Ep 21: Voting on the Psych Ward and How We Lie | Nutty & Slutty with Isadora O'Boto and Janine Noel | Stories on Sex Work and Mental Illness

Ep 21: Voting on the Psych Ward and How We Lie | Nutty & Slutty with Isadora O'Boto and Janine Noel | Stories on Sex Work and Mental Illness

Janine tells Isadora about voting in the 2004 presidential election — from a psych ward.  When Janine learned that they were bringing ballots into the hospital, she began furiously making lists: the pros and cons of each candidate, Republican George Bush or Democrat John Kerry.  The decision felt like the weight of the world on her shoulders. Did psychosis turn Janine into a Republican?  Maybe so.  The pressure was on, and she believed that a vote for Bush might turn her into a Christian country music star.  Would she resist that newfound path to stardom? Then the episode goes somewhere darker. Janine remembers running through the hospital hallway trying to send souls to heaven.  From the outside, she may have looked like the sweet girl next door.  Inside, she believed she was carrying heaven, hell and the souls she could not save. She and Isadora talk about how psychosis can live in the body.  Not just thoughts.  Not just voices.  Sensations.  Fear.  Aftershocks. And for Janine, the body sensation after rape was persistent and confusing — a secret she kept while she had to walk the dog, talk to mom, and always look as normal as possible. Send us Fan Mail [https://www.buzzsprout.com/2592009/fan_mail/new] Welcome to NUTTY & SLUTTY Where Mental Health, Sexuality and Unfiltered Truth Take Center Stage NUTTY & SLUTTY is a bold, sex-positive podcast exploring the messy, complicated and often hilarious intersections of mental health, sexuality and real life — without shame, filters or pretense. Hosted by Janine Noel (living with bipolar disorder) and Isadora O’Boto (ex-escort), this show brings together two radically honest perspectives for conversations that are as raw as they are insightful.  From navigating mood swings and medication to unpacking the realities of sex work and desire, nothing is off-limits. _________________________________________________ Isadora O’Boto (co-host) is a Juilliard Drama grad.  Under the pen name Sephe Haven, she is the author of two award-winning memoirs: My Whorizontal Life [https://amzn.to/2VP05rU] and A Someday Courtesan [https://amzn.to/3tLW6A4], and playwright/performer of the solo show: “My Whorizontal Life: The Show!”  Isadora co-hosted the podcast My Index to Sex with Lynn Ferguson [http://www.mitspodcast.com/].  Find her at: isadoraoboto.com [http://isadoraoboto.com/] Janine Noel (co-host) is creator and host of Bipolar She [https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/bipolar-she-with-janine-noel/id1737642325] podcast, where guests sh...

Ep 20: The Big Doggy, the Blacklist and America's Top Escort | Nutty & Slutty with Isadora O'Boto and Janine Noel | Stories on Sex Work and Mental Illness

In this candid and often hilarious episode, Isadora pulls back the curtain on how she unexpectedly became known as the “number one escort in America.”  Long before she owned a computer, she discovered that a client known as “The Big Doggy” had created an influential online review site where escorts were ranked and reviewed by clients.  To her surprise, she found herself at the top of the list, leading to a surge in bookings and a reputation she never actively pursued.  Isadora shares what it was like to learn about an entire online world that was shaping her career without her knowledge and reflects on the early days of internet-based escort reviews. The conversation explores the hidden infrastructure that existed within the sex industry before social media and smartphones.  Isadora describes how escorts relied on professional networks, personal referrals, and eventually online communities to share information and protect one another.  She discusses the evolution of review sites, the legal pressures that forced many of them offshore, and how these platforms changed the way clients and escorts connected.  Along the way, she offers a rare insider’s perspective on the business, its culture, and the relationships among the women who worked within it. The episode also delves into the importance of safety and mutual support.  Isadora recounts a harrowing early experience with a drug-fueled client who kept her for an entire weekend before refusing to pay.  The story illustrates the vulnerabilities escorts often faced and why informal “blacklists” and word-of-mouth warning systems became essential tools for protecting workers from dangerous or dishonest clients.  Through humor, honesty and hard-earned wisdom, Isadora highlights the resilience, resourcefulness  and community that helped women navigate a frequently misunderstood profession. Send us Fan Mail [https://www.buzzsprout.com/2592009/fan_mail/new] Welcome to NUTTY & SLUTTY Where Mental Health, Sexuality and Unfiltered Truth Take Center Stage NUTTY & SLUTTY is a bold, sex-positive podcast exploring the messy, complicated and often hilarious intersections of mental health, sexuality and real life — without shame, filters or pretense. Hosted by Janine Noel (living with bipolar disorder) and Isadora O’Boto (ex-escort), this show brings together two radically honest perspectives for conversations that are as raw as they are insightful.  From navigating mood swings and medication to unpacking the realities of sex work and desire, nothing is off-limits. _________________________________________________ Isadora O’Boto (co-host) is a Juilliard Drama grad.  Under the pen name Sephe Haven, she is the author of two award-winning memoirs: My Whorizontal Life [https://amzn.to/2VP05rU] and A Someday Courtesan [https://amzn.to/3tLW6A4], and playwright/performer of the solo show: “My Whorizontal Life: The Show!”  Isadora co-hosted the podcast My Index to Sex with Lynn Ferguson [http://www.mitspodcast.com/].  Find her at: isadoraoboto.com [http://isadoraoboto.com/] Janine Noel (co-host) is creator and host of Bipolar She [https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/bipolar-she-with-janine-noel/id1737642325] podcast, where guests sh...

