Ladies, We Need To Talk

The Other Woman

16 Sep 2024

Contributed by Lukas

The Other Woman. The bit on the side. Side hoe. She's the biggest villain of them all. She's probably younger, hotter and she's left the girl-code fa...

Alcohol is not your friend with Jill Stark

09 Sep 2024

Contributed by Lukas

Jill Stark spent most of her life defined by alcohol. Either as a hard-drinking party girl, spurred on by a culture of drinking as a journalist, or ...

Labiaplasty—the rise of the designer vagina

02 Sep 2024

Contributed by Lukas

We’re all about labia love here at Ladies, but it seems that some women are less than enthusiastic about their lower lips. So what’s the real de...

Hey Yumi! Should I start a family?

26 Aug 2024

Contributed by Lukas

Tick, tock, tick, tock... can you hear that? It’s your biological clock and it’s about to blow! For some, deciding whether to have a baby isn’...

Jamila Rizvi—when life doesn’t go to plan

19 Aug 2024

Contributed by Lukas

At 31, Jamila Rizvi’s life changed forever. The discovery of a rare brain tumour knocked the ass-kicking, over-achieving media advisor and young mu...

Hey Yumi! I feel ugly and it’s holding me back

12 Aug 2024

Contributed by Lukas

We all have days when we look in the mirror and think “who is that hideous moll staring back at me??” But what if those days are constant and you...

The hot truth about perimenopause and mental health

05 Aug 2024

Contributed by Lukas

Perimenopause can be bad for your health. It’s not just the physical symptoms like weight gain, insomnia, exhaustion and loss of sex drive that can...

Hey Yumi! I haven’t had sex for a really long time

29 Jul 2024

Contributed by Lukas

Have you ever had a sexual dry spell? And when we say dry, we mean years and years. Getting naked and doing the bedroom rodeo with another person ca...

Breaking the silence around miscarriage

22 Jul 2024

Contributed by Lukas

In life, there are a lot of random rules women stick to. One of them is not telling loved ones about a pregnancy until after the first trimester. B...

Hey Yumi! I’m in love but losing myself

15 Jul 2024

Contributed by Lukas

Being in love feels so damn good, right? But what if you fall so deeply into your relationship, you start to forget who you are?  

The case against hookup sex with Hannah Ferguson

08 Jul 2024

Contributed by Lukas

Swipe left, swipe right, match, meet, hook up, repeat. We all know the dating dance, but is it really serving us as women?Enter Hannah Ferguson, the ...

Hey Yumi! I'm tired of doing it all

01 Jul 2024

Contributed by Lukas

Women bear the load of most of the invisible (thankless) work in a household. And that shit gets heavy.  School lunches, laundry, dentist appointme...

Horny women

24 Jun 2024

Contributed by Lukas

What if your appetite for sex was insatiable? Would you love to be boning every day, multiple times a day?  There's this idea that it's men that are...

Hey Yumi! My mum-guilt is crushing me

17 Jun 2024

Contributed by Lukas

When you’re stuck in the daily grind of working-mum life, sometimes it can be hard not to feel like a shitty mum.  School lunches, getting them d...

Beating burnout

10 Jun 2024

Contributed by Lukas

Yumi has been cheeky and stolen the keys to the ABC archive to bring out one of our favourite episodes. Life is tiring. The cozzi livs, the constant ...

Hey Yumi! My prolapse is a problem

03 Jun 2024

Contributed by Lukas

If you’ve carried a baby, you may have had to deal with the fall out (literally) of pelvic prolapse. But having your organs pop out of your vagina ...

Rosie Waterland's mum died. She’s kind of relieved

27 May 2024

Contributed by Lukas

Rosie Waterland’s mum was, to put it mildly, chaos personified. Charming and caring one minute, abusive and cruel the next.  This year, she died. ...

Hey Yumi! How do I introduce a kink?

20 May 2024

Contributed by Lukas

Would you like to flip the script and peg your partner? Yumi spreads the word on pegging your boo, how to introduce anal play into your sex life and...

PCOS: Infertility, beards and BS

13 May 2024

Contributed by Lukas

Weight gain, bristly hairs, no period. Welcome to  Poly Cystic Ovary Syndrome.  PCOS is one of the leading causes of infertility worldwide and it...

