Topic: Sex

Iceland's Plan to Ban Porn Is Impossible

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Before you get all worked up about what "degrading" porn looks like or make a free-speech argument, here's an outline of Iceland's would-be policy, and why it might not work anyway.

By J.K. Trotter

Feb 19, 2013

Wesleyan Students Had Way Too Much Fun at This Museum's Dinosaur Exhibit

A bunch of Wesleyan seniors were kicked out of a Connecticut museum this past weekend after some of them were caught having sex and consuming drugs in a bathroom, vomiting over a stairwell railing, and mounting a (possibly animatronic) dinosaur.

Comments | 22,560 Views

By Adam Clark Estes

Feb 13, 2013

Happy Valentine's Day: CDC Announces an 'Ongoing, Severe Epidemic' of STDs

Timing is everything in the disease business, which is probably why the United States Centers for Disease Control waited until Valentine's Day Eve to announce that the United States is home to 110 million sexually transmitted diseases.

Comments | 15,155 Views

By David Wagner

Jan 30, 2013

Today in Research

Should We Believe Research That Says Men Who Do More Chores Have Less Sex?

Discovered: Does sex really vanish when men do more chores?; weighing black holes; why you should get most of your eating in before 3:00 p.m.; a quarter-billion year old tapeworm. 

Comments | 2,022 Views

By Rebecca Greenfield

Jan 29, 2013

How Video Sharing Apps Keep Porn Out

Just like Vine, pretty much any of the other "Instagram for video" platforms that have come out in the last couple of years have experienced an inundation of inappropriate content.

Comments | 2,069 Views

By Rebecca Greenfield

Jan 28, 2013

What Twitter Can Do About the 'Human Error' Behind Its Latest Porn Problem

Twitter was quick to defend itself Monday morning after a pornographic clip briefly made its way in front of all users on the Editor's Picks of its new app, but how much of a porn problem does Vine already have?

Comments | 690 Views

By Adam Clark Estes

Jan 27, 2013

Vine Has a Porn Problem Because Of Course It Does

It's actually pretty surprising that it took everyone three days to figure out that Twitter's new cell phone camera-powered video sharing app, Vine, is perfect for porn.

Comments | 17,846 Views

By Richard Lawson

Jan 22, 2013

The Smart Set

Sundance's Scandalous (Simulated) Sex Party

Today in celebrity gossip: CAA's seedy party at the Sundance Film Festival has tongues wagging, Taylor Swift heads to London, and Lindsay Lohan says no to reality TV. 

Comments | 13,942 Views

By David Wagner

Jan 21, 2013

Today in Research

Quadruple-Helix DNA Exists, and It Might Be Giving Us Cancer

Discovered: Some of our DNA is four-stranded, and that's not a good thing; the brain's selfishness center; men who can't smell don't have much sex; hearing loss foreshadows mental decline.

Comments | 13,151 Views

By David Wagner

Jan 16, 2013

Today in Research

Racial Segregation Raises Lung Cancer Risk for African-Americans

Discovered: Racial separation corresponds with more lung cancer; barnacles have gross sex; social interaction is genetic in ants; Facebook is more memorable than books for many people.

Comments | 735 Views

By Dashiell Bennett

Jan 4, 2013

The Church of England Still Won't Let Its Gay Bishops Have Sex

On Friday the Church of England announced that it's decided that to allow gay clergy to be elevated to bishop, even if they are in a civil partnership — provided they aren't actually having sex with anyone.

Comments | 1,551 Views

By David Wagner and Jen Doll

Dec 28, 2012

Year in Review

The Great Book Scandals of 2012

Books — staid and intellectual cultural artifacts that they so often are — were not all just staid or intellectual this year. Not nearly. There were, in fact, publishing scandals, dramas, and plot twists galore. Oh, and Philip Roth.

Comments | 5,145 Views

By Alexander Abad-Santos

Dec 19, 2012

Here's a Video of George Takei Reading '50 Shades of Grey'

Every day The Atlantic Wire highlights the video clips that truly earn your five minutes (or less) of attention.

Comments | 2,242 Views

By Rebecca Greenfield

Dec 12, 2012

It's Harder to Find Porn on Google Now

Relax. Google hasn't blocked all the most explicit results from its search tool — it's just made those raunchy photos a little more difficult to find.

Comments | 4,468 Views

By Esther Zuckerman

Dec 7, 2012

How Critics Awkwardly Described That 'Hyde Park on Hudson' FDR Sex Scene

What's a serious film critic to do when one of our great presidents' rather undecorous act plays out on film? Herein, a compendium of quotes.

Comments | 3,290 Views

By David Wagner

Nov 30, 2012

Harvard Is Just the Latest Ivy League School to Embrace Kinky Sex

Did you hear about crazy Harvard, approving that crazy new BDSM sex club? Actually, they're hardly the first Ivy League school to recognize an organization for kinky students.

Comments | 10,636 Views

By David Wagner and Esther Zuckerman

Nov 21, 2012

'Fifty Shades' or Actual Literature? A Bad-Sex-Award Quiz

E.L. James's series was never even in contention for this year's Bad Sex in Fiction Award, since it's shelved under erotica, apparently. Can you tell the difference between these Fifty Shades excerpts and this year's nominees?

