New Books in Sex, Sexuality, and Sex Work

New Books Network

Sexuality

Gender Studies

Queer Theory

Sexuality Studies

Sex Work

Human Trafficking

Psychoanalysis

Jane Austen

Colonialism

Feminism

Soft-Porn Cinema

Marilyn Chambers

Reproductive Rights

Virginity

Early Christianity

Pornography

Trans Studies

Prostitution

Radical Acts

Sexual Violence

This podcast is a channel on the New Books Network. The New Books Network is an academic audio library dedicated to public education. In each episode you will hear scholars discuss their recently published research with another expert in their field. Discover our 150+ channels and browse our 28,000+ episodes on our website: ⁠newbooksnetwork.com⁠ Subscribe to our free weekly Substack newsletter to ... more

14 ratings

Publishes	Daily	Episodes	508	Founded	5 years ago
Number of Listeners		Categories	ArtsBooksScienceSocial Sciences

Listen to this Podcast

Guests Hosts Reviews Charts Talking Points

Latest Episodes

David Petruccelli, "A Scourge of Humanity: The Origins of Interpol and the End of Empire in Central and Eastern Europe" (Oxford UP, 2025)

As the First World War came to a chaotic end, Europeans feared that a wave of crime and anarchy would sweep across their continent. The upheavals of the war and of the subsequent violent breakup of the Habsburg, German, and Ottoman empires magnified ... more

31 May 2026 • 1 hr 3 min • Popular

Jonatan Leer and Stinne Gunder Strøm Krogager, "Food Porn: Food Aesthetics in a Digital Age" (Bristol UP, 2026)

Is food porn a vibrant and democratic new expression of modern food culture or a superficial addition to an image-saturated world? Tracing its origins from the 1970s to today, this timely book examines the evolution of food porn as a desire-inducing ... more

31 May 2026 • 40 min

Janet Hinson Shope and Richard Pringle, "Campus Whisper Networks: Knowing with Sexual Assault Survivors" (Rutgers UP, 2026)

Campus Whisper Networks: Knowing with Sexual Assault Survivors (Rutgers University Press, 2026) examines how personal knowledge about

student sexual assault circulates within college campus communities.

Based upon both qualitative and quantitative ... more

27 May 2026 • 58 min • Most popular

Timothy McCall, "Making the Renaissance Man: Masculinity in the Courts of Renaissance Italy" (Reaktion Books, 2023)

Looking beyond the marble elegance of Michelangelo's David, the pugnacious, passionate, and--crucially--important story of Renaissance manhood.

Timothy McCall's book Making the Renaissance Man: Masculinity in the Courts of Renaissance Italy (Reakti... more

25 May 2026 • 3 min

Key Facts

Accepts Guests

Accepts Sponsors

Contact Information

Podcast Host

Number of Listeners

Find out how many people listen to this podcast per episode and each month.

Similar Podcasts

People also subscribe to these shows.

New Books in Critical TheoryMarshall Poe

Why TheoryWhy Theory

Ones and ToozeForeign Policy

The LRB PodcastThe London Review of Books

Philosophy For Our TimesIAI

Recent Guests

Janet Hinson Shope

Sociologist and co-author of Campus Whisper Networks, Knowing with Sexual Assault Survivors

Rutgers University

Episode: Janet Hinson Shope and Richard Pringle, "Campus Whisper Networks: Knowing with Sexual Assault Survivors" (Rutgers UP, 2026)

Richard Pringle

Co-author of Campus Whisper Networks, Knowing with Sexual Assault Survivors

Rutgers University

Episode: Janet Hinson Shope and Richard Pringle, "Campus Whisper Networks: Knowing with Sexual Assault Survivors" (Rutgers UP, 2026)

Timothy McCall

Professor of art history

Villanova University

Episode: Timothy McCall, "Making the Renaissance Man: Masculinity in the Courts of Renaissance Italy" (Reaktion Books, 2023)

Eloise Moss

Professor of Modern British History, University of Manchester

University of Manchester / Bloomsbury (book publisher)

Episode: Eloise Moss, "The Secret Life of the Hotel: Sex, Crime and Protest in British Guesthouses Since 1918" (Bloomsbury, 2026)

