Podcast · Health

Doing Sex

Hosted by award-winning journalist Sahar Zand (@saharzand5) and produced by Vespucci (@vespuccigroup), Doing Sex peels back the layers of what we think we know about intimacy and identity.  Part confessional, part investigative, part therapy, and entirely honest, Sahar will be turning the lens

New episodes: Weekly
Typical length: 51 min
Latest: 24 Dec 2025
Language: English

Latest episode

24 Dec 2025 · 44 min

Horny, Distracted & Overthinking It: ADHD and Sex

What happens to sex and intimacy when your brain doesn’t switch off? In this episode of Doing Sex, Sahar explores how ADHD shapes desire, attraction, attention, and long-term relationships with Dr. Ari Tuckman, psychologist, certified sex therapist, and author of ADHD After Dark. Drawing on research and stories from hundreds of couples, they unpack how ADHD affects arousal, emotional connection, communication, and libido, from hyperfocus and novelty to distraction, rejection sensitivity, and fading desire over time. Whether you have ADHD, love someone who does, or want to better understand…

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Earlier episodes 14 most recent

5 Dec 2025 · 47 min
Is Masturbation Healthy?
Masturbation is something most of us do, but almost no one talks about. Is it healthy? Can it improve your sex life? Or could it quietly be getting in the way of intimacy? In this episode of Doing Sex, Sahar sits down with Danielle Bezalel (DB), host of Sex Ed with DB and public-health researcher, to talk about the science of self-pleasure, myth-busting decades of shame and misinformation along the way. DB shares what led her to turn her own masturbation habits into an actual research study, starting with a three-week personal experiment that later became a large-scale scientific project…
20 Nov 2025 · 1 hr 16 min
From Forced Marriage to Sexual Liberation: Payzee’s Story
How do you reclaim your sexual freedom in a world that’s tried to take it from you through trauma, culture, or even motherhood? In this episode of Doing Sex, Sahar speaks with activist and campaigner Payzee Mahmod, whose life is a powerful story of survival and reclamation. Born in Iraqi Kurdistan, Payzee is a survivor of FGM, child marriage, and devastating loss. Her sister, Banaz Mahmod, was murdered in an honour killing — a tragedy that shaped Payzee’s fight to change the law on child marriage in England and Wales. Now an activist at the Obama Foundation, Payzee opens up about the…
6 Nov 2025 · 1 hr 8 min
Love vs Lust: Inside an Open Marriage Without Sex
They’ve been married for seven years — but haven’t had sex in six. For Gus and his husband, it’s not a sign of failure, it’s just part of how their open marriage works. In this episode of Doing Sex, Sahar talks to her good friend Gus, a gay man whose relationship flips almost every traditional idea of love and desire on its head. He’s deeply in love with his husband, but their sex life exists entirely elsewhere. For Gus, the colder and more transactional the encounter, the better. Sex, he says, is easy. Love is what takes work. Gus talks about what happens when sex and love start living in…
20 Oct 2025 · 51 min
Is Monogamy Toxic — Or Are We Just Bad at Talking About Sex? (With Feeld CEO Ana Kirova)
These days, it feels like everyone is talking about open relationships—whether as a fix, an experiment, or a new kind of freedom. But can they actually work? And can they really improve your sex life? In this episode of Doing Sex, Sahar sits down with Ana Kirova, CEO of Feeld, the app that’s helped redefine modern intimacy and champion ethical non-monogamy.Ana shares what open relationships have taught her about communication, lessons grounded in freedom, honesty, choice, and kindness. She talks about what led to her opening her relationship with her partner, Dimo, who was so inspired by…
16 Oct 2025 · 35 min
Sex Therapy With Dr. Lori Beth
What happens when Sahar turns the microphone on herself? In this intimate episode of Doing Sex, Sahar sits down with sex and intimacy therapist Dr. Lori Beth —with no producer, no safety net, and nothing off limits. This is your invite to join Sahar as she digs deep in this first of many therapy episodes. Raw, unfiltered, and deeply human, Sahar lets us in on her search for answers to her own questions around sex. Sahar and Lori explore how childhood experiences, toxic relationships, and struggles with sexual dysfunction have shaped Sahar’s relationship to sex. If you’ve ever wondered how…
4 Sep 2025 · 42 min
Sex and marriage - with Dr. Margie Holmes
This week, Sahar meets Dr. Margie Holmes, a pioneering Filipino clinical psychologist, sex therapist, author, media personality, and educator whose career has spanned more than 45 years—all about sex and relationships. Dr. Holmes began her journey writing newspaper columns, where she quickly became the Philippines’ resident Agony Aunt. Readers wrote in with questions and confessions about love, intimacy, and desire. Through her platform, she challenged taboos, dismantled stereotypes, and opened up conversations about topics often considered unspeakable in Filipino culture. With 16…
3 Sep 2025 · 56 min
Data Driven Orgasms - with Anna Lee
