Research shows women are out performing men in education, and are buying more houses - but at what cost to their love lives? We speak to author Stefanie O’Connell about her book The Ambition Penalty and her viral Guardian article about how more single women are buying more houses and how men aren’t responding well.

SHOW NOTES:

Is Your Partner Intimidated By Your Success Podcast: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=oAHdxsrCrRg

Guardian article - https://www.theguardian.com/lifeandstyle/2026/may/13/women-home-buyers-men-dating

Stefanie O’Connell website - https://tooambitious.com/

The Ambition Penalty - https://tooambitious.com/book/

Stefanie’s Instagram - https://www.instagram.com/stefanieoconnell/?hl=en

DM us your thoughts, questions, topics, or to just vent at @triplejthehookup on IG or email us: [email protected]

The Hook Up is an ABC podcast, produced by triple j. It is recorded on the lands of the Wurundjeri people of the Kulin nation. We pay our respects to elders past and present. We acknowledge Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander peoples as the First Australians and Traditional Custodians of the land where we live, work, and learn.

Success looks different for everyone. Maybe you own property, or have built a great career. Maybe you’re highly educated, well travelled, creative, ambitious or wealthy. But sometimes thriving in life can impact dating and relationships. We hear your stories, particularly as women, about when your success has become a problem when dating.

SHOW NOTES:

Single women are buying more houses. The men they are dating are not responding well: https://www.theguardian.com/lifeandstyle/2026/may/13/women-home-buyers-men-dating

DM us your thoughts, questions, topics, or to just vent at @triplejthehookup on IG or email us: [email protected]

The Hook Up is an ABC podcast, produced by triple j. It is recorded on the lands of the Wurundjeri people of the Kulin nation. We pay our respects to elders past and present. We acknowledge Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander peoples as the First Australians and Traditional Custodians of the land where we live, work, and learn.

Saying I love you to someone can be such a huge thing - so how do you know when you actually feel it? And when is the right time to say it? Plus how do you deal when the person you love doesn’t say it back. We answer all your questions about declaring your love with couples therapist Megan Kozak. 

These are the most feared words for any budding relationship. I Love You. Everyone's advice is always “just say it when you genuinely feel it!” which is great in theory, but hard in practice for so many reasons. In this episode we chat about the ILY timeframe, why you may or may not say it and how it should be said. 

DM us your thoughts, questions, topics, or to just vent at @triplejthehookup on IG or email us: [email protected]

The Hook Up is an ABC podcast, produced by triple j. It is recorded on the lands of the Wurundjeri people of the Kulin nation. We pay our respects to elders past and present. We acknowledge Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander peoples as the First Australians and Traditional Custodians of the land where we live, work, and learn.

73% of you have dated someone where there’s been a mismatch of PDA in your relationship. So what can you do if one of you loves physical touch and the other doesn’t?

We chat to couples therapist and sexologist Isiah McKimmie on how to navigate that mismatch, how to deal with feelings of rejection, and whether it’s something you can work on or change. 

DM us your thoughts, questions, topics, or to just vent at @triplejthehookup on IG or email us: [email protected]

The Hook Up is an ABC podcast, produced by triple j. It is recorded on the lands of the Wurundjeri people of the Kulin nation. We pay our respects to elders past and present. We acknowledge Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander peoples as the First Australians and Traditional Custodians of the land where we live, work, and learn.

How do you feel about holding hands, hugging, kissing and canoodling in public? Is it cringe or cute? We hear your stories about PDA - witnessing it in the wild, when there’s been a mismatch in physical touch, and whether PDA has been lost.

DM us your thoughts, questions, topics, or to just vent at @triplejthehookup on IG or email us: [email protected]

The Hook Up is an ABC podcast, produced by triple j. It is recorded on the lands of the Wurundjeri people of the Kulin nation. We pay our respects to elders past and present. We acknowledge Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander peoples as the First Australians and Traditional Custodians of the land where we live, work, and learn.

