The SRHM Podcast explores new research and emerging trends in the field of sexual and reproductive health and rights. In an era where digital communication reigns supreme, SRHM recognizes the power of podcasts as a tool for disseminating valuable information, sparking conversations, and engaging diverse audiences worldwide.

In 2024, SRHM launched a series of Editor’s Summary episodes, which give a short overview of the publications in the SRHM journal.

The podcast is produced by SRHM and is available for free on all major platforms including Apple Podcast and Spotify. 

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EPISODES

• Setting research priorities for prevention and response to child marriage in communities in the Arab region: findings from a multi-stage Delphi study involving practitioners across the region

  In this episode, we hear from the authors of a recently published paper, Setting research priorities for prevention and response to child marriage in communities in the Arab region: findings from a multi-stage Delphi study involving practitioners across the region: Janna Metzler, Associate Director of Research at the Women’s Refugee Commission in New York, Aisha Hutchinson, Senior Lecturer in Social Sciences at the School of Education, Communication and Society at King’s College London, and Katrina Kiss, a Postgraduate Researcher at the School of Education, Communication and Society at King’s College London. They discuss the rationale of their study, the methodology, and key findings that stood out to them.

• Pleasure Matters

  This podcast brings you a discussion that took place on the 5th of September 2024 in collaboration with The Pleasure Project and Agents of Ishq, to commemorate World Sexual Health Day. 

  This discussion followed the launch of SRHM’s first Special Collection on Sexual Pleasure, and comes at a time when sex and pleasure continue to be associated with stigma and shame.
  Panellists, whose work also features in this Special Collection, provided unique perspectives on the integration of pleasure, politics, and SRHR, pleasure in the context of disability, rights, and gender, what pleasure could mean for different individuals and communities, and the need to engage with the lived experiences and politics of pleasure to achieve holistic SRHR.

• Rights- and Evidence-Based Knowledge in Legal Action

  This podcast on rights- and evidence-based knowledge in legal action is part of a rights-based knowledge creation series by SRHM.

  In this episode, SRHM Chief Executive, Eszter Kismodi, speaks to esteemed colleagues in the SRHR movement, Mindy Roseman, Allan Malech and Dipika Jain, about the use of evidence for legal and human rights and SRHR action in their respective situations. Given the ever-changing global, regional and national contexts they discuss how the nature of evidence and knowledge is changing over time and lastly, what we need to effectively use evidence and knowledge for legal and human rights action.

• Samuel Bester: The Artist behind the Cover of our First Special Collection on Sexual Pleasure

As SRHM launches its first Special Collection on Sexual Pleasure, we hear from the artist behind the cover of this collection—Samuel Bester. This cover image is a still from Samuel Bester’s video ‘⁠Hermaphrodite⁠‘, based on the poem Hermaphrodite from Book IV of Ovid’s ⁠Metamorphoses⁠. Through this image, Samuel wanted to visualise the story in this poem, of the fusion of the male and female gender to form a new gender, and depict the sensuality and eroticism of this process.

• Access to assisted reproductive technologies in sub-Saharan Africa: fertility professionals’ views

In this episode, Nina Sun, the Associated Editor of the SRHM journal, speaks to Trudie Gerrits and Andrea Whittaker, the authors of a recently published paper: ⁠Assisted reproductive technologies in sub-Saharan Africa: fertility professionals’ views.⁠

Andrea is a Professor of Anthropology at the School of Social Sciences at Monash University. Trudie is an Associate Professor at the Amsterdam Institute for Social Science Research at the University of Amsterdam. They speak about the rationale or gap in knowledge behind this study, the implications of the findings, and ways to increase access to low-cost yet effective assisted reproductive technologies to address infertility in sub-Saharan Africa.

• Interview with Esben Esther Pirelli Benestad: The First Trans President of the European Federation of Sexology

In this episode, the Chief Executive of SRHM, Eszter Kismodi speaks to one of Norway’s most prominent trans people, Esther Esben Pirelli Benestad, a physician and sexologist, who has recently been appointed President of the European Federation of Sexology. In this short but moving discussion that took place on 18th of July 2024, Esben Esther talks about her hopes of an inclusive world where people of all gender identities are respected, her new role and its significance for the transgender community, and the importance of sexual pleasure, health and rights in the current political climate, before ending with a beautiful, self-composed poem.