Hey Yumi! My partner's gone full slob

06 May 2024

Contributed by Lukas

Do you have to pry your partner off the couch with a fork-lift? Are they living in skanky trackies 24/7? Yumi spills the tea on what to do if your o...

Adult Virgins

29 Apr 2024

Contributed by Lukas

We live in a sex obsessed world, where hook-up culture is king and getting laid out like a spatchcocked chicken is a status symbol. But what if you’...

Pongy vagina

27 Nov 2023

Contributed by Lukas

Uh oh, what’s that you smell... a funky odour down below? The thought of having a stinky crotch is nightmare fuel for some women, but do we even ne...

Staying for the money

13 Nov 2023

Contributed by Lukas

What happens when you want a divorce but the cost of leaving your marriage would cripple you financially?  Would you ever stay in an unhappy marriag...

Clementine Ford on the case against marriage

30 Oct 2023

Contributed by Lukas

What if we put a stop to marriage...for good? Like, just stop with flouncy white dresses, walking down the aisle and having a dude give us away.  I...

BEST OF - Pelvic flaw in all of us

16 Oct 2023

Contributed by Lukas

Do you wizz when you sneeze? Or avoid star jumps at the gym? One in four of us (!) have pelvic floor problems which can lead to incontinence and pro...

Falling for a narcissist

02 Oct 2023

Contributed by Lukas

You think you’ve met “the one” and they seem totally perfect for you, but is it all too good to be true? Could you be dating a narcissist?  Wh...

Sober sex

18 Sep 2023

Contributed by Lukas

Having sex can be exposing, nerve wracking. When we strip down, we reveal ourselves – and not just our bits. No wonder we sometimes reach for coura...

BEST OF - Love letter to our friends

04 Sep 2023

Contributed by Lukas

Yumi has been on an adventure down to the depths of the ABC archives to uncover an absolute banger of an episode.  On every form you ever fill out,...

Solo mums by choice

21 Aug 2023

Contributed by Lukas

Is the soundtrack to your life a ticking baby-making clock?  What if you’re desperate to be a mother but the other half of the baby-making equati...

Emily Nagoski on sex in long term relationships

07 Aug 2023

Contributed by Lukas

If you’re having trouble getting hot for your long-term partner? You’re not alone. Domestic bliss, smelling our partner’s farts, demanding kid...

BEST OF - To pube or not to pube

24 Jul 2023

Contributed by Lukas

Yumi Stynes has pinched the keys to the ABC podcast dungeon and has pulled out her absolute fave episodes for you. Are you team Dolphin or team Pubu...

Sex in a fat bod

10 Jul 2023

Contributed by Lukas

Getting naked in front of someone you’re about to get down and dirty with is a really vulnerable thing to do for even the most confident among us. ...

Female rage – why are we so damn angry?

26 Jun 2023

Contributed by Lukas

Do you scream foul obscenities at bad drivers? Chuck your phone violently on the bed when seething? Heard “that time of the month?” when you’re...

Esther Perel on Intimacy

12 Jun 2023

Contributed by Lukas

So you hugged a workmate having a rough time – is that intimacy? Locked eyes and shared a giggle with a stranger in a spin class – does that coun...

Choking during sex – can it ever be safe?

29 May 2023

Contributed by Lukas

You're horny. You're hooking up. It's hot and heavy. Then, a hand makes its way to your throat… wait WTF? Yup. Choking during sex has hit the mains...

Heartbreak — why does it feel so bloody awful?

15 May 2023

Contributed by Lukas

Are you guilty of compulsively stalking your ex on socials whilst ugly crying and eating ice cream out of the carton? Join the club baby. The soul-s...

INTRODUCING — our most brutally honest season yet

08 May 2023

Contributed by Lukas

Had your heart pulverised?  Been choked during sex? Is your partner a narcissist? Ladies is back and we’re going there. 

Our Fear of farting

07 Nov 2022

Contributed by Lukas

Even though we all crack a turd whistle once in a while, it doesn't mean we're not ashamed of the noises and smells that erupt from our bums, especia...

