Zero gravity does what to erections?! We were fortunate to be joined by the crew of the Sex in Space podcast, which includes Dr. Jane Harrington, Toshiko Frederickson, and Tim Blower, all the way from New Zealand, to take us on an intergalactic sexual adventure through the cosmos and back. We begin with intergalactic astronaut adventures, followed by a descent to Earth to cover the snake clitoris, magical clownfish, kangaroos, aphrodisiacs, and condom tricks. So, if you're ready, let's dive into a fascinating discussion about sex that spans across countless dimensions.
Zero gravity does what to erections?! We were fortunate to be joined by the crew of the Sex in Space podcast, which includes Dr. Jane Harrington, Toshiko Frederickson, and Tim Blower, all the way from New Zealand, to take us on an intergalactic sexual adventure through the cosmos and back. We begin with intergalactic astronaut adventures, followed by a descent to Earth to cover the snake clitoris, magical clownfish, kangaroos, aphrodisiacs, and condom tricks. So, if you're ready, let's dive into a fascinating discussion about sex that spans across countless dimensions.
Show Notes:
[00:00:23] Has anyone had sex in space?
[00:01:15] The majority of people still don't know that the clitoris is an organ.
[00:00:58] On my sex fact quest, I came across Sex and Space, a group of fellow sex geeks from New Zealand who have made it their mission on earth to create a space for people to talk and learn about sex across all of its dimensions, even in outer space.
[00:02:02] Dr. Jane Harrington, Toshiko Frederickson's, and Tim Blower from the Sex and Space Podcast tell us how they landed on this mission.
[00:02:27] How a 16 year old boy answered the question “How do you know when sex is finished?”
[00:03:10] The creative way that they came up with the name Sex in Space.
00:04:45] What we know about sex and space and what some of the concerns are.
[00:10:30] It's harder to get on The Bachelor than it is to become an astronaut that gets picked to go to space.
[00:11:36] Why it took so long to realize that snakes have a clitoris
[00:13:58] A trick to making condoms more pleasurable
[00:16:26] The importance of mixing humour into conversations about sex
[00:16:26 Foods that can increase desire
[00:18:02] What is the benefit of a Kangaroo having three vaginas?
[00:20:54] You can find Sex in Space on Instagram, Facebook and TikTok @sexandspace.com. Or email: hello@sexandspace.com
[00:21:00]This episode was produced by Katie Jensen at Vocal Fry Studios
[00:00:00] Jane: We do have anecdotal evidence from astronauts who reportedly have masturbated in space. It would be really surprising if somebody hadn't thought, let's give this a go
[00:00:16] [INTRO MUSIC]
[00:00:23] MIchelle: I love facts, and as a certified sex therapist in my private practice, I'm always trying to keep up with the latest sex research and also trying to find fun facts to share with my colleagues and clients. I mean, who doesn't wanna know if astronauts have had sex in space? There's gotta have been some kind of budding romance, right? I mean, people can barely contain themselves on airplanes.
[00:00:48] Toshi: I was reading something about Clownfish and how obviously in Finding Nemo, like when you know the mom dies, if it actually happened, the father would've turned into the mom.
[00:00:58] MIchelle: On my sex fact Quest, I came across Sex and Space, a group of fellow sex geeks from New Zealand who have made it their mission on earth to create a space for people to talk and learn about sex across all of its dimensions, even in outer space.
[00:01:15] Jane: We can actually help people change their sexual scripts if they want to. We can help people learn stuff that changes the way they think about sex, sexuality, and all sorts of really positive ways. So for me, that probably is the coolest thing that we can actually make a difference. The majority of people still don't know that the clitoris is an organ. And so we went, okay, well let's write a book about the clitoris, the organ education, forgot.
[00:01:40] MIchelle: Who doesn't wanna know tips and tricks on how to make condoms more pleasurable?
[00:01:44] Tim: A tip is to put a bit of lube in the end of the, and it's bebe. Snakes
[00:01:53] Toshi: have clitoris, different snakes have different textures of clitoris. So some of 'em you can hold up the, and you can sort of see right through them almost. It is quite hard to find.
