The Intimacy Inquiry

Certified sexologist and sex coach Jenn Mason, founder of the inclusive Bellingham sex shop Wink Wink and an elected member of the Bellingham School Board, joins Andrew Phipps to talk about pleasure after trauma, the sex education most of us never got, and why she believes a solo pleasure practice matters as much as a partnered one. The conversation ranges from the impossible gap between a puritanical culture and unlimited online pornography, through desire in long, logistics heavy relationships, to the sex education gap in midlife and beyond. Honest, funny and genuinely useful.Guest: Jenn Mason, Wink Wink, Bellingham, Washington. https://www.heyjennmason.com/https://winkwinkboutique.com/Host: Andrew Phipps.

Dr Lori Davis, a Doctor of Nursing Practice, AASECT certified sex counsellor and Relational Life Therapy coach, joins Andrew Phipps to unpack why she's banned the word "sex" from her own practice, and why what most couples call "mismatched desire" is better understood as a desire bind, a shared dynamic rather than one partner's fault. The conversation ranges across menopause and hormone therapy, the somatic roots of shame and desire, pornography's "fast food" effect, and whether monogamy is really the natural default it's assumed to be. Honest, warm and genuinely practical.Guest: Dr Lori Davis, sex counsellor and relational therapy coach. https://dr-loridavis.com/Host: Andrew Phipps.https://www.linkedin.com/in/andrew-phipps-ap/

Kiki Maree is a trauma-informed sexologist, inclusive sex educator and sexological bodyworker based in Sydney, Australia, specialising in women's and vulva-owner's sexuality and partnered intimacy. She's the founder of Yonilicious Academy, an international training school certifying somatic sex coaches and yoni massage practitioners, and the author of a series of children's books on bodies, boundaries and consent.Kiki has kindly provided 2 free resources for you to enjoy:Kink Unwrapped: https://www.yonilicious.com.au/kink-unwrappedIntimacy Conversation Practices:https://www.yonilicious.com.au/intimacy-conversation-practiceKiki and Andrew talk about the shame she grew up with around her own body, how the kink community taught her more about consent and communication than years of academic study, and the common themes she sees in clients, from shame and numbness to performance pressure. They discuss what a yoni massage actually is and why she built a global school around it, what's genuinely missing from sex education for children, and why she believes consent needs to be checked in on continuously, not treated as a single yes.This episode includes candid discussion of sexuality, kink and personal experience and is intended for a mature audience.Guest: Kiki Maree, trauma-informed sexologist, founder of Yonilicious Academyhttps://www.yonilicious.com.au/https://substack.com/@kikimareexx?r=2u9fyk&utm_medium=ios&utm_source=profilehttps://www.linkedin.com/in/kiki-maree-0204a9167?utm_source=share&utm_campaign=share_via&utm_content=profile&utm_medium=ios_apphttps://www.facebook.com/kristin.yonilicious@yoniliciousYoniliciousHost: Andrew Phipps, Intimacy Inquiry

Pamela Madsen is a somatic wellness educator and founder of Back to the Body, a series of immersive retreats where women explore touch, pleasure and embodiment in a safe, structured space. Before this work, she was a nationally known fertility advocate and founding executive director of the American Fertility Association, where she coined the term "biological clock." Her memoir, Shameless, tells the story of a married mother who, decades into her marriage, went looking for a more honest relationship with her own desire.Pamela and Andrew talk about the boredom, not brokenness, that started her own search for something more after more than two decades of marriage, why touch work is often the missing piece talk therapy alone can't reach, what many men misunderstand about women's pleasure, and why she believes desire doesn't have to fade with age. They also discuss the professional structure and strict boundaries behind her retreats, and how permission, not perfection, is what keeps long marriages alive.This episode includes frank, anatomically detailed discussion of sex and pleasure and is intended for a mature audience.Guest: Pamela Madsen, somatic wellness educator, founder of Back to the Body, author of Shamelessbacktothebody.org@thepamelamadsen@backtothebodyorghttps://backtothebody.org/pages/masterclassHost: Andrew Phipps, Intimacy Inquiry

Nikkiema Rai is a somatic sexologist, self-discovery coach and international speaker based in Melbourne, Australia. With almost a decade of experience, she works at the intersection of somatics, NLP, sexological bodywork and what she calls "the erotic mysteries," helping career-driven women move out of overwhelm and back into genuine connection with themselves and the people they love.Nikkiema and Andrew talk about why so many successful women feel disconnected from their own bodies, what a session with a somatic sexologist actually looks like, and why a mismatch in desire between partners is rarely just about sex. They cover how modern porn is quietly reshaping expectations of intimacy, why curiosity fades as we get older, how to build the capacity to talk to a partner about a kink or fantasy, and one small, practical way to start reconnecting with your own body today.Guest: Nikkiema Rai, somatic sexologist, self-discovery coach and international speakerhttps://nikkiemarai.com/Host: Andrew Phipps, Intimacy Inquiry