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This article contains spoilers for Season 5, Volume 1 of “Stranger Things.”

If anyone visited Jamie Campbell Bower in the days before he secured the role of Vecna in “Stranger Things,” they might have been disturbed by what they found.

Bower had spent that period “kind of going crazy,” studying the audition materials he had been given — a scene from the series (with fake character names), one from the 1996 film “Primal Fear” and one from the ‘80s horror classic “Hellraiser.” He then crafted a whodunit-style vision board, pinning printed images of iconic movie villains onto his walls. He latched onto Doug Bradley’s Pinhead and incorporated Voldemort, Nosferatu, Dracula and images from “The Shining,” “Insidious” and “The Prince of Darkness.”

Bower had essentially made a shrine to villainy. But what better way is there to make a monster than to draw from the scariest and most spine-chilling in the game?

He thumbed through a neat binder with all of the reference images that were once tacked to his walls as he sat in a hotel room at the Four Seasons earlier this month that was done up in “Stranger Things” decor. Although he had pulled ideas and inspiration from several different characters and movies, he couldn’t shake Bradley’s work from his mind.

He wanted Vecna to feel “so poised, so considered and surgical, almost. And Pinhead is that. He doesn’t run. Pinhead never runs. He knows that he’s an ultimate power all the time,” Bower said. “That feels really strong for me. I really, really like that.”

In addition to playing the monster, Bower plays the man he once was, Henry Creel, in “Stranger Things,” Netflix’s supernatural sensation, which released the first batch of episodes for its fifth and final season Wednesday. Henry, who we first meet as a young boy with powerful psychokinetic abilities, evolves throughout the show from the first child test subject in Hawkins Labs to the powerful Vecna after he’s banished to the Upside Down.

As he devolves in the dark, decaying shadow dimension, he becomes less and less human in both spirit and appearance. His skin is scorched by lightning, his body is overtaken by the vines from the Upside Down, and his left hand is mutilated. He has a deep, booming voice, which is actually Bower speaking without manipulation in post-production. And in Season 4, most of what the audience sees of Vecna — the vines wrapped around his body, his mutilations and burns, the slimy texture of his skin, his startling walk and movement — was pulled off practically with prosthetics, appliances and makeup.

Bringing Vecna to life was no easy feat, with a lot of cross-departmental collaboration happening behind the scenes. In Season 4, where Vecna is first introduced, the team built full-body prosthetics based on concept art for the character that took roughly eight hours to apply on Bower.

But for Season 5, the creatives behind the show were looking to make “Vecna on steroids,” as Barrie Gower, the prosthetics wiz for “Stranger Things,” put it.

Vecna has a sharper appearance and broader stance in Season 5 of “Stranger Things.”

(Netflix)

Michael Maher Jr., a concept illustrator and visual effects supervisor who had cooked up the earliest iterations of Vecna, said the show’s creators, brothers Matt and Ross Duffer, wanted Vecna to feel more powerful this season, “but not [in] the cliché, bigger and bulkier way.” They also wanted the extent of his injuries from the Season 4 finale, where his opponents set him on fire, shoot him repeatedly and send him flying out of a second-story window, to be evident.

Maher said he was sculpting to ideate on this new version of the character when he accidentally punched a hole in the figure’s torso. It was a serendipitous moment, however; it clicked for him that Vecna 2.0 could be simultaneously more exposed and sharper. The vines that overtook his body now have a Medusa-like quality near his head and shoulders, essentially serving as armor, Maher said.

His mutilated arm and hand, which was already terrifying with its long digits and sharp claws that he would draw close to his victims’ faces, is now extendable, as if he has become one with the vines of the Upside Down.

Because of Vecna’s souped-up look for the final season, a blend of practical and visual effects were used to accomplish the final look. Gower called it a “really beautiful marriage” of the two. The monster’s head, shoulders and right arm were made up of prosthetics, but for the rest, Bower wore a spandex suit that had a printed pattern of Vecna’s body from Season 4, serving as a reference for the visual effects team. Bower also wore foam inserts under his arms to capture the gait and broad stance of the creature.

Gower said with all of the moving parts and elements of Vecna’s body that they wanted to change for the new season, it would have been a “logistical nightmare” to pull off practically. He and Maher’s teams had lengthy conversations early on in the process to prevent overbuilding the prosthetics, Gower said. Creating the new look took about three months.