[00:02:02] MIchelle: Are you ready to delve into sex facts across all its infinite dimensions? Here's my conversation with Dr. Jane Harrington, Toshiko Frederickson's, and Tim Blower from the Sex and Space Podcast. Tell us how you landed on this sex and space mission.
[00:02:27] Jane: One of the defining moments was actually watching a great sex educator. Going into a classroom, it was in the UK, and asking one of the kids in the class, a 16 year old, beautiful young man who looked directly down the spot of the camera and she said, how do you know when sex is finished? And he said, Well, it's when you come on our face, isn't it?
[00:02:49] MIchelle: My God.
[00:02:51] Jane: We just went, shit, we have to do something. This is how they're getting educated now. Yep. This is it. This is online, is their education. So the project really took off and a whole bunch of different things. Working on a game, releasing a book, and doing our podcasts and mm-hmm. You know, so that's how I came to land in this space.
[00:03:09] MIchelle: You have a game in the works?
[00:03:10] Jane: Yeah, we do. Absolutely. God, it's taken us probably what, Tim, the best part of three and a half years to research the questions cuz it's trivia for sex, basically. Identities, bodies, acts, all of the kind of realm of, of sexuality, although it doesn't have animals in it, cuz we didn't have Toshi at the time, chasing that down. But it took a very long time to research the questions. And when we developed the first round of the game, we got a bunch of sex educators to play it. Yeah. And they came out and went. Oh you guys, you need to lighten this up a bit. Because we've got so political with our questions, we're like, yeah, you know, there's all this stuff people need to know and you know, and it's that charming of people to the point where you disarm and make this information really accessible. And I think you need to lighten it and make it fun. So we're kind of almost there and we're gonna take it to Kickstarter and let the world decide really. You know, the reason we're called Sex in Space was nothing to do. Well, it sort of came to do with it, but when we were trying to name the project, every name we came up with, if you Googled it, it took you to a porn site. Because if it was going to talk about what was in the tin, yeah, then you know, it needed to have some explanatory quality to it. And finally we landed on Sex in Space, which really described the project, but also if you Googled it, all you got was astronauts. So it was perfect. It made it more child-friendly. Oh yes. So that's how we landed.
[00:04:36] MIchelle:Oh, It's so good. And I love how you've just really run with the whole theme. And do we know whether or not people have had sex and space?
[00:04:45] Jane: Look, it's something the space organizations are really cagey about. Because it's not mainstream to talk about sex and sexuality and to bring it into that world. There are people who are trying, there's researchers who are pushing really hard. We do have anecdotal evidence from astronauts or cosmonauts who reportedly have masturbated in space. But that's kind of more oblique in their feedback when they've been interviewed. Although there was within the Russian handbook some guidance that it would be healthy. NASA's light really stands back from that conversation. We have had a couple in space. Yeah. Now our view on that is they didn't, they should have, you know, like seriously had a go, but they're keeping very stern on that. And at this point, I'm not sure if there's been sexual encounters in space or not. So we can't definitively answer that question, but we can say people have been in space for extended periods of time. It would be really surprising if somebody hadn't thought, let's give this a go given it's heavily weighted male. Again, you've got a whole bunch of taboo stuff, you know? So if they have engaged in anything, it's sort of like broke back mountain in space, and are we gonna go there? Probably not. We can say with some certainty that. Masturbation. Yes. Intimate sexual exchange between two people don't know.
[00:06:10] MIchelle: Yeah. I think there was an earlier astronaut that said that he would wake up with the hardest morning erections ever,
[00:06:23] Tim: zero gravity,
[00:06:25] Jane: and then think about what was going on around them and they'd go again. You can definitely get erections in space. Yeah. You don't get a lot of privacy to enjoy them. Although if you look at some of the space station cubicles that they're in, there's certainly, you know, there's enough room to be self-involved. I dunno, there's enough room for two of you.
[00:06:47] MIchelle: They're in their regular clothes, I guess, when they're not in their space suits, they're dressed.
Jane: [00:06:52] Yeah. And they've got these kind of hoods and they're sleeping bags. I mean, you know, it's not sexy material that they're in.
