Georgetown philosophy professor Quill R Kukla’s most recent book Sex Beyond “Yes”: Pleasure and Agency for Everyone is a much needed treatise on sexual pleasure. Sex, for many sexual subjects, is afflicted with a variety of contemporary concerns. Specifically, trauma, abuse, guilt, shame, and moral confusion are part and parcel of many a sex life. […]
New Book Gives Insight into Sex Work Decriminalization in New Zealand
Using the techniques of oral history, Cheryl Ware’s recently published book Untold Intimacies: A History of Sex Work in Aotearoa, 1978-2008 (Auckland University Press) tells the engaging personal stories of female and male sex workers in the periods both before and after New Zealand became the first country to effectively decriminalize the practice nationwide in […]
Magnetism Improves Female Sexual Arousal
A double-blind randomized control trial by Chinese researchers at the hospital of Xinjiang Medical University has shown the effectiveness of trans-cranial magnetic stimulation (TMS) of the dorsolateral pre-frontal cortex for improving female sexual arousal in response to erotic stimuli, and increasing sexual desire at least short-term. TMS is a medical treatment that uses magnetic pulses […]
What would Jesus do…with sex dolls?
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 […]
Detransitioners Are Not a Monolith
Critics of gender-affirming care often point to the growing number of “detransitioners” to support arguments against providing it to minors. Estimates of the number who detransition vary widely and its prevalence may ultimately be unknowable, since detransitioners may break off contact with their former medical providers. York University social work professor (and trans powerlifter) Kinnon […]
The Norma Jean Almodovar Papers
For all my sex work scholars and aficionados out there…you’ve just been gifted a treasure trove of research! Norma Jean Almodovar is a former Los Angeles traffic officer turned sex worker turned sex work activist and founder of the nonprofit International Sex Worker Foundation for Art, Culture, and Education (ISWFACE), and her personal archive of […]
Sex Work: It Does a Body (Image) Good
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 […]
Brazil Stalls Youth Gender Transition Services + Judith Butler’s Latest Treatise
Moves to limit minors’ access to medicalized gender transition are not unique to the U.S. and Europe. Under political pressure and tied up in litigation, even Brazil’s leftist government has announced it is rescinding an earlier proposal to lower the age at which hormones can be obtained from 18 to 16 and the age for […]
Paying for Pride: A Queer Conundrum Continued
Dr. Daniel Conway – Reader in Politics and International Relations at the University of Westminster, UK and a Research Associate at the Wits Centre for Diversity Studies, University of the Witwatersrand, Johannesburg – participated in the 13th Annual Conference of the Sexuality Studies Association in Toronto earlier this summer. His presentation was based on research from […]
Porn: fruitful or poisonous for couples?
A recent study from the Journal of Social and Personal Relationships analyzed pornography use in the context of coupled relationality. Specifically, the study considered the motivations behind pornography use and assessed how different motivations affected “daily dynamics” between partners. The results linked pornography as a solo project (for things like stress reduction or as a […]