Our Better Half

Our guests today are Freddie Weisberg and Char Cohodes, two modern-day Jewish matchmakers who have started a new project that they call Old School Jewish Matchmaking. They started this project -- all volunteer and free to their community -- as their retirement project. If you're interested in learning more or getting involved in their new project, you can find out more here and here and an article...

On this episode of Our Better Half, we enjoy an in-depth conversation with Dr. Sarah Girardi, a trailblazing urologist and female sexual health specialist with over 25 years of experience. Together, we unpack the often-neglected world of older adults' sexual health. Dr. Girardi connects the physical and urological realities of aging to the broader relational and emotional aspects of intimacy, draw...

In this episode of Our Better Half, hosts Dr. Jane Fleishman, Dr. Sabitha Pillai-Friedman, and Dr. Rosara Torrisi welcome Jenifer "JJ" Firestone, a seasoned geriatric social worker and community organizer with a rich history of LGBTQ+ advocacy. JJ shares her journey from coordinating artificial insemination programs in Boston to pioneering a unique family structure where she co-parented her daught...

Our guests this week are two accomplished sexuality professionals – Ms. Sue Goldstein and Dr. Irwin Goldstein. Sue and Irwin Goldstein have been titans in the field of sexology for some time now; they were there on May 14, 1998 when the first article on sildenafil (Viagra) was published with Irwin Goldstein as the first author. Ms. Sue Goldstein, a graduate of Brown University, is Sexuality Educat...

Lara Krawchuk has been practicing as a clinical social worker for over 30 years, specializing in grief, living losses and trauma in her psychotherapy practice. She has an intimate connection to the losses people suffer and is an expert in holding the "tough stuff" for her clients. Lara has a tremendous capacity for helping her clients maintain hope and move towards healing. Lara offers trainings a...

Peggy J. Kleinplatz, Ph. D. is Professor in the Faculty of Medicine and Director of the Optimal Sexual Experiences Research Team at the University of Ottawa. She is a clinical psychologist, Board Certified in Sex Education and is a Diplomate and Supervisor of Sex Therapy. She is a Fellow of the American Psychological Association. She was awarded the Prix d'Excellence in 2000 for her teaching of Hu...

Dr. Sheryl Kingsberg is the chief of the division of behavioral medicine at MacDonald Women's Hospital/University Hospitals Cleveland Medical Center and Professor in Reproductive Biology, Urology and Psychiatry at Case Western Reserve University. Her areas of clinical specialization include female sexual disorders, menopause, pregnancy and postpartum mood disorders, and psychological aspects of in...

Our guest this time is an old friend, Joan Price. Joan is an award-winning author, speaker, sexuality educator, advocate for ageless sexuality, and truly the inspiration behind much of what we do here at Our Better Half! She's written numerous books, did a great video with Jessica Drake just a few years ago, and just reissued her amazing book, Naked At Our Age , and it's better than ever! She revi...

Our guest this time, Jane Epstein, is a nurse practitioner and a Menopause Society certified provider. She's also an AASECT Certified Sex Counselor. She lives and practices in Albuquerque, New Mexico. Jane graduated as a nurse practitioner from the Yale University School of Nursing in 1989, followed by a one-year training in Adolescent Medicine at Yale Medical School. She practiced adolescent medi...

Our guest this week is Dr. Jenn Pollitt! Jenn Pollitt, PhD is the Assistant Director of Gender, Sexuality and Women's Studies and an Assistant Professor in the College of Liberal Arts at Temple University. She holds a PhD in Human Sexuality from Widener University. Dr. Pollitt currently serves on the Board of Directors of the Woodhull Freedom Foundation, a national organization dedicated to advanc...

Our guest this week is Dr. Amanda Olson! Dr. Olson is a pelvic health physical therapist, entrepreneur, author, and global educator with a passion for empowering men and women and advancing conversations around pelvic health. She has dedicated her career to breaking stigmas around pelvic health, developing innovative solutions to improve quality of life, and supporting patients with conditions inc...

Our guest this week is Dr. Sara Nasserzadeh, PhD. Dr. Nasserzadeh is an award-winning author, TED speaker, and world-renowned relational expert. She holds a PhD in social psychology and specializes in sexual health and relationships at both macro and micro levels. Dr. Nasserzadeh has served as a senior cultural advisor for governments, UN agencies, academic institutions, and Fortune 500 companies....

