To end conversion therapy, we must understand what it actually means

By Travis Salway On Monday, Calgary City Council voted, nearly unanimously, to pass a municipal ban of advertising around conversion therapy, which the city defined as “practice, treatment, or service designed to change, repress, or discourage a person’s sexual orientation, gender identity, or gender expression, or to repress or reduce non-heterosexual attraction or sexual behaviour.” …

Futurists predict what your sex life may look like after the pandemic

By Anna Iovine The macro effects of the coronavirus impact are undeniable: Hundreds of thousands of lives lost, mass unemployment, life seemingly suspended in midair. But the pandemic’s impacts have also rippled down to the minutiae of daily life, like social media behavior and messages on dating apps. Uncertainty is now an inescapable presence. As …

Sexual assault is a consequence of how society is organized

By Jennifer Hirsch and Shamus Khan The Department of Education is about to release new rules about how schools must deal with sexual harassment, stalking, and sexual assault. There’s a lot that’s disastrous about this interpretation of Title IX, which is supposed to promote equal access to education for women. But what’s largely missing from …

“Who designed these uniforms—Tom of Finland?”

The real story behind these viral photos of Spanish soldiers Deployed to cities at high risk of coronavirus, photos of the Spanish Legion provoked lust, loathing and comments about homoeroticism when they went viral on social media. Yet the history of the Legion makes these responses no contradiction at all by Catherine Baker They are …

Saying sex increases cancer risk is neither totally correct, nor in any way helpful

By Jayne Lucke A study published recently claims to have found a link between having had ten or more sexual partners and an increased risk of cancer. But it’s not as simple as that. While having a sexually transmissible infection (STI) can increase the risk of certain types of cancer, using a person’s lifetime number …

This Pioneering Sex Researcher Experimented on Herself

Marie Bonaparte’s interest in the clitoris went an inch too far. By Mark Hay In the mid-2000s, Kim Wallen, an Emory University psychobiologist with an interest in the roots of sexual experiences, told his colleague Elisabeth Lloyd, of the University of Indiana, Bloomington, about “a far-fetched idea” that he’d been mulling over for a couple …

Using Pornography to Rewrite the Script for Consent

Anti-pornography feminists see porn as inherently degrading and exploitative, but for some viewers it can be hugely empowering and even a challenge to rape culture. By: Milena Popova There is a strong and long-lived strand of feminist thought that regards pornography as deeply implicated in the prevalence of sexual and other violence against women. Pornography …