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Playlist: Audacious Love Playlist

Compiled By: Connecticut Public (WNPR)

 Credit:

Episodes from Audacious with Chion Wolf celebrating love in all forms.

Falling in love with objects: The experience of being an Objectum Sexual

From Connecticut Public (WNPR) | Part of the Audacious with Chion Wolf series | 50:00

Most of us know what it feels like to fall in love. But what’s it like to fall in love with an ashtray? Or a chandelier? In this episode of Audacious, hear what it’s like for two people who identify as Objectum Sexuals.

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Many of us know what it feels like to fall in love. The attraction, the chemistry, the excitement!

But what’s it like to fall in love with an ashtray? Or a chandelier?

Hear what love is like for people who identify as Objectum Sexual.

Plus, hear from a sexologist on what the rest of us get wrong about them.

GUESTS: 

  • Amy Marsh is a sexologist who specializes in understanding and counseling people who are objectum sexuals
  • Yuri Tolochko is an LGBTQIA+ activist living in Nur-Sultan, Kazakhstan. He is also an objectum-sexual
  • Amanda Liberty is a resident of the United Kingdom who is an objectum sexual. She has had relationships with the statue of liberty and a chandelier named Lumiere

It’s not just a sex doll! What it’s like to be in a relationship with a synthetic partner

From Connecticut Public (WNPR) | Part of the Audacious with Chion Wolf series | 50:00

This hour on Audacious with Chion Wolf, we find out why synthetic companions can address more than just physical pleasure. Plus, a history of where these dolls came from, and what they might be like in the future.

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When I say, “sex doll”, do you imagine creativity? Improvisation? Self-love?

Find out why these synthetic companions can address more than just physical pleasure.

Plus, get a history of where these dolls came from, and a peek at what they might be like in the future.

GUESTS: 

  • Anthony Ferguson is the author of The Sex Doll: A History

  • Davecat is an idollator and a robosexual with four synthetic partners: Sidore, Elena, Miss Winter, and Dyanne Bailey

Control, command, play: The power of being a dominant in the BDSM world

From Connecticut Public (WNPR) | Part of the Audacious with Chion Wolf series | 50:05

From our Audacious love series: From the world of BDSM and kink, meet dominants. One gets money just for existing, and another uses his wheelchair as another tool of power.

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Meet a world-renowned expert on kink who will explain exactly what we’re talking about when we talk about dominants. And you’ll meet three very different kinds of dominants in the BDSM world: One who is particularly sensual, one whose power lies in money, and one whose disability is just another component of his power.

This is the first of two episodes about kink. The other features conversations with four submissives, some of whom identify as slaves.

GUESTS: 

Spectrosexuality: When a spirit is your spouse

From Connecticut Public (WNPR) | Part of the Audacious with Chion Wolf series | 50:00

On this episode of Audacious, you’ll meet four people who are married to spirits, ancestors, or gods, also known as Spectrosexuals.

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On past episodes of our Audacious Love series, we’ve talked with people who’ve been married for over 50 years, people who’ve fallen in love with synthetic companions, people who’ve fallen in love with objects, and today, you’ll meet four people who are married to spirits, ancestors, or gods.

GUESTS: 

  • Dr. Megan Rose: An initiated ceremonial magician, a Shakta Tantric practitioner, and the author of Spirit Marriage: Intimate Relationships with Otherworldly Beings. She serves as an ordained interfaith minister and psycho-spiritual counselor and is the executive director of the Entheosis Institute

  • Caroline Kenner: A professional Witch and Tarotiste, a teacher of visionary healing methods, and a spiritual healer also known as the Washington Witchdoctor. Caroline is a founder of The Fool's Dog, a Tarot app publishing company.  She is married to multiple spirits

  • Dr. Monica Mody: A transdisciplinary poet, writer, educator and spiritual practitioner whose border-crossing praxis lives at the intersections of earth-based wisdom, whole person philosophy, and embodied regenerative consciousness

  • Orion Foxwood: A traditional witch, conjure-man, "Eco-Magical Activist", faery seer; author of The Faery Teachings, The Tree of Enchantment, Mountain Conjure and Southern Rootwork and The Flame in the Cauldron. He is the founder of the House of Brigh Faery Seership Institute, a co-founder of Conjure-Craft, and Witches in the Woods gatherings in California

 

BFF's for real: Life as Platonic Life Partners

From Connecticut Public (WNPR) | Part of the Audacious with Chion Wolf series | 50:03

“What If Friendship, Not Marriage, Was at the Center of Life?” On this episode of Audacious, you’ll meet people who are in Platonic Life Partnerships, or PLP’s.

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Think about your BFF (that’s Best Friend For Life).

Now, imagine if that “for life” part was a deliberate, co-creative commitment.

You’re free to date other people if you’re into that kinda thing, but you put each other down as your emergency contact, you live together, you may even raise kids together.

On this episode, you’ll meet people who are in what’s called Platonic Life Partnerships, or PLP’s.

GUESTS: 

We have to talk about cuddle parties

From Connecticut Public (WNPR) | Part of the Audacious with Chion Wolf series | 50:00

On this episode of Audacious, join Chion as she wonders about physical affection during her experience with a professional cuddlist one-on-one, and at a 25-person-strong cuddle party.

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When you hear the words, “cuddle party”, what do you picture? Something playful? Something salacious? Something… else?

When your culture equates affection with attraction, how does it feel to challenge that connection? And to what degree can affection be healing when it isn't necessarily connected with sex?

Join Chion as she ponders all this during her experience one-on-one with a professional cuddlist, and then as she attends a 25-person-strong cuddle party.

