Heteronormativity is a cultural, social, and political framework that institutionalizes heterosexuality as the standard and preferred sexual orientation. Heteronormative familial discourses play a significant role in socializing children, and what makes them so influential is their ability to naturalize certain behaviors and desires. Children are taught that “this is how things are” or “how things should […]
In a defamation action brought by a man with a decades-old conviction for statutory rape involving a consensual relationship with a 15-year old while he was in his 20s, a federal court ruled against him, finding that it is “substantially true” to call such an individual a “pedophile” even though nothing in his background or […]
A study of approximately 400,000 UK and Australian adults, mostly middle-aged and older, reveals that about 1% of the population goes through life without ever having experienced any form of sexual intercourse. The study found sexlessness is associated with a range of genetic, environmental, physical and mental factors – but much still remains unclear. Among […]
Are sex dolls Immoral? Researchers at UK’s Nottingham Trent University have developed a scale to measure public attitudes toward the use of sex dolls, which have in recent years become highly realistic and are being purchased by a growing number of mainly male users. Men who obtain such dolls are commonly stereotyped as immoral, sexually […]
A recent study published in the Sexuality and Culture explored sex workers’ relationship to body image. Although sex work can ofcourse lead to sexual objectification, the study found that sex work can also act as a productive enabler of body positivity. Participants in the study described experiences of receiving positive feedback about their bodies from […]
Hot off the press! Second Coming: Sex and the Next Generation’s Fight Over Its Future explores Gen Z’s sex lives (or lack thereof!) and dissects some of the social, political, and psychological factors that may be contouring young people’s sexual subjectivity. Journalist Carter Sherman compares the different brands of sexual speculation that cyclically plagues each new […]
Children’s Hospital of Los Angeles announces closure of its gender clinic, one of the nation’s largest and most aggressive providers of gender-affirming care for minors, citing the potential loss of federal funding for the entire hospital. The clinic’s director, Dr. Johanna Olson-Kennedy, is a controversial figure who has drawn fire from critics for advocating immediate […]
See the latest study of the growing incel (involuntary celibate) population, published open access in Archives of Sexual Behavior. 561 male subjects in the US and UK were recruited from an online Incel forum. Contrary to common stereotypes they are not particularly right-wing and 42% of the sample were non-white. Their mental health is poor, […]
Justice secretary Shabana Mahmood of the United Kingdom is considering options for expanding chemical castration treatments for sex offenders. Chemical castration combines drugs with therapy to lower testosterone levels with the aim to lower one’s sex drive. There are currently chemical castration pilot programs happening in English prisons, but they are on a voluntary basis. […]
Channel 4 – a British public-service broadcaster out of the United Kingdom – has produced a new reality TV show that follows 12 virgins who get sent to an island to face their virginity and tap into their desires – aka: get laid. Therapists, intimacy coaches, and other “professionals” are available to help the virgins […]
