The Intimacy Inquiry

Natasha Senjanovic is an award-winning journalist, gender violence reporter, and the host and creator of Women Like Sex, a myth-busting, research-driven podcast dedicated to dismantling the misinformation, biases, and taboos that have long distorted understanding of female sexuality. A co-creator of the media training course I Wish I'd Known, she holds a regional Edward R. Murrow Award for feature...

Jennifer Douglas, known as Inked Mom 3 to her many thousand Instagram followers, is a South Carolina-based model, wife, and mother of three who launched her modeling career at 43 after a boudoir shoot for her husband took an unexpected turn. She won the 2025 Best New Model award for a style she describes as raw and authentic: tattooed, entirely natural, and unapologetically herself. Jennifer's pat...

Erika Shershun is a somatic psychotherapist and EMDR practitioner based in the San Francisco Bay Area, specialising in healing sexual trauma, PTSD, and CPTSD. After a career in the arts she retrained in somatic psychology, drawing on organic intelligence, brainspotting, somatic experiencing, and internal family systems. She is the author of the Healing Sexual Trauma Workbook and the Healing Sexual...

Fran Frye https://www.franfrye.com/ is a certified sex educator, counselor, and clinician trained in compulsive sexual behaviours, and a somatic sex practitioner based in Charleston, South Carolina. She holds certifications from the Sexual Health Alliance, the American Board of Sexology, and the Somatic Institute. She also brings to this conversation something rarer: her own lived experience as a...

What if everything you were taught about sex was designed to disconnect you from your own body? In this episode of The Intimacy Inquiry, Andrew Phipps sits down with Maria Merloni, psychotherapist, sex and relationship coach, and sacred spot massage practitioner, for one of the most honest and wide-ranging conversations the show has produced. Maria's story begins in a Catholic household where sex...

What happens when a feminist writer, therapist, and sex educator takes an ibogaine trip and emerges with a calling to bridge the sacred and the sensual? Shoshanna Blanca joins Andrew Phipps on The Intimacy Inquiry to share the story behind Jesus Christ Porn Star, a spiritual erotic performance art project on OnlyFans that blends singing, prayer, worship, vlogging, and explicit imagery to challenge...

She films her real sex life, raises her kids, runs a spray tan and massage business, and just moved to Miami to build an empire. This is Michelena Rose, and she holds nothing back. In this episode of The Intimacy Inquiry, Andrew Phipps sits down with Michelena Rose, Playboy cover model and Playmate, international model, adult film star, licensed massage therapist, and sex and relationship coach. B...

What happens when desire becomes obsession, obsession becomes psychological warfare, and the whole thing turns out to be the mirror you needed all along? In this episode of The Intimacy Inquiry, Andrew Phipps sits down with Dr. Stephen Paul Edwards, PhD in Spiritual Counseling, international speaker, coach, and author of "The Venus Fly Trap: Sex, Lies, and Repercussions." Born in Blackpool, UK and...

Listening to Desire: Dark Nights, Relationship Myths, and Pleasure-Based Intimacy with LiYana Silver A transformational coach and author of "Feminine Genius" LiYana Silver discusses how she helps clients—especially women—rebuild self-trust, body connection, and desire after heartbreak or divorce, and explains why many people can’t safely access what they truly want. She outlines three common relat...

Ashmita Arora on Spiritual Awakening, Presence, and Breaking Repeating Patterns Spiritual teacher and transformation guide Ashmita Arora discusses her intuitive practice supporting people through grief, heartbreak, burnout, disconnection, and awakening by helping clients identify the root of repeating patterns and create lasting inner shifts in safe, confidential spaces. She reflects on early sens...

Lacey Kelly on Unbecoming, Belonging, and Reclaiming Wholeness in a Hyper-Stimulated World Trauma therapist and author Lacey Kelly, founder of the Unbecoming Hub, discusses her work at the intersection of psychology, nervous system science, and existential questions of identity, burnout, and belonging. She reflects on being an anxious, ungrounded teen drawn to philosophy and meaning, and says she...

Alexandra Beller on Body Image, Somatics, and Creating Embodied Art Choreographer, educator, and author Alexandra Beller discusses her early experiences coming of age in the 1980s amid intense diet culture, bullying, and body shaming, while finding wholeness and spiritual aliveness through dance. She describes how her body type limited casting and training opportunities, the power critics once hel...

Embodying Pleasure: Patty Alfonso on Erotic Innocence, Nervous System Healing, and Expanding Intimacy Patty Alfonso, an “erotic priestess” and creator of the Embody Her mentorship, explains her trauma-aware, body-based approach to helping women integrate pleasure, power, and truth by reconnecting with the body rather than living solely “from the neck up.” She and the host discuss somatic healing f...

