We’re Queer And We’ve Been Here

Rediscovering Buddhism’s LGBT history of gay monks, homoerotic samurai, and gender-nonconforming practitioners and gods By Dr. Jay Michaelson It’s no secret that many LGBTQ people have found refuge in the dharma, and it’s easy to see why.  It helps us work with the wounds of homophobia, recognizing internalized self-hatred for the delusion and dukkha [suffering] …

How Does Circumcision Really Affect Your Sex Life? Here Are the Facts

A growing number of guys are speaking out against what they see as a cruel and barbaric practice. But how much does it actually affect your sex life? By Meagan Drillinger When Adam Zeldis was 16, Howard Stern changed his mind about his penis forever. On his show, Stern was talking about how circumcision changes …

Want to figure out the rules of sexual consent? Ask sex workers.

by Jessie Patella-Rey [T]he #MeToo movement has pushed issues of consent to the foreground of our cultural zeitgeist. Confoundingly, though, some of the movement’s most vocal champions seem to be the worst at respecting the very conventions they are espousing. Shortly after now-former New York attorney general Eric Schneiderman filed a lawsuit against Hollywood producer …

Celebrating Magnus Hirschfeld, the Einstein of Sex

by Paul Masterson [D]ecades ago, wandering a ramshackle German flea market, an old book caught my eye. Emblazoned in gold on its brick red cover was the beckoning title Sexualkatastrophen. In its inevitably German way, the title (in English, obviously, Sexual Catastrophes) said it all and that alone was worth the few dollars price. Little …

Mutual masturbation could help end orgasm inequality

May is National Masturbation Month, so we’re celebrating by exploring the many facets of self-love. By Rachel Thompson [S]o, your sexual partner just came and you didn’t. It’s infuriating, it’s frustrating, and it’s — rather dismally — all too common during heterosexual sex. I’m talking about the orgasm gap — the inequality in men and …

Beyond breadwinners and homemakers, we need to examine how same-sex couples divide housework

By Leah Ruppanner and Claudia Geist [H]ousework is often understood as a gendered negotiation based on the traditional roles of homemaker (feminine) and breadwinner (masculine). While gender norms have shifted dramatically in the past few decades, theories of housework are still stuck on this 1950s model. Shifting family structures, including the rising number of same-sex …

The Sex Toy Shops That Switched On a Feminist Revolution

By PEGGY ORENSTEIN BUZZ The Stimulating History of the Sex Toy By Hallie Lieberman Illustrated. 359 pp. Pegasus Books. $26.95. VIBRATOR NATION How Feminist Sex-Toy Stores Changed the Business of Pleasure By Lynn Comella 278 pp. Duke University Press. $25.95. [T]hink back, for a moment, to the year 1968. Martin Luther King Jr. and Bobby …

Everything you need for a beginner’s kink-friendly Valentine’s Day

By Colette Bennett If vanilla sex doesn’t really do it for you, imagine the bounty that Valentine’s Day could be if you decided to celebrate it the BDSM-friendly way – with all the necessary kink toys. Whether you’ve always looked at handcuffs with a glint in your eye or got interested in kink thanks to …