Relationships
My Current Song: Kathy Bates Motel - 'Damaged Goods'
Kathy Bates Motel is a new music project by former Supergroove bass player with a lot of help from his friends Morgan Albrecht (Cindy), Jolyon Mulholland (Mulholland) and Milan Borich (Pluto). Lonie… Audio
Apartners: Living happily ever apart
Filmmaker Sharon Hyman has lived just down the road from the love of her life, David, for 20 years. The couple live happily apart as 'apartners'. Sharon's second film, Apartners: Living Happily Ever… Audio
Having a best friend is worth over $150,000 in extra income
We all know that people with good social interactions are happier with their lives, but what if you could put a monetary value on having a best friend? Well, that's exactly what research author and… Audio
How to navigate relationship challenges
Healthy relationships are essential to a happy life, but many of us are not taught how to foster them, says Auckland psychology professor Nickola Overall. She talks with Kathryn Ryan about what she's… Audio
In the long run, funny women satisfy men more
Research shows that in early courtship, it's generally the man who performs the role of the joker and women are the receptive ones, but over time the roles are reversed and it is the men who crave the… Audio
Three Minutes Max: Cathryn Monro on positive learning environments
Three Minutes Max on Sunday mornings, interesting opinions from New Zealanders. Sculptor Cathryn Monro is also an educator, author, and the mother of two teens. She advises on leadership development.
…Sarah Edmondson: How I escaped the NXIVM sex cult
Vancouver actress Sarah Edmondson spent 12 years in the NXIVM cult. She eventually blew the whistle and has a new book, Scarred: The True Story of How I Escaped NXIVM, The Cult That Bound My Life. Audio
Professor Cal Newport: Living better with less technology
Cal Newport's latest book Digital Minimalism calls out our enslavement to digital devices. He explains why there is nothing natural about the engineered behaviour of checking your phone every five… Audio
No escape: separating from an abusive partner
New Zealand has one of the highest rates of domestic violence in the world, but sociology research shows life post- separation can still leave women feeling trapped. Audio
Chance encounters: 'All The Best'
Have you ever got an unexpected message or a social media notification from a name from your past? One day Stephen got a Facebook alert from somebody very special to him, who he'd lost contact with 27… Audio
How to take the conflict out of child discipline
Every parent knows the difficulties in trying to discipline their children and the feeling it's not working properly. Clinical therapist Anna Martin's new book Listen to me! Taking the conflict out of… Audio
Dads, don't tell your sons to 'toughen up'
Aaron Hendry has worked as a youth worker for a number of years and says fathers need to be particularly careful about the messages they give their sons. He says the "get hard" or "toughen up" message… Audio
BANG! Season 3 Episode 6: Accentuate the Positive
Sex positivity is the idea that all sex, provided it's healthy and explicitly consensual, is good. But what happens when a complicated theoretical idea like sex positivity gets packaged up for the… Audio
BANG! Season 3 Episode 5: Kinky Boots
What you think of as kinky and what I think of as kinky might be two different things, but it generally means behaviours and fantasies outside of the sexual 'norm'. In this episode, Melody talks with… Audio
BANG! Bonus Ep: Sex and Relationship Q&A on Nights
It's a BANG! takeover!
RNZ Nights host Bryan Crump is joined in the studio by Melody Thomas and father-daughter sex advice duo Nic and Lena Beets, to answer questions from the audience and talk about… Audio
BANG! Live in Wellington
Recorded at Bats Theatre in Wellington as part of the NZ Fringe Festival, this is BANG! Live. Featuring Tawa mum and sex toy expert Abby Lund, Morgana Watson on menstruation in Te Ao Maori prior to… Audio
Karley Sciortino: I'm pretty slutty
'Slutty' is a word that’s historically been used as an insult, but self-styled 'sexpert' Karley Sciortino wants to reclaim it. Sciortino fronts the VICE TV series Slutever, which the New York Times… Audio
BANG! Season 3 Episode 4: Pretty Poly
Ethical non monogamy is nothing new - but an increasing number of people are giving it a go. Research from the US reports that 4-5% of people identify as polyamorous, and 20% have tried a version of… Audio
BANG! Bonus Ep: The Prehistoric Origins of Modern Sexuality
In Sex At Dawn: The Prehistoric Origins of Modern Sexuality, co-authors Christopher Ryan and Cacilda Jetha take what they call the "standard narrative" of human sexual evolution and re-examine it… Audio
BANG! Season 3 Episode 3: Let's Stay Together
We all know how it goes - two people meet, they fall in love, they decide to get married and live happily ever after. We've heard different versions of this story so many times, many of us never stop… Audio