Claiming Pleasure is a podcast dedicated to helping people own their inherent right to pleasure, playfulness, and healing - not as luxuries, but as essential parts of being human. It is called Claiming Pleasure, not Reclaiming, because many people have never had the opportunity to experience genuine pleasure, ease, or play in their lives - particularly after surviving CSA or SA. This podcast is a space for anyone ready to explore what it means to welcome joy, curiosity and self-connection back into their bodies, relationships, and everyday lives.
The purpose of this podcast is to feel more grounded. To soften shame and guilt, invite curiosity, and open pathways to self-trust, self-kindness and self-celebration. It aims to help listeners remember that pleasure is not something we need to earn, prove, or justify - it is our birthright.
Joyful Words, Strong Body, Warm Sun
Spoken word Poet, Emcee and Event Organiser Adara Enthaler, joins me for a joyful, forthright and lively conversation.
Boundaries, bodies and delighting in ourselves, we talk about the language of consent and why pressing your belly against your best friend's at the gym is genuinely good medicine, for literally everyone.
Quietly policed as a girl, Adara is a fabulous woman (goddess) who says no without explanation, and yes without apology! We touch on body neutrality, the double squeeze before you let go of someone's hand and why humming is more useful than you know.
Warm, deep, and lighthearted, learn Adara's top five joys and what it feels like to be soft, strong and stunning all at once!
11 Sept 2026
Aftercare: The Deepest Well, the Nervous System, and Finding Your Tribe
Myke has the most wonderful giggle. That's where Lilli & I start. We speak about how he has done the hard and vital work of coming back to himself and choosing joy.
In this Aftercare episode, we unpack what stayed with us from the conversation with Myke: the way he talked about kicking depression in the face every morning, the distinction between what happened, who he is, and of not being believed by people closest to you.
Lilli delves into Nadine Burke Harris's The Deepest Well. A book about the long-term physical effects of childhood trauma, both scientifically rigorous and genuinely readable. Unresolved adrenal spikes can actually do a lot to a body over a lifetime.
We talk about restorative justice, the deep flaws in how the legal system treats survivors, the seesaw between hyper-independence and craving connection and why, if our biological family can't be our tribe, there are other tribes we can connect to.
15 Aug 2026
Coming Up for Air After Trauma & Depression and Embracing Living a Full Life - Myke
Myke is an engineer, a quiet economist, a budding DJ, and a man who spent years driving a meat puppet around without ever really being inside it.
We talk about what it means to come back to yourself after childhood trauma and depression. Not in a tidy, linear way, but in the messy, incremental kind of healing way.
We talk about the body holding on and what it takes to get back to ourselves. Forest bathing. Healthy anger expression. Why community is the thing that makes the positive difference. What it looks like to become someone we're proud of, even if we don't always feel safe.
Speaking to men, and all those who've survived child abuse - with honesty reflection and a clarity that has come from doing a lot of self work.
Warm, funny, and open.... Listen out for the IKEA tip.
10 Jul 2026
Aftercare: Rest, Rhythm, and Reconnecting with the Body
In this Aftercare episode, Malika and Lilli sit down to unpack the conversation with Sonia Houria-Rivas - starting with a moment of honest self-reflection, then diving into the difference between healing and simply swapping one addiction for another.
They talk candidly about disconnecting from the body as a survival mechanism, why rest still feels like a guilty pleasure for busy people, and what it takes to reclaim something as simple as dancing in public after it's been used against you.
The episode closes with Sonia's guided resonant breathing exercise - a gentle way to calm the nervous system and ground back into the body.
7 Jun 2026
Your Body Kept the Score — And It's Ready to Feel Good Again: Sonia Houria-Rivas
Sonia Houria-Rivas was a high-powered international lawyer who couldn't feel her own body. Not metaphorically - literally.
It took 100 pull-ups, a hospitalisation, and eventually a shaman to begin the journey back.
In this conversation, Sonia and Malika explore what it really takes to reconnect with pleasure after trauma: why safety comes first, what your body's yes and no can feel like, and how rest, breath, and radical self-honesty can bring you home to yourself.
8 May 2026
Aftercare: Wants, Boundaries, and the Dance of Pleasure
In this Aftercare episode, Malika and Lilli settle in to reflect on everything that came up in the conversation with sexological bodyworker Stella Topaz, and there was a lot.
From the genius simplicity of the hand-mapping exercise, to the stories we tell ourselves about our bodies, to what it actually means to acknowledge that you have wants (without needing to fulfil a single one of them) this episode goes deep and warm.
They also talk about coercive control, healthy boundaries, and why learning to say no, and yes, might be the most radical act of self-care there is.
Plus, Stella returns with a beautiful, compassionate response to two questions that didn't make it into the main episode: what to do when your body responds positively to abuse, and how to gently approach the experience of wanting an orgasm you can't access.
Keep looking for those glimmers, and keep being kind to yourself.
3 Apr 2026
What If You Actually Got What You Wanted? — with Stella Topaz
What if pleasure wasn't something you had to earn after you'd done enough healing?
In this episode, I sit down with Stella Topaz - sexological bodyworker, Wheel of Consent teacher, queer mother and grandmother - for one of the most honest, warm, and practical conversations I've had on this podcast.
We talk about desire smuggling (trying to get what you want without actually asking for it), why "consent" has become a legal word when it should be a loving one, and how something as simple as asking for a hand massage a certain way can change everything.
Stella also shares her own experiences of sexual assault and how she kept moving toward pleasure anyway - and what that taught her about survivors, bodies, and the stories we tell ourselves.
This one is for survivors, for practitioners, and for anyone who's ever thought - what do I actually want?
Malika and Lilli Pang reflect on the interview with Francesca, exploring survivor experiences, slow emotional processing, and how busyness and generational attitudes shape responses to abuse.
They discuss forgiveness versus self‑compassion, the pleasures of the body - from food to breastfeeding - grounding practices included in each episode, and the joy of staying present as we age.
9 Jan 2026
Superb and Fabulous: Francesca Emerson on Pleasure, Play & Freedom
Malika talks with Francesca "Franny" Emerson, a sculptor, author of The Chocolate Bunny, and a spirited storyteller. They explore claiming pleasure as essential living. Topics include food, sensuality, intimacy, body love, aging, forgiveness, and the daily practices that keep joy and play at the center of life.
This candid conversation is unfiltered. It talks about sex both amazing and not so. It celebrates self‑trust, creativity, and the pursuit of pleasure in all it's forms.
22 Dec 2025
Claiming Pleasure: From Shame to Appreciation
Welcome to The Claiming Pleasure Podcast with Malika. A warm, gentle space to explore our relationship with play, healing, and our bodies, particularly after sexual abuse.
Malika is a musician, performer, funeral celebrant, mother, survivor, and lifelong lover of games. She shares her journey from disconnection and shame to daily practices of acceptance and appreciation.
Each episode features honest conversations exploring bodies, play, and recovery through personal stories, reflections, and insights that reveal how pleasure is vital to our well-being.
For those struggling with self-worth or self-criticism, for anyone disconnected from their sense of pleasure and play, for survivors seeking inspiration to ground and reconnect with their bodies and sense of self, this podcast is for you.
Feeling at home in our body is healing. We're all deserving of feeling good.
Follow to listen to monthly episodes and join a community of permission and possibility.
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