If you’re a regular reader, you know I’m not a huge fan of the tone of the writing over at XOJane. It’s a bit too flippant, unnecessarily pseudo-sexual and quasi-controversial for my taste, as I made plain in my criticism of Jane Pratt’s May essay on miscarriage, in which she used her boobs as the lede. That being said, I want to back one of Jane’s writers up on her recent post about not using condoms, because, well, I’m not using them right now, either. Continue reading »

Normally, I want to kick Camille Paglia but she might be onto something with this essay in the New York Times.

The FDA recently rejected one effort to market Viagra to women, but several research teams are racing to find a magic cure for women’s lackluster desire. Paglia argues that lust can’t be bottled, and the folks trying to create a pill to solve this problem are looking in the wrong place.

Instead of insufficient body chemistry, Paglia goes after her favorite sacrificial goat: modern family life. White, middle class professionals have erased gender roles to the point where sex just isn’t hot anymore, she argues. Affluent white parents spend so much time supporting each other’s careers and co-parenting, they just aren’t different enough to create sparks between the sheets.

There’s a flaw in her thinking, though. Recent research shows that parents across ethnic and class lines all give up on sex about equally.

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Good news for would-be moms: there is sex after babies. And it’s hot.

That’s the spin Rita Arens of BlogHer puts on a study released by iVillage earlier this month. They interviewed 2,000 married women and came up with some data about who’s doing what, when, where and how they feel about it.

The results were a lot better than conventional wisdom would have us believe.

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If the Food and Drug Administration panel approves it next month, women would have access to a pill that could help to increase their sexual desire and satisfaction.

The drug, called flibanserin, was initially developed to treat depression, but instead, has been found to boost the female sex drive. 

According to research, 10% of women may suffer from HSDD, an unexplained loss of sexual thoughts and desire that can cause emotional problems. Continue reading »

File this under: you can find a research scientist to say almost anything. London’s Daily Mail (a newspaper that will quote almost anything) yesterday got its hands on a study from a vet in Perth, Australia who writes that human reproduction is a “fairly inefficient” process, and that improvements in IVF (found to work far better than the natural method in cattle) will mean that future parents will skip all those months of coital drudgery in favor of a trip to the specialist.

Judging from readers’ responses, most London women are convinced that they are not cows.
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On the heels of Geraldine Seeley’s moving piece about losing her sex drive while on The Pill, Time reports on some data to back up her anecdote. A major study has finally asked whether or not hormonal contraception dampens women’s sex drive.

The answer, basically, is probably.

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“Carolyn, don’t have sex.”  That was the birds-and-the-bees talk I got from my Mom.  I was 22.  If only she’d told me that when I was 16, the year I lost my virginity.  (While listening to Somebody by Depeche Mode on repeat, I might add.  Though I think it only took one rendition of the song.)  It was the early 90′s and my first love and I were tragically star-crossed.  I felt guilty after we had sex – thank you, Catholicism – so he broke up with me while DJing at the local college radio station.  He dedicated U2′s You’re So Cruel to me by saying, “This is for Carolyn.  She’ll know what it means.”  My heart was broken, but it’s okay.  We’re Facebook friends now.

My mother didn’t talk to me about sex before age 22 because she just didn’t think I was interested or capable before then.  It turns out, she’s not alone.  MSNBC recently reported on a study published in the May issue of Symbolic Interaction that asserts most parents don’t believe their teenagers want to or will have sex.

Sinikka Elliott, an assistant professor of sociology at North Carolina State University and the author of the forthcoming book, Not My Kid: Parents and Teen Sexuality, found that despite thinking their own kids won’t have sex, parents “view their teens’ peers as highly sexual, even sexually predatory.” Continue reading »