Tales of Taboo

Vea Vesper is a professional Dominatrix who “creates safe spaces to play dangerous games.” She was the first woman in Russia to publicly come out as a Dom, blazing a trail for sex workers on social media in her home country. We dive deep into sex and dating culture in Russia vs America (hello Russian Hooker trope!); what it really means to be a “good girl” and why intimidating women get further in life; how to “make the Universe your Mistress”; and all the ways in which BDSM can teach us about healthy boundaries, honest communication, and effective negotiation in everyday life. And, as a special treat for us very good boys and girls, she reveals the wildest scene a submissive has ever asked for. (Spoiler alert: it involves cake.)~Share your own story at [email protected]. If you love the show, please take a moment to leave a rating & review: it’s immensely helpful for expanding our community of confessors! Tales of Taboo is produced and hosted by Ali Weiss. Follow Ali on Instagram & TikTok @aliweissworld. Sound mixing by Cedric Wilson. Theme song by Chris Stathopolous. Cover photo by Erika Flynn. Cover art by Kristen Montenegro.

Feel like blowing up your life? You’ve come to the right place.This week’s confessors range in age from 28 to 51 and reside in New York City, Los Angeles, Charlotte, San Diego, San Francisco, London, and the Netherlands. Each of them took enormous personal, professional, or physical risks in pursuit of a freer and more authentic life.We hear from an athletic trainer who elected to amputate half his leg; a high-end drug dealer turned stay-at-home mom; a sex worker turned corporate project manager — and a youth program director turned cam girl; two former city professionals making monster salaries who opted to pursue their artistic dreams full-time; a man who found unexpected success as a journalist in mid-life; a woman who moved to Europe for a man she met in China; and two women who found the strength to leave emotionally abusive relationships after ten and fifteen years.Together, they offer wisdom about losing and rebuilding your identity, navigating judgment from family and society, redefining success, confronting fears of failure, and understanding the complicated role money plays in happiness.~Share your own story at [email protected]. If you love the show, please take a moment to leave a rating & review: it’s immensely helpful for expanding our community of confessors!Tales of Taboo is produced and narrated by Ali Weiss. Follow Ali on Instagram & TikTok @aliweissworld. Sound mixing by Cedric Wilson. Theme song by Chris Stathopolous. Cover photo by Erika Flynn. Cover art by Kristen Montenegro. 

Kseniya Sovenko (@ksenyeah) is a former nationally ranked competitive ballroom dancer, writer, and the founder of ⁠⁠NYC Rave Girls (@nyc.rave.girls)⁠⁠. After being diagnosed with HPV, Kseniya discovered she had high-grade cervical dysplasia (CIN3), an advanced type of precancerous cells. She was offered only one option for treatment, called a LEEP - or Loop Electrosurgical Excision Procedure - but read many reports that the procedure offered inconsistent results and bad side effects. So, in the middle of 2020's global lockdown, Kseniya traveled to Japan on a medical Visa to receive Photodynamic Therapy. Her story is equal parts wild and informative, and I hope you find it as inspiring as I did.~Share your own story at [email protected]. If you love the show, please take a moment to leave a rating & review: it’s immensely helpful for expanding our community of confessors!Tales of Taboo is produced and narrated by Ali Weiss. Follow Ali on Instagram & TikTok @aliweissworld. Sound mixing by Cedric Wilson. Theme song by Chris Stathopolous. Cover photo by Erika Flynn. Cover art by Kristen Montenegro. 

What the f*ck is a "timeline?"This week’s global confessors (16:35) reside in England, Spain, California, Colorado, Pennsylvania, and New Jersey. Each got married — and in some cases had children — “late,” between the ages of 34 and 41.We hear from former party girls adjusting to quieter lives after decades of late nights and globe-trotting; a woman who moved abroad with her girlfriend before returning to the States in search of a heteronormative relationship; a queer woman married to a queer man in a proud Dual Income No Kids household; a woman pregnant via surrogate at 40 after spending a decade happily unmarried to her long-term boyfriend; a woman who resisted relentless pressure from her religious family to have children; and a PhD navigating social judgment about her happy marriage to a plumber.From sex, drugs, and rock & roll-filled twenties to lavish Christmas-themed weddings and shotgun ceremonies in Nashville and Vegas, our contributors have no shame about finding lasting love later in life. In fact, many believe that spending years focused on ambition and self-discovery allowed them to approach marriage as whole people seeking genuine partnership — not validation, void-filling, or a box to check. But they also speak candidly about the emotional and physical realities of delayed domesticity: the patience required to reject societal timelines, the strain “geriatric” pregnancy can place on the body, and the profound ways marriage and parenthood can reshape a woman’s identity after a lifetime of independence.  ~Share your own story at [email protected]. If you love the show, please take a moment to leave a rating & review: it’s immensely helpful for expanding our community of confessors!Tales of Taboo is produced and narrated by Ali Weiss. Follow Ali on Instagram & TikTok @aliweissworld. Theme song by Chris Stathopolous. Cover photo by Erika Flynn. Cover art by Kristen Montenegro. 

Chelsea G. Summers is the author of one of my all-time favorite novels, A Certain Hunger. The story follows a sexy, successful, and sociopathic middle aged food critic as she travels around the world sleeping with, murdering, and then EATING men who have wronged her. Even more iconic than the book is Chelsea herself — a former stripper, sex writer, wine writer, and academic who self-identifies as having been a “fuckup” in her 20s and 30s before going to grad school in her 40s and writing her first novel in her 50s. Despite initial rejection by 40 publishers, A Certain Hunger went on to become an international bestseller.Chelsea joined me in the studio to bond over being "too much"; the joys of "unlikeable" female characters; the pain and privilege of beauty; society's toxic relationship to aging; and what getting older does to a woman's identity. She also dishes about what it was like to strip through her 30s, transition from sex work into academia, and marry a man twenty years her junior (who loves to paint her naked).~A Certain Hunger is available wherever books are sold - and is an Audible original, too. https://www.audible.com/pd/A-Certain-Hunger-Audiobook/B07Y46F4YG~Share your own story at [email protected]. If you love the show, please take a moment to leave a rating & review: it’s immensely helpful for expanding our community of confessors!Tales of Taboo is produced and narrated by Ali Weiss. Follow Ali on Instagram & TikTok @aliweissworld. Sound mixing by Cedric Wilson. Theme song by Chris Stathopolous. Cover photo by Erika Flynn. Cover art by Kristen Montenegro.