Lust in Translation

We’re back with our second Quickie to unpack The Cut’s viral piece “My Husband Has No Friends” and what it reveals about male loneliness, emotional intimacy, “man-keeping,” the mental load in marriage, friendship after kids, individuality in long-term relationships, the desire gap, and why a partner can’t be your everything. I am joined by Birna Gustafsson, as we bring in different perspectives fr...

You want your partner. You’re attracted to them. So why does initiating sex feel like a task you can’t start? Natassia sits down with Dr. Leann Borneman, AASECT-Certified Sex Therapist and creator of the Executive Desire Model, to unpack ADHD, executive function, desire, initiation, sensory sensitivity, perimenopause, responsive desire, kink, and what she calls “erotic accommodations.”  Misdiagnos...

Welcome to our first Quickie! These are shorter segments of what’s in the news on sex and relationships, and this week we are covering the Kinsey Institute and Playboy's new study on the Gen Z "sex recession," hookup culture, financial stress and dating, #MeToo's unintended lessons, SSRIs and desire, celibacy as a status symbol, loneliness influencers, post-Roe caution, and Olivi...

Why does he reach for you at night when he barely spoke to you all day? And why does your "not tonight" feel to him like the door closing? Natassia sits down with licensed marriage and family therapist George Faller , founder of the New York Center for Emotionally Focused Therapy and co-author of Brave Love, Great Sex . George is a former FDNY lieutenant who became a couples therapist after 9/11,...

What's the first thing to go when a relationship starts to fall apart? Natassia sits down with Certified Emotionally Focused Therapist Liliana Doyon, LMFT , President of the New York Center for Emotionally Focused Therapy, to unpack keeping the peace, self-abandonment, the pursue-withdraw cycle, attachment styles, repair after conflict, resentment, caretaking and "emotional foreplay," and what act...

Why do you love the way you love? Natassia sits down with Gaby Balsells , a Clinical Psychologist licensed in Guatemala, relationship coach, and author of Dating 101 to unpack attachment styles, secure vs. anxious vs. avoidant attachment, dating after divorce, honesty vs. transparency, shape-shifting in relationships, raw spots vs. core wounds, the three types of sex, aftercare, and what actually...

What if most of what we get wrong about sex — in the bedroom, the doctor's office, and the comments section — starts with asking the wrong questions? In this candid, wide-ranging episode, Natassia sits down with sex educator and public health advocate Birna Gustafsson , who teaches at Harvard Sex Week and instructs nurses and midwives in sexuality in clinical practice at the University of Icel...

What happens after the healing? Therapists are trained to treat trauma. Almost none of them are trained for what survivors actually need next: a passionate, embodied, erotic life. In this episode, Natassia sits down with Dr. Holly Richmond — somatic psychotherapist, sex therapist, and author of Reclaiming Pleasure — to explore the gap nobody talks about. Holly shares her own story of a decade-long...

We grow up believing desire is supposed to arrive on its own — instant, spontaneous, the way it looks in the movies. So when it doesn't, we quietly wonder what's wrong with us. This week, I sit down with Rachel Baker , founder of the Australian sexual wellness brand LBDO , to take that myth apart. Rachel started LBDO after a fluorescent-lit sex-shop experience left her thinking there has to be a b...

Your desires aren't proof that something's wrong with you. They're information about a deeper emotional need, and the path to a fulfilling erotic life is understanding the feeling underneath the act, releasing the shame around it, and learning to communicate it. This week I'm joined by Amanda Dames , aka The Kink Consultant — sexologist, Somatica Certified Sex and Relationship Coac...

Juliette LaMontagne did everything right — the husband, the kids, the career. Behind the scenes, her 25-year marriage was unraveling: codependency, her husband's relapse after decades of sobriety, and a separation she believed was the end. Then came an unexpected second chance, and an unconventional path back to desire. In this episode, the writer behind the serial memoir Touch Me There (now being...

The creators of the hit live comedy show Ask a Fuckboy pull back the curtain on modern dating, relationship psychology, and the chaotic behavior that keeps singles questioning everything. From ghosting, breadcrumbing, and love bombing to dating app burnout and the myth of “if he wanted to, he would,” the conversation blends sharp humor with surprisingly honest insights about attachment styles, com...

Why are women's health issues often brushed off as “just part of aging”? In this eye-opening episode, Natassia sits down with board-certified family nurse practitioner, women's longevity and sexual medicine expert Jackie Giannelli to unpack the truth about perimenopause, menopause, libido, hormone replacement therapy, GLP-1 medications, hair loss, testosterone, vaginal estrogen, peptides, and sexu...

What if your “low libido” is actually a lack of imagination? In this episode, Natassia sits down with writer Carly Pifer, founder of literary erotica platform Aurore , to explore what women really want, how responsive desire styles get turned on by storytelling and why reading erotica is such an effective form of low-pressure foreplay. Carly shares the real‑life experiences that inspired her crowd...

Let’s be honest: it’s really hard to feel sexy when your vagina feels off. If you’re bracing for irritation, infections, or yet another post‑sex UTI, it’s almost impossible to stay present in the bedroom.  In this episode, I sit down with vulvovaginal wellness founder Lindsay Wynn of Momotaro Apotheca for what is essentially Vaginal Health 101—a crash course on UTIs, yeast infections, pH balance,...

What does it actually look like to build a relationship outside the traditional script, and make it work?  In this honest and eye-opening conversation, Hayley Folk opens up about her journey from a young, open marriage to becoming a leading voice in polyamory and modern relationships. She shares how discovering her queerness, navigating an open marriage, and ultimately redefining partnership trans...

What if the beliefs you were taught about sex, purity, and relationships were never actually yours? In this episode, Certified Holistic Sexuality Educator and Embodied Intimacy & Relationship Coach Lauren Elise Rogers unpacks the hidden impact of purity culture and the long road back to personal agency, pleasure, and truth. She shares her story of growing up in a highly controlled religious en...