Attraction and Behavior.  She is also part of the Pennsylvania LGBT Commission’s aging workgroup doing advocacy for her state on aging to become more LGBT inclusive. They’ve recently had a huge success getting the PA Dept of Aging to include LGBT older adults as a population of greatest social need. In addition, Terri is a tireless advocate for bisexual visibility. If you’re interested in learning more about her work, please contact Terri at tcterri@hotmail.com. And if you’d like to hear more, visit our website and please subscribe! We love ou

Dr. Kathryn Ellis frames conversations about sexual pleasure with candor. She is a PhD in Occupational Therapy and an AASECT Certified Sexuality Counselor. She got her start at Walter Reed National Military Medical Center where she developed the Occupational Therapy Sexuality and Intimacy Clinic and her book is about giving hope to wounded veterans.  You can find out more about Dr. Ellis at her website and you can order her book, Sex and Intimacy for Wounded Veterans: A Guide to Embracing Change from your local bookstore. And if you’d like to hear more, visit our website and please subscribe! We love our listeners and welcome your feedback. You can find us on Facebook and Instagram and Twitter. Or you can write to us at this address. We can’t wait to hear your thoughts. As always, thanks for listening!

Our guest this week, Lucie Fielding (she/they), is a sexuality educator and resident in counseling in Charlottesville, Virginia. They have an MA in Counseling Psychology from Pacifica Graduate Institute as well as a PhD in French from Northwestern University. Their background in literature attunes them to ways narrative and image impact our embodied sexualities.   She talks about the “magically multi-orgasmic polymorphously perverse playground of wonder" and “the off label uses of our bodies". She is quite fond of reimagining our bodies in new and erotic ways.    Lucie just published her first book (which we highly recommend), Trans Sex: Clinical Approaches to Trans Sexualities and Erotic Embodiments (Routledge, 2021). You can find it here or at your favorite local independent bookstore. If you’d like to know more about Lucie, visit her beautiful website here.   And if you’d like to find more shows, visit our website and please subscribe! We love our listeners and welcome your feedback. You can find us on F

Dear Listeners,    We are delighted to share that Our Better Half will be returning this September for our seventh season! Big shout-out to our sponsors for making this possible, and to you, listeners, for your ongoing support. In this trailer, hosts Dr. Jane Fleishman and Dr. Rosara Torrisi discuss some of the things they’re looking forward to this fall.     By the way, with six seasons under our belts, Our Better Half has published over 120 episodes, and they are all available for free through our website! As we approach the milestone of a new season, we invite you to explore our archive to find more great content about sex in the second half of life.    And if you’d like to stay up to date on future episodes, please subscribe! We love our listeners and welcome your feedback. You can find us on Facebook and Twitter and  Instagram. Or you can write to us at this address. We can’t wait to hear your thoughts. As always, thanks for listening!

Dear Listeners:   This week we offer you a quick episode as we wrap up this season of the podcast. And what a season it's been! Rosara and Jane recall their conversations with Dr. David Whitehead, Dr. Peter Kanaris, Kelly Gordon, Dr. Lee Phillips, Dr. Imani Woody, Joan Price and Jessica Drake, Cyndi Darnell, and give thanks to their new co-hosts, Dr. Jayleen Galarza and Dr. Sabitha Pillai-Friedman. If you haven't heard these episodes yet, feel free to take a listen as we take a much-needed hiatus. And we can't forget our generous sponsors: Gazebo, Modern Sex Therapy Institute, Sex Coach U, and Uberlube. We love them all! We'll be back in the fall with a brand new season. Lots of exciting guests and conversations. And lots to learn. See you in September!   Enjoy the rest of your summer, The Our Better Half Team   And if you’d like to find more shows, visit our website and please subscribe! We love our listeners and welcome your feedback. You can find us on Facebook and Twitter and  Instagram. Or you can write

When Wildilisa Silverman talks about sex magick, she says it’s “using the energy of the erotic to make your hopes and desires into a reality. “ She is a Licensed Marriage and Family Therapist who received her MFT from Hofstra University. She is passionate about helping others live the life they deserve. Her practice focuses on the various needs of her clients–through individual, couples, relationship and family therapy. She is also a native Spanish-speaker and has experience working with unique cultural backgrounds. She has completed levels 1 and 2 of the Gottman Couples Therapy Method, which can help couples learn how to manage conflict and rekindle fondness and admiration. You can find out more about Wildilisa’s work at The Long Island Institute of Sex Therapy here.   You should also follow her on Instagram at @lovesexwithwildy  Here is an article that explores similar sex magick techniques to the ones that Wildilisa mentions during the episode.  And if you’d like to find more shows, visit our website and

Our guest today is Greg Dawson, a licensed clinical social worker who works at the Dallas VA as a case manager and therapist treating veterans who served in Iraq and Afghanistan. He treats veterans, family members, older adults, sex offenders, people with disabilities. He also works as a sex therapist at CAYA (which stands for Come As You Are), a sex therapy based private practice. He does education through Come-passion, an education and sexual expression site for all genders, cultures, and races. Greg Dawson describes himself “as a Black man from the South who grew up in a military family.” He is committed to his clients and to his own self-care as a way to create balance as a clinician. Listeners, if you’re interested in contacting Greg, his sex therapy practice is at https://www.cayatoday.com/ and his sex education and party site is https://come-passion.com/.  And if you’d like to find more shows, visit our website and please subscribe! We love our listeners and welcome your feedback. You can find us on F

Dr. Sonia Bahlani is one of the world's leading pelvic pain medicine specialists. She graduated magna cum laude from her undergraduate school and then went on to receive her Doctor of Medicine degree from the Virginia Commonwealth School of Medicine. She completed her residency in OB/GYN at New York Presbyterian/Weill Cornell Medical Center and then went on to a prestigious fellowship at the Smith Institute for Urology. Sonia is invited to present at many different conferences and has published numerous research articles. In addition to her career, Sonia is a mom to two beautiful sons and wife to a fellow physician.  You can find out more about Dr. Bahlani’s work here. And if you’d like to find more shows, visit our website and please subscribe! We love our listeners and welcome your feedback. You can find us on Facebook and Twitter. Or you can write to us at this address. We can’t wait to hear your thoughts. As always, thanks for listening!