The team behind Vecna opted for a blend of prosthetics, appliances and a spandex suit to film Season 5. (Niko Tavernise / Netflix)

The character Will Byers (Noah Schnapp) and Vecna come face-to-face in Season 5. (Niko Tavernise / Netflix)

When the Duffer Brothers and Maher were initially talking about the design of Vecna, they drew from Pinhead and Freddy Krueger in the same way Bower did for his performance. The creatives had been pulling from ‘80s classic movies for the “nostalgia quality,” Maher said, but the challenge for him was creating something that still felt fresh and reflected Vecna’s power. He wanted to make it clear Vecna was “a character that is mostly powerful with his mind, that really resonates as a villain,” he said.

By 2019 as the developmental process for the concept art was moving along, the Duffer Brothers approached Gower, whose work on “Game of Thrones” and “Chernobyl” they admired. Gower has a young daughter who was an avid fan of “Stranger Things” at the time, and he said he couldn’t possibly turn down the opportunity. Even before Bower was cast, a roughly five-month process (save a pause in production for the pandemic) kicked off for Gower and his team to develop the Vecna gear. The full-body suit was made up of about 26 overlapping prosthetic pieces that fit together like a jigsaw puzzle.

Gower and his team used foam latex, which is lightweight and opaque, to cover large body pieces for Vecna, mainly his left arm and lower body. Silicone-based materials came into play for his face, soldiers, chest, back and right arm, since the material is clear and can be dyed to match the pigment of the creature’s skin. It’s challenging to paint the two different materials and make them appear as one, cohesive body, Gower said, but the artists he worked with are “incredible craftspeople,” some of whom are classically trained painters.

Gower said with all of the logistics involved in creating Vecna, Bower was patient and collaborative — whether that was through 2 a.m. calls to get the prosthetics applied before he was called to set or through the adjustments Gower’s team had to make as those long shoot days progressed. Gower also praised not only Bower’s stamina, but also his commitment to the performance.

Bower described the “gothy folk, black metal” music he would play as he sat in the makeup chair, which would get faster and more hardcore as they progressed. Gower said at the start of the hours-long application, Bower would crack jokes and be himself. But as they neared the end, they would “start to lose Jamie.”

Jamie Campbell Bower in his Vecna costume on the set of “Stranger Things” with showrunners Matt Duffer, left, and Ross Duffer.

(Niko Tavernise / Netflix)

“Vecna’s voice would start coming out,” Gower said. “By the end of the process, it was Vecna talking to us. It wasn’t Jamie anymore.”

“I really can’t imagine Vecna being as successful, as iconic a villain and character without it being Jamie Campbell Bower,” Gower continued. “He’s incredible.”

Becoming Vecna can be both mentally and physically taxing because of the prosthetics and the dark place it requires the actor to go. But Bower said he found playing Henry, Vecna’s human form, even more challenging this season.

For him, Vecna is devoid of any humanity, but when he is playing Henry, there’s still “elements of humanity,” though his intentions are pure evil. In Vol. 1, we see Henry targeting the children of Hawkins, but instead of presenting himself as Vecna, as he did in Season 4, he’s approaching his victims with a friendly, well-dressed front — they call him Mr. Whatsit.

“There was something that was arguably more terrifying in having the composure enough to be able to let whomever else is there make wrong choices,” Bower said. It’s a fun puzzle for him to figure out how much emotion to show and when to let the mask slip to the audience, he added.

In comparison to the monsters Bower drew from to develop Vecna, he looked to one person as inspiration for Henry in Season 5: Mister Rogers.

He’s a wolf in sheep’s clothing. And Bower promises we’ll see more of the wolf come out as the season progresses, though he’s careful not to reveal too much.

A new “Dancing With the Stars” champion has been crowned. After weeks of themed choreography revolving around TikTok, Disney films and one-hit wonders, the winner of Season 34 is (insert dramatic pause) Robert Irwin and Witney Carson.

Crikey!

Irwin, an Aussie wildlife conservationist and son of the late “Crocodile Hunter,” Steve Irwin, joins sister Bindi as a winner of the Mirrorball trophy. Bindi Irwin won the trophy during Season 21 of “DWTS,” in 2015.

Season 34 came down to social media personalities Alix Earle and Dylan Efron, actor Elaine Hendrix, and gymnast and UCLA senior Jordan Chiles. Tuesday night’s finale consisted of three rounds of dance. First was the judges’ choice round, followed by the instant dance challenge — in which the style of dance and the song are kept secret from performers until just before they take the stage — and then the freestyle round. With Carson, Irwin earned a perfect score in the instant dance portion of the show.

The season’s winner was determined by a combination of the judges’ votes and those from the public.

Irwin, 21, and Carson, 32, scored an aggregated score from the judges of 29 points. Earle finished second, with Chiles coming in third place, followed by Efron and Hendrix.

