Oh Guardian Science, you make me feel like a critical mother. I’m licking my thumb to smear dirt off your cheek, I’m poking you between the shoulder blades to make you stand up straight, I’m suggesting that maybe your recital would have gone better if you had just practiced more like I told you. I’m [...]
Imagine this: You get a guy in a room and you sit him down in front of a television. Let him strap a Rigiscan to his penis (exactly what it sounds like) and give him a dial he can tune up and down (“I feel a little aroused, I feel a lot aroused” etc), put [...]
This is another one of those things I forget people don’t know. Sensation is contextual. What I mean is, you know how when someone tickles you and you’re feeling all playful and fun and it’s enjoyable? And then there’s other times when you might be annoyed or bored and someone tickles you and it just [...]
This cracks me up, man. It’s the least fun experiment ever: we’ll show you pictures of naked women and you tell us how hot they are, BUT FIRST: stick your arm in this bucket of ice water for three minutes – and then while you’re looking at the naked ladies we’ll blast white noise in [...]
About a quarter of college age women haven’t had an orgasm, as far as they know. This post is for you. Your first orgasm will be easiest (a) when you are alone, (b) when you are using a vibrator, if available (see orgasm 3: vibration, and (c) when you aren’t trying to have an orgasm [...]
I hate to cook. I staved off malnutrition during grad school mostly by living with other people who enjoyed cooking. (Thanks Patrick.) These days, preferring to live on my own until there’s someone I want to live with for reasons other than their ability in the kitchen, I depend on NPR to keep me sane [...]
Last week’s This American Life episode is the classic 81 Words (this week you can download the MP3 at the link), about the removal of the homosexuality from the American Psychiatric Association’s Diagnostic and Statistical Manual (DSM), the bible of clinical diagnosis of mental health disorders in America. Diagnosis. Sexual orientation, gender identity, sexual dysfunction, [...]
We’re looking at What Women Want Wednesday again. This is the second in the I-don’t-know-how-many-parts series. This week women want… … to be wanted. I mean waaaaaanted. Without that feeling of being wanted… well, it’s awful to feel that your partner is only interested in sex generically and that you’re just the most readily available, [...]
I love when this happens. At the same time that I write about self-monitoring (spectatoring) and its effect on women’s orgasms, the NYT does me a favor and writes about self-monitoring (ironic monitoring) on sleep. Notice: different behavior, same dynamic. When you are trying to do something that would otherwise be a natural reaction of [...]
“Spectatoring” is the art of worrying about sex while you’re having it. Rather than paying attention to the pleasant and tingly things your body is experiencing, it’s like you’re floating above the bed watching, noticing how your breasts fall or the squish of cottage cheese on the back of your thigh or the roll at [...]