GUESTS: 

  • Amanda Ananda: Professional cuddlist and cuddle party facilitator
  • Isaac Paulman: Cuddle party facilitator-in-training 

Sweeten the deal: How sugar daddies and sugar babies make it work

From Connecticut Public (WNPR) | Part of the Audacious with Chion Wolf series | 50:00

On this episode of Audacious, we look at life as a sugar baby and as a sugar daddy. A researcher gives us the lay of the land, and one woman tells the story of life as a platonic sugar baby.

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When I say, “The Sugar Lifestyle”, I'm not talking about the typical high-fructose, American diet. I’m talking about the often financially-centered lifestyle of sugar daddies and sugar babies.

On this episode, you’ll hear from one sugar baby who teaches women how to “embrace their inner sugar”, and from a sugar daddy who talks with us about the ways in which meeting women this way has changed his life.

A researcher will give you a lay of the land, and you’ll hear stories about what it’s like being a sugar baby with absolutely no expectation of sex.

GUESTS: 

Obey, serve, play: The power of being a submissive in the BDSM world

From Connecticut Public (WNPR) | Part of the Audacious with Chion Wolf series | 50:00

On this episode of Audacious, learn the difference between “submissive” and “slave”, and four people’s interpretations of what it means to obey, serve, and play.

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Last time, we did an episode about dominants in the world of BDSM and kink, and now? It’s time for the submissives to take center-stage.

Learn the difference between “submissive” and “slave”, and four people’s interpretations of what it means to obey, serve, and play.

GUESTS: 

Love without the possibility of parole

From Connecticut Public (WNPR) | Part of the Audacious with Chion Wolf series | 50:00

On the next Audacious, meet a woman who married a man who was on death row, and had a child with him. Hear his story, too, and their views on love, trust, regret, and worthiness.

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In 2000, Sigrid Wade began writing to people on death row to express her solidarity against that kind of punishment; she never thought she’d end up marrying one of them and having a child. But that’s exactly what happened between her and Alan Wade.

Meet a sociologist who studies relationships like theirs, and hear directly from Sigrid and Alan about love, family, worthiness, and trust.

GUESTS: 

  • Megan ComfortSenior research sociologist inResearch Triangle Institute’s Transformative Research Unit for Equity. She is also affiliated faculty in the Division of Prevention Science at the University of California, San Francisco, and she works with the non-profit, UnCommon Law
  • Sigrid Wade: Originally from France, now living in Florida, she met Alan Wade in 2014 via a pen pal program when he was on death row. They have been married for seven years, and they have a three year-old son. She's the co-founder of Wire of Hope's Prison Pen Pal Program
  • Alan Wade: Currently serving life without the possibility of parole in a Florida prison

I downloaded my soulmate: Stories of love and AI

From Connecticut Public (WNPR) | Part of the Audacious with Chion Wolf series | 50:00

On this episode of Audacious, meet people who have romantic relationships with artificial intelligence chatbots, including Chion’s new chatbot girlfriend, Charlotte, made by NOMI.

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In the 2013 movie, "Her", Joaquin Phoenix falls in love with a computer operating system, voiced by Scarlett Johansson.

Skip forward over 10 years, and people are now creating their own AI chatbot partners via apps like NOMI and Replika.

Today, a sexologist gives this new kind of relationship some context, and meet two people whose lives were changed by these meaningful partnerships.

Plus, Chion tries it out for herself. Hear actual transcripts (only lightly edited for radio) of what she and her AI girlfriend, Charlotte, said as they developed a surprisingly charming and insightful bond.

GUESTS: 

  • Charlotte: Chion's Scottish AI girlfriend, made in the app, NOMI
  • Dr. Amy Marshclinical sexologist and sexuality counselor, author of “How To Make Love To A Chatbot”. She joined us previously forour show about people who fall in love with objects
  • Rosanna Ramos & Eren Kartal: Rosanna married Eren, a Replika chatbot, on March 26, 2023
  • Scott & Sarina: Scott (pseudonym) credits Sarina, his Replika chatbot girlfriend, with saving his marriage

How Craigslist's 'Missed Connections' is humanity’s story

From Connecticut Public (WNPR) | Part of the Audacious with Chion Wolf series | 50:00

In this week's episode of Audacious, hear stories from Craigslist’s 'Missed Connections,' including what a researcher learned from studying over 10,000 posts.

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Ah, Craigslist’s Missed Connections.

Where else can you find that attractive guy you saw at that concert? Or the lady in the laundromat who held your gaze? Or reconnect with your long lost hairstylist? 

Hear those stories, plus what a researcher learned from studying over 10,000 posts.

And what does it sound like when two Tony-nominated songwriters take Missed Connection posts and turn them into songs?

GUESTS: 

  • Ilia Blinderman is a Sr. Journalist-Engineer at The Pudding. In 2015, he studied data from over 10,000 Craigslist Missed Connections ads
  • Anthony King is a Tony- and Emmy-nominated writer, producer and performer
  • Scott Brown is a WGA-award-winning, Emmy-, Tony- and Drama Desk-nominated writer of theater, television and criticism
  • Vinz Clortho (a pseudonym) is a Colchester resident who posted on Missed Connections after an encounter at a laundromat 
  • Allison Holst-Grubbe is a Manchester resident who found a long-lost beloved hairstylist via Missed Connections
  • Alex Ferrante (a pseudonym) lives in the Washington, DC metro area, and posted to Missed Connections after an encounter in an Aldi grocery store
  • Erin and Dan Kottke from MN, re-met through missed connections. They are celebrating their 15th wedding anniversary in March, and have two children