A new meta-analysis combining data from 28 studies suggests that sexual and gender minorities are not only at increased risk of mental health problems, but also have more difficulty in regulating their emotions. This is usually ascribed to “minority stress,” but that thesis is undercut by the finding that bisexuals experienced greater problems with emotional […]
New Study of Nonbinary
A growing number of young people today identify as “nonbinary,” but that identity has been little examined by researchers. Popular opinion tends to see “nonbinary” merely as a more tentative version of “trans.” However, it is quite distinct. A team of researchers from Bristol, UK, has undertaken qualitative interviews with 105 self-identified nonbinary persons recruited […]
One-third of Bisexual Men are Autogynephilic
An internet survey of 254 bi-sexual men finds that over one-third of them are not really attracted to men, but to the idea of being treated like a woman by men. They have no desire to penetrate other men, but only to be penetrated in scenarios that are often masochistic. Their conventional attraction to women […]
Pornography Is Not “Inherently Harmful”
A parliamentary report from New South Wales in Australia offers a more nuanced view of pornography than is seen in most politically influenced studies. Although finding that Australian teens first access online pornography at an average age of 13, the report suggests they are more sophisticated consumers than is often recognized: they understand it is […]
Sex Researchers Create Their Own Porn
A research project from Portugal has developed three standardized pornographic film clips meant for use in testing heterosexual male subjects’ ability to recognize and appropriately respond to a woman’s cues expressing consent or non-consent. Each 90-second film clip depicted the face of the same actress experiencing intercourse with an off-camera male: in one she showed […]
When Referring to Your Lady Bits, Words Matter
A new study examined the terms women use to name their genitals and their associations with genital attitudes, sexual pleasure, and genital health behaviors across both non-sexual and sexual contexts. The findings of this study provide the first empirical evidence linking genital naming to women’s GSI, sexual-, and health-related well-being, affirming that the words women […]
Another Good Reason to Workout?
Women can experience exercise-induced orgasm (EIO) and exercise-induced arousal (EIA) during exercise or physical activities that are vigorous, repetitive, or demanding of core abdominal muscles, usually apart from sexual situations and without direct genital stimulation. In a qualitative study based on interviews with 21 adult women, researchers aimed to understand women’s lived experiences with EIO/EIA. […]
Gender Trouble Again
Conceiving of gender and sex as binary concepts is a stubborn means of categorization that has long limited human understanding of important aspects of identity and experience. In most cultures humans become binary subjects at birth in two major ways: 1) we are corralled into either male or female sexed body designations based on anatomical […]
Is Non-Affirming Counseling for Gender Dysphoria “Conversion Therapy”?
On October 7, the US Supreme Court heard oral arguments in Chiles v. Salazar, the case challenging Colorado’s ban on counseling for gender dysphoria that does not seek to affirm gender transition as the best path forward for the patient. Much of the legal debate concerns whether psychotherapy is medical treatment (conduct that can be […]
Adolescent Sexual Fluidity
A study of 1,513 Swedish adolescents from age 14 to 17 reveals a surprising degree of variation in sexual orientation during this developmental phase. Most striking is the fluidity of those who at some point in their trajectory identify as lesbian or gay: only 17.6% of girls and 29.4% of boys who so identify did […]