End of Season One Q&A | Transcript
Find the episode shownotes here!
Hannah Witton
Welcome to Doing It with me Hannah Witton, where we talk all things sex, relationships, dating, and our bodies.
Hannah Witton
Hey, everyone, welcome to the first minisode of Doing It, whilst we're taking a little season break. Did you know that last week's episode with Ruby Rare was our last one of season one. Thank you everyone so much for listening over this series, it has been so much fun making this podcast, and we want to continue having more really insightful and interesting conversations about sex, relationships, dating, and our bodies, and all that good stuff. And obviously, we talk to you guys sometimes on social media, but sometimes with the podcast, it can be quite difficult to know what people think and to get feedback and stuff. So what I'm asking from you, dear listener, is to fill out a very short feedback form. Don't we all love a good survey. Is that just me? Is that just me? I'll leave a link to our Doing It season one survey in the description of this podcast. It will also be in the show notes on our website, DoingItPodcast.co.uk. And we'll probably be posting the link on our Instagram and our Twitter as well. We would really, really appreciate it if you filled it out, let us know what you thought, what we could do to improve, some of your favourite things, not so favourite things. Just want to get some feedback, see what you guys think of the podcast. Thank you very much if you do fill it out, much, much appreciated. In this minisode we're going to be doing a little Q&A. So we asked for your questions on our Twitter and our Instagram, which are both @DoingItPodcast. I'm just gonna be going through some of these and answering them. Some of them are about sex and dating, others are about making a podcast and guests etc. We're just gonna crack on.
Hannah Witton
Our first question, and I feel like I'm gonna have to, like reference some of these episodes as well. The first question from OurMenzies3032, of all of the guests you interviewed, which guest did you learn the most from?
Hannah Witton
I think I probably learned the most from - I want to say Meg-John, Meg-John Barker, the episode with them was called Consent Culture and Intentional Relationships. And I'm saying MJ because I feel like just in terms of like sex and relationships in general, I feel like I've learned so much from their podcast with Justin Hancock. And then also I feel like I learned loads from the episode with Eva Blum, which is called How Sexting Can Improve Your Communication & Sexual Pleasure. Eva did her master's thesis about sexting, and the research that she discussed in that episode is so interesting, so interesting.
Hannah Witton
From anonymous, how to increase libido and make masturbation more enjoyable.
Hannah Witton
First of all, if you don't enjoy masturbation, that is totally fine. You don't have to enjoy it. Some people don't fancy it and that is absolutely fine. If it's something that you do want to enjoy more, I would just recommend really taking it slow, really not feeling the pressure to have a good time, the pressure to orgasm, and I know that's easier said than done. In terms of increasing libido. Again, this is another one where it's like, is that even a problem? It depends on like your expectations and you know how you how you feel about your libido being where it's at. For that, I prescribe reading Come As You Are by Emily Nagoski. In that book, she talks so much about mismatched sex drives and like what that actually means, she has this whole analogy with your like sexual break and your sexual accelerator. And oh my goodness, reading that is so useful to understand libido and sex drive, and it might even make you question whether or not like increasing your libido is something that you want to do, or at least maybe change your mind like framework around it. It might not be the case of like, do all of these things and then you will be hornier more of the time. It's just more about getting to know yourself and knowing what your turn on triggers are, what your turn off triggers are, and basically trying to reduce your amount of turn off triggers and increase your amount of turn on triggers. But some people just have more sensitive breaks, and some people have more sensitive accelerators, and that's fine.
Hannah Witton
Mrs.Master asked what microphone do you use, and how much is it?
Hannah Witton
Great question, I'm going to give you all the numbers now. I'm in my Amazon account trying to remember what they are. So the microphones that I use are Samson Q2U, and I bought three of them, because sometimes there's three of us talking on the podcast, sometimes, sometimes I'm interviewing two people. I bought them as like a recording pack. So it comes with the microphone, a little travel stand for it, and then an XLR cable, which plugs into the recorder. And these were 80 pounds each. And then the recorder that I use is a H6n Zoom, and the H6 is 260 pounds. I buy rechargeable batteries for it, and a bag to carry everything in when I'm travelling around. So a fair bit, a fair bit. But that's said, I'm really pleased with the setup that I have because it allows me to move around and take my podcast and like travel with it, and interview people in different places.