[00:06:59] MIchelle: Well, and I also imagine it'd be kind of difficult, like, you know, if you have a penis and you orgasm and like the semen, I guess just floating around
[00:07:09] Jane: No. Into a condom, right. You would have to.
[00:07:13] MIchelle: Oh, Is that what they do? They masturbate into a condom?
[00:07:15] Jane: Well, I can only imagine. Somebody's thought that through. Yeah. Right. And it would make sense.
[00:07:22] MIchelle: Yeah. When you're sticking people up in space for long extended periods of time, I would imagine that it would be good to masturbate to keep your pelvic floor muscles nice and strong or something. Also, maybe you aren't that horny up in space because maybe it is a bit stressful. I can think there's all these parts that on one hand, It completely makes sense that we should start to research this and investigate this a little bit more. And I'm sure there are countries that really like wanting to get some of that information. Like who doesn't wanna be the first person to. I don't know, get it on in space. Who doesn't wanna be the first country or something to have a baby in space or something to that effect.
[00:08:15] Jane: Yeah, completely. And, and if we are really looking at expansion, I mean, I find that a terrifying thought. We're so bad at our own planet. Mm. But if we're seriously looking at it, we have to understand human sexuality and reproduction in space and yeah, the sex and sexuality is a health issue. And then reproduction is a whole other thing, you know, in terms of how that takes place. But,
[00:08:38 ]MIchelle: And where they were born, where's their, like passport, you know?
[00:08:40] Tim: Well, yes. I would wonder whether that even developed correctly. We were sort of chatting about this and it's like, Every human ever and every evolutionary ancestor of our earth with our atmosphere and gravity and all of those factors like I imagined from the first cell splitting event. And so, you know, you try and do that in zero gravity, like what are you gonna get at the end?
[00:09:08] Jane: Well, and the latest information in terms of fluid expansion in zero gravity is suggesting that there's impacts on the brain for astronauts. And so what does that do for babies in terms of their bodies? And it's evolving and they're discovering that the ventricle expands. That's part of the brain. Fluid expands in space. They come back down to earth, but then when they go back up again, it doesn't expand any further. They don't even understand this yet. Wow. Like is it because there's a limit to what we're capable of withstanding? Is it because it's become partially normalized? We don't know. Yeah. We're really behind the eight ball if we're planning on sending people to Mars.
[00:09:46] MIchelle: Exactly. Can you imagine starting to send people up there? We have no idea of what the ramifications are for, I mean, sure, you can sign an agreement, I guess that you're not gonna have sex. I'm assuming they have to. Sign something probably.
[00:10:02] Jane: But humans being what they're, you know, how many hostesses or crew have caught people in the toilets on a plane? Like they just can't help themselves. In fact, once I wanted to have sex on a plane back in the day and everybody was asleep around us. And so I got brave and leant across my partner and sat up and realized I was looking directly into the eyes of the man in the seat behind and thought, no, I can't. Actually. If you were up there in a spaceship with somebody you liked, of course you would give it a go. Oh,
[00:10:30] MIchelle: Oh, I heard this fact that it's harder to get on the bachelor than it is to become an astronaut that gets picked to go to space. And do you wanna know why? Do tell It's because. On the Bachelor, they always have to screen for STIs. On the Bachelor, you're not allowed to go on as a contestant. If you test positive for herpes HSV. Oh wow. One or two. Yeah. As an astronaut you can test positive. They just need to keep an eye on it cuz they don't know how. STIs, wow. What happens with them in space? So fascinating, isn't it though? If you were to think about a fact about animals that you think is really cool, what would that be?
