Episode 24: A Sex Writer’s Journey Into the Heart of Desire

What really takes place behind the scenes on an adult film set? What is it like to attend an orgasmic meditation retreat? Journalist Tracy-Clark Flory has the answers. In her lengthy career covering the sex beat in the popular media, she’s gone where few of us have gone before—and she’s learned a lot about the state of our current sexual culture.

For this episode of the Sex and Psychology Podcast, I sat down with Tracy to talk about her new memoir, titled Want Me: A Sex Writer’s Journey Into the Heart of Desire. Tracy is a senior staff writer at Jezebel and her writings on sex have been published all over in the media.

Topics we cover in this episode include:

• How did being a sex writer influence the relationship Tracy had with her parents?
• What was the experience of finding her father’s porn like as a teenage girl? And how do boys and girls differ in their emotional reactions to finding a parent’s porn?
• What has the public reaction been to Tracy sharing the most intimate details of her sex life in her writings, and how has this changed over time?
• How can women navigate the complex mixed-messages our culture provides around women and sex?
• What really happens behind the scenes on a porn set? What kinds of things do people tend to get wrong about how porn actually works?
• What is it like to attend an orgasmic meditation retreat?
• How has being a sex writer affected Tracy’s own sex life and relationships?

To learn more about Tracy and her work, visit her website and be sure to pick up a copy of her new book, Want Me: A Sex Writer’s Journey Into the Heart of Desire.

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Credits: LEGIT Audio (Podcast editing) and Shutterstock/Florian (Music). Image created with Canva; photos used with permission of guest.