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Anita Rao

Host and Executive Editor, "Embodied"
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Anita Rao is an award-winning journalist, host, creator, and executive editor of "Embodied," a weekly radio show and podcast about sex, relationships & health.

She has traveled the country recording interviews for the Peabody Award-winning StoryCorps production department, founded and launched a podcast about millennial feminism in the South, and served as the managing editor and regular host of "The State of Things," North Carolina Public Radio's flagship daily, live talk show. Anita was born in a small coal-mining town in Northeast England but spent most of her life growing up in Iowa and has a fond affection for the Midwest.

You can send Anita an e-mail at arao@wunc.org.

  • An illustration of two Black parents of either side if a young kid with cornrows. The father is on the left and the mother is on the right, and both parents are holding one hand of the child and swinging them. The child has their feet off the ground and their knees bent. The three of them are standing on a grassy field and are all wearing coats.
    Being and having an only child: separating truth from stereotype
    Kaia Findlay
    Assumptions about narcissism, loneliness and selfishness in only children are largely that: assumptions. But there are experiences unique to being an only child — and parenting one.
  • An illustration of two Black parents of either side if a young kid with cornrows. The father is on the left and the mother is on the right, and both parents are holding one hand of the child and swinging them. The child has their feet off the ground and their knees bent. The three of them are standing on a grassy field and are all wearing coats. The word "Singled" is on the left side of the illustration.
    Singled: Inside The Only-Child Family (Revisited)
    Kaia Findlay
    Anita has many close friends who defy all stereotypes about only children. But when it comes to thinking about having her own kids, she still can't shake some of those ingrained ideas. She hears three perspectives on single-kid families (including that of former U.S. poet laureate Billy Collins) and learns why the debunked mythology around only children still lingers today.
  • An antique illustration of three men with facial hair out of the 1800s. The man on the left is sitting in a chair, holding a box in his lap and turning a crank on the box's side. On the righthand side of the illustration, one man is sitting in a fabric chair, leaning back with his eyes closed and his feet resting on a table in front of him with his knees bent at a 90 degree angle. The third man is holding a metal tube on the seated man's abdomen. The metal tube is connected by a wire to the box that the man on the left is cranking.
    Unpacking the past and discovering the future of vibrators
    Kaia Findlay
    Vibrators have been around since the 19th century. Before they were marketed primarily as sex toys, they were sold as general health devices … and now they’ve become a tool for sexual health research.
  • An illustration featuring the word "Stimulated" in the center surrounded by different kinds and colors of vibrators. There is an orange dot pattern around the edges of the illustration.
    Stimulated: How Vibrators Became America's Favorite Sex Toy (Revisited)
    Kaia Findlay
    True or false? Victorian doctors invented the vibrator to cure women's "hysteria" by bringing them to sexual climax. The answer may surprise you ... as it did Anita! She gets the truth about vibrator history from journalist Hallie Lieberman and meets Anna Lee, the engineer behind the first-ever “smart” vibrator that can help you better understand your arousal patterns.
  • An illustration featuring two femme-presenting individuals. The person on the left is holding an open book in their hand with their head turned towards the person on the right. They are kissing the person on the right's forehead warmly. The person on the right has their hand in the lap of the person on the left and they are smiling with their eyes and lips closed as they receive the kiss. The person on the left has shoulder-length dark hair, light skin and is wearing a T-shirt with the trans flag on it. The person on the right has chin-length dark and curly hair with mocha-colored skin. They are wearing pink lipstick. The background of the illustration features the outlines of various flower shapes.
    ‘We kept choosing each other, every single day’: coming out as trans in a romantic relationship
    Paige Miranda
    A gender transition means a lot of changes in a person's life — and a lot of changes for their romantic partner. Two couples share their experiences of staying together after one partner came out as trans.
