Today we’re diving into a conversation that asks us to reconsider everything we’ve been taught about women’s bodies, pain, and pleasure.
For centuries, women’s pain has been dismissed, normalized, or even romanticized — from menstrual cramps and endometriosis, to the pain of childbirth and painful sex. At the same time, pleasure has been treated as suspect, dangerous, or indulgent. But what if pain and pleasure aren’t opposites at all? What if they’re intimately connected, and understanding that connection could change the way we see ourselves and our bodies?
That’s the radical question at the heart of Suzannah Weiss’s new book, Eve’s Blessing: Uncovering the Lost Pleasure Behind Female Pain. Through research, storytelling, and personal insight, Suzannah uncovers how cultural narratives — from religion to medicine to sex education — have shaped the way women experience both suffering and sensuality. And she offers a vision for how we can reclaim pleasure, even in the places where pain lives.
Today, Suzannah joins me to talk about what inspired this book, why shame has kept us from accessing our full erotic selves, and how pleasure can be a powerful act of healing and resistance. This is a conversation about bodies, liberation, and rewriting the stories we’ve inherited. SUZANNAH WEISS
Suzannah Weiss MA, MPS, AMFT, CSE is a writer and psychotherapist focused on sexuality, relationships, and women’s empowerment. She’s the author of Subjectified, a memoir/manifesto on ending objectification through playful dances with language, and Eve’s Blessing, a personal, political, and spiritual story of overcoming Eve’s curse by embracing pleasure where women once accepted pain. From The New York Times wedding section to Glamour‘s sex guides, her writing is all over the internet, with 9,000 articles published. She has edited for Teen Vogue, Vice, and Complex and contributed to The Washington Post, New York Magazine, and more.
Twitter: @suzannahweiss, TikTok: https://www.tiktok.com/@sexistentialtherapy, LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/suzannahweiss/
Suzannah on Psychology Today: psychologytoday.com/profile/1549106
To work with Suzannah or find out more informations: www.suzannahweiss.com
Suzannah’s books:
MENTIONED ON THE SHOW:
BOOKS
The Ladies Handbook for Her Mysterious Illness by Sara Ramey
ACCESSORIES:
Vuvatech Magnetic Dilator - www.vuvatech.com
Oh Nut - https://thepelvicpeople.com/collections/all-products/products/good-vibrations-bundle
TO WATCH:
Peggy Ornstein’s TEDx Talk
SEX ED RESOURCES/CLASSES
Scarleteen
OSchool
BEducated
EDSE: Everyone Deserves Sex Ed
OWL: Our Whole Lives
OrgasmicBirth.com
SophieLua.com
Josephina Bashout
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