Hannah Witton
Whilst we're on the topic of money, NickGaby asked, how do you make money with a podcast?
Hannah Witton
So my podcast is produced with Global, and it's hosted through them and if you're listening to this through your podcast app, occasionally, you might hear some adverts at the front of it. And I get a cut of those ads basically. At the moment, we have Ann Summers as a sponsor, which is very exciting, so yeah. Another way that I make money from my podcast is through my Patreon. So I have a Patreon for like not just the podcast, but for everything that I do. So it includes early access to videos, but it also includes early access to the podcast, so you get a separate RSS feed for it. So the podcast that the Patreons get is a day early, and doesn't have ads on it. So the money that I get from Patreon also helps to fund the podcast too.
Hannah Witton
OurMenzies3032 again asked, 25 episodes with ladies, 4 with men, is it more difficult to find men who will talk about sex?
Hannah Witton
This is a really interesting question, and I went back through the episodes to be like, is it really 25 women and 4 men? And it's five men, and one non binary person, and then lots of lots of women, as well. But then that's not including the roundtable discussions. But yeah, it is really interesting. I feel like in the sex ed space, there aren't a lot of men. There, specifically, there aren't a lot of straight, cis, men who are talking openly about sex, at least that I know. If you have any recommendations for men to get on the podcast, please let me know. But I feel like, at least in the sex ed space that I walk in online, it is very female and LGBTQ+ centric.
Hannah Witton
I'm really sorry if I butcher people's usernames. PearLandFH asks, will you make a history focused episode, ie ones based on your thesis?
Hannah Witton
So not necessarily once based on my thesis. For those who don't know, I studied history at university, and I specialised in sexual history, and my dissertation was about sex manuals in the late 19th and early 20th centuries. And I can confirm that there will be at least one history focused episode in season two. I'm soon to be recording an episode with historian Dr. Kate Lister, who's got a new book out in February called A Curious History of Sex, and I'm currently reading a proof copy of it and it's brilliant. I absolutely love it. So there'll definitely be one episode with her that is very, like history sex focused. And there's a couple other people that I'm aware of who are more like academics in the field of history and sex. So you know, if there are like different angles and stuff to talk about, definitely would want more discussions about that too
Hannah Witton
Jessie_Cxrrie, but with an X instead of an A, I think that might be, I'm not sure. Do you prefer the coil over the pill?
Hannah Witton
For me personally, right now, yes. I enjoy the fact that I don't have to think about taking a pill every day. And on the coil, I don't have any periods. That's also great. Don't have to think about that. There's just a lot of not having to think about things, which I enjoy.
Hannah Witton
Katie Beaumont asks, how do you choose the topics to talk about? That's a really interesting question because it really ties into this other question that someone asked. Tammy Elisa asked, how do you pick your guests?
Hannah Witton
And those two things, picking the topics and picking the guests kind of happen at the same time. So because I've worked in this space for quite a long time, I know lots of people who are doing really amazing work in sex and relationships. And so I kind of use that to start with, of like, okay, who do I know? Who in my network? Who am I following online? Who's like, doing interesting stuff? What topics do we want to cover? What haven't we talked about yet? Does anyone have like an interesting story or a specific angle? And so the topic and the guest kind of, those decisions are kind of happening at the same time. And then we're also keeping tabs of like, who's got stuff coming out soon. So like, if people have got books to promote, if people have got TV shows or like whatever it might be, we're trying to keep track of like, when people have got stuff launching or like, you know if they're going on tour or something, so that we can help them out a bit, like get them on the podcast, you know, put them in front of my audience, and then plug their cool stuff, if we get those timings right.
Hannah Witton
MelonChellen asks, What's your favourite thing you've learned, and is there something you wish you'd learned earlier?
Hannah Witton
Ooh, that's an interesting question, I'm gonna have to go back to my list of episodes. I feel like the episode with Karen Hobbs is also one where I learned a lot, the one about cervical cancer. And then the one with Dr. Zoe Williams, about egg freezing, and sperm donation, and fertility. Oh my god, there's so much stuff in that, that I wish I had known earlier. And we talked a lot in that episode also about how, from a young age, that sex ed emphasis is always on how not to get pregnant and then it comes time to like when you might be thinking about wanting to get pregnant, and actually, you're like, I have no idea how this works. And that also ties into a thing that Justin Hancock talked about in the episode with him, called Bad Sex Ed vs No Sex Ed. And he talked about how, if teachers taught young people how to get pregnant, they would actually realise that they were inadvertedly teaching them how to not get pregnant as well. And they'd also probably realise that the way they've been teaching it before was wrong. So really interesting stuff there.