Clean eating

24 Oct 2022

Contributed by Lukas

Search #cleaneating on social media, and you'll come across over 50 million posts. Vegan, paleo, raw, protein shakes, juice cleanses, gluten-free, ...

Update — Discharge, the gooey taboo

10 Oct 2022

Contributed by Lukas

Lots of women are super self-conscious about the sticky stuff in our undies. The way it looks and the way it smells. So much so that up to a third o...

Facing your own death

26 Sep 2022

Contributed by Lukas

The prospect of dying is an abstract thing, something we try hard not to think about at all costs.But what if the one dying…is you? Join Yumi Styne...

Generation gap - Can couples with a large age difference last?

12 Sep 2022

Contributed by Lukas

Cradle snatcher, sugar-daddy, toy-boy, cougar… all of those terms are loaded with baggage and undermine the relationships they describe. Beyond th...

Burnout

29 Aug 2022

Contributed by Lukas

Burnout: It's a word so frequently used that it's almost become a catchphrase. And let's face it, who isn't feeling exhausted? But when does that fat...

Being cheated on

15 Aug 2022

Contributed by Lukas

Rooting around is as inescapable as laundry and taxes. While humans all around the world make promises to be with each other through sickness and he...

INTRODUCING — New episodes of Ladies, We Need To Talk

08 Aug 2022

Contributed by Lukas

Fresh from a season on sex, Yumi Stynes is leaping out of the sack, changing the sheets and delving deep into the stuff that keeps us up at night. We...

What we need men to know about sex

01 Aug 2022

Contributed by Lukas

YOU TOLD US AND NOW WE'RE TELLING THE MENFOLK. What we need men to know about sex — from jack-hammering to hygiene to female anatomy 101, nothing's...

When bad sex is your life — update

18 Jul 2022

Contributed by Lukas

We've all got a bad sex story. The partner who's selfish in the sack. The horribly uninspiring one-night stand. The lover with 'performance anxiety'....

Bonus — Your sex and disability stories

11 Jul 2022

Contributed by Lukas

Our sex and disability episode really resonated with you. Hear what our listeners had to say about sex and disability. We love your feedback ladies@a...

Sex and the D Word – Disability

04 Jul 2022

Contributed by Lukas

Around one in five Australian women live with a disability. And guess what? They're having sex. Hot, creative sex. But steamy conversations about wha...

Anal sex — update

20 Jun 2022

Contributed by Lukas

Warning: Explicit Content. Is anal the last taboo? One in five women in Australia has had anal sex. It's everywhere in porn and many of us, especiall...

Next level sex

06 Jun 2022

Contributed by Lukas

Imagine you've been having ho-hum, pedestrian sex your entire life and BAM! A new trick, a new partner, a revelation about yourself or a total life c...

Asexuality — I don't want to have sex, ever

23 May 2022

Contributed by Lukas

In a world obsessed with sex, what if you never (or rarely) want it? Yumi Stynes meets women from across the asexuality spectrum to find out how they...

LiLL — Later in life lesbians

09 May 2022

Contributed by Lukas

Imagine going down on a woman for the very first time in your 50s. Yumi Stynes meets later-in-life lesbians who, after years of hetero partnerships a...

Swinging

25 Apr 2022

Contributed by Lukas

What's it like to watch your partner have sex with another person? What about a group of people? Welcome to the world of swingers, where couples "pla...

INTRODUCING — Season SEX of Ladies, We Need To Talk

18 Apr 2022

Contributed by Lukas

Welcome to season six of Ladies, We Need to Talk. This time around we're turning the steam up to 11, dropping our towels and baring all. Join Yumi St...

Sexual pleasure and how to get it

01 Nov 2021

Contributed by Lukas

Sex is more available and permissible than ever before, but despite this, are we actually getting any pleasure?  Lots of women still don’t f...

PRESENTS — Ladies We Need to Talk the book

25 Oct 2021

Contributed by Lukas

We know you love the podcast and now there’s Ladies We Need to Talk the book! 

Women who have never orgasmed

18 Oct 2021

Contributed by Lukas

For some women, reaching climax, cumming, the Big O... is as easy as a walk around the block. For others, it’s an arduous, long, steep hike up a ...