Ahead of the finale, Carson revealed on her TikTok that both she and Irwin were dealing with injuries.

“We’re kind of falling apart right now,” the pro dancer said. “My body is feeling it right now, Robert’s body is feeling it right now.”

During a clip from their rehearsals shown before his first dance of the night, a quickstep to Jet’s “Are You Gonna Be My Girl,” Irwin said he feared Carson might need to have a Plan B for the challenging choreography.

“If I push any harder, my body is going to break,” he said.

Irwin dealt with rib pain throughout the night. After his instant dance performance, a cha-cha to DNCE’s “Cake by the Ocean,” he acknowledged the toll the competition had taken.

“I catch crocodiles, and a crocodile has never managed to screw up my ribs like that,” he said. “Dancing is hard.”

Israeli forces have killed at least four Palestinians and wounded several others across Gaza despite a six-week ceasefire, as a Palestinian armed group announced recovering the body of another captive in the war-torn territory.

The victims on Monday included a Palestinian man who was killed in a drone attack in the southern town of Bani Suheila, in an area controlled by Israeli forces beyond the so-called “yellow line”.

Separately, a Palestinian child was also killed in northern Gaza City when ordnances left behind by Israeli forces exploded, according to the territory’s civil defence.

The group said several more children were wounded, with some in critical condition.

Al Jazeera’s Tareq Abu Azzoum, reporting from Gaza City, said Israeli attacks also continued throughout the day, with artillery, air raids and helicopter strikes reported in both northern and southern parts of the enclave.

In Beit Lahiya, Israeli fire hit areas outside the yellow line. In the south, tanks and helicopters targeted territory northeast of Rafah and the outskirts of Khan Younis.

“There are extensive Israeli attacks beyond the yellow line that have led to the systematic destruction of Gaza’s eastern neighbourhoods,” Abu Azzoum said.

Testimonies gathered by families, he added, point to a “systematic attempt to destroy Gaza’s neighbourhoods and create buffer zones, making these areas completely uninhabitable, which complicates a return for families”.

In central Gaza, civil defence teams, operating with police and Red Cross support, recovered the bodies of eight members of a single family from the rubble of their home in the Maghazi camp, the Palestinian Wafa news agency reported, which was struck in an earlier Israeli attack.

The Gaza Government Media Office said the number of bodies retrieved since the ceasefire began has now reached 582, while more than 9,500 Palestinians remain missing beneath the ruins of bombed-out districts.

Captive’s body recovered

The Palestinian Islamic Jihad, an armed group allied with Hamas, meanwhile, announced it had recovered the body of an Israeli captive in Nuseirat camp in central Gaza.

If the body is identified, two more will have to be recovered under the first phase of the Gaza ceasefire deal. Israel is supposed to return the bodies of 15 Palestinians in exchange for each captive’s body.

Hamas has previously said the widespread destruction has hampered efforts to locate the remaining bodies.

Also on Monday, the GHF, a US-backed entity that operated parallel to United Nations aid structures, announced the end of its activities in Gaza.

The organisation cited provisions in the October ceasefire as the reason for its withdrawal.

UN experts say at least 859 Palestinians were killed around GHF distribution points since May 2025, with Israeli forces and foreign contractors regularly opening fire on crowds desperately seeking food.

The scheme drew widespread condemnation for bypassing established humanitarian channels.

Israeli attacks on the West Bank

Across the occupied West Bank, Israeli forces stepped up raids overnight, arresting at least 16 Palestinians, according to Wafa. Arrests were reported in Iktaba near Tulkarem, in Tuqu southeast of Bethlehem, in Kobar near Ramallah, and in Silat al-Harithiya west of Jenin.

Israeli troops also detained residents in Tubas and the surrounding areas.

Violence escalated further on Sunday night when Israeli forces killed a 20-year-old law student, Baraa Khairi Ali Maali, in Deir Jarir, north of Ramallah.

Wafa reported that clashes erupted after Israeli settlers attacked Palestinian homes on the village’s outskirts. Fathi Hamdan, head of the local council, said troops entered the village to protect the settlers, then opened fire on Palestinians confronting them.

Maali suffered a gunshot wound to the chest and died shortly after arrival at hospital. His killing follows the fatal shooting of another young man by settlers in Deir Jarir last month.

Elsewhere in the West Bank, Israeli soldiers injured two Palestinian women and detained two brothers during a raid in Kafr Qaddum, east of Qalqilya.

Settler attacks also continued. Fires were set on agricultural land between Atara and Birzeit, north of Ramallah, destroying farmland belonging to residents.