Comments | 1,879 Views

By Connor Simpson

Nov 13, 2012

Elmo Can Go Back to Being Sweet and Innocent Again

The man who accused Kevin Clash, the beloved voice of Sesame Street's Elmo, of having sex with him while he was still underage has gone back on his story. It's safe to like Elmo again! 

Comments | 1,629 Views

By Richard Lawson

Oct 19, 2012

Movie Review

Losin' It: 'The Sessions' & 'The First Time'

Today we review two new movies about losing one's virginity, the drama The Sessions and the teen comedy The First Time.

Comments | 4,081 Views

By Jen Doll

Oct 16, 2012

The French Are Not Impressed by 'Cinquante Nuances de Grey'

Fifty Shades of Grey, according to The Guardian's Paris correspondant Kim Willsher, is not enamoring the French un iota of its alleged sexiness.

Comments | 1,552 Views

By David Wagner

Oct 15, 2012

Koreans Are Free to Read the Marquis de Sade; E-Book Refund Emails Hit Inboxes

Today in books and publishing: E-book buyers notified about refunds; de Sade ban struck down in South Korea; California high school bans Stephen King; Ian McEwan likes his books short and sweet. 

Comments | 862 Views

By Dashiell Bennett

Oct 15, 2012

Study: HPV Vaccine Doesn't Turn Girls into Sex Maniacs

A new study shoots big holes in one of the major criticisms of the HPV vaccine, by showing that young girls don't become more promiscuous after getting shots to protect against the sexually transmitted disease.

Comments | 4,459 Views

By Richard Lawson

Oct 5, 2012

Movie Review

'The Paperboy' & 'Taken 2': Here Come the Sex Monsters

Today we review two new films, the strange sex drama The Paperboy and the predictable thriller Taken 2.

Comments | 5,768 Views

By Jen Doll

Sep 28, 2012

All Is Fair in Bondage and Book Sales

There is no end to what the erotic Fifty Shades book series might do, even as we thought or rather hoped the fervor had faded, as least somewhat, for other fare. Still, there are 32 million copies sold in the U.S. They're not going anywhere, yet.

Comments | 817 Views

By Jen Doll

Sep 24, 2012

Give Premarital Sex a Chance

We've all heard the schoolchildren's chant that goes, basically, "First comes love, then comes marriage, then comes a baby in a baby carriage," or some iteration thereof. Of course, in this day and age, that's not always the chronology at all.

Comments | 6,820 Views

By Jen Doll

Sep 20, 2012

Y.A. for Grownups

Teen Reads Better Than 'Fifty Shades'

As Teen Lit RocksSandie Angulo Chen puts it, "To be honest, some of the sexiest books -- to me -- don't necessarily go all the way."

Comments | 11,178 Views

By Alexander Abad-Santos

Sep 6, 2012

Putin on Group Sex: It's Great for People Who Like Breaks

"Some fans say that group sex is better than one-on-one because, like in any collective work, you can take it easy a bit," said Russian President Vladimir Putin.

Comments | 6,380 Views

By Jen Doll

Aug 13, 2012

Sex and the Single Girl: The Legacy of Helen Gurley Brown

Helen Gurley Brown has died at the age of 90. Before she started her Cosmopolitan magazine there was her bestselling book, Sex and the Single Girl. Published in 1962, it sold 2 million copies in 3 weeks.

Comments | 3,540 Views

By Jen Doll

Jul 31, 2012

Is the Tyranny of the 'Sexy Mom' Really Just the Tyranny of Sexy?

This week, Time's Susanna Schrobsdorff took on an issue that you may not have known existed: Were you aware that all over America, and perhaps globally, people are being tyrannized by "sexy" moms?

Comments | 10,863 Views

By Jen Doll

Jun 25, 2012

The Summer of Objectification Has Apparently Begun

Everything is now sexualized and objectified. We can blame the Internet, or we can blame ourselves. 

Comments | 4,066 Views

By Adam Martin

Jun 13, 2012

Yes, U.K. Cops Can Have Sex With Perps

Sometimes when you're an officer of the law you have to go above and beyond the call of duty, and if that means having sex with someone you're investigating, well, that's OK for U.K. cops.

Comments | 951 Views

By Adam Martin

Jun 12, 2012

India's Potential New Consent Law Would Criminalize Teenage Sex

It's weird to read about a human rights activist calling a law against having sex with children "stupid," but that's what we saw in The New York Times' India Ink story about a push to raise the age of consent there.

Comments | 2,409 Views

By Elspeth Reeve

Jun 8, 2012

D.C.'s 'Secret Sex Culture' Is Like Sex Culture Everywhere, but with Less Sex

Washington people are very excited by reporter Marc Ambinder's claim that there is a whole lot of secret sex going on in the city.

Comments | 2,363 Views

By Jen Doll

May 24, 2012

Should We Care if Bill Clinton Posed with Porn Stars?

By now you've seen the photo of Bill Clinton with the porn stars, the one that began circulating on Twitter last evening and is now in Page Six, and in various other tabloids, along with faux shocked headlines like "What would Hillary say?"

