Nobody hates doing this more than me, but I have to bring up a recent episode of the Tyra Banks show (sorry, I know).  This brilliant installment centered on what Tyra referred to as “Gay for Pay,” and featured numerous heterosexual men in heterosexual relationships (some married, some not) who worked in the gay porn industry, i.e., were “gay for pay.”  For what amounted to one very long hour, Tyra and her horrified audience went back and forth over whether the men were really straight, and calling them out as gay or bisexual. Their reasoning; no real straight man would ever engage in same sex behavior, or god forbid, allow themselves to be aroused by any form of homosexuality, under any circumstances.  What was especially infuriating was that if these had been heterosexually identified women up on stage, first off, there wouldn’t have been a show to begin with, and secondly, I doubt people would have questioned their sexuality to the extent they did the men. 

Society may have come along way in terms of our sexual rights and freedoms, but in many ways, it is still as restrictive as ever. Particularly when it comes to male sexuality, the...

Turns out the old story about a pervy man lurking around youth-oriented chat rooms is just that – a story.  Or at least not as extensive as NBC’s “To Catch a Predator” would have you believe (then again, there’s a fine line between catching a predator and creating one…) According to a new report commissioned by 49 state attorneys generals looking into the sordid affair that is on-line solicitation of minors, the dangers have been grossly exaggerated.   The 278 page report, compiled by the Internet Safety Technical Task Force, was the end-result of year long meetings between dozens of academics, childhood safety experts and executives of 30 companies, including Yahoo, AOL, MySpace and Facebook.  Contrary to popular belief, they found that most people using social networking sites, like MySpace and Facebook, were not, in fact, creeps looking to lure children away with the promise of wine coolers and lore.  Rather they were regular folk who, much like everyone else, have opted to forgo face to face...

The perennial hipster favorite, Nerve.com, has added its latest oeuvre to its coffee table come sexy-smut collection.  “Nerve: The First Ten Years,” is a hardcore and hardcover “best of” anthology comprising of 43 sardonically witty articles and 190 nude skinny girl with bored look on her face photographs dating back to the websites inception in 1997.  What’s so great about this book (and make no mistake, I do think its great, and for reasons beyond the neon pink, plastic lollypop-bondage book jacket) is that it bypasses all the whiny artistic blog postings and Emo singles loitering its otherwise intellectually stimulating site, getting right to the good stuff.  Specifically, Vicki Hendricks brilliant unreal account of a Siamese twin’s loss of virginity, Jane Ross’s tirade on the metrosexual (was 2004 that long ago?), a controversially infuriating piece arguing for romance between teen girls and old horny men, and of course, close to two hundred photos of the American...

Shout-out to all the females who want to step up and take control of your protection; your moment in the sun has finally arrived!  The Female Health Company has developed a new version of the female condom made of synthetic latex in a considerably less expensive manufacturing process--and it was approved this week by the FDA Advisory Panel.  FC2  prevents the transmission of STIs and prevents pregnancy, allowing women not only the opportunity to be in charge of their contraception, but their overall health as well.  Plus, the new device has the potential for wider acceptability and utilization since it is expected to be more affordable for individuals and programs, the latter of which might actually push it this time around.  Oh, and did I mention that it feels and sounds slightly less like a Ziplock sandwich bag?

Our own Dr. Colleen Hoff, director of the Center on Research on Gender and Sexuality, co-authored a study on the OG female condom...