In a separate incident in Atara, settlers from a newly established outpost torched olive trees and stole farming equipment.

Israeli settler violence has surged over the past two years; since October 7, 2023, at least 1,081 Palestinians have been killed in the occupied West Bank by Israeli forces and settlers, including 223 children, with more than 10,614 wounded and more than 20,500 arrested.

Israeli ceasefire violations in Lebanon

In Lebanon, Hezbollah held a funeral for senior commander Haytham Ali Tabatabai, assassinated by Israel on Sunday.

Images from Beirut’s southern suburbs showed mourners carrying his coffin, wrapped in yellow and green, as Hezbollah flags lined the streets. The group has not yet announced how it will respond.

Mahmoud Qmati, vice president of Hezbollah’s Political Council, called the killing “yet another ceasefire violation”, accusing Israel of escalating the conflict “with the green light given by the United States”.

Security analyst Ali Rizk said Hezbollah is weighing its options carefully, warning that the group is unlikely to “give Netanyahu an excuse to launch an all-out war against Lebanon”, which he said could be more devastating than the current limited exchanges.

Geopolitical analyst Joe Macaron said the US is “no longer restraining Israel” and is instead supporting Israeli operations in Syria, Gaza and Lebanon.

Reporting from Beirut, Al Jazeera’s Zeina Khodr said that Hezbollah, in turn, faces a strategic dilemma: retaliation could risk a massive Israeli assault, yet inaction could erode its deterrence.

Imad Salamey of the Lebanese American University said any Hezbollah response could be met with a “severe” Israeli reaction.

Speaking to Al Jazeera, he added that Israel’s right-wing government “is eager to escalate because escalation will serve that government staying in power”.

Salamey argued that Hezbollah’s deterrence capacity has been “severely damaged” and that the group “no longer has the support it used to have or the logistical routes it used to utilise via Syria”.

Nov. 17 (UPI) — Authorities in central California said divers have recovered the body of a 7-year-old girl who was swept into the ocean by massive waves on Friday.

Her body was recovered by a volunteer diver at 1:20 p.m. PST Sunday about a half-mile north of where she went missing at Garrapata State Park, California State Parks said in a statement.

Officers with the Monterey County Sheriff’s Office had responded Friday to reports of a water rescue at Garrapata State Park Beach.

The sheriff’s office said in a statement that her father Yuji Hu, of Calgary, Alberta, had attempted to save the unidentified child from waves estimated to be as tall as 20 feet. As he reached for her, both were swept out to sea.

A beachgoer and an off-duty California State Parks officer were able to bring Hu back to shore and initiated CPR. Hu was transported to the hospital, where he was later pronounced dead, the sheriff’s office said.

The mother who had entered the water to attempt a rescue of her own was treated for hypothermia and released, while a 2-year-old child who was present was not injured.

A search was then launched for the missing girl, who was initially reported to be 5 years old, involving multiple agencies.

“The family has expressed their gratitude to all agencies, personnel and community members in the search and recovery efforts. They continue to request privacy and do not wish to make further statements at this time,” the sheriff’s office said.

PIXIE Lott oozed elegance in a bejewelled LBD just two weeks after giving birth to her second child.

The Mama Do hitmaker, 34, welcomed her second baby boy with husband Oliver Cheshire, 37, in October.

The popstar beamed as she stepped out in London for the premiere of her new movie, Christmas Karma.

She opted for a floor-length frock with a roll neck and huge silver sequin balloon sleeves for the event at Curzon Mayfair.

Pixie swept her blonde hair into a stylish up-do with front pieces left free to frame her face, and kept her make-up fresh and natural.

She took time to pose for the cameras on the Red Carpet, flashing a cheeky glance over her shoulder before placing her hands on her hips.

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The glowing parent-of-two was then joined by hubby Oliver for a few joint snaps.

Pixie stars in the festive movie based on a modern-day Christmas Carol.

She plays Mary Cratchit, Bob Cratchit’s wife, in the flick to be released today.

The pop princess’ role in the festive flick comes after she revealed she’d written a Christmas song dedicated to her newborn.

Pixie gave the first play of the tune on her Instagram page, as the soundtrack to a video showing her enjoying some tender moments with the tot.

Speaking of the tune, First Christmas, she wrote in the caption: “I just wrote a song for our new baby boy especially for this time of year.

“Pre save now in my bio and get tickets to my Christmas show in December to see it live.”

BABY JOY

Off-screen, the All About Tonight singer announced her happy baby news on her Instagram page last month.

Pixie posted a sweet video of her newborn baby boy and wrote: “He’s here,” with a blue heart emoji.

