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When Viagra was first discovered as an erection-enhancing medication, it was an accident. It was originally formulated as a blood pressure medication and during clinical trials, they discovered what else it could do. Since then, the market for erection medications has grown tremendously and the competition is stiff. (OK, that was unnecessary, but I needed to get it out of my system.) So it isn’t a surprise that pharmaceutical companies are looking for an equivalent product for women. However, as the film Orgasm Inc. documents, the efforts to find a “pink Viagra” haven’t met with much success.
One of the main reasons is that the attempts to find a sex-enhancing medication for women are focusing on increasing arousal. But Viagra and other erection medications don’t …
Continue reading Arousal, Erection, and the Search for “Female Viagra”
If you’re a regular reader here, you’ve probably seen some posts about Scarleteen.com. That’s because it’s an amazing organization and it’s one of a very few sexuality resources for young people that offers accurate and direct information without judging or shaming them.
They’ve just launched a new database project and it’s going to be amazing. Here it is, in their own words:
One of the best ways to find quality sexual healthcare and other in-person help services is by asking people we know and trust for a recommendation. But that can be difficult, especially for young people: so many are either ashamed about sexual healthcare and other related services, or are afraid that disclosing they’ve gotten care will result in a breach of their
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Continue reading Announcing Scarleteen’s New Provider Database- Add Your Organization Now!
This post first appeared on the Good Vibrations Magazine.
The Sydney Morning Herald posted an article about medical doctors downplaying the possible impact of prostate cancer treatments on erectile function. Apparently, many of them are concerned that men will avoid or discontinue treatment, rather than risk losing the ability to have an erection.
All of the current treatments for prostate cancer have the risk of sexual side effects. That’s because the nerves that cause erection run right alongside the prostate and they can get damaged really easily. Even when the nerves aren’t actually hurt, they can go into shock from the process of being moved during surgery. Fortunately, they can often recover from that, but it takes time.
According to Anne Katz, PhD, author …
Continue reading Some Doctors Downplay Effects of Prostate Cancer Treatments
We usually hear about sexual health in very cisgender-normative language. Men need prostate exams, women need gynecological exams. But transgender people have just as much reason to get sexual health medical care as anyone else. So I’m thrilled to share these public service announcements from the amazing Buck Angel. It’s about time that someone started getting the word out that medical care is about your anatomy, not your gender.
Please pass these along and help get the word out.
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Continue reading Buck Angel’s PSA: Sexual Health for Trans Folks
I often say that whatever is going on in your life shows up in your sex life. Usually, though, I’m talking about how relationship dynamics, unspoken resentments, unresolved issues, or old emotions can affect things. It’s really common for individuals and couples to seek a therapist for help with their sex lives when the real problem is something else- arguments about money, stress about work, communication falling apart or such. Quite often, when those concerns are resolved, sex suddenly becomes much easier. While sexual difficulties may be the initial reason for getting support, they’re not always the actual challenge.
There’s more and more information coming out about how similar patters can emerge on a physical/medical level, too. According to this report on ScienceDaily.com, erectile …
Continue reading Erectile Dysfunction and Men’s Health
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
I just received this information from Advocates for Youth. The US is the largest donor in sexual and reproductive health and the Global Sexual and Reproductive Health Act of 2010 would further strengthen U.S. foreign assistance and our global leadership in health. It would also combine maternal health care, family planning services, and STI/HIV testing and treatment. There are other
This is long overdue. Please take a moment to read the letter below and click on the link to contact your representative to ask them to support this important legislation.
Today, Representative Yvette Clarke (D-11th NY) introduced a groundbreaking piece of legislation that would fundamentally transform U.S. foreign assistance policy regarding sexual and reproductive health.
The Global Sexual and Reproductive Health Act of …
Continue reading Support The Global Sexual and Reproductive Health Act of 2010
This article first appeared in the Good Vibrations magazine.
Via Carnal Nation
The fact that a lot of money gets spent on erection pills isn’t news. And there are lots of reasons why someone might choose to use them. But one common reason is the desire to improve “male sexual performance”.
The focus on sexual performance is problematic for several reasons. When sex is a performance, it’s something that we do for an audience. That audience might be a partner or it might be the critical voices that we have internalized. And when sex is done for an audience, it becomes much harder to explore our authentic sexual desires because they might come into conflict with our or our partner’s expectations.
Sex as a …
Continue reading Sexual Performance and the Risks of Erection Pills
I got pointed to a thread on Fetlife about switching from anal sex to oral sex (ass to mouth, or ATM in porn parlance) so I went on over to take a look. (For those who aren’t familiar with it, Fetlife is a social networking site for the BDSM crowd. You’ll need to log in to see the discussion.)
As usual, the debate centers on whether doing ATM without cleaning up is unsafe. Some people are arguing that unless you already have hepatitis or some other infection, you can’t get it from ATM and therefore it’s reasonably safe. Since there’s a fair amount of confusion on this, I decided to ask an expert.
I contacted a public health nurse who tracks certain diseases, gets people …
Continue reading The Risks of ATM
The New York Times has an article about yet another pharmaceutical intervention to “improve” sex. This one is for premature ejaculation (aka PE), a notoriously difficult-to-define situation.
Throughout the history of sexology, different researchers have tried to come up with a good working definition of the term. Masters and Johnson (that’s a photo of them, BTW. Click on it for more info about them) used it if the guy came before his (female) partner. Others have set the minimum sufficient time for intercourse at two minutes, while Sciele Parma, the folks who are manufacturing this new drug peg it at one minute. By comparison, many sex therapists say that premature ejaculation is when the situation causes distress for either or both partners.
Now, I …
Continue reading Another Step Towards the Medicalization of Sex
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