Lots of straight people are ashamed to admit they’ve had anal sex. The author explores why she was too. So I did it. I had anal sex. The day after, my boyfriend asked me if he could tell his friends that we had anal sex. I hesitated for a moment, and he added quickly that he […]
This originally appeared on Everyday Feminism. Republished here with permission. Three million Americans read Cosmopolitan, a popular women’s magazine that features articles on fashion, beauty, and—most famously—sex. It’s become somewhat of a cultural icon—the place where women go to seek information and advice about sexuality and relationships. And while women feeling empowered to take their […]
This originally appeared on Alternet.org. Republished here with permission. Since I came out over a decade ago, I’ve been a virulent defender of bisexuality. I’ve written numerous articles, dispelled stupid myths, and gotten in far too many heated arguments about the misunderstood goth teenager of sexual identities. While I’m done getting in knife fights over […]
Sex-positivity is not advocating for any particular quantity or form of sexual expression. Rather, it is about ownership, agency, self-awareness, and respect, says Emily Heist Moss. Last week, activist Kelly Rose Pflug-Back wrote a Huffington Post piece called “Why Sex-Positive Feminism is Negative for Me.” Given that I’m a vocal advocate and documented subscriber to […]
Penis-in-vagina sex isn’t the only kind of sex, and Emily Heist Moss gives four reasons why folks need to stop saying that it is. “Did you have sex?” “Well….” “How could that possibly be a complicated question?” “We did stuff, you know…other stuff, but we didn’t… “ “Oh. Yeah. No, that doesn’t count.” I have […]
Empowering as these campaigns may be for some women, have we taken the focus off of the cancer itself? A physically fit, presumably young woman sits perched on the edge of a wooden chair, her back to us, naked save for a pair of black underwear. Her arms reach for the sky; strung between her […]
Television is the closest thing we have to mass communicated cultural values. If we can shift it toward a depiction of sexuality that places equal value on female pleasure and female desire, that’s a win. The Scene: Young country pop star Juliette Barnes, blonde and beautiful, lounges in bed. She wriggles, sighs, and frustratedly pulls […]
This originally appeared on Alternet.org. Republished here with permission. Like many women, I’ve been sexualized since before I really knew what sex was. The honking, leering, and whistling began when I was about 11 years old, and it happened almost everywhere in my Mexican working-class neighborhood. On a few occasions, men followed me in their […]
This originally appeared on Alternet.org. Republished here with permission. Like medieval German poetry, lesbians (and bisexuals, heteroflexibles, queers, pansexuals, and womyn-loving wimmin) are frequently misunderstood. Sure, you may have read about them in a Women’s Studies class, glimpsed them briefly on Grey’s Anatomy, or in the plaster aisle at Home Depot, but it’s a rare […]
People are quick to label things as “obscene” these days—including teen girls’ online photos and pop star performances. So Soraya Chemaly wants to clarify what obscene really means when it comes to girls, women, bodies, what they do, what they’re for, and what happens to them in our country. Earlier this month, hot on the […]
This originally appeared on Everyday Feminism. Republished here with permission. I thought about titling this article “Four Questions about Virginity That I’d Be Happy Never to Answer Again” because, really, that’s how I feel. As a sex educator, I find that I do a lot less eye-opening education about theory and psychosociology than I do […]
Originally appeared on Alternet.org. Republished here with permission. Pervasive urban legends linger about aging and sex, perhaps due to America’s lack of interest in its elder citizens. An enormous and depressingly ignorant chasm lies between anatomical fact and sexual mythology. Unfortunately, sexual urban legends persist long after people have clumsily screwed themselves out of their […]
