Manthropology with Simon Taylor

Sex worker, Eva, is a freelance writer who discusses the sex industry in all its facets. She dropped into Manthropology to illuminate my understanding of human sexuality and what an escort really does.

Contact: simon@mrsimontaylor.com

Monica Dux is a writer, social commentator and co-author of The Great Feminist Denial. Her second book,Things I Didn’t Expect (when I was expecting), on pregnancy, birth and motherhood, will be published by Melbourne University Press in March 2013.

Tom Dickins is a Melbourne-based singer and songwriter. I had him in the studio to talk gender expecations and sexuality. These topics have both influenced his lyrics, music and image. Cool guy.

Willow & Blake are a writing firm based in Melbourne who are making a brazen impression on the social media scene. Jess Hatzis and Erika Geraerts are two of the three founders that came in to chat about gender in the marketing and communications world. We touch on what has made them successful in their approach, along with the interaction between their personal lives and the public face of their brand.

Back in the studio seat, I decided to start the new season by interviewing my dad.

When I sit down with the world famous public intellectual, Sam Harris, we talk about the drugs and violence in his life. Oh and meditation.

Sam Harris is the author of the New York Times bestsellers, The End of Faith, Letter to a Christian Nation, The Moral Landscape, and Free Will. He has a degree in philosophy and is a neuroscientist, as well as the co-founder and CEO of Project Reason.

Email in thoughts, feelings and responses to simon@mrsimontaylor.com

Pete Williams takes me through a description of CEO characteristics, gender in the corporate world, Black Saturday Fire recovery, life philosophy and social responsibility. Epic and insightful.

Peter Williams is a Partner with Deloitte, CEO of the newly formed Deloitte Digital, and until recently, was CEO of Australia’s largest online mobile and emerging technology firm, Eclipse. Prior to his time at Deloitte Digital & Eclipse, Peter founded Deloitte’s e-business consulting group in Australia in 1996.

Peter is one of Australia’s thought leaders on innovation and online, mobile & emerging technology. He has worked with many high profile organisations such as Telstra, CSIRO, Holden, Victorian & Federal Governments and Meat & Livestock Australia. Peter is a sought after commentator on web and technology trends and in 2006 & 2007 has been featured in articles in the Sydney Morning Herald, The Age, BRW and Fast Thinking Magazine.

Please send all thoughts, responses and comments to simon@mrsimontaylor.com

This week I spoke to 25-year-old Chris Stedman, a gay atheist American inter-faith worker at Harvard University. Yep, it was a pretty damn interesting chat. Identity, sexuality and community were covered.

Chris Stedman is the inaugural Interfaith and Community Service Fellow for the Humanist Chaplaincy at Harvard University, the Emeritus Managing Director of State of Formation at the Journal of Inter-Religious Dialogue, and the founder of the first blog dedicated to exploring atheist-interfaith engagement, NonProphet Status. Chris received an MA in Religion from Meadville Lombard Theological School at the University of Chicago, for which he was awarded the Billings Prize for Most Outstanding Scholastic Achievement.

This week, my guest is fireball of manic brilliance. Catherine Deveny talks about her life with men and I almost get a few questions in.

Catherine Deveny is a writer, comedian, author and social commentator most recognised for her work as columnist with The Age newspaper and as an ABC regular. She’s been named in the Top 100 Most Influential Melbournians, is a member of the Federal Government’s working party on Dyslexia and her extensive charity and community work includes Griefline, Asylum Seeker’s Resource Centre and Broken Rites.

She’s a proud ambassador for Dying With Dignity Victoria and International Day of People with Disability is and is one of the co-founders of No Chicks No Excuses, a website dedicated to redress the lack of female voices in public life.

Lawrence Leung is an Australian comedian, writer and director from Melbourne, Victoria. He is best known for his television series Lawrence Leung's Choose Your Own Adventure based on his one man shows that tell stories around his obsessions such as breakdancing, ghosts, the Rubik's Cube and his family.

In 2009 he was named Comedian of the Year, in GQ's Men of the Year Issue.

The chat focuses on identity and touches on relationships.

Please send all thoughts, responses and comments to simon@mrsimontaylor.com