We have so many great podcasts participating in the 5th annual Philadelphia Podcast Festival, so we're highlighting some of them in this Q&A series. You can find the full schedule of live shows here, and purchase tickets for Sex with Timaree's live recording on July 21 at 9:30pm at Ruba Club here. Tickets also get you access to the Philly Podfest Afterparty at Ruba Club immediately following the live show.
How did your show come about? My show's producer, Nathan Kuruna, who is also the creator/producer of the Philly Podcast Festival, approached me with the idea of turning my sexuality education work into audio form. I'd been writing about sex and giving presentations and trainings for years. I was like "what's a podcast?" To this day, I don't really know how all this works, but because I have a super knowledgeable, reliable producer who had a vision for a thing we could create, we are nearly at 300 episodes.
Are there episodes you consider your “greatest hits?” Which ones are good “entry” points for new listeners? Personally, I got a ton out of the Photo Pig episode- this man had never before spoken to anyone about his overwhelming desire to be degraded. It was the center of his life, something he risked his job for regularly and over which he had lost two marriages: because he was afraid to speak openly about this fetish. When we started the episode, he was planning on jerking off while he told me about his interests, but it very quickly become a deeply intimate conversation about his childhood, the meaning behind his behavior, his hopes and dreams for the future. He told me things he had never told another person and I was able to give him resources that he had been missing out on, like Fetlife and Kink Aware Professionals Network. We both got a lot out of that conversation.
Otherwise, I would just scan the list of episodes and see what appeals. We talk to academics, porn stars, artists, inventors, writers, and more. There's an episode for everyone.
What do you appreciate most about this medium? I don't have to wear any make up. I show up in my romper, soaked in sweat from the long bike ride to the studio and for one hour a week, get to be a voice and not worry about how i look while doing my job. That's convenient.
What do you most look forward to when doing live shows? How does the show change? We get to tap into visual senses, obviously. So in previous years we've had live pole dancers, drag, burlesque, etc. This year we're doing a BDSM demo. That's something that I could describe on air, of course, but it's not quite the same. Last year we had Flirt Vonnegut commentate on a burlesque performance like a baseball announcer and that was cute, so the people at home could still get something out of it.
Where can people find your podcast and hosts? SexWithTimaree.com- it's a clearinghouse of my sex education work, although I also write for Philly Weekly and do community organizing for the Philly burlesque scene- and you can check that out at Burlesqueadelphia.com