Ep 19: The Night Janine Was a Streetwalker (part two) | Nutty & Slutty with Isadora O'Boto and Janine Noel | Stories on Sex Work and Mental Illness

In this episode of Nutty & Slutty, Janine continues her story about a night in San Francisco when psychosis, confusion and sexual violence collided. Paranoid and psychotic, Janine gets locked out of her apartment wearing just a sweatshirt -- half naked.  With her arm out for help, the public pulled back from her.  Alone at a laundromat, she was approached by a man who offered comfort, then decided to leave the city.  She negotiated that he could come back to her apartment so she could get dressed for this out-of-town party.  Knowing she wanted him to leave and feeling unsafe, she believed she was now stuck in a play, saying lines to him as if it were a performance. What followed left her questioning herself for years: Was it rape if she was confused?  Was it her fault for letting him in? Why did no one in her family name what happened? Through conversation with Isadora, this episode explores consent, coercion, dissociation, trauma, self-blame and the devastating confusion that can follow sexual assault during a mental health crisis.  It is also about the power of finally hearing the words: It was not your fault. This episode is for anyone who has struggled to name what happened to them, especially when mental illness, memory, shame or other people’s silence made the truth harder to hold.  Content warning: sexual assault, rape, psychosis, suicidal fear, police/medical response, trauma. Send us Fan Mail [https://www.buzzsprout.com/2592009/fan_mail/new] Welcome to NUTTY & SLUTTY Where Mental Health, Sexuality and Unfiltered Truth Take Center Stage NUTTY & SLUTTY is a bold, sex-positive podcast exploring the messy, complicated and often hilarious intersections of mental health, sexuality and real life — without shame, filters or pretense. Hosted by Janine Noel (living with bipolar disorder) and Isadora O’Boto (ex-escort), this show brings together two radically honest perspectives for conversations that are as raw as they are insightful.  From navigating mood swings and medication to unpacking the realities of sex work and desire, nothing is off-limits. _________________________________________________ Isadora O’Boto (co-host) is a Juilliard Drama grad.  Under the pen name Sephe Haven, she is the author of two award-winning memoirs: My Whorizontal Life [https://amzn.to/2VP05rU] and A Someday Courtesan [https://amzn.to/3tLW6A4], and playwright/performer of the solo show: “My Whorizontal Life: The Show!”  Isadora co-hosted the podcast My Index to Sex with Lynn Ferguson [http://www.mitspodcast.com/].  Find her at: isadoraoboto.com [http://isadoraoboto.com/] Janine Noel (co-host) is creator and host of Bipolar She [https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/bipolar-she-with-janine-noel/id1737642325] podcast, where guests sh...

Ep 18: The Night Janine Was a Streetwalker (part one) | Nutty & Slutty with Isadora O'Boto and Janine Noel | Stories on Sex Work and Mental Illness