Elaine Leeder

Retired dean and professor; author and scholar on anarchist feminism

Sonoma State University

Episode: Jewish Anarchist Women 1920–1950: The Politics of Sexuality

Max Morris

Author and researcher discussing not sex work, queer intimacy, post-identity, and incidental encounters in the digital era

Author

Episode: Max Morris, "Not Sex Work: Queer Intimacy, Post-identity, and Incidental Encounters in the Digital Era" (Routledge, 2025)

Sophie Rose

Postdoctoral researcher exploring morality, sexuality, and colonial law

Leiden University

Episode: Sophie Rose, "Intimacy and Social (Dis)Order in Dutch Colonial Expansion: Regulating Sex, Marriage, and Family Life, 1600–1800" (Brill, 2025)

Katie Batza

Author of AIDS in the Heartland, health activist and scholar

University of Kansas

Episode: Katie Batza, "AIDS in the Heartland: How Unlikely Coalitions Created a Blueprint for LGBTQ Politics" (UNC Press, 2025)

Samira Mehta

Author of God Bless the Pill, The Surprising History of Contraception and Sexuality in American Religion

University of North Carolina Press

Episode: Samira K. Mehta, "God Bless the Pill: The Surprising History of Contraception and Sexuality in American Religion" (UNC Press, 2026)

Hosts

Dr. Miranda Melcher

Host and interviewer across multiple episodes; central facilitator of scholarly dialogue

Alex Weiser

Director of Public Programs; co-host and guide for interviews

Elaine Leeder

Scholar and co-host providing scholarly context and framing

Rinvith

Host of New Books Network Human Rights Channel; contributes to interview flow

Donna Doan Anderson

Host and contributor with or without co-hosting duties, depending on episode

Reviews

4.3 out of 5 stars from 14 ratings

Nope
I really liked some episodes which had some interviews with researchers and sex workers, but with the May 2023 episode with Mary Eberstadt, I’ve learned this podcast series is just as bad as the mainstream media
There is no sex worker solidarity without solidarity for trans people. If you’re reading this and thinking “well not everything is black and white, you just don’t want people to express their opinions freely”, please go educate yourself with some recent research on the current statistic... more
Apple Podcasts
1
TinaDeutschland
Canada3 years ago

Embed These Reviews on a Website

Listeners Say

Key themes from listener reviews, highlighting what works and what could be improved about the show.

Guests are often university-affiliated scholars offering archival and historical insights.

Some episodes receive pushback for perspectives on sexuality and representation, indicating engaged and opinionated audiences.

Listeners value rigorous, source-driven scholarship with accessible explanations.

Chart Rankings

How this podcast ranks in the Apple Podcasts, Spotify and YouTube charts.

Apple Podcasts	#124	United States/Science/Social Sciences
Apple Podcasts	#36	United Kingdom/Science/Social Sciences
Apple Podcasts	#171	Canada/Science/Social Sciences
Apple Podcasts	#241	United Kingdom/Science
Apple Podcasts	#122	Australia/Science/Social Sciences
Apple Podcasts	#233	Germany/Science/Social Sciences

Talking Points

Recent interactions between the hosts and their guests.

Janet Hinson Shope and Richard Pringle, "Campus Whisper Networks: Knowing with Sexual Assault Survivors" (Rutgers UP, 2026)

Q: How do your relational knowing scales help us understand campus dynamics?

The scales quantify where students sit on a spectrum of awareness within Whisper Networks, linking their position to beliefs about campus safety and the institutional response, thus revealing patterns not visible through traditional surveys.

Janet Hinson Shope and Richard Pringle, "Campus Whisper Networks: Knowing with Sexual Assault Survivors" (Rutgers UP, 2026)

Q: What motivated you to shift from studying prevalence to focusing on who tells and who hears?

We found that most disclosures happen within intimate networks and that the official reporting path to Title IX often strips away crucial context, so we redirected to understand how knowledge is produced and circulated within communities.

Jewish Anarchist Women 1920–1950: The Politics of Sexuality

Q: To what extent did these women speak Yiddish, and what did the Yiddish-speaking milieu mean for their organizing?

They all spoke Yiddish as a common language of organizing in Jewish worker communities, and Yiddish culture and labor organizations provided a shared linguistic and cultural framework that supported collective activism across industries.

Jewish Anarchist Women 1920–1950: The Politics of Sexuality

Q: What is the significance of Sacco and Vanzetti for the anarchist movement and for these women?

