New study finds girls feel unprepared for puberty

[G]irls from low-income families in the U.S. are unprepared for puberty and have largely negative experiences of this transition, according to researchers at Columbia University’s Mailman School of Public Health and the Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health. Their latest paper on the puberty experiences of African-American, Caucasian, and Hispanic girls living mostly in …

Why Generation Tinder won’t go back to dating ‘the old-fashioned way’

By Jenny Noyes “My most memorable Tinder date?” Kate Iselin gestures as if to say get ready. “It was a gentleman who invited me to lunch, took me to the food court at Martin Place and showed me a photo of his penis. Soft.” It’s not the fondest memory Iselin – a writer and former …

For Veterans, Trauma Of War Can Persist In Struggles With Sexual Intimacy

By Ailsa Chang [M]uch has been said about the physical and psychological injuries of war, like traumatic brain injury or post-traumatic stress disorder. But what we talk about less is how these conditions affect the sexual relationships of service members after they return from combat. Since 2000, service members who were deployed received at least …

Caught in the modesty bind: Why women feel shy to consult doctors for their sexual well-being

By Aditi Mallick “I was 17, when I first got sexually intimate with my boyfriend,” says Kriya (name changed), a 23-year-old IT professional from Hyderabad, while speaking to The News Minute. “Later we were very scared, as it was the first time for both of us,” she recalls. She missed her periods that month. The …

5 Radical Ways People Do Non-Monogamy That You Need to Know About

by Joamette Gil [Y]ou might know about the type of non-monogamy that gets most mainstream media attention. But do you know about these other relationship styles outside the status quo? This comic sheds light on the types of non-monogamy that tend to get ignored. Whether non-monogamy’s for you or not, you can probably learn something from …

Women with HIV, after years of isolation, coming out of shadows

By Erin Allday Anita Schools wakes at dawn most days, though she usually lazes in bed, watching videos on her phone, until she has to get up to take the HIV meds that keep her alive. The morning solitude ends abruptly when her granddaughter bursts in and they curl up, bonding over graham crackers. Schools, …

Inside the fascinating world of a feeder fetish

By Mamamia Team “I wanna enjoy every single pound,” says Tammy Jung, “and every inch of me that grows.” Tammy Jung is a ‘feedee’ or a ‘gainer’. That is to say, she engages in Feeder Fetishism. Feederism is a sub-category of fat fetishism, where individuals harbour a strong or even exclusive sexual attraction to people who …