
What is Sex Anyway?
Authored by Thomas Andrew Porteus, MBCSOriginally published 8 Dec 2025
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In this series:Coming, Ready or NotLust or BustVictims and VillainsMe-Topia The Big O... Oh No! The Arousal ParadoxA Dangerous Liaison? Losing It!
Sex is everywhere, right? Clare and Janet kick off the season by discussing the fundamentals about sex… why do we do it and what is it for?!
What's Sex Anyway?
This podcast contains explicit language and content of a sexual nature.
In the opening episode of the series, Clare and Janet dive straight into one of the biggest questions of all: what is sex anyway?
Drawing on years of experience as sex and relationship therapists, they explore why we have sex, what it means to different people and how our early beliefs, cultural messages and personal histories shape the way we understand intimacy. From “proper sex” myths to the pressure to be “normal”, they unpack the expectations that so often fuel anxiety, misunderstanding and relationship conflict.
Clare and Janet also talk openly about communication, mismatched desires, pleasure, fantasy, solo sex, and the many ways people connect physically and emotionally. They challenge the idea that sex has a single definition - instead encouraging listeners to think about what sex means to them, at different stages of life and in different contexts.
This first episode sets up the series with a simple but powerful idea: there’s no “right way” to do sex - only the way that’s true to you.
Patient picks for The Sex and Relationships Podcast

Podcasts
The Arousal Paradox
When Porn or Hollywood are your sex educators, it can get confusing when things don’t work that way for us! Why is it that the things that are supposed to turn us on, sometimes turn us off? How come we can be so different from our partners? Clare and Janet mine the myriad of contradictions in partnered sex.
by Thomas Andrew Porteus, MBCS

Podcasts
Lust or Bust
If sex is another job on the ‘to do’ list, it’s time to press the Reset button. Clare and Janet chat about why we ‘go off it’ and how we can get it back!
by Thomas Andrew Porteus, MBCS
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Article history
The information on this page is peer reviewed by qualified clinicians.
8 Dec 2025 | Originally published
Authored by:
Thomas Andrew Porteus, MBCS

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