Let's Talk About Sex With Lynn And Jen

Lynn and Jen reflect at the end 2020: What does celebration look like in the midst of loss and separation? What can we learn from this year and take into 2021?

As teen mental health experts, Lynn and Jen explore how adolescents have been coping during Covid times and in a Trump worlds. This episode is the third in a special series, Unmasked.   

In their second episode of a special COVID-19 series, Lynn and Jen explore topics related to anger. Are you feeling more prone to anger during this challenging time? The LTAS duo analyzes the many dimensions of anger and offers solutions to regulate and reframe this intense feeling. 

Lynn and Jen are back with a special series on mental health during the COVID-19 epidemic. In this first episode, thy explore topics related to work. With work occupying such a central part of our lives and identity, how are individuals coping while work changes in a socially-distant world?  

With COVID-19 on everyone's minds, LTAS is back with a spotlight on the psychology of epidemics. How do we understand our natural desire for safety and control in the midst of uncertainty? Lynn and Jen unpack strategies for managing fears, staying grounded, and making decisions in stressful situations.

This week, Lynn and Jen talk about how abusive systems are created and maintained, explaining the different roles each member in the system takes. Whether in families, government, or culture, these structures are insidious and hard to see, but with awareness, can be broken.

This week on LTAS, Lynn and Jen discuss how using the five love languages can help improve couples' communication with each other. Here's a link to take the quiz to find out your love language: https://www.5lovelanguages.com/

In this episode, Lynn and Jen revisit their conversation around sexting as revenge porn has become more obtrusive. Instead of shaming sexting, how do we promote consent in this new way of relating?

It's election day 2019! Inspired by Elizabeth Warren's running for president in 2020, Lynn and Jen dive right into the challenges women in positions of power face in our patriarchal culture. What are some of the challenges you have faced as a woman while in positions of power, whether that be at work, within your social circles, at home, etc.? Let us know!

In this spotlight episode, Lynn and Jen talk about the impacts of homelessness on individuals and their sexuality, and what we can do as a community to provide support. Make sure to check in with your local navigation centers to see what you can do to help!

Have you ever felt a sense of love or longing towards your therapist and couldn't figure out why? Or have you wondered how it happens? This week, Lynn and Jen talk about when a client develops loving feelings towards their therapist--in psychology, this is called erotic transference. We hope that with this episode, we can shed some light on what it is and keep the conversation going. To find out more about, you can visit: https://www.psychologytoday.com/us/blog/in-therapy/201206/clients-guide-transference

After a recent session with a teen client telling Jen about sugar dating, Jen wondered, "What the heck is sugar dating?!" Turns out, this has been around: We've heard of "sugar daddies" and "sugar babies," and apparently this relationship is "sugar dating." Are these relationships sexual? Are young people being exploited in these relationships? Or is it better to have explicit knowledge of these exchanges? Are these dynamics circumventing vulnerability? What about sugar mama's and how does this dynamic affect traditional gender norms?

As Lynn and Jen were discussing "sugar dating" and "sugar mama's," as some of you may have heard in our previous episode, it got us questioning the dynamics of older women and younger men who date. And often the women in these relationships are called "cougars." But unlike what is portrayed in the media, research shows that couples with this structure are in intimate, fulfilling relationships. In this same study, differences were found in how older women met their partners. They also note that as women age, mothers and grandmothers are seen as incompatible with having sexual desires. Jen shares about being married to a younger man and Lynn shares how older women and younger men were more common in Canada.

This week on LTAS, Lynn and Jen take a deep dive into the complex dynamics of sex trafficking, breaking away from the idea of the roles of victim and perpetrator being mutually exclusive. This is how the media portrays abuse: Jeffrey Epstein - "The Monster" Ghislaine Maxwell - "The Accomplice" Cyntoia Brown - "The Hero" (now) We believe all three have suffered from abuse, but the difference is in how they choose to cope with their trauma.

"The best way to get over someone is to get under someone else." That's something a 13-year-old said to Jen in a session one day. It made her realize that quite a few young teens that she is working with want to engage in sex, but view it in a very nonchalant manner. This raised some questions: What sexual junctures do young people face when developing their sexual identity? What are the beliefs that shape the rules they are trying to follow? Why is sex ed. only teaching the mechanics of sex? What about the socioemotional piece? These sexual junctures occur in childhood, teenhood, adulthood, and even in toddlers. Lynn shares the story of her grandson who has now decided that "Nana can't throw me the ball because she's a girl. Only boys can throw me the ball," even though she was the one who taught him how to play ball.

Sparked by an article in The Daily Beast, Lynn and Jen discuss patterns of abuse that seem so "normal" in our culture that many people get away with it. Often, the people who are being abused aren't consciously aware that what they have experienced is abuse, and a part of that relies upon predators grooming themselves long before they groom others. Those that do speak up, do so to protect other potential targets of abuse. It's not until the abused come together that they can see the patterns and realize it's not just them.

Lynn and Jen talk about the issues surrounding the prejudice against Indigenous women and girls in Canada, where large numbers go missing and murdered. In particular, the released New York Times article summarizes the National Inquiry report which calls this tragedy a genocide. Lynn shares personal experiences from her time working in the Red River area with this population and notes how the system continues to fail them, even when the "proper" procedures are followed.

Let's reshape the conversation around abortion away from pro-life or pro-choice, towards addressing the root cause--decreasing unwanted pregnancies.  Lynn and Jen discuss personal and community responsibility, bringing in ideas by Gabrielle Blair in her controversial Medium article and the book, Women Talking by Miriam Toews.

Lynn and Jen talk about the many different aspects of the power dynamics--power over vs. power sharing--in our country inspired by Lucy Flores' op-ed about Joe Biden. Lynn also shares a recent personal experience with sexual harassment and the feelings that arose as a result.

As the beloved series comes to a close with just one episode left, Lynn and Jen talk about the way some of the most popular characters both followed and broke traditional gender roles while navigating their power.