Bodies

If it’s about a system or a part of the human body and how they work, you’ll find it here. Anatomy, body function and whole systems explainers – about all kinds of bodies, and usually presented through a gender-neutral lens – myth and misnomer debunking, help navigating sexual, reproductive and other physical healthcare: it’s all in here.

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Highlighted content

Articles and Advice in this area:

Advice
  • Susie Tang

Pre-ejaculatory fluid is secreted by twin structures called the Cowper’s glands. These glands are tiny, and they are located at the base of the penis. The fluid they make lubricates the urethra and facilitates semen flow during ejaculation. Pre-ejaculatory fluid starts to seep out during sexual…

Advice
  • Sarah Riley

To paraphrase a certain bumper sticker, ” Discharge happens.” Seriously, it does. Every person with a vagina in the world has discharge. It’s just one of those things that you get when you’ve got a vagina. Discharge plays a very important role in both your vaginal health and in fertility. It serves…

Advice
  • Heather Corinna

If anything, sexual activity can sometimes improve menstrual symptoms, but only if you’re reaching orgasm. It’s the uterine contractions and chemical changes in your brain due to orgasm – not the activity itself, so much – that can do that. On the other hand, if you’re sexually active and not…

Advice
  • Sarah Riley

Bodies can do some pretty weird things sometimes. The unexpected can happen for reasons that not be apparent to us, even if everything has worked like clockwork in the past. There are lots of things that can cause a period to be late or to skip once in a while. Obviously, if you were pregnant you…

Advice
  • Heather Corinna

You don’t have an unusually small penis: you have an average sized penis. On average, the penis is between five and six inches in length, and four inches and five and a half in girth. See? Average. As well, weight loss doesn’t impact penis size. The penis can look larger with eight loss simply due…

Advice
  • Heather Corinna

I’m sorry that you’re having to go through this. Looking at the timing here, and what you’re describing, it does sound like you had your menstrual period, in which case no, you cannot be pregnant. Not knowing the length of your cycles, or the date of that last period, I can’t tell you when to expect…

Advice
  • Heather Corinna

Well, I’ll bet you’re annoyed! But it’s not just a guy thing. Often after anyone – male, female or otherwise – reaches orgasm, they’ll be a little spaced out for a bit, and might need a breather sometimes. Sometimes, even with our bit of dizzy-spacey-blissed-out, we’ll still be up to continuing…

Advice
  • Heather Corinna

I’m so sorry you’re having to go through this, confused. You know, most of what many people think about virginity just isn’t accurate. And really, in so many ways, most ideas about virginity, and dynamics of virginity are sexist, have done a lot of women real harm through history and are…well…

Advice
  • Heather Corinna

There isn’t a “cherry” (or an apricot, prune, or any other type of produce) inside a vagina. When people talk about “popping cherries,” it generally tends to mean a) someone is doing something for the first time, or b) someone’s hymen has popped. Thing is, the hymen, when it is present or partially…

Advice
  • Heather Corinna

Your boyfriend seems to be dismissing the fact that for the majority of women, intercourse all by itself, no matter how long or short it lasts, is not very satisfying, especially physically. But even if it were, and even if a majority of women wanted intercourse to last a long time, that wouldn’t be…