• Editor’s Summary: Obstetric violence in the United States and other high-income countries

  In this episode we hear from the authors of a recent SRHM paper ‘Obstetric violence in the United States and other high-income countries: an integrative review‘. Dr. Lorraine Garcia is a Nurse-Scientist and practicing midwife and Dr. Brie Thumm is a certified nurse-midwife and Assistant Professor, both in association with the College of Nursing of the University of Colorado. We hear about the gap in knowledge that this paper addresses, findings that stood out to the authors personally and where to go from here in addressing obsetric violence in high-income countries.

• 30 Years of the International Conference on Population and Development: Advancing sexual and reproductive health and rights in an era of changing political contexts

   This episode brings to you a one-hour discussion that took place on April 17, 2024, organised by  USC Institute on Inequalities in Global Health, in partnership with Sexual and Reproductive Health Matters (SRHM). The 1994 International Conference on Population and Development (ICPD) held in Cairo, Egypt is widely recognized to have transformed the global framework for population and development. The ICPD set the standard for people-centred development, and now, 30 years later, remains the global touchstone for sexual and reproductive rights, even as we are seeing massive regressions across all aspects of sexual and reproductive health and rights. In this virtual event, an amazing group of panelists reflect on the history and the future of health and development in the current political moment.

• What do oral contraceptives have to do with human rights abuses in sport?

  In this episode, we hear from Professor Alice M. Miller (co-director of the GHJP of Yale Law and Public Health Schools), as she talks to the authors of a recently published SRHM paper (⁠What do oral contraceptives have to do with human rights abuses in sport?),⁠ Katrina Karkazis (Professor, Sexuality, Women’s and Gender Studies at Amherst College) and Michele Krech (Bigelow Fellow and Lecturer in Law at University of Chicago Law School), on how the Court of Arbitration of Sport and World Athletics rely on mistaken assumptions about oral contraceptives and misuse scientific evidence to uphold a coercive and medically unnecessary use of oral contraceptive pills for testosterone suppression.

• Laws governing access to sexual health services and information: contents, protections, and restrictions

  In this episode, we hear from two authors of the paper ‘Laws governing access to sexual health services and information: contents, protections, and restrictions‘, Laura Ferguson and Sarah Emoto. Their paper reviewed 40 laws in English, French, and Spanish from 18 countries to understand how many and which sexual health services and information countries ensure in their laws, which sexual health services are illegal, and which people are protected from discrimination in accessing these services.

• Call for Papers: SRHM 2024 Open Issue

  In this episode, SRHM Associate Editor Nina Sun, talks to Executive Editor, Emma Pitchforth and Managing Editor, Pete Chapman, about an exciting new call for papers for the 2024 Open Issue.

• Editor’s Summary: Comprehensive sexuality education for outside of school settings

  In this episode, listen to the colleagues from UNFPA engage in an enlightening discussion on how to improve CSE program integrity, quality, and fidelity for left-behind populations and how their work with local partners and research institutions are helping to address research gaps for the success of these programs in different countries.

• Battling Disinformation and Misinformation: Sexual and Reproductive Rights in the Digital Age

  This episode was co-organised by SRHM and the USC Institute on Inequalities in Global Health, and moderated by the Institute’s director and SRHM Trustee, Sofia Gruskin. Listen to the panelists engage in a rich discussion on effective strategies to counter the challenges surrounding SRHR in the digital age, to ensure that the transformative potential of technology reaches those who need it most, and support agency, bodily autonomy, and decision making for all individuals.

• Editor’s Summary: Donor funding for SRHR advocacy

  In this episode, Nina Sun, Associated Editor for the SRHM Journal speaks to Sundari Ravindran, Senior Editor of the SRHM Journal, about a recently published issue titled, ‘Donor Funding for SRHR Advocacy’.

• Editor’s Summary: Highlights from the 2023 Open Issue

  In this 10 minute editor’s summary episode we hear from Nina Sun, SRHM Associate Editor, and Emma Pitchforth, SRHM Editor-in-Chief. Emma gives an overview of the 2023 Open Issue, the range of topics and gives a summary of three papers that stood out to her personally.

• The moral determinants of reproductive health—not “our lane”?

  In anticipation of the International Conference on Family Planning, this episode focuses on reproductive power and aligning actions with values in global family planning.

• Pleasure Matters – shining a light on pleasure as a core element of SRHR

  In this episode, four experts discuss the importance of pleasure for health and wellbeing and how it connects to family planning and contraception. They also discuss the pleasure deficit, why it exists and what we can do about it.

• What just happened?: Abortion in the U.S. after Roe

  On June 24 2022, the Supreme Court of the United States overturned Roe v. Wade and thus removed constitutional protection for abortion rights in the country. This decision will hurt millions of people – especially those who already face discriminatory obstacles to health care. In response, we recorded this episode of the SRHM Podcast to better understand the situation in the U.S. right now and the implications of this milestone ruling.

