[ Sexuality ]

Ask the Sexpert: The unorthodox orgasm

Dear Shanna,
I’ve heard that women can have four types of orgasms. Is it true? If so, what are the types?
– Wondering in Wittier

‘Monogamish’ and the gray area between monogamy and polyamory

What’s the difference between a monogamish relationship and an ‘open relationship?’ Is it only for married couples? Is it found outside of LGBT relationships? How do you distinguish what’s right for your relationship with your partner?

Ask the Sexpert: A potential other couple

Dear Shanna, My girlfriend and I have been together a few years and the sex is fantastic. We’ve become friends with another couple (also lesbian) and there seems to be chemistry between us. I know the term “swinging” is somewhat outdated, but I think it’s the best word for what we’re interested in. Is it a good idea? If so, how do we move forward?

The kids really are all right

The secret stash was my first glimpse of ‘porn,’ and I remember the feeling: exhilarated and guilty at the same time. I thought back to my Catholic catechism classes – sins of the flesh would send supposedly send us to Hell, and I figured that looking at pictures or videos of those sins would mean the same. It took me all of 10 minutes to get over that notion.

Ask the Sexpert: Kids and compromises

Hi Shanna,

I’ve recently moved in with my girlfriend of four years, and I’m not sure what to do about having sex on the weeks that she has custody of her two kids, ages 5 and 7. She usually has an open–door policy with them, which is great, but I want some adult time too. What should we do?

Self–actualized sadomasochistic sexuality

The world of BDSM has fascinated me ever since a professional Denver dominatrix swooped onto the CU Boulder campus and gave an enthralling performance to students of a sociology course I took. I left the show with whips, floggers and ropes on my mind.

Ask the Sexpert: Beyond 50

I’m a lesbian in my late 50s, and have already gone through’ the change’ (that’s menopause, for those not in the know). I noticed that there are some differences both physically and with my sex drive, and was wondering if you had any advice on how to re-set my ‘on’ button.

Sexuality: Hooking up on mobile aps in the era of ‘zero feet away’

Grindr has just celebrated its fourth birthday and is used in more than roughly 200 countries worldwide. Up to 190,000 international users are logged into the app at any given moment, the company claims. The implications are controversial.

Sexuality: Why penetration is so culturally important in queer sexuality

Since LGBT people usually aren’t looking to conceive, why is penetration so important to our definition of ‘sex?’

Ask the Sexpert: Shades of kink

So I finally got around to reading the ridiculously popular book Fifty Shades of Grey. While I wasn’t the hugest fan of the writing or male dominant heteronormativity of the book, I thought that whole kinky thing was kind of hot, and wanted to know how I could work on introducing the concept to my girlfriend to see if she might be into it too. Any ideas?