The clip showed her newborn’s little feet and hands for the first time.

Pixie’s close celebrity pals were quick to congratulate the star.

Gaby Roslin wrote: “Ahhh huge congratulations to you beautiful and your whole family. Big love.”

AJ Odudu posted: “Awww CONGRATULATIONS.”

Earlier this year, the singer revealed she and husband Oliver were expecting their second child.

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The couple are already parents to son Albert, who was born in October 2023.

Previously, Pixie and Oliver only revealed their son’s name a month after his birth when they celebrated his christening.

This is what arousal looks like.

About 20 women are lying blindfolded on yoga mats in an airy structure in the Joshua Tree desert. Some are partially dressed in loungewear or lingerie; others are fully nude. Sexy indie folk music blasts from the sound system and outside, through the open double doors, the wind kicks up, rustling the fragrant desert scrub brush, pomegranate trees and ponderosa pines.

Their bodies are layered with a collage of fresh fruit, feathers, cucumber slices, smooth stones and velvety flower petals, among other things. Facilitators quietly tiptoe around the room, gently placing more and more items onto their chests, arms and legs until their skin is barely visible. One woman lies with lemon slices on her nipples, a large strawberry in her open mouth and a bouquet of long-stem pink roses, in full bloom, on her pelvis.

Facilitators adorn women’s bodies with colorful objects during an exercise about receiving pleasure and feeling beautiful.

(Joyce Lee / For The Times)

The exercise is meant to help the women connect with their bodies by stimulating them with a spectrum of sensations: the cool slickness of a polished river stone or the prick of a pineapple rind. It’s about receiving pleasure and feeling beautiful — no matter your age, body shape or perceived limitations.

“The biological clock may be finite, but your sexuality — arousal — is infinite,” says the event’s host, Pamela Madsen, scattering rose petals on one attendee’s thighs.

Pamela Madsen, Back to the Body’s founder.

(Joyce Lee / For The Times)

Welcome to Back to the Body, a sexual wellness retreat helping participants — all women — access their erotic selves. In this group, attendees are straight or bisexual and range in age from mid-30s to mid-70s. They’re mostly from around California, but some have traveled from North Carolina, Florida and Connecticut. They’ve come to overcome intimacy issues or body shame, to process trauma, to learn how to better orgasm or otherwise improve their sex lives. Some are therapists themselves looking to expand their knowledge of “sexological bodywork,” a form of body-based sex therapy that Madsen practices. Others simply want to be in community with like-minded women who are also exploring their sexual selves.

The two-night retreat, which costs $550 to $2,000 depending on accommodations on the sprawling multi-villa property, includes mindfulness exercises, journaling, expert-led seminars, group discussions and meals by a private chef. It also features a preview of a “bodywork session” that one might experience at Back to the Body’s longer, weeklong retreat: a live “pleasure demonstration” at the event’s, um, climax — but more on that later.

Madsen guides participants in a “Lotus Lift Meditation,” meant to help them clarify their intentions for their lives.

(Joyce Lee / For The Times)

An unlikely high desert sex educator, Madsen, “60-something,” is a brash, outspoken New York transplant who oscillates between frank asides (“I like to say ‘f—’ — get used to it”) and welling up with tears (“I’m sorry, I’m just getting emotional, this is important stuff”) as she proselytizes about the power of erotic energy. She believes that “when a woman reclaims her arousal, she reclaims her aliveness.” Put another way: Pleasure isn’t just a component of your life — it’s a tool for transformation.

“I’ve seen women changing, improving their lives,” Madsen says of past participants, her voice cracking with emotion. “They start taking control of their finances, they start to care about how they’re spending their time.”

Sitting on the porch of the “big house,” a midcentury modern ranch home where the retreat meals are served, attendee Mandy Manuel, 39, a sex therapist from Connecticut, says that she found love — for herself and with a partner — after attending several Back to the Body retreats.

Back to the Body’s midcentury modern ranch home.

(Joyce Lee / For The Times)

“I’ve been in a large body my whole life. And the world will tell you ‘you’re not good enough, you’re not pretty enough, you’re not deserving of sex and romance,’” she says. “I totally bought into that story. And I wanted to challenge that. So I came and it was life-changing. Just recognizing ‘Oh, wow, I can receive.’”

Manuel eventually started dating online and met her current partner a year and a half ago (and is now facilitating a Back to the Body retreat in 2026). “My standard for dating shot way up. Previously it was: ‘I’m just going to accept whoever wants me’ and now it’s ‘who do I want?’”