Our guest today is Dr. Justin Lehmiller, a social psychologist, author, and Senior Research Fellow at The Kinsey Institute. He is host of the Sex and Psychology Podcast and is author of the popular book Tell Me What You Want: The Science of Sexual Desire and How It WillHelp You Improve Your Sex Life . Dr. Lehmiller is an award-winning educator, having been honored three times with the Certificate...

Our guest this time is Stephen Duclos, and his interest in aging is partly because he has been doing social change work for decades and sees aging as just one more civil rights horizon. He's also interested in aging because he's a sex therapist, and he sees all sex as queer sex when it comes to aging adults. Stephen has been working as a therapist and counselor since 1972. He currently holds licen...

This week on Our Better Half, hosts Rosara and Jane sit down with Djanikah Elysse, Stacey Rose, and Virginia Nguyen to discuss their groundbreaking project on sex-positive senior living facilities. Join us as we dive into a crucial conversation about sexuality and aging. Our guests share insights on: The inspiration behind their sex-positive senior living project and a brief overview of its goals....

Please join us for an enlivening conversation with Dr. Cynthia Graham, an esteemed editor, researcher, and educator. She has done so much research on older adults and amid a negative focus on aging, she has found in her research that sex can actually get better with age. Her research focuses on sexual health among older adults, male condom use, hormonal contraceptives, women's sexuality, women's s...

In this deeply moving episode of Our Better Half, hosts Rosara and Jane sit down with a special guest to discuss an intimate and often unspoken aspect of grief: the loss of a sexual self. Our guest, who prefers to remain anonymous, courageously shares a powerful reflection on her experience since the death of her beloved husband. She introduces us to "Lefty," a flirtatious and sensual persona she...

We are so happy to invite you to a wonderful conversation with Dr. Elliott Kronenfeld who is interested in building relationships on curiosity and intention across the lifespan. Dr. Kronenfeld's books, Couples by Intention: Crafting and Cultivating Relationships that Matter!  and Unspoken Loss: Men, Infidelity, and Disenfranchised Grief  are widely available. We spoke with him about so much. If yo...

Please join us for a fantastic conversation with Natalie Malone, a counseling psychologist and doctoral candidate at the University of Kentucky. Her research focuses on Black women's sexual/reproductive health and holistic wellness. Natalie is a 200-hour registered yoga and pilates teacher who integrates complementary health approaches and embodiment practices into her research and clinical servic...

Great news - we got picked up for another season of Our Better Half! Stay tuned for another year of insightful conversations featuring top experts in the field of sexuality and aging. If you want to catch up on other shows, just visit our  website and please subscribe! We love our listeners and welcome your feedback, so if you love Our Better Half, please give us a 5-star rating and follow us on F...

Join our co-hosts this week, Jane Fleishman, Jayleen Galarza-Patterson, and Rosara Torrisi, for a rich and interesting conversation unpacking the term 'sexual ageism', talking about it from their professional lives as educators and therapists. Reviewing two articles about why older adults do have sex and why they don't . Fascinating results! Listeners might also enjoy Jane's article on the impacts...

Our guest this time is Dr. Margaret Nichols. Dr. Nichols, Ph. D., is a psychologist, AASECT certified sex therapy supervisor, founder, and first Executive Director of the Institute for Personal Growth, a psychotherapy organization in New Jersey specializing in clinical work with the sex, relationship, and gender diverse community. She is the author of  The Modern Clinician's Guide to Working with...

Join us for an exciting conversation with inventors Michael Weiss-Malik and Elizabeth Dell, co-founders of Groove Thing, a way to bring music vibrations inside your body, an astounding invention. They say it's a way to "transform your body into a concert hall." Not a sex toy, not a musical instrument, it's more of a tactile music experience and a synthesis of music and sensation. For older adults,...

Join a few of our co-hosts for a light, lovely, humorous, and educational romp through some challenges of ageism and how they combat ageism through sexual pleasure.  If you want to catch up on other shows, just visit our website and please subscribe! We love our listeners and welcome your feedback, so if you love Our Better Half, please give us a 5-star rating and follow us on Facebook and Instagr...

Our guest this time is Dr. Damon Constantinides, a queer and trans psychotherapist, sex therapist, sex coach, and trainer living and working on Lenape land. His work focuses on centering the lived experiences of queer and trans folks using a narrative and relational clinical approach. Dr. Constantinides believes that we can only do this work in community and offers a weekly consultation group for...