Sex & Culture

Has the Internet Really Changed Anything About Sexuality?

Nothing could be more modern than the rise and fall of Ashley Madison: millions of world-wide members linked by a single website, the central promise of cyber-confidentiality, millions of phony profiles generated by algorithm, and the whole thing brought down by hackers—exposing not just the criminal business behavior, but the email addresses and IP information for millions of accounts, both real and fake. This ultra-modern story is also a reminder that the human heart hasn’t changed. I’m not talking about the good old-fashioned greed of unethical businessmen. I’m talking about the customers. People still want to connect. People still find…

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What Dads Can GIVE on Father’s Day

Two words: sex education. Yes dads, today is your day. And one of your gifts is that you’re in a unique position to help your kids grow strong and healthy. They need you to talk about what sex means to you, whether that involves pleasure or values or intimacy or self-expression. They need to know what was confusing or troubling for you about sex when you were their age. A story about how you coped back then may get both of you laughing together—if it doesn’t get you crying together. They need to know that masturbation is OK. They’re going…

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Why Bruce/Caitlyn Jenner Matters to Straight People

Alfred Kinsey said it best in 1948: the world is not so easily divided into sheeps and goats. In his ground-breaking surveys of Americans’ sex lives, Kinsey discovered that many “straight” people were not entirely straight. This finding has been confirmed many times by subsequent studies of both men and women. Back then, you were either 100% hetero-erotic in behavior, fantasy, and curiosity, or you were “queer,” a bucket of miscellaneous identities at the edge of the world. But Kinsey realized that sexual orientation isn’t that simple. And so he devised the Kinsey Scale, on which sexual orientation is not…

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Why Is Common Sense “Blaming the Victim”?

Be smart: * When you park your car, don’t leave valuables on the front seat, and don’t leave your car unlocked. * When you ride the bus or subway, keep your backpack or purse in front of you where you can see it. * When you travel by airplane, wash your hands multiple times and use hand sanitizer. * Don’t walk in a dangerous neighborhood alone at night. * When you drive on the freeway and someone is weaving unpredictably, change lanes to get away from them. * When you walk through an airport, don’t wear a t-shirt with Osama…

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Science & Sex—Why Are They Now Strangers?

Two weeks ago I had the privilege of speaking at NECSS—the Northeast Conference on Science & Skepticism. I was surrounded by world-class scientists, including Yale Med School neurologist Steve Novella, Stanford physicist Deborah Berebichez, Oxford neuroscientist Heather Berlin, and even Bill Nye The Science Guy. It was glorious—no explaining why science is important to everything we do or touch or think. Every one of the 600 attendees “believes” in gravity, evolution, and the Scientific Method. I started each of the conference’s three days in a wonderful bubble. But each day, news from the outside world was an ugly intruder—which, in…

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Speech Codes, PC Politics: When America is NOT “Charlie”

I am Charlie Hebdo, standing with Free Expression and against the violence that would destroy it. Perhaps you are Charlie Hebdo, too. But is America Charlie Hebdo? In many crucial ways, no, as America becomes more offended and less tolerant of free expression every day. Last week, I called CNN’s management cowards for refusing to show Charlie’s first post-massacre cover (it was neither obscene nor libelous). They self-righteously claimed their decision reflected respect and tolerance. Nonsense. Self-censorship to protect yourself from violence may be smart, but it expresses neither respect for others nor tolerance of diversity. Pathetically, The New York…

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