Sexual wellness is a long-established sector of the medical establishment that, today, encompasses everything from contraception and safe sex practices to organic lube, tantric breathwork, couples counseling and the latest Magic Wand Rechargeable vibrator. It adds up to big business: the global sexual wellness market is projected to reach $48.2 billion by 2030, according to Global Industry Analysts Inc.

A participant in the “art of adoration” exercise.

(Joyce Lee / For The Times)

Somatic (or body-based) sex therapy, a subset of sexual wellness, is also not new in the medical field. Individuals struggling with sexual issues have for decades turned to sexual surrogates, or trained professionals who specialize in “experiential learning” and who work in tandem with a client’s sex therapist when talk therapy isn’t enough.

Whereas sexual surrogacy is interactive, mimicking partnership, sexological bodywork employs “one-way touch.” In Back to the Body’s private, one-on-one bodywork sessions that means certified sexological bodyworkers, trained in Madsen’s approach, are always clothed and focus attention on the consenting client without reciprocity. A session may involve breathwork, intimacy coaching, sensual touch, sound and movement, including dance. It’s a “body first” approach to healing, in which physical sensations inform thoughts, as opposed to talk therapy.

But hands-on sex education is controversial.

“I don’t endorse it with my clients,” says UCLA emeritus professor Dr. Gail E. Wyatt, a licensed clinical psychologist and board-certified sex therapist, “because I don’t trust [that] the individuals who are assigned [to touch clients] have the boundaries to see this as a professional act and not as an opportunity. Vulnerable individuals may end up in a situation where they’re being taken advantage of.”

Madsen acknowledges that sexological bodywork is edgy but stands by the modality.

“We cannot heal, expand or awaken our sexuality through words alone,” she says. “We must touch the body to hear it speak — and that terrifies people.”

The retreat includes journaling exercises as well as mindfullness activities and group discussions.

(Joyce Lee / For The Times)

Sexological bodyworkers are not doctors and there’s no national certification for the profession. Practitioners do, however, adhere to a code of ethics upheld by the Los Angeles-based Assn. of Certified Sexological Bodyworkers. While sexological bodywork falls into a legal gray area, the state of California first recognized it as a profession involving sex education in 2003 when it approved training at San Francisco’s the Institute for Advanced Study of Human Sexuality (the school closed in 2018 and no additional state-approved schools have emerged). Nonetheless, somatic sex education appears to be growing: two Back to the Body practitioners offer sexual wellness retreats through their own companies: Court Vox leads one for queer men through his the BodyVox and Cosmo Meens leads one for straight men through his Himeros Project.

“There’s a great need for education about sensuality and the body that we don’t get in school or at home, typically speaking,” says Regena Thomashauer, author of “Pussy: A Reclamation,” which explains that we live in a culture that teaches women to turn off their power.

To be clear, Madsen stresses, arousal is not just about orgasming, or even physical pleasure, but about agency. Erotic energy — desire — is a powerful, “life-changing tool” every woman has access to, she says — it connects you to your passion and creativity, to your intuition and voice.

“When women are in touch with their arousal, they start being able to see themselves, they start being able to express themselves, Madsen says. “They find their voice, they’re able to speak their desires.”

Addressing the group in the living room, Madesn elaborates on the empowering, if political, nature of Back to the Body’s work.

Madsen believes that “when a woman reclaims her arousal, she reclaims her aliveness.”

(Joyce Lee / For The Times)

“Women have only had the right to vote for just over 100 years,” she says. “You [often] couldn’t have a checking account or credit card until 1974 without a man. Why is this work important? Because we’ve been taught not to trust ourselves, not to trust our bodies. That we are vehicles for birth, that we are vehicles for sex, vehicles for entertainment, vehicles for service — we are not sovereign. What does this work do? It creates sovereign women.”

What’s more, Madsen says, it takes time for women to reach a state of arousal — and many women experience premature penetration during sex.

She breaks into song: “I want a man with a slow hand …” she croons, belting out the Pointer Sisters’ early ‘80s pop hit. Laughter erupts around the room.

A private chef, pictured in the background, prepares farm-to-table meals for participants.

(Joyce Lee / For The Times)

Madsen is a former kindergarten teacher turned fertility activist who grew up in Great Neck, Long Island, married at 19 and spent 45 years living in the Bronx where she raised two sons with her husband of more than four decades. She’s appeared on “The Oprah Winfrey Show,” “60 Minutes,” CNN and other media talking about sex or fertility issues before authoring the 2011 memoir “Shameless: How I Ditched the Diet, Got Naked, Found True Pleasure … and Somehow Got Home in Time To Cook Dinner.”