  • An illustration featuring two femme-presenting individuals. The person on the left is holding an open book in their hand with their head turned towards the person on the right. They are kissing the person on the right's forehead warmly. The person on the right has their hand in the lap of the person on the left and they are smiling with their eyes and lips closed as they receive the kiss. The person on the left has shoulder-length dark hair, light skin and is wearing a T-shirt with the trans flag on it. The person on the right has chin-length dark and curly hair with mocha-colored skin. They are wearing pink lipstick. The background of the illustration features the outlines of various flower shapes. The word "Transitioned" is in the upper right hand corner of the illustration.
    Transitioned: When One Partner Comes Out As Trans
    Paige Miranda
    A gender transition is a moment of personal flux that can also have a big impact on a romantic relationship. Anita meets two couples who continued to choose each other after one partner came out as trans: a South African couple in their 20s and an American couple who went through a transition after 22 years of marriage.
  • An illustration featuring purple and white morning glories and their vines along the top and bottom of the square. There are three hands in the middle of the image with different skin tones: a light shade on the left, a medium shade of beige in the middle and brown skin on the right. All three are right hands and all feature purple and white nail polish in the nails. The hand on the left is signing the letter for "A," the hand in the middle is signing the letter "S" and the hand on the right is signing the letter "L." The background behind the three hands is a light purple and white pattern.
    ‘I needed ASL to better understand myself’: the power of sign language
    Paige Miranda
    American sign language is the third most commonly used language in the U.S., but for many Deaf folks, it's about so much more than communication. An author, a poet and two scholars share the history and culture of ASL.
  • An illustration featuring purple and white morning glories and their vines along the top and bottom of the square. There are three hands in the middle of the image with different skin tones: a light shade on the left, a medium shade of beige in the middle and brown skin on the right. All three are right hands and all feature purple and white nail polish in the nails. The hand on the left is signing the letter for "A," the hand in the middle is signing the letter "S" and the hand on the right is signing the letter "L." The background behind the three hands is a light purple and white pattern. The word "Signed" is above the three hands.
    Signed: How ASL Became A Language Of Resistance
    Paige Miranda
    American Sign Language is the third-most used language in the U.S. ASL has its own culture and art forms, and for many Deaf folks, ASL is about much more than just communication. Anita talks to Deaf author Sara Nović and Deaf ASL Slam poet Douglas Ridloff about how ASL gave them tools for self-understanding and artistic expression. Then she learns from scholars Carolyn McCaskill and Joseph Hill about Black American Sign Language (BASL), an ASL dialect that emerged because of school segregation.
  • An illustration featuring a person with shoulder-length brown hair listening to headphones with their eyes closed. There are artistic swirls and images of a makeup brush, a person with a long Q-tip and an electric razor floating around the headphones. The person looks relaxed and content.
    Tapping your way to serenity: your brain and heart on ASMR
    Gabriela Glueck
    If you’ve spent some time on TikTok or YouTube recently, you might have stumbled across ASMR content without even knowing it. From long acrylic nails tapping away on everyday objects to slow, soft whispers, ASMR content is a multifaceted and rapidly growing source of relaxation for millions. But what’s the science behind this brain-tingly phenomenon, and why do so many people love it?
  • An illustration featuring a person with shoulder-length brown hair listening to headphones with their eyes closed. There are artistic swirls and images of a makeup brush, a person with a long Q-tip and an electric razor floating around the headphones. The person looks relaxed and content. The word "Tingled" is in the upper left hand corner of the illustration.
    Tingled: Your Brain And Heart On ASMR
    Gabriela Glueck
    Anita finds a lot of ASMR videos to be deeply relaxing, but she doesn't get the well-hyped/well-documented 'brain tingles.' Why? She puts the question to a physiologist who's been exploring the science of ASMR for the past decade. Plus, she meets an ASMR artist who's entranced hundreds of thousands of people with her medical role play videos and a woman who turned to the world of Boyfriend ASMR to heal her broken heart.
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