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In the No Part 1

In 2017, radio-maker Kaitlin Prest released a mini-series called "No" about her personal struggle to understand and communicate about sexual consent. That show, which dives into the experience, moment by moment, of navigating sexual intimacy, struck a chord with many of us. It's gorgeous, deeply personal, and incredibly thoughtful. And it seemed to presage a much larger conversation that is happening all around us in this moment. And so we decided to embark, with Kaitlin, on our own exploration of this topic. Over the next three episodes, we'll wander into rooms full of college students, hear from academics and activists, and sit in on classes about BDSM. But to start things off, we are going to share with you the story that started it all. Today, meet Kaitlin (if you haven't already).  In The No Part 1 is a collaboration with Kaitlin Prest. It was produced with help from Becca Bressler and Shima Oliaee. The "No" series, from The Heart was created by writer/director Kaitlin Prest, editors Sharon Mashihi and Mitra Kaboli, assistant producer Ariel Hahn and associate producer Phoebe Wang, associate sound designer Shani Aviram. Special thanks to actor Tommy Schell. Check out Kaitlin's new show, The Shadows. Support Radiolab today at Radiolab.org/donate. 
Duration
59m
Broadcast on
11 Oct 2018
Audio Format
other

In 2017, radio-maker Kaitlin Prest released a mini-series called "No" about her personal struggle to understand and communicate about sexual consent. That show, which dives into the experience, moment by moment, of navigating sexual intimacy, struck a chord with many of us. It's gorgeous, deeply personal, and incredibly thoughtful. And it seemed to presage a much larger conversation that is happening all around us in this moment. And so we decided to embark, with Kaitlin, on our own exploration of this topic. Over the next three episodes, we'll wander into rooms full of college students, hear from academics and activists, and sit in on classes about BDSM. But to start things off, we are going to share with you the story that started it all. Today, meet Kaitlin (if you haven't already). 

In The No Part 1 is a collaboration with Kaitlin Prest. It was produced with help from Becca Bressler and Shima Oliaee.

The "No" series, from The Heart was created by writer/director Kaitlin Prest, editors Sharon Mashihi and Mitra Kaboli, assistant producer Ariel Hahn and associate producer Phoebe Wang, associate sound designer Shani Aviram. Special thanks to actor Tommy Schell.

Check out Kaitlin's new show, The Shadows.

Support Radiolab today at Radiolab.org/donate. 


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WNYC Studios is supported by WISE. WISE, the smart way to manage the currencies you need around the world. With a WISE account, you can send, spend, and receive in up to 40 currencies with only a few simple taps. Be smart, get WISE. Download the WISE app today. Terms and conditions apply. WNYC Studios is supported by Odo. When you buy business software from lots of vendors, the costs add up and it gets complicated and confusing. Odo solves this. It's a single company that sells a suite of enterprise apps that handles everything from accounting to inventory to sales. Odo is all connected on a single platform in a simple and affordable way. You can save money without missing out on the features you need. Check out Odo at ODOO.com. Wait, you're listening to Radio Lab from WNYC. Let's just start at the beginning. How did the series, I know it's ancient history for you already, but how did it come about? What was the sort of spark for it? I remember seeing the word "no" just written down on the page and immediately being like, "Oh my god, I have so much to say about that word." Jed here, this is Radio Lab. Today, we're going to be airing work from Radio Maker Caitlin Press. Wow, how exciting. I know, it is exciting. Oh my god. Because what we're going to play for you today sent all of us here on quite a journey. Caitlin is a fellow traveler. She just released a show through the CBC, called The Shadows, apparently it involves puppets. You should definitely check it out. But before that, she was the hosting creator of a podcast called The Heart, and here's what happened. About a year ago, about four or five different people on my staff, seemingly all at once were like, "You've got to hear this series from The Heart." It was made pre-me too, but now that we're in Me Too, you stop what you're doing, listen to this series. It's a four-part thing. It's called "no." I personally, I've always had a complicated relationship with saying "no" in any context, but especially within a sexual context. One of the people in our crew wanted to make, she just said, "I want to make something about no, just no." When I finally listened to the series, I was like, "Damn, I've never heard anything like this really and truly." What we're going to do is construct for you the journey that we went on. It starts with Caitlin's work. Today, we're going to play you excerpts from her series that she produced for The Heart. Then over the next few weeks, we're going to dive deeper into some of the issues that she raises in her series, because like I said, when I heard it and we started talking about it internally, it sent us on a whole thing, and we ended up having a series of conversations that went all over the place. We'll play you some of that in the next two episodes, but right now, we want to play you excerpts from Caitlin's series. Just as a warning, there are scenes in what you're about to hear that are sexual explicit very much so at times, and a strong language, probably not the kind of thing that you want to listen to with kids anywhere nearby. Anyhow, we're going to start with an excerpt from the second episode of Caitlin's series, No for the Heart. This episode, she titled Inheritance. I fought him like a chance. Seriously, the bed was in the middle of the room, and I had a urinary tract infection for like two weeks after shit. That's intense. Hello, and welcome to this month's edition of Audios Smut. I'm in my 20s. I left my tiny little town for the big city. I live in NYC now. I make an artsy feminist sex radio show. She noises that you just heard. Third wave sex positive feminism tells me that I was onto something back in my teens. Adopting the same ruthless sexual posturing that boys are encouraged to would allow me to wield some of their power. If we fucked without feelings, we too could be free. Having slut pride would subvert the double standard, and it would force the world to recognize that women's sexual pleasure is real. The only problem is that I hate casual sex. To make up for it, I masturbate with abandon and tell the world about it.
I've become an expert at advocating for my own pleasure. I know what I want, and I feel entitled to it. I really want you to sleep over, but just FYI, I'm not secretly

Transcription truncated.

In 2017, radio-maker Kaitlin Prest released a mini-series called "No" about her personal struggle to understand and communicate about sexual consent. That show, which dives into the experience, moment by moment, of navigating sexual intimacy, struck a chord with many of us. It's gorgeous, deeply personal, and incredibly thoughtful. And it seemed to presage a much larger conversation that is happening all around us in this moment. And so we decided to embark, with Kaitlin, on our own exploration of this topic. Over the next three episodes, we'll wander into rooms full of college students, hear from academics and activists, and sit in on classes about BDSM. But to start things off, we are going to share with you the story that started it all. Today, meet Kaitlin (if you haven't already).  In The No Part 1 is a collaboration with Kaitlin Prest. It was produced with help from Becca Bressler and Shima Oliaee. The "No" series, from The Heart was created by writer/director Kaitlin Prest, editors Sharon Mashihi and Mitra Kaboli, assistant producer Ariel Hahn and associate producer Phoebe Wang, associate sound designer Shani Aviram. Special thanks to actor Tommy Schell. Check out Kaitlin's new show, The Shadows. Support Radiolab today at Radiolab.org/donate.