Have you been at it like rabbits in Lockdown 3 or have you found sex is the last thing on your mind? Anniki Sommerville and Lisa Williams discuss the trials of lockdown love, why Anniki wants a chin-lift, sexy new TV – from Lover's Rock to Bridgerton – and the now-legendary BBC dildo appearance. There's also a guest spot from Dr Karen Gurney, who offers her top tips for reviving a long-lost libido. Recorded via Zoom (please forgive some minor sound issues) Edited and produced by Alex...

Good sex starts with doing the recycling, Anniki Sommerville and Lisa Williams have always maintained. To develop this thought, they discuss what socialist ideals – more free childcare, laundry and food services - would lead them to having better sex, prompted by Lisa reading Professor Kristen R Ghodsee’s book Why Women Have Better Sex Under Socialism. Lisa then speaks to Prof Ghodsee about what we can learn from socialism, what the pitfalls of past systems have been, why women in East...

Anniki Sommerville and Lisa Williams record a special socially-distanced episode to talk about the lives under lockdown, the BBC Three adaptation of Sally Rooney's Normal People, and how they're feeling about their lockdown looks. There's also a guest spot by Dr Karen Gurney, giving advice on living such at close quarters with your partner, why this time has been make or break for some couples, and what to do when you're feeling the tension rising. Recorded from home, produced by Alex...

The Hotbed welcomes its first-ever co-host: Karen Arthur of #WearYourHappy to talk about menopause, mental health and things we’re too old to care about any more. Lisa also interviews Dr Philippa Kaye about what the perimenopause is, what treatment there is for menopause symptoms, and how female pleasure is important for women of all ages. Recorded at Acast, produced by Alex Graham. This series of The Hotbed has been kindly sponsored by Mooncup, the original silicone reusable menstrual cup....

The Hotbed Collective's book More Orgasms Please: Why Female Pleasure Matters is out in pretty paperback now: Anniki Sommerville and Lisa Williams talk about how they wrote it and why they wrote it, give their tips on getting a book published and their thoughts on why female pleasure matters. Anniki's novel Motherwhelmed is also out and she talks about sexism in the corporate world, balancing parenting with the demands of a job, and why she decided to fictionalise her experience to help other...

Anniki Sommerville and Lisa Williams talk about vulvas: cervical screenings, gynae cancer, thrush and nicknames for ‘vulva’. They set up a folk duo and do an impromptu song about incontinence, while Lisa interviews the ever-calm and ever-clever Dr Anita Mitra, AKA Gynae Geek about The Eve Appeal's Get Lippy campaign, and gynae conditions, the taboos around women's health, and the worrying rise in labiaplasty (cosmetic surgery to the vulva) . This series of the Hotbed is kindly sponsored by...

At a special live show of The Hotbed, recorded live at Soho Radio pre-lockdown, Hotbed favourite Dr Karen is here to explain why everything you believed about desire is WRONG! We talk about the 237 reasons we have sex, what (and who!) makes us feel sexy, how contraception can mess with your mood, why you should get listening to some audio porn, and how to make trying-to-conceive sex hotter than hell. We also have the multi-talented Kelly Ford, AKA Book of Mum, to talk about girl-crushes and...

Jacqueline Gold CBE is the chief executive of Ann Summers and estimated to be the UK’s 16th richest woman. She talks to Cherry Healey and Anniki Sommerville about the sex toy made famous by Sex in the City, how she turned the chain around to make it more welcoming for women, and her experience of sex and body image after cancer. This episode is kindly sponsored by Mooncup, the original silicone reusable menstrual cup. Go to mooncup.co.uk and use the code HOTBED to get 10% off until the end...

Cherry Healey and Anniki Sommerville are back with the first episode of the sixth series! Recorded in COVID-19 free times, this is stress-free listening that may be particularly appropriate now we’re living in lockdown. If you’re in a long-term relationship and struggle sometimes, you will love listening to their interview with Cat Sims, the blogger behind 'Not So Smug Now', who reveals all about marriage counselling and the strategies she has learnt to keep her relationship on track even...

The Hotbed Collective are back with series six of their hit podcast The Hotbed. Life is weird but stick in your headphones and listen to Lisa Williams, Cherry Healey and Anniki Sommerville discuss topics such as sex shops, perimenopause and marriage counselling with a variety of brilliant guests. This series is kindly sponsored by Mooncup, the original reusable menstrual cup. For information regarding your data privacy, visit acast.com/privacy

In this the finale episode in the series, ‘The Hotbed’ are reunited with Lisa, Anniki and Cherry taking on Camp Bestival in a special LIVE podcast also starring Carrie Anne AKA @mre.soeur and Kate from @lesbemums. They discuss why relationships are so hard after kids, how communication can be reduced to who defrosted what for dinner and the importance of talking about the ‘emotional load’ and finding ways to divvy tasks up. The show needed to be more child-friendly than usual (Camp Bestival...

Cherry Healey talks to ‘the fit feminist’ Shona Vertue about the many reasons to be fit and strong (none of which are to look a certain way), they talk about Cherry has been doing her pelvic floor squeezes all wrong until now, and Shona answers some listeners’ questions about diastasis recti and getting into fitness at an older age. In the studio, Lisa Williams talk about the Nike mannequin, body positivity and Lisa reviews Wuka period pants. Recorded at Acast. Produced by Alex Graham and...