Body Image — Update

04 Oct 2021

Contributed by Lukas

Thanks to the pandemic, we now spend even MORE time doom scrolling through obnoxiously perfect Insta-people, and endlessly staring at our own faces v...

Digital dating despair

20 Sep 2021

Contributed by Lukas

You're more likely to meet your partner on an app than any other way. But between the constant swiping, messaging, rejections, ghosting and d&*k ...

Sex detox

06 Sep 2021

Contributed by Lukas

Forget juice cleanses, meditation and yoni eggs, is a sex detox the best way to reset our thinking around sex and relationships to find out what real...

Foreplay — update

23 Aug 2021

Contributed by Lukas

Ladies, it's time for a refresher course on foreplay! Yumi Stynes talks to psychotherapist Esther Perel and a bunch of brilliant female experts about...

Birth trauma

09 Aug 2021

Contributed by Lukas

"Have a baby," they said. "It'll be great," they said. But what they didn't say, was that getting that kid out could leave you traumatised. Physicall...

A love letter to our friends

26 Jul 2021

Contributed by Lukas

On every form you ever fill out, there’s always a tick box about your romantic status — de facto, married, single. Why are we only judged on roma...

Mum won't come to our wedding

12 Jul 2021

Contributed by Lukas

You can't help who you fall in love with. But what happens if your family disapproves? Every relationship has its challenges, but for lovers from a c...

Young widows

28 Jun 2021

Contributed by Lukas

What happens if you're young and that #1 person, the special love that you searched for and pinned down, the one you expected to love till you were o...

Last shot pregnancy

14 Jun 2021

Contributed by Lukas

What happens if you want a baby but you're running out of time? Maybe you haven't found the right partner, or you've found the right one, but they do...

Hair — Why do we care?

31 May 2021

Contributed by Lukas

Have you noticed that most women have long hair, and most men have short hair? And how grey-haired men are silver foxes and women old and witchy?What...

The rage in my pelvis

17 May 2021

Contributed by Lukas

Nearly one million Australian women live with persistent pain in their pelvis. Yumi Stynes finds out what the hell it is, what causes it and most imp...

What the hell happens in old age?

03 May 2021

Contributed by Lukas

Saggy boobs, cracked vaginas, being invisible, loneliness. Getting older can't all be this grim? CAN IT?!? Yumi Stynes finds out how to stay awesome,...

Fetish

19 Apr 2021

Contributed by Lukas

What really turns you on? Getting your toes sucked? Latex? High-heeled shoes? Fetish is a word that can be overused without us really thinking about ...

Introducing — Season 5 of Ladies, We Need To Talk

12 Apr 2021

Contributed by Lukas

Ladies! Listen up: we're back and we've missed you! Join Yumi Stynes as she dives right in to all the taboo lady-business that women find tricky to t...

The secret lives of vaginas

19 Oct 2020

Contributed by Lukas

Sex, babies, periods, discharge. Our vaginas do a lot. But how well do you really know your vagina? Get comfy for a guided tour of your vagina with D...

To pube or not to pube

05 Oct 2020

Contributed by Lukas

Pubic hair — it's one of the most scrutinised patches of hair on our bodies. Research says 80 per cent of women groom their hair regularly. But why...

Escaping monogamy

21 Sep 2020

Contributed by Lukas

Monogamy is the default, but for lots of people it doesn't work. More and more people are actively looking for alternatives to monogamy, according to...

How to break up well

07 Sep 2020

Contributed by Lukas

It can take months or years to get through a breakup, and the fallout can be totally devastating. Whether it's money, legal stuff, kids, or all the f...

Anal Sex — the biggest taboo

24 Aug 2020

Contributed by Lukas

Warning: explicit content. One in five women in Australia has had anal sex. It's everywhere in porn and many of us, especially young women, are feeli...

Solving the mental load — update

10 Aug 2020

Contributed by Lukas

A movement's begun to expose the mental load women shoulder. All that relentless, unpaid, thankless and invisible work women do. Naming it is powerfu...

Emotional abuse

27 Jul 2020

Contributed by Lukas

One in four Australian women have experienced emotional abuse from a partner. You don't get physically hurt, but psychologically it's devastating and...