[00:11:36] Toshi: Well, I was really excited to hear about the snake having a clitoris. When that article came out at the end of last year, I actually was able to speak with Megan Falwell, who was the lead author on that study. Snakes have something called a hemi penis, so it's like a two part penis. And she was like, why? I've never heard anything about a clitoris in snakes. And she did some, some research and some literature and she didn't find anything and she was like, okay, maybe I'll do some research on some actual snakes. The first one that she dissected, which was a death adder, she found a clitoris. And it's just something that hadn't been discovered before, and there's a couple of reasons for that. One of them, she said, admittedly, it is quite hard to find. Different snakes have different textures of clitoris, so some of 'em, you can hold 'em up to the light and you can sort of see right through them, almost others. You can look at them and you can see all the nerves and then really, really easily. And I think something about her technique is different to the way other people dissect the tail. So sometimes they can cut right through it where she actually, her technique is I guess, gentle enough to not damage it. And the other reason for that, she said, is this taboo in research animals and humans in terms of female genitalia, which is why it took such a long time to find the clitoris in snakes. And I just think it's quite interesting cuz she was saying it has a lot of. Implications in terms of how we can think about snake meeting. So she was saying, and a lot of the times the male will like wrap his tail around the female and they thought that was just his way of like making sure that he stayed there and no other male came and like kicked him out. Um, but it actually that he like will like vibrate and that, that she said it makes sense. That could be stimulatory if there is a clitoris in the female snake. Oh. So that was really interesting to hear about. I would say.
[00:13:21] MIchelle: Can I just clarify here? So. There's male snakes and female snakes. Well,
[00:13:26] Toshi: you've got male snakes and female snakes and you also have intersex snakes. And actually I think there was some research done and the reason that they couldn't find a clitoris is cuz sometimes they were looking at intersex snakes and thinking, oh, this is the hemi penis, or, and so they were getting confused. They just didn't do enough research to actually find this clitoris and snakes.
[00:13:58] MIchelle: What can you do to make. Using condoms more pleasurable?
[00:14:09] Tim: Yeah, I mean, I find the whole thing around condoms really an interesting debate, really. I think you can build a condom into the pleasure of having an intimate time. It's a reality of having sex. I dunno why people get awkward about it. I wonder sometimes if it's the kind of Hollywood effect or the porn effect, you know, the music's playing and we're here in our. Romantic clinch and to stop that and go, oh, hang on love. I've gotta quickly put this condom on and then get back to it. If you're wrapped up in trying to keep everything perfect, sex would be just like it is in the movies. Maybe that could be awkward for people. And then obviously there's porn where you never see a condom. You know, ever. And then you're right, there's this narrative that, oh, it's like, you know, wearing a Wellington boot on your dick. And it's like, it's really not. It's absolutely not. You know? And yeah, there's tips, there's tricks, but I think make it fun. A tip is to put a bit of lube in the end of the, and it's gotta be water based and then that can increase pleasure.
[00:15:11] MIchelle: Just a couple of drops. You don't want it to slip
[00:15:14] Tim: off. Yeah, not the usual handful. Just a couple of times.
[00:15:19] MIchelle: Is that how much you used him
[00:15:21] Jane: and definitely not oil.
[00:15:23] Tim: Yeah. Sometimes the condoms can kinda dry out, but like there is a solution for everything. You just have to be open to crash around and try what works for you, but get the lu involved if that's the case.
[00:15:33] MIchelle: Yeah. The conversation to even say, Hey, do you have some lube? Is really stressful for people because they've been in experiences where they've said, Hey, can we use some lube? And their partner's like, why, we don't need lube? Mm-hmm. What? You're not turned on enough. Yeah. Right. And just even the conversation around. Do you have a condom?
[00:15:55] Jane: We don't have frameworks to talk about sex and sexuality, and we don't even have a vocabulary. So you've gotta start with using words like lube. Mm-hmm. Having conversations about lubricity. That's the kind of female equivalent of not quite erect is when you get less lubricated as you get older or you're not feeling very well, or you're not that turned on yet. So if we start to be able to build a vocabulary and have a framework, then I think we've got a hope of having conversations.
[00:16:26] MIchelle: But when we don't even know the words to use and when we do know the words, we often have an association with like negative shame. Embarrassment. Yes. And so being able to pair lube and sex with some kind of lightness. Yes. Some humor maybe. Yeah. Pleasure. Right. Are there such things as aphrodisiacs, like oysters, right? I wonder, is it something in the oyster that might make people feel aroused? Or is it that the oyster looks like labias and it puts the mental image into your head? Like, what is it? What is the truth behind this? Do you know?
