Podcast review: The Naked Truth by KK

Killing Kittens (KK) made headlines over the summer because the UK government thought it might be a good idea to invest in sex parties amongst other things.

Here is a short article explaining a little more: British taxpayers take stake in sex party planning firm Killing Kittens.

Emma Sayle, the founder, applied for the future founding scheme during the lockdown. This led her to receive a total of £170k from the UK government, to help her relaunch and expand her sex parties business.

And yet, the founder thought it was a ‘ridiculous’ set up (Uh?). Ridiculous because she had to raise funds herself for the government to match said funds. She did this because she was not in profit. Also she complained of paying extortionate amount of tax and VAT. Whatever that means.

In this interview with Holly Willoughby and Phillip Schofield, Emma joined the This Morning hosts to talk a little more about her business, and where she saw it going. 

Also, in case you want to know more about KK, at the bottom of this post I have added a short story of the business. I pulled from another other blog post about a KK party review I wrote a while ago – PARTY REVIEW: HEDONISM BY KK.

Mostly because I felt like I evolved into bigger and better things when it came to events, but also because last year they cheekily set up a subscription system making it impossible to get tickets unless you paid a monthly fee. Over the summer, after hearing so much about KK, I thought of checking what they are up to these days. Or at least were up to more recently.

Very early in 2020, KK published a ten episodes podcast series on their events and lifestyle, and I thought… why not giving it a listen? Well… that was rather interesting. In the all the wrong ways.

‘Welcome to the Killing Kittens podcast. It’s your weekly aural experience as we discuss all things sex with This Morning resident psychologist Emma Kenny, Killing Kittens founder Emma Sayle, journalist Harriet Minter and some very interesting guests.’

That’s right. Emma Sayle herself was on the podcast, and I thought: what an amazing opportunity to hear from Emma herself! After all, people in podcasts tend to reveal their true opinions alongside their true self. 

I never do this, but this time I thought of doing a more detailed episode-by-episode recap of what has impressed me the most. Shall we start? Let’s!

Episode 1 & 2 was a quick intro. Mostly focused on how Emma, the founder, came up with Killing Kittens while holidaying in Ibiza with very little sleep. Covers its origins and how the goal was to create a more feminist place. Tip the scales a little.

During episode 3, the podcast’s focus was on diversity and I found the guest to be open, honest, and very eloquent. However, I personally thought this episode was bad PR for KK. It highlighted the founder’s very privileged background, which made her sound detached from reality, and sort felt like a backlash overall.

Episode 4 had another great guest, I guess the KK brand must have attracted a very good crowd of speakers. The guest offered some great pointers on relationships, intimacy, and sex. I thought that Emma comments sounded a little bit too salesy, pitching her events during the podcast, and unnecessarily pushy – I get it, you own the podcast, and literally made the podcast to promote your brand, but why you gotta be like that?

On episode 6 I learned two things. Number one: your partner cannot answer all of your needs. True that. Number two: mechanism like KK stop people from having affairs because they legitimise affairs. I am sorry say what?

Episode 7: the guest speaker was overall ok, but the two Emmas (the other co-host’s name is also Emma) made me feel like we are all doomed. I will never be good enough for my partner. I have to feel pressured to always innovate. I was thoroughly depressed afterwards. 

Episode 6 in short: are you lesbian? No? Why not? You must reconsider. 

Episode 7 key takes: you want to save you marriage? Let your husband sleep around. British people have terrible sex, all of them, no exclusion (sobs a little since I am also British).

Episode 8 and 9 were not very interesting, and episode 10 provided some very fresh perspective on penis culture. I would have loved to listen to more, however the guest did not get much air time. More key takes: women are devious and will try to steal your husband. Emma needs the daily approval of a man (ideally communicated via wolf whistle) to know she’s pretty/worthy.

The idea of running a podcast with strong female leads, and carrying the brand of a renown establishment like KK, had so much potential. I was pretty disappointed to see that it never really took off. 

Overall, it felt pretty accusatory towards the patriarchy, more than necessary. Mind you, I’m a feminist myself, and I still thought it was a little bit much.

In terms of structure and best practices, it felt like each episode was always abruptly interrupted at the end, and the speakers didn’t get the air time they deserved. After all, you invite speakers to provide you with a different perspective on things, and highlight more diverse backgrounds, not talk over them.

I thought Emma’s comments throughout the podcast painted a stark contrast against her guests’ life experiences and backgrounds. Either she forgot how challenging it was to start-up on your own, or maybe she never had any real challenges due to her rather privileged background. She sounded a little arrogant and standoffish.

I find it hard to write something like this about a brand that I have admired in the past. However I try to always be honest and sincere in my writing. I might try to attend one of their parties again in the future (my last KK party was before lockdown: PARTY REVIEW: HEDONISM BY KK), just to see if the vibe is still what it used to be.

In regards to the podcast, please bear in mind that some episodes were recorded before the pandemic.

Not sure it’s worth a listen, but I would say that I found it amusing. For all the wrong reasons 🙂