Hotbedder-at-large Cherry Healey is back in the fold for this episode, which centres on sex and ageing, and what that can mean for a relationship, the stairpile and your orgasm rate. She interviews comedian Tova Leigh about the midlife crisis which led to her rediscovering her sexuality, confidence and personality, and about how, when your partner has a lower sex drive than you, you have to take matters into your own hands. Meanwhile, Lisa Williams reviews Wuka menstrual pants, designed to be...

We have a juicy chat with sex educator, YouTuber and all-round good egg Hannah Witton about hormones, sex education and masturbation, in which we reveal orgasm tips, what we’d wished our parents has taught us about sex, and why talking about sex is important work. Hannah’s book The Hormone Diaries is out now, as is our book More Orgasms Please: Why Female Pleasure Matters. Produced by Alex Graham. For information regarding your data privacy, visit acast.com/privacy

How do we resist the pressure to get 'beach body ready' as summer holiday season approaches? Lisa Williams quizzes Natalie Lee, AKA Style Me Sunday, about how to be a warrior woman on the beach and by the pool, how being a midwife helped her become body positive, and how body positivity compares to body neutrality. They also discuss their favourite sex toys and how some self love helps sleep and mood, and how self-image can affect sexy time. Anniki Sommerville and Lisa also talk about "fanny...

In this week's episode The Hotbed talk about Love Island, Position of the Fortnight and their book, out now, called ‘More Orgasms Please: Why Female Pleasure Matters’). Anniki interviews Lisa Smosarski, Stylist magazine editor and they talk about sex, relationships and how on earth you edit a magazine and have 3 kids and a husband and have your fingernails still intact. Recorded at Acast Studios. Produced by Lisa Williams, Anniki Sommerville and Alex Graham. Useful links: To order The...

*Trigger warning: This episode makes references to self-harm and suicide** To round off the fourth series we interview a MAN for the first time on the podcast! Buck Angel is an LA-based activist who is known in the trans community as ’Tranpa’ because he enjoys teaching and preaching about self-acceptance and love. He tells Lisa Williams about his journey to transition, what it’s like to live as a man versus as someone with a female body, what cis-women can learn about self-acceptance about...

In this episode Anniki and Lisa discuss what happens to your relationship after you have kids. Why is it that we often get locked into the same arguments and are there any strategies to break free? Why do some new mothers resent their partner when they try to help and then hate them when they don’t? They also discuss the joys of Lidl and why it's often Anniki's friends want to talk about. There’s also an interview with US author- Jancee Dunn, who wrote the brilliant book, 'How Not to Hate...

Bad sex is worse than no sex in our opinion. Anniki Sommerville and Lisa Williams talk about their own experience of bad sex: such as when Anniki had ‘sex’ through her tights and when Lisa felt like there was a brick wall inside her vagina. They talk to Chidera Eggerue, aka The Slumflower, about lube, uncomfortable sex and her body confidence campaign #saggyboobsmatter, then to clinical psychologist and psychosexologist Dr Karen Gurney about faking orgasms: should you ever fake and can you...

Our lives are getting increasingly stressful and the overwhelm is real, so how do we carve out time for self-love and what does it look like? For this special live episode, recorded at White City House, we explore self-love in all its forms. Co-hosts Lisa Williams and Anniki Sommerville haven’t had much time for self-love recently, hear about their paltry efforts. Dr Karen Gurney answers the question, ‘If you don’t love yourself, can you love anyone else?’, Nadia Deem advocates masturbation...

*Trigger warning: This episode contains mild references to consent* Anniki Sommerville and Lisa Williams were over the moon to host Charmed and Grindhouse star Rose McGowan in the Hotbed. She talks about the male gaze, the #MeToo the movement, growing up in a cult and her book Brave, her frank evisceration of what she calls ‘the cult of Hollywood’. Also, big news, people, the Hotbed Collective have a book out this July! It’s being published by Penguin Square Peg and it’s called More Orgasms...

The Hotbed Collective kicks off the fourth series of the Hotbed podcast by talking to midwife and Instagram star Clemmie Hooper, aka Mother of Daughters. We interview her about the wonderful world of vulvas, body knowledge, post-birth recovery and how Clemmie herself manages to get her leg over despite having four kids in the house. Anniki is particularly interested in the topic as she’s just had a baby herself, and she talks through what’s made her bits a bit better. Recorded at Soho...

Why do women have such rubbish words to describe their sex drive, rude bits and nice things that can be done to us? We talk to poet Hollie McNish about why sexy words are often super-cringe and what we can do about it (Oxford English Dictionary, are you listening?). We also talk about the orgasm gap, how only 20% of women can orgasm via intercourse alone, and how to have a coregasm (it’s a real thing, ask Hollie and Lisa!). We leave you over the festive break with a test to write a sexy poem...

Rebecca Humphries hit the headlines when her then-partner Seann Walsh was papped snogging his Strictly Come Dancing partner Katya Jones. Rather than sell her story, she released a powerful statement on Twitter, reframing herself not as a victim, but as a woman strong enough to leave - taking the cat with her. She talks to Lisa Williams and Anniki Sommerville about her life since, why she’s actually pleased it happened so publicly, and how she’s coped in the aftermath. We then speak to the...