Data, engineering, numbers? Sexy thoughts are not normally the first thing that comes to mind. Until you meet Anna Lee. Anna's job as a sex toy engineer goes beyond the toy itself and into the data behind when, why and how we orgasm. As the the co-founder of sex toy company Lioness, the toys collect data and continue the cycle of helping people with better orgasms! Doing Sex: https://www.instagram.com/doing____sex/?hl=en Sahar Zand: https://www.instagram.com/saharzand5/?hl=en Anna Lee: https://www.instagram.com/annaisaverage/ Lioness: https://www.instagram.com/lionesshealth/ Learn more about…
21 Aug 2025 · 50 min
Power politics - with Dominatrix Eva Oh
The formidable Dominatrix, Eva Oh joins Sahar on this week's episode of Doing Sex. London based Dominatrix Eva Oh uses kink as a method of connection, healing and empowerment. Speaking to Sahar about her clients’ desires, she explains that sessions are often ritualistic, psychologically rich and carefully orchestrated. When Sahar opens up about her struggles with intimacy, Eva Oh encourages her (and others) to explore solo pleasure as a way to dismantle shame and build one’s own version of sexuality. Sahar’s background as a journalist and her curious questions as to which services Eva Oh…
13 Aug 2025 · 57 min
How to give the perfect bl@w j@b from a Lebanese-Brazilian sexologist
Mahmoud Baydoun — a queer Lebanese-Brazilian sexologist — talks to Sahar and, with refreshing honesty, pulls back the curtain on the reality of his online sex empire. Mahmoud has built a booming online business by sharing bold tips for better sex and cheeky tricks for handling penises. Whether it’s naughty Instagram and TikTok posts that flirt with platform guidelines or ebooks and online courses that have sold over 250,000 copies, Mahmoud has millions of followers — and he knows exactly how to capture their attention and keep it. On top of that, he has starred in not one, but two of…
11 Aug 2025 · 39 min
How I Found Pleasure After Female Genital Mutilation - with Fatou Badjie Part 2
This is part two of a two-part series with Fatou Badjie, an activist and FGM survivor. In this episode, Fatou discusses the broader impacts of FGM, including challenges related to pregnancy, childbirth, and understanding her own pleasure. Content warning: This episode contains themes that some listeners may find distressing. Below are links to FGM support clinics: https://www.nhs.uk/conditions/female-genital-mutilation-fgm/national-fgm-support-clinics/ https://www.sundialcentre.org/ Doing Sex: https://www.instagram.com/doing____sex/?hl=en Sahar Zand:…
5 Aug 2025 · 51 min
How I Found Pleasure After Female Genital Mutilation - with Fatou Badjie Part 1
Pleasure and pain are rarely spoken about together, but for Fatou Badjie they are deeply connected. In this episode, Sahar talks with Fatou, a UK-based Gambian activist who went from the pain of undergoing FGM as a child to reclaiming her body and embracing the joy of sex and pleasure. In part one of two episodes, Fatou explains the types of FGM, the beliefs that sustain it, and her own experience in the Gambia in the 1990s. Today she works with Care for Women and Girls in Birmingham and the Sundial Centre for Education in Oxford. A warning, this episode contains themes that some may find…
29 Jul 2025 · 52 min
Decriminalising brothels - with Catherine De Noire
In Episode 2 Sahar talks to Catherine De Noire, a PhD student in Organisational Psychology as well as the manager of one of Europe’s largest legal brothels. Sahar and Catherine speak about Catherine’s mission to fight misinformation and stigma about sex workers, the reason she decided to study Organisational Psychology as a way to provide support and learning for sex workers as well as the day to day life of sex workers in the brothel. Catherine advocates for legalisation of sex work, a better support system for sex workers and a narrative change which results in less moral panic around the…
29 Jul 2025 · 53 min
Sex education in Iran - with Dr. Sara Nasserzadeh
Welcome to the first episode of Doing Sex with Sahar Zand. In Episode 1 Sahar is joined by Dr. Sara Nasserzadeh, an award winning author and intercultural advisor with a PhD in Social Psychology specialising in Sexuality and Relationships. Both born in Iran, Sahar and Dr Sara talk about their own sex education rooted in a specific religious and political regime. Dr Sara’s experience led her to starting underground sex workshops in Iran, while Sahar, who escaped Iran as a teen, started a podcast, all about sex. Dr Sara has spent two decades working at the intersection of sexuality,…
23 Jul 2025 · 2 min
Doing Sex: Trailer
Coming soon to all platforms, July 29, 2025 Hosted by award-winning journalist Sahar Zand (@saharzand5) and produced by Vespucci @vespuccigroup, Doing Sex peels back the layers of what we think we know about intimacy and identity. Part confessional, part investigative, part therapy, and entirely honest, Sahar will be turning the lens inward — exploring desire, shame, and silence through her own story and those of others daring to talk about how we “do sex.” Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

About Doing Sex

Doing Sex is a English health podcast from Vespucci. Melo plays each episode straight from the publisher's own feed — no ads added, no account needed — and remembers where you stopped, in this browser only.

Publisher: Vespucci
Language: English
Category: Health
New episodes: Weekly
Typical length: 51 min
Latest episode: 24 Dec 2025
Feed: RSS — paste into any podcast app
Apple Podcasts: podcasts.apple.com/podcast/id1828999563

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