Get bonkers on bonking with Natasha Mitchell and guests at the 2026 World Science Festival Brisbane. It’s a sexy, fun, and educational – what's not to love?! Sex historian Dr Esme Louise James is creator of the viral Kinky History TikTok series and does a Sextistics show with her mathematician mother. The complexity of the human clitoris can no longer be ignored by science, thanks to the world-changing work of urologist and surgeon Professor Helen O’Connell. And biologist Professor Robbie Wilson will help you channel your inner animal – masturbating monkeys, tiny testicled-gorillas, amorous antechinus and more.
This event was hosted at the 2026 World Science Festival Brisbane/Meanjin.
Speakers
Dr Esme Louise JamesHistorian, perfomer, author, Kinky History: A Rollicking Journey Through Our Sexual Past, Present, and Future (2024)Creator, the viral Kinky History TikTok series.
Professor Helen O'Connell A.OUrologist and urological surgeonUniversity of Melbourne
Professor Robbie WilsonBiologist, head of The Performance LabUniversity of Queensland
Thanks to World Science Festival Brisbane producer and maestros Dr Rob Bell, Jane O'Hara, Bec Redsell.
Further reading
Anatomy of the clitoris Helen E O'Connell, Kalavampara V Sanjeevan, John M HutsonJournal of Urology, Volume 174(4 Pt 1): October 2005, Pages1189-95
Anatomical Relationship Between Urethra And ClitorisHelen E. O'connell, John M. Hutson, Colin R. Anderson, Robert J. PlenterThe Journal of Urology, Volume 159, Issue 6, June 1998, Pages 1892-1897
Magnetic resonance imaging of male and female genitals during coitus and female sexual arousal Willibrord Weijmar Schultz, Pek van Andel, Ida Sabelis, Eduard MooyaartBMJ, 1999
The Anatomy of the Distal Vagina: Towards Unity Helen E. O'Connell , Norm Eizenberg, Marzia Rahman, Joan CleeveThe Journal of Sexual Medicine, Volume 5, Issue 8, August 2008, Pages 1883–1891
Magnetic resonance imaging of male and female genitals during coitus and female sexual arousal Willibrord Weijmar Schultz, Pek van Andel, Ida Sabelis, Eduard MooyaartBMJ, 1999