Sacco and Vanzetti's case became a symbolic turning point that exposed class tensions and anti-immigrant sentiment, reinforcing the movement's public visibility and its image as a persecuted, principled faction even as some factual details remain debated.

Jewish Anarchist Women 1920–1950: The Politics of Sexuality

Q: Is there a connection between these anarchist women and other contemporary leftist movements, such as communist women of the era?

The speaker notes she focused on anarchists specifically but acknowledges that some behaviors and attitudes were similar in broader leftist circles, suggesting potential avenues for comparative study without making definitive claims.

Audience Metrics

Listeners, social reach, demographics and more for this podcast.

Listeners per Episode
Gender Skew
Location
Interests
Professions
Age Range
Household Income
Social Media Reach

Frequently Asked Questions About This Podcast

What is This Podcast about and what kind of topics does it cover?

Scholarly conversations explore how sexuality, gender, race, and empire shape social life, culture, and policy across historical and contemporary contexts. Episodes center book-focused discussions with university-press authors and researchers, spanning topics from sexual politics in the modern West to colonial regimes, reproductive rights, and LGBTQ+ history. Guests bring archival research, theoretical frameworks, and cross-disciplinary methods, often linking intimate, everyday experiences to larger systems of power. A notable strength is the breadth of historical periods and the emphasis on how documents, artifacts, and cultural practices illuminate contested norms around sex, gender, and society. Potential listeners may find rigorous acad... more

Where can I find podcast stats for this podcast?

Rephonic provides a wide range of podcast stats for this podcast. We scanned the web and collated all of the information that we could find in our comprehensive podcast database. See how many people listen to this podcast and access YouTube viewership numbers, download stats, audience demographics, chart rankings, ratings, reviews and more.

How many listeners does this podcast get?

Rephonic provides a full set of podcast information for three million podcasts, including the number of listeners. View further listenership figures for this podcast, including podcast download numbers and subscriber numbers, so you can make better decisions about which podcasts to sponsor or be a guest on. You will need to upgrade your account to access this premium data.

What are the audience demographics for this podcast?

Rephonic provides comprehensive predictive audience data for this podcast, including gender skew, age, country, political leaning, income, professions, education level, and interests. You can access these listener demographics by upgrading your account.

How many subscribers and views does this podcast have?

To see how many followers or subscribers this podcast has on Spotify and other platforms such as Castbox and Podcast Addict, simply upgrade your account. You'll also find viewership figures for their YouTube channel if they have one.

Which podcasts are similar to this podcast?

These podcasts share a similar audience with this podcast:

1. New Books in Critical Theory
2. Why Theory
3. Ones and Tooze
4. The LRB Podcast
5. Philosophy For Our Times

How many episodes of this podcast are there?

this podcast launched 5 years ago and published 508 episodes to date. You can find more information about this podcast including rankings, audience demographics and engagement in our podcast database.

How do I contact this podcast?

Our systems regularly scour the web to find email addresses and social media links for this podcast. We scanned the web and collated all of the contact information that we could find in our podcast database. But in the unlikely event that you can't find what you're looking for, our concierge service lets you request our research team to source better contacts for you.

Where can I see ratings and reviews for this podcast?

Rephonic pulls ratings and reviews for this podcast from multiple sources, including Spotify, Apple Podcasts, Castbox, and Podcast Addict.

View all the reviews in one place instead of visiting each platform individually and use this information to decide if a show is worth pitching or not.

How do I access podcast episode transcripts for this podcast?

Rephonic provides full transcripts for episodes of this podcast. Search within each transcript for your keywords, whether they be topics, brands or people, and figure out if it's worth pitching as a guest or sponsor. You can even set-up alerts to get notified when your keywords are mentioned.

What guests have appeared on this podcast?

Recent guests on this podcast include:

1. Janet Hinson Shope
2. Richard Pringle
3. Timothy McCall
4. Eloise Moss
5. Elaine Leeder
6. Max Morris
7. Sophie Rose
8. Katie Batza

To view more recent guests and their details, simply upgrade your Rephonic account. You'll also get access to a typical guest profile to help you decide if the show is worth pitching.

Find and pitch the right podcasts

We help savvy brands, marketers and PR professionals to find the right podcasts for any topic or niche. Get the data and contacts you need to pitch podcasts at scale and turn listeners into customers.

Try it free for 7 days