The Waves: The Truth About “Normal” Sex
Slate News
Slate Podcasts
4.5 • 6K Ratings
🗓️ 18 June 2022
⏱️ 27 minutes
🧾️ Download transcript
Summary
On this week’s episode of The Waves, Slate science writer and editor Shannon Palus is joined by Popular Science executive editor and author Rachel Feltman to talk about sex, baby. Rachel’s new book, “Been There, Done That” explores the quirky, wild, and often queer side of the history of sex. Shannon and Rachel talk about why animal sex is so relevant to human sex, the “loop-de-loop” of sexual evolution, and they ponder the age old question, “Why are even men?”
In Slate Plus, Rachel talks about why Sexually Transmitted Infections (STIs) may in some cases not be as terrible as you think.
Recommendations:
Shannon: Spindrift seltzer
Rachel: The horror anthology, Your Body is Not Your Body
Podcast production by Cheyna Roth with editorial oversight by Shannon Palus and Alicia Montgomery.
Send your comments and recommendations on what to cover to thewaves@slate.com
Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.
Transcript
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| 0:00.0 | Welcome to the Webs, a podcast about gender feminism and doing it. |
| 0:19.1 | Each week you get a pair of feminists to talk about the thing we can knock it off of |
| 0:22.9 | our minds. |
| 0:23.9 | And this week you have me, Shannon Paulis, a senior editor at Slate, covering science |
| 0:29.6 | and health. |
| 0:30.6 | And I'm speaking with Rachel Feldman, who is the executive editor of Popular Science, |
| 0:36.3 | and the author of the book, Finn There Done That, a rousing history of sex. |
| 0:44.3 | If you are feeling down about the world right now, Rachel's book offers an excellent escape. |
| 0:51.0 | It taught me all about why bats go down on each other. |
| 0:55.4 | A funny myth about Cleopatra's alleged masturbation habits. |
| 1:00.9 | Rachel also answers the question, why are even men? |
| 1:06.0 | And she takes us through a thought experiment about how maybe all animal life started out |
| 1:11.1 | very queer. |
| 1:22.8 | One keeping this conversation gets at is how limited our idea of quote unquote normal |
| 1:29.8 | sex is. |
| 1:30.8 | Blood, not just for cultural reasons, but also scientific ones. |
| 1:36.4 | I hope you'll stick with this. |
| 1:46.4 | We also have a special announcement about an upcoming Slate Live event. |
| 1:50.6 | If you want to get up to date on everything happening with the Supreme Court right now, |
| 1:55.4 | come to the Bell House in Brooklyn, New York on Thursday, June 23rd. |
| 1:59.9 | Our colleagues from Slate will be unpacking all the news, and there'll be a special |
| 2:04.2 | slow burn teaping. |
... |
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