195: Reproductive Justice, Chronic Illness, and Flexing Your Self-Advocacy Muscles
Our Better Half
Our guest this time is Sarah Dahlston, the Senior Director of Education at Planned Parenthood Southwest Ohio. She is a Certified Health Education Specialist and a Certified Sexuality Educator. We recorded this episode before the November, 2024 elections. In the first half of the interview Sarah offers her perspectives post-Dobbs on reproductive justice in a different political climate, then we shift focus to navigating sexuality with a chronic illness. Sarah and Rosara offer helpful ideas for timing, talking, and self-advocacy. If you’d like to learn more about Sarah Dahlston, you can...
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194: Support and Advocacy for Trans Elders
Our Better Half
In this week’s episode we welcome Dr. Michele Angello, a leading expert in the field of gender diversity. Dr. Angello specializes in providing therapy for gender-variant and transgender individuals, including youth and adults, as well as those who identify as genderqueer. She offers both individual and group therapy, as well as family therapy. Dr. Angello’s expertise has been recognized at local, national, and international conferences, where she has shared her work and experience on transgender youth and children with transitioning parents. She also facilitates several monthly support...
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193: Embracing Desire: Celebrating Sexuality and Aging
Our Better Half
As an older adult, if your doctor is not comfortable asking about your sexual health but you’ve got questions, this episode is just what you need. Our guest this time is Dr. Jennifer Vencill, an assistant professor, board certified clinical health psychologist, and AASECT certified sex therapist at the Mayo Clinic in Rochester, Minnesota. She is passionate about answering patient questions and teaching her colleagues. She is dually appointed in the Department of Psychiatry and Psychology, as well as the Division of General Internal Medicine, where she spends the bulk of her time providing...
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192: De-Andrea Blaylock-Solar: A Black Sex Therapist's Perspective on Sex, Religion, and Aging
Our Better Half
Join us for our first ever live recording at the Annual AASECT Conference in a fascinating discussion with our esteemed guest, De-Andrea Blaylock-Solar. She’s the first Black AASECT Certified Sex Therapist in St. Louis. We’re talking about sex, religion, , prostate cancer, embodied sexuality, widowhood, and a thing she calls Christian plus. Resources we talked about on this episode include the Instagram account and from D. Danyelle Thomas, by Candice Marie Benbow, by Lyvonne Briggs, the productions, and the (WOCSHN). You can reach De-Andrea directly at . If you want to catch up on...
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191: Season 10 Teaser
Our Better Half
Hey Listeners! You may have guessed we are on our summer break. While we’re all trying to rest and recuperate and regenerate, we’re reverberating with great news! What a season we had last year! So many great guests. So many things we learned. So many laughs. And a few tears, mostly of joy, because we won a coveted award. We won the AASECT award for best podcast of the year. What an honor and what a hoot to not only receive the award from our peers and our own organization, but we got to record an episode in front of a live audience (our first) at the AASECT conference in June. I won’t...
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190: Sexual Fantasies
Our Better Half
Join us for a fast-moving and fun conversation with Sabitha, Rosara, and Jane as we talk about sexual fantasies as we age. What are sexual fantasies? How are they useful? What’s the difference between masturbatory and relational fantasies? Sabitha offered some great resources for our listeners: any of (though they are a bit heteronormative), Jack Morin’s book, , and Justin Lehmiller’s book, . If you want to catch up on other shows, just visit our website and please subscribe! We love our listeners and welcome your feedback, so if you love Our Better Half and want to support our show,...
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189: Mothers and Daughters
Our Better Half
In honor of Mother’s Day, Jane, Rosara, and Sabitha are talking about mothering, the havoc it wreaks with our lives, the discoveries, and impacts on our sexuality. They also wonder aloud about daughtering, especially as their parents age. Join us for a look into the lives of our co-hosts. And let us know your thoughts. If you want to catch up on other shows, just visit our and please subscribe! We love our listeners and welcome your feedback, so if you love Our Better Half and want to support our show, please give us a 5-star rating and follow us on and ! As always, thanks for listening!...
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188: Remembering to Play: Making Space for Kinky Elders
Our Better Half
Our guest this time is Mx. Sizzle, a trailblazing Persian and Kurdish hard femme who serves as a sexual health, BDSM, and kink educator. They hold a bachelor’s degree from New College of Florida and a master's degree in public health from the University of Florida, with a focus on queer and transgender health. As the founder of "," they create safe spaces for sexuality exploration and empowerment that prioritize equity and justice. Mx. Sizzle’s nationally acclaimed workshops and unwavering dedication to amplifying marginalized voices have a profound and positive impact on society. Their...
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187: Polyamorous Elders
Our Better Half
Our guest this time is Kathy Labriola, a nurse, counselor, and hypnotherapist in Berkeley, California. She has provided affordable mental health services to alternative communities for the past 30 years. Kathy is the author of four books on consensual non-monogamy including her latest, . She is extra crunchy, rides a bike, lives in a housing cooperative, grows organic vegetables, raises chickens, and has been a card-carrying bisexual and polyamorist for 50 years. If you want to learn more about Kathy Labriola and her writing, check out her website at ! If you want to catch up on other shows,...
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186: Helping Older Gay Men Find Love and Sex
Our Better Half
Our guest this time is the wonderful Dr. Israel Martinez, a certified sex therapist and coach with a group practice that specializes in therapy with the LGBTQ+, ethically non-monogamous, and kink/BDSM communities. He is the author of the book Helping Gay Men Find Love: Tips for Guys on Dating and Beginning a Healthy Relationship, has been published in the book Social Workers: Finding Real Solutions to Real Problems, and created and curates . He also supervises and trains other therapists to more ethically and effectively treat clients within gender, sexual, and relationship diversity. Dr....
info_outlineOur guest this time is Dr. Pebble Kranz from the Rochester Center for Sexual Wellness. She is a Family Medicine doctor with a background in theater who now specializes in sexual medicine.
Mentored by a beloved sex therapist, the late Gina Ogden, she has been trained in sexual medicine through the European Society of Sexual Medicine and became a Fellow of the European Committee on Sexual Medicine (FECSM) in 2018.
Because one training program is never enough, she also has trained with the International Society for the Study of Women’s Sexual Health (ISSWSH), the American Association of Sexuality Counselors Educators and Therapists (AASECT), and the World Professional Association on Transgender Health (WPATH) where she is pursuing certification in gender-affirming medical care.
Dr. Kranz founded the Rochester Center for Sexual Wellness with her husband Dan Rosen, a sex therapist and supervisor in 2017. They see patients and clients of all genders and also do training for therapists interested in becoming sex therapists and sexuality counselors. Since 2021, she has been honored to serve on the board of the Scientific Network on Female Sexual Health and Cancer.
Pebble talks with Sabitha and Jane about seeing her patients as whole people, exploring their life stories, asking what sex means to them in their own bodies, and enjoys teaching about so many areas of sexual health and wellness.
If you’re interested in more information about Pebble Kranz, please check out her page on the Rochester Center for Sexual Wellness website.
If you want to catch up on other shows, just visit our website and please subscribe! We love our listeners and welcome your feedback, so if you love Our Better Half, please give us a 5-star rating and follow us on Facebook and Instagram. It really helps support our show!
As always, thanks for listening!