Hannah Witton
These next two questions are like two and one, and they're both from Fairing, on Twitter. I've always wondered how much ends up being edited out of a podcast, because it seems like it flows so naturally. And then, any chance of having a blooper minisode?
Hannah Witton
So actually, when I'm interviewing a guest, very little gets cut out. The only bits that would get cut out is if there's any interruptions to the recording, like any external loud noises, or we once had a drink spill on the table. So sometimes things happen that disrupt the recording, but most of the time, there is very little editing, it's just kind of like banging on my intro, and the conversation just flows. And for that reason, there is no chance of a blooper minisode, I'm afraid. The only time there really is any bloopers is when I'm recording my intros because it's just me. And I'm just like, blah blah blah blah, and also, there's maybe some bloopers from this Q&A, because again, it's just me, and I'm just like, occasionally being like,erm, oh, but only Lauren, my editor, gets to hear those.
Hannah Witton
Melodrama on Twitter asked, I've decided to go off the pill because it's become somewhat of a stress source. Plus, my boyfriend and I are doing long distance at the moment. What contraceptive method would you recommend as a replacement? I've considered the coil, but I'm not sure what would be best.
Hannah Witton
So first of all, you don't need me to recommend you contraceptive. I can kind of give you an idea of roughly of what's out there, but ultimately go to your doctors and talk with them about options, and they're best placed to give you that advice, because I don't know what your like medical history situation is and so they might know some stuff. Well, they definitely know some stuff that I don't. So first of all, go to doctors. Second of all, there's just a few things that would be useful to ask yourself before picking your contraceptive. So, how soon do you want to have kids, if you want to have kids at all? So that might play a role in what kind of contraceptive you pick, whether it's shorter acting or long acting. Like do you want to get pregnant in the next year? Or do you want to not get pregnant for at least 10 years? Like, actually, what is your situation there? What's your lifestyle like? So your long distance relationship might come into that. Do you travel a lot? What is just your general lifestyle situation, and how might that affect what contraceptive you pick? And then also, are you good at remembering things? Obviously, you've said you've decided to come off the pill. But there are other contraceptives that require you to like, remember to do something every week, or every three weeks, or something. And there are other contraceptives that don't require you to do anything for twelve weeks, or for three years, or five years or ten years. So take all of those things into account, and then also, hormonal or non hormonal options is another decision that you might want to make. And yeah, think, have to think about all of those things and then go to your doctor and be like these are the things are important to me, what would be best for me.
Hannah Witton
@RutherLucky asked, what's your favourite and least favourite thing about making a podcast?
Hannah Witton
My favourite thing is that I get to sit down with amazing people and have conversations that fascinate me. I, I love talking and learning about sex. And being able to sit down with people with different experiences to me, different expertise, and learn from them and have these conversations is an absolute dream. And having a podcast is basically the excuse to do that. So that's pretty cool. And my least favourite thing about making a podcast actually just happened before I started recording this. Basically, the SD card that I put into the recorder, SD cards have like this little flick on it that either protects the card, or unprotect the card. If the card is protected, then you can't like record anything on it, you can't do anything. And it comes up on the screen, that card is protected. So you have to like unclick it, and put it back in, so that you can record. However, this happens to me all the time, and I was just sat here for five minutes doing this. I flick it so it's unprotected, and I put it back in, and the process of putting the SD card back in, moves the switch so it's protected. It is the most frustrating thing and I just can't get it right. Like sometimes I get the angle in perfectly and it doesn't flick the switch. Other times, like this time, I'm sat here for five goddamn minutes trying to get an SD card into this recorder. So my least favourite thing is technical difficulties, I think is what I'll say for that.
Hannah Witton
And that brings us to the end of the Q&A. Thank you so much for listening. Don't forget to do our listener survey. We would love, love, love your feedback. You can find the link in the description of this episode, on our website, and also on our social media, so you have no excuse. But seriously, much appreciated. And next week is a very fun minisode that you may have been excited to hear if you listened to the episode with Cameryn Moore. And I will leave it at that. You'll have to see/hear next week. All right. Bye.