The Talk Talks is a podcast and an archive about how teenagers talk about sex and relationships—in our schools, at home, and with friends.
How do teens learn about sex in Louisiana? What does consent mean in Idaho and in New York? Who leans in and who cringes when you bring up sex in schools and at home in Minnesota? And where does our rickety, collective knowledge about sex and relationships actually come from? The Talk Talks is a podcast about those unpredictable conversations about bodies, feelings, and sexual identities, taking place in the middle of a heated public debate about #metoo, reproductive rights, and who gets to use what bathroom.
Divided into intimate conversations crisscrossing the United States and stories looking at pivotal moments from the global history of sex education, we put today’s inflammatory act of teaching kids about sex into context. The show focuses on the everyday negotiations of emotional, social, political and economic nuances of sex and relationships that regular sex ed and the media often leave out. Informative without being didactic, curious without judging, this podcast is about American sexual citizens-in-the-making—and the lessons learned from sex ed history.
“Parents and teens have very different perceptions about how often they’re talking about sex and what’s being said during those talks. Parents think they’re giving nuanced advice, but their teens are just hearing directives.”
Leslie Kantor