Clitoris 101

13 Jul 2020

Contributed by Lukas

When most of us picture our clitoris, we think of it as being the size of a tiny jellybean. But sisters, your clitoris is so much more than that! It'...

The answer's no

29 Jun 2020

Contributed by Lukas

Women are pretty bad at saying no — we're socialised to please and serve others. Author of F*** No!, Sarah Knight, political commentator Jamilla Ri...

Propping up your partner

15 Jun 2020

Contributed by Lukas

Caring for partners is something women do well and often. But what's the limit, how do you know if your support is causing more harm than good and ho...

Coronavirus — Are we panic buying partners?

08 Jun 2020

Contributed by Lukas

You'd think a pandemic would stop all romance and the dating game. But it's seen an acceleration of relationships and romance as some single people p...

The gender beauty gap

01 Jun 2020

Contributed by Lukas

It's no secret women spend way more time, energy and hard-earned cash on our appearances than men do. But what else could we be firing our mental bul...

A gender gap of pandemic proportions

18 May 2020

Contributed by Lukas

Guess who is way worse off in pandemics? Yup — women. While we're leading the charge on the frontline by slogging away in jobs like nursing, teachi...

The secrets we keep

04 May 2020

Contributed by Lukas

Most of us have a secret we've never told anyone. Secrets are self-protective and universal, but some are hard to keep and impossible to share. If yo...

50-shades of erotic literature

20 Apr 2020

Contributed by Lukas

What if you could read something that would radically change your sex life and your whole relationship dynamic? What if, a few pages could actually m...

Anxious? We got you

06 Apr 2020

Contributed by Lukas

While one in three women will experience anxiety in normal circumstances, when COVID-19 hit, for many it was the first time they'd ever felt anxious....

Coronavirus — hot tips on how you can get through

02 Apr 2020

Contributed by Lukas

Whether you're juggling working at home with kids or figuring out how to pay rent as a single mum after losing your job — life just got a whole lot...

BONUS — The concrete ceiling

09 Dec 2019

Contributed by Lukas

You’ll have heard of the glass ceiling — the invisible barrier that stops women getting ahead at work. For women of colour, that ceiling is actua...

Ladies, we love your boobs

04 Nov 2019

Contributed by Lukas

Boobies, tits, cans, your rack. Ladies, we want to celebrate your boobs. Despite what the beauty mags tell you, boobs come in all shapes and sizes. S...

Toxic mums

21 Oct 2019

Contributed by Lukas

There’s a whole lot of mythology around the so-called sacred mother-daughter bond, but it isn’t always reality. Mumming is hard work. It’s a to...

Sex after sexual assault

07 Oct 2019

Contributed by Lukas

One in five Australian women over the age of 15 have experienced sexual violence. 1.4 million Australians have lived through childhood sexual abuse.S...

Sexually transmitted isolation

23 Sep 2019

Contributed by Lukas

Around four million Australians have had an STI at some point in their life, but who ever talks about it? STI’s are shrouded in loads of shame, sec...

Walking away from your kids — update

09 Sep 2019

Contributed by Lukas

Women are still expected to be primary caregivers — but what happens when they choose to walk away from this role? In season one we heard from wome...

How to make friends as an adult

26 Aug 2019

Contributed by Lukas

At a certain point in life, making friends gets trickier and feels super awkward. Many of us want and need new friends though — so how do you do it...

The patriarchy of poo

12 Aug 2019

Contributed by Lukas

Do you feel embarrassed if you have to poo in public? You're not alone. Whether it's poo, farts, discharge or sweat — women are constantly self-con...

Esther Perel — how to have a hard conversation

29 Jul 2019

Contributed by Lukas

How do you tell a mate your friendship isn't working? Or a partner you can't stand the way they kiss? Hard conversations are tough to have but someti...

Birth control — choose your own adventure

15 Jul 2019

Contributed by Lukas

We're totally spoilt for choice when it comes to birth control. There are 12 different types of contraception to choose from and about 30 different b...

Stone cold sober — alcohol update

01 Jul 2019

Contributed by Lukas

In season one, we looked at why so many Australian women drink at risky levels. Yumi Stynes revealed her battle with drinking and quit alcohol. We al...