Cidney Green on Sexual Liberation, Non‑Monogamy, and Power On Intimacy Inquiry, the host speaks with Cidney Green, creator of viral Atlanta alt orgy events, the Pussy Over Pain Movement, and author of the upcoming book All Three In Me. Green describes her private self as playful and affection-seeking, contrasts her teenage prudishness and dependence on male validation with an early fascination wit...

Radical Honesty, Modern Intimacy, and Sex Work: Elizabeth Romanova on Stigma, Boundaries, and Independence London-based escort and adult content creator Elizabeth Romanova, a single mother to a 15-year-old, discusses her decade-plus in sex work, her choice of “radical honesty” at home, and how she navigates stigma and judgment by avoiding online comments. She describes exploring different parts of...

From Sexual Shame to Sovereignty: Pleasure, Communication, and Unlearning Conditioning with Jocelyn Silva Empowerment coach and sex educator Jocelyn Silva shares how growing up Catholic in the San Fernando Valley shaped intense shame-based messages about sex, and how a positive first sexual experience and feminist activism led her to leave the church and become a sex educator with Coochie La, teac...

Healing Trauma, Reclaiming Self-Trust, and Building Real Connection with Tori Jenae Trauma-informed relationship and confidence coach Tori Jenae shares how complex childhood trauma shaped her nervous system and dating patterns, including perfectionism, control, low-grade anxiety, and avoidant “push-pull” intimacy. She explains how early attachments create “love maps,” why trauma is stored in the b...

Elana Auerbach on The Sure Thing: A Weekly Pleasure Practice for Lasting Intimacy Elana Auerbach, a sensuality guide and educator, discusses her book and “The Sure Thing” love experiment: a simple weekly pleasure practice designed to help couples replace sex struggles and performance pressure with reliable intimacy, desire, and joy. She shares her personal history of dissociation, sexual awakening...

Embodiment, Consent, and Leaving a Sexless Marriage: Skylar Lyralen Kaye on Queer Intimacy and Self-Love Non-binary, gender-fluid writer and solo performer Skylar Lyralen Kaye discusses their work on intimacy, queerness, and mental health, and describes a day-to-day life grounded in solitude, meditation, yoga, hiking, and paddleboarding after moving from the US to Portugal, which they find safer,...

Bridging the Desire Gap: Somatic Intimacy, Communication, and Pleasure Dr. Laura Jurgens, a certified sex and relationship coach and creator of the Desire Gap Bridge Method, discusses how her background in science and personal trauma informed her somatic, body-based approach to helping couples navigate libido mismatches, which she says affect about 80% of long-term couples. The conversation explor...

Caasi O’Day on Being “Too Much,” Somatic Healing, and Treating the Clients Others Avoid Licensed clinical social worker Caasi O’Day, founder of Las Vegas practice Polarized Parts, shares her path from being a “lost cause” teen in a small Iowa town—angry, self-harming, using drugs, and distrustful of therapy—to becoming a clinician known for radical honesty, dark humor, and working with clients oft...

Transforming Conflict into Intimacy: Valerie Greene on Attachment, Communication, and Lasting Love Valerie Greene, a transformational life coach and relationship specialist, discusses how she helps women and couples turn conflict into deeper intimacy using emotional healing modalities and practical communication tools. She reflects on her formative years, including a fraught relationship with her...

Existential Kink, BDSM, and Reclaiming Intimacy: with Tina Estrella Certified existential kink coach and former professional dominatrix Tina Estrella shares her path from years of substance abuse, self-harm, and misdiagnoses to discovering she’s on the AuDHD spectrum and shifting toward nervous-system-informed, somatic, parts-based work. She recounts a pivotal “bathroom floor” moment—hearing a cle...

Creating, Maintaining, and Rebuilding Long-Term Intimacy with Bella Krutik Bella Krutik, a relationship nervous system and feminine embodiment coach, shares how she helps successful women and men rebuild trust, intimacy, and long-term connection. She reflects on her formative years as a rule-following, approval-seeking “good girl,” shaped by a first-generation Australian/Latvian immigrant family c...

Lauren Venables on Safety, Somatics, and Dropping the Guard to Create Deeper Intimacy Lauren Venables, a Sydney-based feminine embodiment and intimacy coach who supports high-achieving women in feeling safe enough to drop their guard and receive intimacy, pleasure, and devotion through somatic practices, nervous system work, trauma-informed coaching, grief, and relational healing. Lauren shares ho...