Do Gen Z Want To Be Parents?

There are so many stereotypes about Gen Z it’s hard to keep track of where they’re really at: they’re a sexless generation, they’re the most sensitive because they have a victim mentality. They want to be parents, they don’t want to have babies because they’re worried about the planet; they’ll be the best parents… oh no, wait, they’ll be the worst. 

But parenting has changed a lot over the years and what went for one generation can completely change for another. With all the unpacking of toxic masculinity, changing attitudes towards work and greater acceptance of LGBTQIA+ identities, we predict that will make for radically different parenting. So, to get down to the truth of the matter (and of course there is no one answer) we surveyed out Gen Z audience to delve into whether they want to be parents and what Gen Z will be like as parents, from different parenting styles to how they want to talk to their kids about sex.

We start by asking them about their relationship with their parents, what they were told about sex and relationships growing up and how they want to change that when they talk to their kids about sex. That is, if they even want to have kids, so we asked who they want to have kids with and how they’d want to raise them if they do. We also asked how Gen Z think attitudes towards sex have changed from generation to generation, including what their grandparents and parents think and how that impacts their relationship with their families.

We hope you have enjoyed our Family, Parenting & Sex miniseries; if you have please leave us a (5 star!) review wherever you listen and don’t forget to subscribe to make sure you don’t miss our next one. You can find more of us on Instagram, TikTok and Facebook @sextraspodcast or our website and you can get in contact with us at sextraspodcast@gmail.com to request future episodes. Pitching guidelines are on our website. See you next time!

Produced by Mable Productions

Original music by Sacha Puttnam

Parenting, Family & Sex Miniseries

Deciding To Have Kids & Outgrowing Relationships (with Jessica Hendry Nelson)

TW: substance abuse, anticipatory grief

We’ve all been sold the idea that you’re meant to experiment in your 20s, something that our guest this week missed out on. Author and professor Jessica Hendry Nelson joins us to talk about being in a relationship for the whole of her 20s and eventually ending that relationship because of differing interests.

Jessica starts the episode telling us about her unconventional experience of her 20s, living with her ex-husband and the fact that they didn’t talk about having kids until it was too late. Having had a baby with her new partner just 10 weeks ago, Jessica tells us about deciding to become a parent: whether that’s something you’re ever truly ready for and how she found a partner that was right for her to raise kids with. 

We discuss the expectations that come with motherhood and how she learnt to be a parent from her mother and other family dynamics she had growing up. This includes how her anticipatory grief surrounding her brother’s addiction affected her throughout her life and whether she thinks it impacted the relationships she chose. We also cover how we can outgrow a relationship but that her female friendship have been a constant and fulfilled things in her life that are not fair expectations to have in a relationship, or are simply things that a man can’t fulfil. 

To end the episode Jessica tells us about her book, Joy Rides Through the Tunnel of Grief, a memoir in essays that comes out September 1. You can pre-order the book through her website and find more of Jessica on her Instagram. As always, you can find us on Instagram, TikTok, Threads and Facebook @sextraspodcast, on our website or get in touch with us at sextraspodcast@gmail.com. 

We’ll be back next week with Cecile Gasnault, brand director of Smile Makers Collection, to talk about having sex after giving birth. We hope you’re enjoying our Parenting, Family & Sex miniseries and we’ll see you next week!

Let’s Talk (to our partner) About Sex with Keeley Rankin

In the next episode of our pleasure and desire miniseries, we’re joined by sex and relationship coach Keeley Rankin to learn how to talk to your partner about what you enjoy during sex.

We begin the episode by asking what people commonly struggle with during sex and where people’s fear of communicating about what they enjoy in the bedroom comes from.

Keeley explains that often it is a mixture of things that prevent us from being able to talk about sex- first is that we don’t know what gives us pleasure (maybe there are too many options or maybe we don’t know what the options are). Secondly we don’t know what language to use and what the best way to approach the conversation is, and lastly we’re worried we won’t be accepted or, at worst, shamed.

Keeley then gives us some tips for how to talk to a partner about sex from the start of a relationship, explaining that it’s good to set the precedent of having an open dialogue about sex, as well as going in to how to communicate about sex if your desires change after being with someone for a long time.

Lastly, Keeley covers whether there is such a thing as sexual compatibility (you’ll have to listen to find out) and if communication can help with that or not.

We hope you enjoy this episode, thank you so much to Keeley for joining us. You can find more of her on her website.

Celibacy Eras, Long Distance Relationships & Moving in with Your Boyfriend

Welcome to 2023! The start of this year marks a lot of changes for us, as Maria is moving to Paris tomorrow so this is our last episode recorded in our beautiful studio :( to watch the episode in full go join our Patreon (you get a ton of other benefits too!) 

In this episode we decided to have a look back at the things we learnt about sex and relationships in 2022, and what our relationship and sex goals are for the coming year, as well as doing a brief and questionable ins and outs list of our dating prediction for 2023. 

We start the episode talking about Honey’s year of no sex and what the benefits have been. She’s in two minds about her celibacy era, wanting both to leave it behind and also feeling very comfortable in it, so we discuss everything she’s learnt about herself from her boundaries to crushing on people unlike ever before in her life. We also discuss how Honey’s feelings about men have affected her dating habits in 2022 and that she wants to really embrace her bisexuality and date more women in 2023.

Maria obviously has very different sex goals for 2023 than Honey, mainly because she’s actually having sex and is about to move in with her boyfriend so she’ll be having a lot more, so we discuss what those are and also what she’s learnt from the past year of being in a long distance relationship. 

Finally, we end the episode discussing our impromptu ins and outs list for dating and sex in 2023, including everyone spontaneously deleting dating apps to more people eloping. 

We’d love to hear if you have any sex and dating goals for 2023, or if you have any ideas about what might be general trends. You can get in touch with us at sextraspodcast@gmail.com, on TikTok, Facebook or Instagram @sextraspodcast, or join our Patreon to continue having conversations we have on the pod. We can’t wait for what the year has to bring, we’ll see you soon for our pleasure miniseries!!