Pleasure Bound Podcast

Being witnessed has so much power in it.

The way we show up for ourselves can teach the people around us so much about our worth, and our intrinsic value, simply by being alive.

We have nothing to prove. Our value is there because we are human. And the unique ways that we are human have their own beautiful attributes. The unique ways that we are human reveal something special that only we can give, and what a gift that is the world.

When we show people how we love and care for ourselves, how we show up for our health and well-being — it shows our children, our friends, our families, our lovers, and the culture at large that our lives are just as valuable as everybody else’s.

Sometimes it’s work to love ourselves. Let’s face it, a lot of the time. It’s a constant practice to look at our lives and figure out how to love ourselves more deeply. But it’s the most important work we’ll ever do.

Sometimes it’s hard to separate their s**t from our s**t — from taking things personally or projecting. Sometimes the water gets muddied with the blocks that others have toward loving/seeing us — via their own fears and projections (it truly is about them not us) — from our own sense of worthiness and enoughness.

We have to come back to baseline and separate those things. We can remind ourselves that we are more than enough. That loving us is a gift. You should be so lucky;) Whatever someone else sees as a block is not a reflection of our worthiness, but rather an expression of their own pain/doubts/judgements/assumptions/FEARS.

Whatever our identity, whatever our marginalization, it is through our differences that we teach each other how to be better. We always have an opportunity to teach the world that care is truly is our most valuable currency. That love conquers all.

We started this podcast thinking we were going to talk about pleasure. And we are. But the deeper we go, the more I realize that pleasure is really a doorway into so much more: how we LIVE in our bodies, how we love, how we grieve, how we heal, how we relate to desire, how we find meaning, and how we learn to feel more alive. More human.

These conversations are teaching me. They’re challenging me. They’re changing the way I understand myself and the world around me.

I think that’s what I love most about making this with Kate. We’re not pretending to have the answers, we’re asking the complicated questions — and allowing ourselves to be rattled or changed by what we discover.

This podcast has become part of my own becoming.

And I want to keep going.

We’re raising money for Season Two and we’ve raised $5,000 of our $10,000 goal. If Pleasure Bound has given you something — an idea, a question, a new way of seeing yourself, a little more permission to feel, want, grieve, desire, or be alive — please consider donating or sharing our GoFundMe.

LINK IN BIO & STORY

XOXO

-Kelsey and Kate

*xy

What does pleasure look like when your body is already carrying so much?
When your discomfort is overwhelming?
When your fear is amplified?

In this episode of Pleasure Bound, Kate and I go deep about motherhood, disability, miscarriage, abortion, grief, caregiving, and the ways we learn to feel into our bodies as they ebb and flow.

Kate shares her experience of pregnancy and birth as a quadriplegic woman — including the pressure of growing something inside you, the stress of autonomic dysreflexia, a 14-day NICU stay, and the messy reality of becoming a mother.

I share my own story of always wanting to be a mom, the abortion I had at 19, and the grief of realizing I may never have children.

And underneath it all, we keep coming back to pleasure. Pleasure in its many and vital forms — Rest. Boundaries. Safety. Autonomy. Play. Joy. Imagination.

What do you need right now to feel a little better?

We love you🌹
🎧 New episode of Pleasure Bound — listen now.

Let me tell you something about disabled bodies: we are not here to be anyone’s inspiration, or tragedy, or lesson in resilience.

We are s*xual beings. We desire. We fantasize. We crave touch. We want to flirt, fall in love, get h***y, f**k, be ravished by life, and sometimes be left the f**k alone.

Our bodies are not waiting rooms until medicine or “progress” makes them acceptable. They are not less erotic because they move differently, need assistance, or require access in order to experience pleasure.

Our s*xuality belongs to us.

That means privacy, s*xual education, accessible spaces, pleasure, intimacy, consent, and the freedom to explore our desires are all part of bodily autonomy.

And I think ableism is deeply threatened by a disabled person who knows this. Because when we claim our erotic selves, we’re saying: I am not merely surviving this body. I belong to this body. I get to want things here. I get to feel things here. I get to experience pleasure here. I get to decide what happens here.

That is rebellion. That is liberation. That is witchcraft.

My disabled body is not a lesser body. It is not a nons*xual body. It is not an almost-body.

It is my body. And it is fu***ng sacred.

*xy

This is the level of real it gets in this episode.

Our struggles with self-worth and desirability can feel like a cinder block on our chest, or a ticking time bomb.

I’m curious what a s*x worker’s perspective on this would be…anyone out there??

And to all of you reading this—
How do you struggle with desirability, self-worth and s*xuality?

We’re here to remind you — you’re enough. You’re worthy. And we know, the struggle is real.

Xoxo

*xwork

Our potential for pleasure is ALWAYS changing.

There was a time that I thought I would never have an or**sm again.

I was wrong. And my capacity for pleasure keeps growing.

The more I stay in tune with:
1- what feels good
2- how to tune in to what my body needs and desires, and
3- how I can work to expand
the more I surprise myself.

Things can happen that you never knew were possible.

Just keep swimming….💦💦💦

Care and love look different for each of us — stay open, stay brave, stay human.

Can we open ourselves up to what connection could look like rather than closing the door if it scares us, or looks different, or challenges us?
This is part of being human.
This is part of loving each other.
This is part of really seeing each other.

Don’t underestimate your imagination and creativity when it comes to finding ways to connect.
A Conversation can go along way.
Figuring things out together can be a game changer.
There might be a way to include someone you think might not want to be included, or you might think doesn’t fit in this space or that.

Check your judgment and your assumptions at the door and bring in more imagination — more humanness.

it’s like the movie the labyrinth, things aren’t always what they seem…

Dig a little deeper… See what magic can come from it. ✨💜🪷

🔑