I’ve been telling people how to have safe anal sex for a long time and one consistent bit of information is that you need to use a lubricant. Lube makes anal sex feel better and reduces the risk of hurting delicate tissues, so it’s one of the key factors when exploring anal play. Imagine my surprise when I saw a link to an article on Carnal Nation with the headline New Research: Using Lube for Anal Sex May Increase STI & HIV Risk. Before I start talking about the problem with these and other headlines, I want to summarize the research.

First, there was a study that looked at statistical patterns among sexually transmitted infection (STI) rates and found that people using lube …

Continue reading The Slippery Slope of Reporting Sex Research: Anal Sex & Lubricants