[00:17:09] Toshi: I think it can be both. Foods can be. Used in two ways in terms of how they look. So you've got the look of the oyster, it's very soft, quite creamy. Same things for like berries. They can be juicy. Um, maybe like a melon or some raspberries or strawberries, chocolate if you melt it. But I think as well there are certain nutritional elements to certain foods that can also help in sex. So one, we have the humble beetroot, which maybe you wouldn't think would help with sex. The beetroot that you can make into a juice or something. Yeah, basically when you have beetroot, it helps your body produce. Nitric oxide is something that helps increase blood flow to the genitals and that helps with arousal. And interestingly, that is the same way that Viagra helps. So you've got, you know, kind of this like natural food element that can help increase arousal, have your beetroot carrot juice before sex, and it might make you feel more aroused.
[00:18:02] MIchelle: O M G. Yeah. Kangaroos have three vaginas and this blows my mind. Could you just tell us a little bit about why they have three vaginas?
[00:18:25] Toshi: So what happens is they've got three kind of like all next to each other, and then they've got these things called utas, which take urine from the kidneys to the bladder. And so they've got two of those and they kind of come like in between the three vaginas. Okay. So the outside two vaginas are for sperm, and the middle one is like the birth giving canal. So it's kind of like a three-pronged fork I guess. And so what happens is you'll have like a little Joey developing in one cause there's two uterus as well . And then after a month it'll be born and then it will spend the next eight months developing in the pouch. And then while it's developing in the pouch, the mother can get pregnant again and develop another baby in her uterus. And then what's really cool is what happens is they have this thing called, I think it's embryonic DPOs, where they can actually pause the pregnancy at around a hundred cells. So it basically stops growing and it waits for its sibling to hop out of the pouch so it can then be born. So it's kind of like in like a, like waiting room.
[00:19:28] MIchelle: Shit, I wish we could press pause. Not ready, come back, gimme a couple months here. Need to come to terms.
[00:19:39] Toshi: But then actually like having said that, it means that they are, you know, constantly pregnant, basically, you know, they've got a joey development in the pouch and they've got one in here. So they've just, you know, lining up this sort of conveyor belt of kangaroos. The whole
[00:19:51] Tim: cycle is quite strange when the babies are born. They're like a little worm, aren't they? They're like jellybean size, and then they go into the pouch for like part two and then turn into something that looks like a baby
[00:20:06] MIchelle: kangaroo. Oh.
[00:20:07] Jane: my gosh. Yeah. It takes them like 48 hours, I think, to crawl their way through the enormous fur to get into the pouch and latch on where they can then basically get the nutrients they need and
[00:20:19] Tim: grow by the time they come out. They're huge, aren't they? Like they're just all these legs, you know, tail this massive kangaroo.
[00:20:28] MIchelle: And it's so weird when you see them come out, like they, they're quite big and then you see them like get back into the pouch or come back. I'm like, gentle there, mom.
[00:20:42] Jane: Reincarnated as a lady, kangaroo.
[00:20:45] MIchelle: Thank you so much for being here, and I wondered if people wanna find you, what would be the best way for them to do that?
[00:20:54] Toshi: We are on instagram@sexandspace.com. Same on Facebook and on TikTok. And if you wanna flick us an email, it's hello@sexandspace.com
[00:21:05] Jane: and on the website, sex and space com. You can see all our projects. If you're interested, look us up. We're about building connections and community. So, yeah. Thank you, Michelle. You're amazing and we wanna have you as a guest, our end.
[00:21:18] MIchelle: Yay. I would be happy to, and thank you so much for all the work that you do and just educating people, but educating people in a way that feels very non-threatening, very light, and really creative. I love it. You're doing a great job. This show is produced by Katie Jensen at Vocal Fry Studios. If you have show ideas or a question you want me to answer in an episode, email me at Michelle, get some.ca and don't forget. To follow me on Instagram at Get Some underscore podcast, you'll get insights on sex and sexuality, dating tips, and behind the scenes between episodes.
[00:22:08] MIchelle: Thank you for listening.