What porn taught us about sex, romance and ourselves

For a generation that went through puberty in the digital age, sex-ed often began in front of a desktop. But what happens when porn is your teacher? By Tyler Griffin Whenever eight-year-old Gabrielle Clarke watched Rihanna or Christina Aguilera music videos on YouTube, she would get an intense feeling of desire she couldn’t explain. She …

Where Sex Education Fails, Technology Can Help

The Juicebox app connects people with sex coaches to get their questions answered—anonymously. By Sydney Worth One day last year, Evan Conaway realized he had a problem. He’d been through a series of breakups in a short span of time, and the ensuing stress manifested with the onset of erectile dysfunction. He didn’t know what …

Why So Many People Ignore LGBTQ Dating Violence

These people shared their experiences. By Paula Akpan Talking about dating violence is complicated, particularly when it can take many different forms, some far more subtle than others. When we think about domestic or relationship abuse, we often think of physical violence. That’s certainly one component, but it’s not the only one. We tend not …

LGB people face higher risk of anxiety, depression, substance abuse

By Chrissy Sexton Researchers at Penn State are reporting that individuals who identify as gay, lesbian, or bisexual are at a higher risk for several different health problems. The experts found that sexual minorities were more prone to anxiety and depressive disorders, cardiovascular disease, and drug and alcohol abuse. Study co-author Cara Rice explained that …

If You’re Sexually Woke, Then Let Straight Men Experiment Freely

“Through [gay] experiences, I found out that I am completely straight. I won’t go back.” by Bobby Box When a woman mentions she’s had an “experimental phase,” it’s often shrugged off as a shared experience. But when men share this same information, the results are often more extreme: They’re teased, labeled gay, or their masculinity …

The case for a new term that describes all sexual minorities

It’s Time to Drop the ‘LGBT’ From ‘LGBTQ’ By Jonathan Rauch Frank Kameny, the last century’s greatest gay-rights activist, filed the first-ever Supreme Court petition challenging discrimination against homosexuals. He led some of the first gay-rights demonstrations. He was the first openly gay congressional candidate. He spearheaded the challenge to the psychiatric establishment’s categorization of …

Why Tumblr’s ban on adult content is bad for LGBTQ youth

By Stefanie Duguay As of Dec. 17, Tumblr will no longer allow “adult content,” defined as that which shows “real-life human genitals or female-presenting nipples, and any content — including photos, videos, GIFs and illustrations — that depicts sex acts.” Before this, the platform’s lenient policies contrasted significantly with those of Facebook and Instagram, which …

The early-20th century German trans-rights activist who was decades ahead of his time

By Elizabeth Heineman The Trump administration continues its assault on transgender rights. In July 2017, Trump sought to bar transgender people from serving in the military. Then, this past October, The New York Times obtained a memo indicating that the administration was considering narrowly defining gender “as a biological, immutable condition determined by genitalia at …

Sexual orientation may be set by sex hormones in the uterus – new study by Kiwi and Europeans

Some women may be born gay because of the amounts of male and female sex hormones they were exposed to in the uterus, according to a new study. Based on a review of 460 scientific studies, New Zealand and European researchers argue that the quantities of testosterone and oestrogen may be crucial in understanding the …

I’ll Have What She’s Having: Books for Better Sex and Better Relationships

By Judith Newman Having recently found myself single again, I approached the latest crop of books on sex and relationships with more than scholarly interest. Anything new happen while I’ve been on ice for the past 25 years? Let’s find out. If you’ve ever had a sexual fantasy and thought, “Oh God, what’s wrong with …