Stage Managing Sex in Hollywood

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Slate

News, Daily News, News Commentary, Politics

4.6 • 2.3K Ratings

🗓️ 10 July 2025

⏱️ 28 minutes

🔗️ Recording | iTunes | RSS

🧾️ Download transcript

Summary

In the wake of #MeToo, Hollywood productions began hiring “intimacy coordinators,” people who work to ensure sex scenes are safe and comfortable for performers. How are they working out so far? Guest: Jennifer Wilson, staff writer at the New Yorker. Want more What Next? Subscribe to Slate Plus to access ad-free listening to the whole What Next family and across all your favorite Slate podcasts. Subscribe today on Apple Podcasts by clicking “Try Free” at the top of our show page. Sign up now at slate.com/whatnextplus to get access wherever you listen. Podcast production by Ethan Oberman, Elena Schwartz, Paige Osburn, Anna Phillips, Madeline Ducharme, and Rob Gunther. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Transcript

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0:00.0	Oh, that's my prime delivery.
0:01.6	What, already?
0:02.7	Only one thing can match the buzz of Prime's fast delivery.
0:06.2	And that's the buzz of Prime's entertainment.
0:09.0	What are we watching?
0:09.7	Heads of state, that new action comedy with Idris Elber as the Prime Minister,
0:13.3	John Sina as the president, and Prianka Chopra Jonas,
0:15.9	as their only hope.
0:17.0	It looks like a blast.
0:18.3	From fast delivery to explosive entertainment, it's on Prime. For only
0:23.0	$899 a month, join now. Content includes limited ads, subscription, or to our news. For more information,
0:28.2	go to amazon.com.uk.U.K. slash Prime.
0:31.7	Hey everyone. You may have caught on already, but this show talks pretty honestly about sex.
0:37.2	And we don't exactly ease into it.
0:40.0	So if you've got little ears around, proceed accordingly.
0:47.7	So, Jen, how weird was it to go to school to learn how to fake an orgasm?
0:56.6	You know, it was weirder than I expected it to be.
1:04.8	Jennifer Wilson is a writer for the New Yorker.
1:08.2	And this orgasm faking lesson, it was technically research.
1:13.9	She just wrote this article on Hollywood intimacy coordinators.
1:18.0	And she figured the best way to understand this new job was to get certified to do it.
1:24.0	Can you just define for me what is an intimacy coordinator?
	...

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