Podcast
Embodied
Hosted by WUNC · EN
Sex and relationships are intimate — and sometimes intimidating to talk about. In WUNC’s award-winning podcast, host Anita Rao guides us on an exploration of our brains and bodies that touches down in taboo territory.
Follow the show on Instagram at @embodiedwunc and on Bluesky at embodiedwunc.bsky.social. You can find Anita on Bluesky at asrao.bsky.social.
35episodes
Episodes
Newest firstAll episodes
Faceblindness & A Journey To Rediscover Your Brain Midlife
3d ago00:50:21Tap to summarizeSadie Dingfelder spent decades not recognizing people who knew her and not knowing why. At 39, she found an explanation: she is faceblind. She talks with Anita about how that discovery sent her down a journalistic rabbit hole that led her to rewrite a lot of her past and come to a fundamentally new understanding of her brain. Plus, her husband Steve joins the conversation to talk about how Sadie’s new diagnoses — including having a severely deficient autobiographical memory — shape their life together.Meet the guests:- Sadie Dingfelder, science journalist and author of "Do I Know You? A Faceblind Reporter’s Journey into the Science of Sight, Memory and Imagination"- Steven Hay, engineer and Sadie's husbandRead the transcript | Review the podcast on your preferred platformFollow Embodied on Instagram Leave a message for Embodied
Transcribe →Making The Kid Decision ... And Learning To Live With It
1w ago00:50:21Tap to summarizeFor years, audio creator Helena de Groot felt almost certain that she did not want kids. Then, she got unexpectedly pregnant. That pregnancy was the first in a series of curveballs that set her on a path of questioning everything she thought she knew — not just about whether or not to have children, but about how to live with the doubt and uncertainty that comes with any big adult decision. Helena talks to Anita about this journey, captured in her new memoir podcast “Creation Myth.” Plus, Anita hears from a psychotherapist who has devoted her career to helping people find clarity in the choice about whether to become parents. Meet the guest:- Helena de Groot, creator of the audio memoir “Creation Myth”- Merle Bombardieri, parenting decision coach, psychotherapist and author of “The Baby Decision: How to Make the Most Important Choice of Your Life” Read the transcript | Review the podcast on your preferred platformFollow Embodied on Instagram Leave a message for EmbodiedYou can learn more about coaching opportunities with Merle Bombardieri here and also sign up for her newsletter here.
Transcribe →Why The Former ‘Fastest Girl In America’ Wants To Change Sports
2w ago00:50:13Tap to summarizeWhen Mary Cain stepped onto the track as a high schooler, it was clear that she was a once-in-a-generation kind of talent. Her rise was quick and spectacular, which made it all the more stunning that just a few years after going pro with Nike, she stepped back from competitive running. She joins Anita to talk about the physical and emotional abuse she says she experienced behind the scenes and the systemic change she is calling for in sports culture. Meet the guest:- Mary Cain, author of “This is Not About Running: A Memoir” and the founder of the nonprofit Atalanta NYCRead the transcript | Review the podcast on your preferred platformFollow Embodied on Instagram Leave a message for EmbodiedNOTE: We reached out to Nike, Alberto Salazar and Darren Treasure for comment. You can find statements from Nike and Salazar here. We did not hear back from Darren Treasure.
Transcribe →Stuttered: Diversifying The Way We Speak
3w ago00:50:21Tap to summarizeStuttering occurs in every culture with a spoken language. So why do many communities treat it as a source of shame? Two speech-language pathologists and a comedian help Anita question cultural assumptions about stuttering and explore the growing movement to embrace speech diversity.Meet the guests:- Dr. Derek Daniels, licensed and certified speech-language pathologist and associate professor in the department of Communication Sciences and Disorders at Wayne State University, shares his own experience of stuttering and what we know about what causes stuttering- Jia Bin, doctoral student at Michigan State University, talks about growing up in rural China with a stutter and what she's hoping to bring back to the stuttering community there- Nina G, comedian and author of "Stutterer, Interrupted: The Comedian Who Almost Didn’t Happen," explains why she decided to embrace her dream of doing stand-up and shares how her stuttering has impacted romantic and platonic relationshipsDig Deeper:Follow Nina G's comedy on InstagramJia on stuttering as a superpowerStuttering content on YouTube by Courtland Crain and Matice AhnjamineNational Stuttering Association websiteRead the transcript | Review the podcast on your preferred platformFollow Embodied on Instagram Leave a message for EmbodiedPlease note: This episode originally published March 31, 2023.Updates: You can learn more about Jia’s work at the Spartan Stuttering Lab here. You can learn more about National Stuttering Awareness Week here. Nina G is in the midst of the making the comedy docu-special: Comedians with Disabilities Act: Going Beyond The Punchlines.
