relationships

Then don't! Here's a feast of support and help for those who want to say no, not now, or not-like-this to sex or sexual relationships.

Hooray for thinking about what you might want or feel ready for in intimate or dating relationships before you pursue them! So often people just kind of passively fall into relationships and only then try and figure what they want and need. It's not impossible to do it that way, and there are some...

Feel like being able to clearly set boundaries, stick to them, and assert yourself must require superpowers? Nope! You've already got all the goods: here's how to develop and use them!

The charts below are excerpts from the far larger, ongoing Multigenerational Experiences With and Attitudes About Casual Sex Survey I have been collecting responses to since 2010. The data below reflects responses given as of 6/8/2014. It is a broad, international survey, with the age of respondents...

Unchained's question continued: Around the beginning of this year, I was walking to the bus stop after college and when I was waiting for the traffic lights to give me pass for some odd reason I remembered the article about asexuality I had read on the newspaper's magazine... and then I remembered...

Healthy intimacy is about intentionally sharing private or vulnerable parts of our hearts, minds, bodies or lives with each other. Why would we do that, how can we do that, and what is and isn't healthy with intimacy?

In the throes of first love? Did your first love just break up with you, or are you terrified they will? This is your article. Whatever your circumstances with your first love, let's process some of this stuff together.

When it comes to sex, women are often portrayed as nothing but warm vessels there to validate male partners' egos. The widespread cultural acceptance of a woman pursuing pleasure for her own sake is a relatively new one (at least in West's modern history), and we've still got a long way to go. It's no small wonder that many women have a difficult time asking for what they want in general, let alone when it comes to sex.

Sexual shame hinders women in far too many ways. It's a difficult beast to tackle, as it assumes so many nuanced, subtle forms in our daily lives. To be sure, some forms of sexual shame are blatant, but many of them are so deeply engrained that we scarcely even notice them. By making ourselves aware of the different ways we're made to feel ashamed, however, we can begin to overcome them.

Contrary to a common public opinion, there's no right or wrong way to have sex. Bad sex -- and what that even is varies from person to person -- definitely happens, but usually only when there's little to no communication, and one party isn't attuned to the other's needs. (I am speaking of consensual sex that's just a stinker here, not about sexual assault.) Every person's preferences are unique. An act or gesture that drives one person absolutely wild might fall flat for another. You might think, "Wow, my ex really loved it when I did this one certain thing, but my new partner barely responds to it at all." This is just the nature of sex.