In the book, Madsen documents her search for “sexual, personal and spiritual wholeness.” As part of that journey, she became certified as a sexological bodyworker in 2007 through the Institute for Advanced Study of Human Sexuality. She founded Back to the Body in 2011, adding her own spin on sexological bodywork. While most practitioners offered one-off sessions, she says, she launched multi-day immersive retreats, stressing the importance of being “away from the noise of the world.”

Back to the Body had no physical home initially and held retreats virtually or around the U.S. and internationally.

Several Back to the Body participants have gifted the retreat with artworks, now scattered around the property.

(Joyce Lee / For The Times)

“But then we found this place,” Madsen says while touring the Joshua Tree property, onto which she moved in July 2024. She strides across the land, more of a swagger, wearing a white flowy dress, white cowboy hat and cowboy boots, her long black hair cascading down her back and her curvaceous bosom occasionally spilling out of her dress.

“This is the house that women built,” she says, sweeping one hand across the horizon and tucking a runaway boob back into her dress with her other. “I couldn’t have afforded this place without help — investments and donations — from participants. This work changed their lives, and they wanted to give back.”

Previous attendees also gifted artworks or ephemera now scattered around the property: large crystals around the pool or a granite statue, outside the main house, of a woman bracing against the wind.

Late in the afternoon, the women settle into the community room for a 45-minute demonstration of what a bodywork session might look like. Madsen, dressed in aqua lingerie, is the client in this scenario; practitioner Cosmo Meens, a buff and barefoot 45-year-old with thigh tattoos and a salt-and-pepper beard, is her certified sexological bodyworker. There is sexy music; there is playful slow dancing; there is laughter. “Louder!” Madsen says of the music, laying down on what looks like a massage table. There is also a shelf of accouterments nearby — coconut oil, a vibrator, a feather — to stimulate pleasure or bring her to orgasm.

The women sit in a circle around the demonstration table, rapt.

Afterward, Madsen sits up, hair mussed and cheeks flushed. There’s a short question-and-answer session. Then Madsen hard-sells the weeklong retreat, which runs from $8,000 to $18,000, depending on programming, accommodations and location (some retreats are international). There are just 30 spots left for 2026, she tells the crowd; and for those who register today, there’s a $1,000 discount.

15 of the 20 women sign up.

Participants during the “Lotus Lift Meditation.”

(Joyce Lee / For The Times)

To some, the marketing pitch might have a transactional feel: Is this cutting-edge somatic sex education or the commodification of the orgasm, of pleasure?

“It’s inaccessible,” says Betsy Crane, a retired professor of human sexuality at Widener University, who sees value in the retreat’s work but balks at the pricetag. “I understand why they have to charge as much as they do — it’s staff intensive, they include food, nice venues — but it’s not affordable for most women, that’s the inequality of the world that we live in. If it were more accepted, it could become less expensive because it could be available locally.”

Madsen says the price is in line with today’s economy.

“Travel is expensive, experiences are expensive,” she says. “What I know is: that I’m not getting wealthy, that it’s hard to keep the ship running. That women get done in a week here what costs them 15 years in talk therapy.”

The end goal? Madsen hopes her retreat will change the world “one vulva at a time.”

Sitting on the porch, Deb Morris, 63, a retired business owner who lives outside of Denver, says she’s been on more than a dozen Back to the Body retreats over the past decade. (Do the math.) But the investment of time and money has been “life changing.”

Attendees enjoy downtime between retreat activities.

(Joyce Lee / For The Times)

“How I show up at 63 is so much more vibrant and committed to life,” she says. “I stay in, sexually — my beingness, how I dress, staying healthy in the gym, having a more vibrant friend group. All of those things definitely have been affected by doing this work from my mid-50s to my mid-60s.”

She looks out at the view, a vast desert landscape. Then adds: “I feel alive.”

Hamas says the retrieved body is that of Israeli soldier Hadar Goldin, who was reported killed in 2014.

The Football Association of Ireland has called for Israel’s immediate suspension over the Israeli FA’s violation of UEFA’s statutes in occupied Palestinian territory.

Members of Irish football’s governing body have approved a resolution instructing its board to submit a formal motion to UEFA requesting the immediate suspension of Israel from European competitions, the Football Association of Ireland (FAI) said.

The resolution passed by the FAI members on Saturday cites violations by Israel’s Football Association of two provisions of UEFA statutes: its failure to implement and enforce an effective antiracism policy and the playing by Israeli clubs in occupied Palestinian territory without the consent of the Palestinian Football Association.

The resolution was backed by 74 votes, with seven opposed and two abstentions, the FAI said in a statement.