Transcribe →How A Mother Learned To Connect Without Language
May 700:50:21Tap to summarizeHow do you care for someone you struggle to communicate with ... and can never fully understand? That's the question anthropologist Danilyn Rutherford has been wrestling with for decades — ever since it became clear that her daughter Millie would never speak, sign or use symbols to express herself. Danilyn talks with Anita about how mothering a multiply-disabled child challenged her beliefs about the importance of language for human connection. Meet the guest:- Danilyn Rutherford is the author of “Beautiful Mystery: Living in a Wordless World”Read the transcript | Review the podcast on your preferred platformFollow Embodied on Instagram Leave a message for Embodied
Transcribe →The Case For Taking Humor Seriously
Apr 3000:50:25Tap to summarizeComedian Chris Duffy believes everyone has a sense of humor. And if you think you don’t? That’s just years of adult socialization talking! He shares his roadmap for building a more humor-filled life, from learning to be present and notice the absurdities of the world to taking social risks. Plus, he and Anita workshop some comedy exercises that will not just get you laughing more — but also help you kickstart your creative juices and feel more connected to those around you. Meet the guest:- Chris Duffy is the host of the TED podcast “How To Be a Better Human” and the author of “Humor Me: How Laughing More Can Make You Present, Creative, Connected, and Happy”Read the transcript | Review the podcast on your preferred platformFollow Embodied on Instagram Leave a message for Embodied
Transcribe →A New Playbook For Raising Boys
Apr 2300:50:20Tap to summarizeWhen the #MeToo movement exploded in 2017, journalist Ruth Whippman — nearly nine months pregnant with her third son — experienced a profound conflict. As a feminist, she celebrated the movement; as a mother, she worried: "How am I gonna raise these boys to be good?" This tension launched Ruth on a quest to understand modern American boyhood and what's not working. Ruth and her husband Neil Levine tell Anita about their journey of putting Ruth’s research into practice, working to give their sons the emotional tools to thrive in a changing world — and what’s at stake if we don’t shift our approach to raising boys.Meet the guests:- Ruth Whippman is the author of "BoyMom: Reimagining Boyhood in the Age of Impossible Masculinity"- Neil Levine is Ruth's husbandRead the transcript | Review the podcast on your preferred platformFollow Embodied on Instagram Leave a message for EmbodiedPlease note: This episode originally published May 8, 2025.
Transcribe →Reckoning With The Asian Fetish
Apr 1600:50:13Tap to summarizeKaila Yu spent years as an Asian American pinup model, singer and actress, leaning into a hypersexualized image of Asian femininity and burying her doubts about it. But after the 2021 Atlanta spa shootings, she started reckoning with how fetishization can lead to violence — and interrogating her own role in perpetuating harmful stereotypes. She talks with Anita about her new memoir. Plus, a sociologist breaks down how history and Hollywood built the stereotypes in the first place and what we can do to break free. Meet the guests:- Kaila Yu is a culture writer and the author of "Fetishized: A Reckoning with Yellow Fever, Feminism and Beauty"- Nancy Wang Yuen is a sociologist and a professor in the department of ethnic studies at Crafton Hills College and the author of “Reel Inequality: Hollywood Actors and Racism” Read the transcript | Review the podcast on your preferred platformFollow Embodied on Instagram Leave a message for Embodied
Transcribe →Climate Anxiety And The Choice To Parent
Apr 900:50:20Tap to summarizeGen Z is anxious about climate change, and it’s impacting their family planning. Anita talks to researcher Jade Sasser, who's been studying young people’s attitudes about climate change and reproductive choices while unpacking her own experiences with climate anxiety. They’ll talk about how to manage climate emotions while making big life decisions, and how “the kid question” isn’t just about babies — it’s about what bringing new life into an uncertain world represents.Meet the guest:- Jade Sasser is the author of “Climate Anxiety and the Kid Question: Deciding Whether to Have Children in an Uncertain Future” and an associate professor at the University of California, Riverside Read the transcript | Review the podcast on your preferred platformFollow Embodied on Instagram Leave a message for EmbodiedPlease note: This episode originally published May 15, 2025.Update: Jade Sasser is working on a third book, tentatively titled “Climate Change Hates Mothers.”
Transcribe →The Hidden Labor Of Flight Attendants
Apr 200:50:23Tap to summarizeWhen you board a plane, flight attendants greet you with practiced smiles and seamless service. But there’s a lot of mental and emotional labor that passengers don’t see. Missy, a Hawaii-based flight attendant, takes Anita inside her world and shares stories from her close to five years on the job — from managing unruly passengers to dealing with medical emergencies. Travel journalist Natalie Compton also shares her reporting on the financial precarity some flight attendants face and how understanding more about their reality has changed the way she approaches air travel.Meet the guests:- Missy is a Hawaii-based flight attendant who is using only her first name since she's not authorized to speak on behalf of her airline- Natalie Compton is a travel reporter for The Washington PostRead the transcript | Review the podcast on your preferred platformFollow Embodied on Instagram Leave a message for EmbodiedDig deeper:Natalie's reporting on the financial precarity of early-career flight attendantsNatalie's reporting on flight attendant trainingPlease note: This episode originally published on June 19, 2025.
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