People are emotionally, mentally and spiritually exhausted by dating apps, so much so that hundreds of thousands of swipers are deleting them. Now to try and “shake things up” Bumble is replacing the swipe function with AI matchmaking. 

We chat to Dr Raffaele Ciriello from the Uni of Sydney about some of the major issues of using AI to help you date, as well as the benefits.

SHOW NOTES:

Dr Raffaele Ciriello: https://profiles.sydney.edu.au/raffaele.ciriello

Bumble AI changes: https://www.nytimes.com/2026/05/14/well/bumble-swipe-feature-online-dating-apps.html

DM us your thoughts, questions, topics, or to just vent at @triplejthehookup on IG or email us: [email protected]

The Hook Up is an ABC podcast, produced by triple j. It is recorded on the lands of the Wurundjeri people of the Kulin nation. We pay our respects to elders past and present. We acknowledge Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander peoples as the First Australians and Traditional Custodians of the land where we live, work, and learn.

We’ve all been through puberty. It was sometimes traumatic, mostly awkward, it even had its endearing moments - and going through it shaped the way we think about ourselves and how we show up in the world. In this ep, you share your puberty war stories, and we investigate the mysterious phenomenon called ‘second puberty’. Because, jump scare, it might not be over. 

SHOW NOTES:

What Happens When You Stop The Pill: https://www.webmd.com/sex/birth-control/stopping-pill-10-ways-body-changes

Second puberty

https://www.healthline.com/health/second-puberty#summary

DM us your thoughts, questions, topics, or to just vent at @triplejthehookup on IG or email us: [email protected]

The Hook Up is an ABC podcast, produced by triple j. It is recorded on the lands of the Wurundjeri people of the Kulin nation. We pay our respects to elders past and present. We acknowledge Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander peoples as the First Australians and Traditional Custodians of the land where we live, work, and learn.

If you’re LGBTQI+ and live rurally, it can be so hard to explore your sexuality or discover your identity, especially if you don’t have any queer community nearby. In this ep, Dee chats to psychologist Dr Chris Cheers about how to find yourself and your people - if you live in a place that makes it hard to do that. 

SHOW NOTES:

Lifeline: 13 11 14

QLife: 1800 184 527

Headspace: www.headspace.org.au

Dr Chris Cheers: https://www.chrischeers.com/

DM us your thoughts, questions, topics, or to just vent at @triplejthehookup on IG or email us: [email protected]

The Hook Up is an ABC podcast, produced by triple j. It is recorded on the lands of the Wurundjeri people of the Kulin nation. We pay our respects to elders past and present. We acknowledge Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander peoples as the First Australians and Traditional Custodians of the land where we live, work, and learn.

Dating and relationships out bush is a pretty unique and sometimes challenging experience - everyone knows everyone’s business, you bump into casual hook ups and exes at the local pub, there’s pressure to fit the town culture and pressure to settle down with a partner even if you're incompatible. In this episode, we hear your stories of what it's like dating regional and rural.

DM us your thoughts, questions, topics, or to just vent at @triplejthehookup on IG or email us: [email protected]

The Hook Up is an ABC podcast, produced by triple j. It is recorded on the lands of the Wurundjeri people of the Kulin nation. We pay our respects to elders past and present. We acknowledge Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander peoples as the First Australians and Traditional Custodians of the land where we live, work, and learn.

How you’re feeling emotionally has such an impact on your sex life. It can be hard to feel turned on or connect with people when you’re feeling down, stressed or just numbness from the cooked state of the world. In this ep, Dee chats to sexologist Claire Diaz about how to reconnect to pleasure during hard times. 

SHOW NOTES:

Claire Diaz: https://www.clairediazsexology.com/

Lifeline: 13 11 14 

DM us your thoughts, questions, topics, or to just vent at @triplejthehookup on IG or email us: [email protected]

The Hook Up is an ABC podcast, produced by triple j. It is recorded on the lands of the Wurundjeri people of the Kulin nation. We pay our respects to elders past and present. We acknowledge Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander peoples as the First Australians and Traditional Custodians of the land where we live, work, and learn.