UEFA considered holding a vote early last month on whether to suspend Israel from European competitions over its genocide in Gaza, but the voting did not take place after a US-brokered ceasefire took effect on October 10.

The Irish resolution follows calls in September from the heads of the Turkish and Norwegian football governing bodies for Israel to be suspended from international competition.

Those requests came after United Nations experts appealed to FIFA and UEFA to suspend Israel from international football, citing a UN Commission of Inquiry report that said Israel had committed genocide during the war in Gaza.

‘Israel is allowed to operate with total impunity’

In October, more than 30 legal experts called on UEFA to bar Israel and its clubs.

The letter highlighted the damage that Israel is inflicting on the sport in Gaza. At least 421 Palestinian footballers have been killed since Israel began its military offensive in October 2023, and the letter explained that Israel’s bombing campaign is “systematically destroying Gaza’s football infrastructure”.

FIFA President Gianni Infantino brushed aside the calls by indirectly addressing it as a “geopolitical issue” at the FIFA Council on October 2.

“We are committed to using the power of football to bring people together in a divided world,” Infantino said.

The apparently preferential treatment given to Israel’s football team was an extension of the “total impunity” the country has enjoyed amid the two-year war, according to Abdullah Al-Arian, associate professor of history at Georgetown University in Qatar.

“Sporting bodies often mirror the broader power politics that are at play [in the world] and so they’re only doing what we’ve seen happen across all walks of political life, in which Israel has not been held to account,” Al-Arian told Al Jazeera.

“It [Israel] has been allowed to operate with total impunity throughout this genocide and has enjoyed this impunity for many decades.”

In 2024, the Palestinian Football Association (PFA) presented arguments accusing the Israel Football Association (IFA) of violating FIFA statutes with its war on Gaza and the inclusion of clubs located in illegal settlements on Palestinian territory in its domestic football league.

The PFA wanted FIFA to adopt “appropriate sanctions” against Israel’s national side and club teams, including an international ban.

It called on FIFA to ban Israel, but the world body postponed its decision by delegating the matter to its disciplinary committee for review. Al-Arian termed that “a move to keep the bureaucratic machinery moving without making any real progress”.

“Ultimately, it’s a political decision being made at the highest levels of the organisation,” he said.

The body of a hostage returned by Hamas via the Red Cross in Gaza has been identified as Israeli-American soldier Itay Chen, Israel has confirmed.

The 19-year-old soldier’s remains were returned on Tuesday as part of a Gaza ceasefire deal brokered by US President Donald Trump last month.

“Following the completion of the identification process… IDF representatives informed the family of the fallen hostage, Staff Sergeant Itay Chen, that their loved one has been returned to Israel and positively identified,” the Israeli prime minister’s office said.

Earlier, Hamas’s military wing said it had recovered the body of an Israeli soldier in the eastern Shejaiya neighbourhood of Gaza City.

Israel had allowed members of the group and Red Cross staff to search for the remains in the area, which is inside territory still controlled by Israeli forces.

Chen was working at his base on the Gaza border when Hamas and its allies launched their attacks on Israel on October 7, 2023.

His family lost communication with him after he told them his base was under attack.

Chen was initially believed to have been taken hostage by jihadists was actually killed in the 7 October attacks, the Israeli military said in March 2024. It said he had died in combat and his body had been taken to Gaza.

The Israeli government has accused Hamas of deliberately delaying the recovery of the dead hostages since a US-brokered ceasefire deal took effect on 10 October.

Hamas has insisted it is difficult to locate the bodies under rubble.

Under the ceasefire deal, Hamas agreed to return the 20 living and 28 dead hostages it was still holding within 72 hours.

All the living Israeli hostages were released on 13 October in exchange for 250 Palestinian prisoners and 1,718 detainees from Gaza.

Israel has handed over the bodies of 270 Palestinians in exchange for the bodies of the 19 Israeli hostages returned by Hamas, along with those of two foreign hostages – one of them Thai and the other Nepalese.

Five of the seven dead hostages still in Gaza are Israelis, one is Tanzanian, and one is Thai.

All but one of the dead hostages still in Gaza were among the 251 people abducted during the Hamas-led attack on southern Israel on 7 October 2023, during which about 1,200 other people were killed.

Israel responded by launching a military campaign in Gaza, during which more than 68,800 people have been killed, according to the territory’s Hamas-run health ministry.

Earlier on Tuesday, a hospital official in Gaza City said a man was killed by Israeli fire in the Jabalia area of northern Gaza.

The Israeli military said its troops killed a “terrorist” who had crossed the “Yellow Line”, which demarcates Israeli-controlled territory, and posed a threat to them.