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 …

Gay people are better at sex, according to science

By Ryan Butcher [G]ay people might have faced generations of persecution, harassment and social torment, but finally, science has dealt them a decent hand: they’re apparently better at sex. We’re being facetious, of course. But research published this year suggests that the above is true. A study looking at the differences in orgasm frequency among …

What is tantric sex, and how can it help heal sexual trauma?

By Brook Bolen [C]onversations about sexual violence and trauma have long been overdue but are finally happening. Conversations about how survivors of sexual violence endure and overcome their trauma is of equal importance — and with symptoms ranging from emotional to physical to psychological, physiological, and sexual, there are a host of repercussions. Experts estimate …

We May Have Just Identified Genetic Evidence of Male Sexual Orientation

But that still doesn’t mean there’s a ‘gay gene’. By PETER DOCKRILL [S]cientists are reporting what could amount to be the firmest evidence yet of genetic links to male sexual orientation, in the first published genome-wide association study (GWAS) examining the trait. Researchers recruited more than 2,000 men of both homosexual and heterosexual orientation and …

Have you ever had ‘unjust sex’?

Unthinkable: Examples include ‘women being pressured – not quite to the point of outright coercion – to have sex, or to have sex without contraception’, says philosopher Ann Cahill By Joe Humphreys [U]ncertainty surrounding the boundaries of ethical sexual activity is not confined to boozed-up young adults or American presidents. Among academics there is discussion …

How did evolution change our sexual organs? It’s time to learn the history of sex

By Philippe Brenot Porn images are everywhere but we need better ways to teach children about love, intimacy and yes, masturbation [A]t the start of this third millennium, sex seems to be all around us – within easy reach, on our screens, constantly talked about in the media. What used to be concealed, shameful and …

This Long-Lost Study On Victorian Sex Teaches A Very Modern Lesson

By Sara Coughlin What comes to mind when you picture Victorian-era sex? Corsets? Marriages of convenience and social bartering? Repression? Maybe, like, a lot of repression? Turns out, how we view that time in sexual history might be more than a little warped. We can start to get a better idea of what women of …