In this deeply personal episode of the Nutty and Slutty podcast, hosts Janine and Isadora explore the complicated intersection of bipolar disorder, sexuality, shame and identity.  What begins as a candid conversation about sex quickly unfolds into an intimate discussion about hypersexuality as a symptom of mania, the emotional aftermath of psychosis, and the ways cultural and religious conditioning can shape a person’s relationship to their own body. Janine reflects on growing up fearful of sex, feeling disconnected from her body, and carrying internalized beliefs about morality and womanhood into adulthood.  She opens up about how bipolar disorder affected her sense of self — not necessarily through promiscuity, but through delusions, distorted thinking, and dangerous vulnerability during manic and psychotic episodes. Together, the hosts unpack difficult subjects like shame, grooming, gaslighting and the silence many women carry around traumatic experiences. The episode reaches an emotional peak as Janine recounts a psychotic break that blurred acting, identity, sexuality and survival into one terrifying experience on the streets of San Francisco.  With compassion and honesty, the conversation examines how mental illness can distort reality while also challenging the stigma and blame often placed on people living with bipolar disorder.  Raw, unsettling and deeply human, this episode is ultimately about being seen, understood and finding language for experiences that are too often hidden in silence. Send us Fan Mail [https://www.buzzsprout.com/2592009/fan_mail/new] Welcome to NUTTY & SLUTTY Where Mental Health, Sexuality and Unfiltered Truth Take Center Stage NUTTY & SLUTTY is a bold, sex-positive podcast exploring the messy, complicated and often hilarious intersections of mental health, sexuality and real life — without shame, filters or pretense. Hosted by Janine Noel (living with bipolar disorder) and Isadora O’Boto (ex-escort), this show brings together two radically honest perspectives for conversations that are as raw as they are insightful.  From navigating mood swings and medication to unpacking the realities of sex work and desire, nothing is off-limits. _________________________________________________ Isadora O’Boto (co-host) is a Juilliard Drama grad.  Under the pen name Sephe Haven, she is the author of two award-winning memoirs: My Whorizontal Life [https://amzn.to/2VP05rU] and A Someday Courtesan [https://amzn.to/3tLW6A4], and playwright/performer of the solo show: “My Whorizontal Life: The Show!”  Isadora co-hosted the podcast My Index to Sex with Lynn Ferguson [http://www.mitspodcast.com/].  Find her at: isadoraoboto.com [http://isadoraoboto.com/] Janine Noel (co-host) is creator and host of Bipolar She [https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/bipolar-she-with-janine-noel/id1737642325] podcast, where guests sh...

Ep 17: When Is It Actually Rape? (And Why We Didn’t Call It That) | Nutty & Slutty with Isadora O'Boto and Janine Noel | Stories on Sex Work and Mental Illness

This episode of the Nutty & Slutty podcast takes a candid and emotionally complex look at non-consensual sex, asking a deceptively simple question: when do we get to call something rape?  Hosts Isadora and Janine unpack their own histories while reflecting on broader cultural narratives, challenging the idea that clarity always exists in moments of violation.  The conversation is grounded in lived experience, where labels like “assault” or “rape” are not always immediately claimed — even when they apply. Throughout the episode, both hosts explore how internalized beliefs and generational context shaped their responses to early sexual experiences.  Isadora reflects on growing up in an era before movements like Me Too, where silence and normalization often replaced accountability.  Janine, in turn, examines how power dynamics, youth, and social expectations complicated her understanding of consent.  Together, they highlight how individuals can downplay or reframe harmful experiences in order to cope or maintain a sense of control. The result is a thoughtful, unflinching conversation that invites listeners to examine their own assumptions about consent, victimhood, and the stories we tell ourselves in order to survive. Send us Fan Mail [https://www.buzzsprout.com/2592009/fan_mail/new] Welcome to NUTTY & SLUTTY Where Mental Health, Sexuality and Unfiltered Truth Take Center Stage NUTTY & SLUTTY is a bold, sex-positive podcast exploring the messy, complicated and often hilarious intersections of mental health, sexuality and real life — without shame, filters or pretense. Hosted by Janine Noel (living with bipolar disorder) and Isadora O’Boto (ex-escort), this show brings together two radically honest perspectives for conversations that are as raw as they are insightful.  From navigating mood swings and medication to unpacking the realities of sex work and desire, nothing is off-limits. _________________________________________________ Isadora O’Boto (co-host) is a Juilliard Drama grad.  Under the pen name Sephe Haven, she is the author of two award-winning memoirs: My Whorizontal Life [https://amzn.to/2VP05rU] and A Someday Courtesan [https://amzn.to/3tLW6A4], and playwright/performer of the solo show: “My Whorizontal Life: The Show!”  Isadora co-hosted the podcast My Index to Sex with Lynn Ferguson [http://www.mitspodcast.com/].  Find her at: isadoraoboto.com [http://isadoraoboto.com/] Janine Noel (co-host) is creator and host of Bipolar She [https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/bipolar-she-with-janine-noel/id1737642325] podcast, where guests sh...