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 …

Encourage teens to discuss relationships, experts say

By Carolyn Crist Healthcare providers and parents should begin talking to adolescents in middle school about healthy romantic and sexual relationships and mutual respect for others, a doctors’ group urges. Obstetrician-gynecologists, in particular, should screen their patients routinely for intimate partner violence and sexual coercion and be prepared to discuss it, the Committee on Adolescent …

What the BDSM community can teach us about consent

By Olivia Cassano In heteronormative porn scripts, enthusiastic consent is about as common as a real female orgasm. However, there’s a fringe of mainstream society that actually knows how to practise affirmative consent, and one from whom the general community could learn a thing or two: BDSM enthusiasts. As it turns out, kinksters are the …

Encourage teens to discuss relationships, experts say

BY Carolyn Crist</a Healthcare providers and parents should begin talking to adolescents in middle school about healthy romantic and sexual relationships and mutual respect for others, a doctors’ group urges. Obstetrician-gynecologists, in particular, should screen their patients routinely for intimate partner violence and sexual coercion and be prepared to discuss it, the Committee on Adolescent …

What it really means to be in a dominant/submissive relationship

Real D/s relationships go beyond ‘Fifty Shades.’ By Tiffany Diane Tso When it comes to understanding BDSM, non-practitioners generally equate the kinky lifestyle with the chains, ropes, whips, and handcuffs found in Christian Grey’s “red room of pain” in Fifty Shades of Grey. And among the different elements included in the BDSM portmanteau (bondage and …

How To Have More Intimate Conversations

This Simple Shift Will Immediately Spark Intimacy In Your Conversations By Danielle Dowling, Psy.D. We’ve all been in a situation where we’re uncomfortably asking questions of the person we want to impress or connect with, only to find ourselves running the conversation into a brick wall. Connecting through conversation is an integral part of any …

What even the most vanilla among us can learn from the BDSM community

by Natalie Benway “Sex is not what you do, it’s a place you go.” —Esther Perel Americans carry a lot of anxiety about having an exciting sex life. This anxiety inspires Cosmopolitan, Redbook and the like to publish a steady stream of articles flouting “100 ways to spice up your sex life!” and “The top …