Comments | 14,374 Views

By Jen Doll

May 16, 2012

Everything We Do While Dating Is Creepy and Potentially Viral

We love to talk about relationships, good and bad, and probably always will. Most especially, we love it when we think people are doing them wrong.

Comments | 7,024 Views

By Jen Doll

May 10, 2012

Our Complicated Relationship with Breasts

The matter inflaming the Internet this Thursday is one of breasts. Particularly, a bare boob, tucked neatly into the mouth of a 3-year-old boy, on the cover of Time magazine.

Comments | 21,209 Views

By Jen Doll

Apr 17, 2012

Harvard Sex Week and the Next Wave of the Sexual Revolution

Just because we can have casual sex, should we? Questions for a sexually-revolutionized world. 

Comments | 7,401 Views

By Jen Doll

Apr 16, 2012

The Fetishization of Female Fantasies Goes Mainstream

I read Newsweek's much-discussed Katie Roiphe article, "Spanking Goes Mainstream," so you don't have to.

Comments | 6,551 Views

By John Hudson

Apr 3, 2012

Men Are Basically Terrible for the Environment

If environmental stewardship turned into some sort of epic battle of the sexes, men would get clobbered.

Comments | 2,444 Views

By Rebecca Greenfield

Mar 23, 2012

Today in Research

Gynecologists Don't Talk About Sex Enough; Living Alone Is Depressing

Discovered: OB-GYNs aren't talking about sex enough, living alone is depressing, C-sections are too expensive, and there's a new type of land mass in town. 

Comments | 4,373 Views

By Rebecca Greenfield

Mar 20, 2012

Today in Research

Everyone Has ADHD; Exercise Can Lead to Female Orgasms

Discovered: Even more ADHD diagnoses than before, science proves the exercise orgasm myth, space is bad for your eyes, pediatricians are racist and a plane that could break the sound barrier

Comments | 8,534 Views

By Jen Doll

Mar 14, 2012

The Mommy Madam Case Just Got a Little More Interesting

We're back in business with the Mommy Madam story: Jaynie Mae Baker, the matchmaker accused of being Anna Gristina's second in command, turned herself in Tuesday.

Comments | 3,460 Views

By Jen Doll

Mar 7, 2012

What You Should Know About the Upper East Side 'Mommy Madam'

The Upper East Side "Mommy Madam," Anna Gristina, 44, who was charged yesterday with promoting prostitution is getting a lot of attention in the tabloids today. While no client list has been released, the details coming out about Gristina's personal life are fascinating.

Comments | 11,378 Views

By Jen Doll

Mar 6, 2012

Uggs-Loving Upper East Side Madame Had Some Pretty Fancy Clients

It's not every day that a married "Ugg-wearing" soccer mom with four kids gets busted for operating a prostitution ring out of an apartment on East 78th Street. Thus, New York Post editors are making the most of it, with an array of porny stock photos and puns.

Comments | 3,665 Views

By Jen Doll

Feb 2, 2012

Survey: Women Are from Mars, Men Are Adorable, Republicans Are Best in Bed

Ooh-ee. Match.com has released their second annual "Singles in America" study, and the information contained within ranges from scintillating to as approximately tepid as a lukewarm bath. Which is not unpleasant, really. 

Comments | 3,826 Views

By Rebecca Greenfield

Jan 27, 2012

Today in Research

Lubrication Can Be Good, Caffeine Can Be Bad

Discovered: lube works, caffeine alters estrogen levels, rap meets medicine and conspiracy theorists don't care about the truth. 

Comments | 5,732 Views

By Adam Clark Estes

Dec 9, 2011

Yeshiva University Is in an Uproar Over a Not-Very-Saucy Sex Column

An anonymous account of two Yeshiva University students' hot night in a hotel room in the campus paper includes no NSFW details, no naughty cameraphone snaps, nor even a bad word, but the the Orthodox Jewish university in New York City is nonetheless up in arms over the a pre-marital sex column.

Comments | 1,612 Views

By Alexander Abad-Santos

Nov 30, 2011

Spatwatch

Is the Difference Between These Two Ads Homophobia?

The Players: Manhunt, a gay dating site founded in 2001 with over 6.5 million members and their new, racy, gay billboards; Kelly Cole, co-president of the Valley View elementary PTA who thinks those ads are too racy and gay.

Comments | 12,419 Views

By Dino Grandoni

Nov 15, 2011

Chart of the Day

Fewer Teens Are Having Sex These Days

Fewer kids today are losing their virginity during their teenage years than they were just a decade ago, according to the latest report on teenagers' sexual activity from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. 

Comments | 9,486 Views

By Richard Lawson

Nov 9, 2011

What We Watched

'Glee' Gives Good Loving

Last night saw the unveiling of a "controversial," sex-filled episode of Glee that wound up being pretty darn good. 

Comments | 4,742 Views

By Alexander Abad-Santos

Oct 12, 2011

80% of Teen Boys Are Using Condoms for Their First Time

Well, at least they're being responsible

Comments | 884 Views

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