• Sexual and reproductive health, rights and justice in the war against Ukraine 2022

  In this episode, SRHM Chief Executive Eszter Kismodi speaks with five experts on sexual and reproductive health and rights (SRHR) in relation to the war against Ukraine. Together, they cover issues such as access to SRHR in Ukraine and in neighboring countries, the complexity of delivering humanitarian aid, the nuances of surrogacy during wars, as well as the importance of humanitarian law, human rights law and criminal law.

• Poetry for sexual and reproductive justice

  Following a call for poetry in September 2021, SRHM published its first poetry anthology on sexual and reproductive justice. To celebrate the release of the collection, we invited five poets and a member of the Selection Committee to read their poems and share what inspired them to write. This episode of the SRHM Podcast is the recording from the launch event.

• Trans reproductive justice

  This episode features Avery Everhart, Blas Radi and A.J. Lowik. Together, they discuss the importance of inclusive language and best practices, how social movements for trans rights and reproductive justice are influenced by geographic contexts, and how the criteria for political participation are too often based on cisnormative logic. The episode concludes with several recommendations on how to be more inclusive.

• US foreign policy and abortion

  In this episode, Emily Maistrellis, Senior Program Officer at the Heilbrunn Department of Population and Family Health at Columbia University Mailman School of Public Health is hosting a conversation with three colleagues on the impact of US foreign policy on abortion worldwide. More specifically, they discuss the Global Gag Rule, or the GGR, and how even though the policy was rescinded in January 2021, the effects continue to be seen globally.

• Surrogacy and reproductive justice

  In this episode, Mindy Jane Roseman, SRHM Associate Editor, Director of International Law Programs at Yale Law and Director of the Gruber Program for Global Justice and Women’s Rights is speaking with Dr. Marcin Smietana, Research Associate in the Reproductive Sociology Research Group at Cambridge University and Sarojini Nadimpally, Founder of Sama Resource Group for Women and Health and the former Co-chair of People’s Health Movement Global. Together, they discuss the evolution and complexities of surrogacy worldwide.

• Texas abortion ban: what it means and what happens next

  In September 2021, the state of Texas implemented Senate Bill 8 (SB8) banning abortion after six weeks of pregnancy, including in cases of rape and incest. This is one of the most restrictive state laws on abortion in the country. To better understand what this means, SRHM gathered expert speakers to discuss how SB8 was implemented, the strategies being pursued to stop its enforcement and the ban’s implications for sexual and reproductive health and rights in the US and beyond.

• Rethinking abortion legal reforms in India and South Korea

  In this episode, Rupsa Mallik, Director of Programs and Innovation at CREA, a feminist international human rights organization based in the Global South and led by women from the Global South, is in conversation with Na Young who is the co-founder and representative of the Centre for Sexual Rights and Reproductive Justice or SHARE, in South Korea.Together, they discuss abortion legal reforms by comparing India and South Korea’s journeys to advance safe and legal abortion.

• The effectiveness of self-managed abortion using misoprostol alone

  In this episode, Dr. Ruvani Jayaweera is in conversation with her colleagues Dr. Heidi Moseson, Ijeoma Egwuatu, and Ika Ayu Kristiangrum about recent research from the SAFE study on the effectiveness of self-managed abortion using misoprostol alone. Together, they discuss how these findings can be contextualized within the clinical literature and the implications of these findings for those who need access to abortion and those who support them.

• Rights-based SRHR research: concepts, principles and methodologies

  In this first episode of a series on rights-based research and knowledge creation, SRHM Chief Executive, Eszter Kismodi, speaks with three leading experts in the field and together they discuss the important concept of rights-based research and explore why it matters for sexual and reproductive health and rights.

• Menstrual hygiene in Chennai, India during COVID-19 and beyond

  In this episode, Dr. Ankitha Manohar, a practicing OBGYN from India, interviews her friend and colleague, Dr. Nuzrath Jahan, a Master of Public Health Research Scholar from India. In their conversation, Drs Ankitha and Nuzrath discuss the ongoing effects of the pandemic on menstrual health as well as the link between access to safe water and menstrual hygiene.

• Reflections on research published in 2020 and what’s ahead

  In this short episode, Nina Sun, SRHM Associate Editor, and Julia Hussein, SRHM Editor-in-Chief, look back at the research published in the SRHM Journal in 2020 and share their thoughts on emerging trends in the field of sexual and reproductive health and rights.