Minnesota, December 10 — Debunking the popular perception that convicts casual sex for causing emotional damage, results of a new study state that such encounters are not always detrimental to well-being of young adults.

Hooking up casually no longer fuels depression, and it is quite easy to step out from the “friends with benefits” relationship unaffected, researchers affirm.

1,311 young adults (574 men and 737 women) from the University of Minnesota were enrolled for the study. Aged between 18 and 24 years, the cluster was made up of full-time students, part-time students, or young adults who weren’t students at all.

The participants were questioned about their sexual behaviors and emotional well-being.

Speaking about their recent sexual encounters, about one-fifth reported it as casual; for 25 percent it was out of intimacy and commitment; 12 percent admitted it to be with a ‘close but not exclusive partner’; and 55 percent disclosed it to be with an exclusive partner.

The upshot of the trial
Interestingly, the emotional status of those engaged in casual sex was the same as those in committed relationships, researchers aver.

Moreover, regardless of the type of sexual encounter, the researchers spotted no difference in incidence of depression or loss of self-esteem cases.

“When we looked at the emotional well being across these groups we really found no differences, in things like body satisfaction, in self-esteem and depressive symptoms” reported Marla Eisenberg, study’s lead researcher.

“We were so surprised” Eisenberg said. “The conventional wisdom is that casual sex, ‘friends with benefits,’ and hooking up is hurtful. That’s what we’ve been teaching kids for decades.”

Also, the results of the current trail contradict the results of the study released last year that found more women to report depressive and negative feelings after casual sexual encounters, compared to men.

Researchers say ‘No’ to casual sex
Though the findings of the study seem to spare mental health, casual sex is extremely detrimental to overall health and well-being, Eisenberg marked. “The study does not encourage casual sex.”

Young adults who engage in such casual hookups are exposing themselves to physical harms. Sexually transmitted diseases (STDs), unplanned and teen pregnancies, and interpersonal violence can only lead to potential disaster, Eisenberg cautioned.

Eisenberg said, “Its things like STD prevention and pregnancy prevention and we really need to focus on those when we’re doing health education programming with young adults.”

STORY SOURCE: http://www.themoneytimes.com

Think you know everything there is to know about men and sex?

Given much of what we think we know is myth-based, you may want to think again. Men and women alike assume they know the “ins and outs” of a man’s libido, sexual antics and romantic pursuits simply because of what they’ve been told.

But when you stop to really digest and analyze what we’ve been brainwashed to believe about men’s sex lives, it’s easy to see that a lot of what we “know” is dead wrong.

1. Men can have sex anytime/anywhere.

Sure, there are moments in a man’s life when he’s seemingly in heat, ready for any ride. Yet such states are not his norm. A man’s emotional fitness influences his sexual health and satisfaction.

This emotional fitness is influenced by his physical fitness, for example, stress, fatigue or anxiety. His lifestyle also plays a role. Is he a workaholic? How he feels about his lover and relationship factor into his needs and wants. Then with age and experience, many men come to learn that they require an emotional connection with their lover. That makes for a hotter sexual connection.

2. Men are only romantic to please the object of their affection.

This notion can be broken down in a number of ways. Some men do in fact woo to please. Some woo to be wooed. Others enjoy the wooing more than the romance. Then there are those who use romantic efforts as a way to have sex, to seal the deal in a life-long partnership, or maintain a union.

Overall, his romantic pursuits support the hypothesis that romantic love is a motivation system designed to enable suitors to build and maintain a close relationship with a preferred mating partner. Any scenario highlights research findings showing that men may tend to be more unrealistically optimistic, believing that good things are likelier to happen to them than others, as reported in Daniel Amen’s book, “Sex on the Brain.”

This includes his sex life.

3. Men always prefer to initiate sex.

Really? Consider how much he enjoys being seduced. In “Sex in America: A Definitive Study,” R.T. Michael and colleagues found that 93 percent of men find appeal in watching their partner undress. Edward Laumann and colleague’s 1994 research on sexual practices in the U.S. found that 41percent of men use any form of erotic materials. And a great deal of erotica is created to seduce the viewer.

4. Men think about sex every 7 seconds.

If you do the math, this statement is ridiculous. Being awake for 17 hours per day, for example, would make for having sex thoughts more than 61,000 times a day. That doesn’t leave time for much of anything else, now does it?

5. He’s better off living the life of a bachelor.

While living Playboy-style may hold its appeal, it’s not in his long-term interest. According to a 2006 study in the “Journal of Epidemiology and Community Health,” married people are healthier (and wealthier). Those who have never married run the highest risk of death in the U.S.

Researchers speculate that marriage acts as a buffer against negative factors that can decrease one’s longevity, like social isolation. Other research has found that marriage has health benefits for men, helping married men to outlive their divorced or widowed counterparts.

6. Men aren’t into kissing unless it involves a lot of tongue.

While the general thought is that he’s into French kissing in his pucker-up pursuits, a number of men like the softer, gentler smooches. In surveying 50,000 men, William Cane, author of “The Art of Kissing,” found that men adore 30 various kinds of kisses that don’t involve sticking a tongue down a throat.

7. After a certain age, he’s beyond manual stimulation.

A common belief, at least among the ladies, is that the sexually mature male is bored to death with any below-the-belt hand action. Part of this is due to the fact that men spend so much time with their own hands during quality solo time.

Yet that’s exactly part of what makes it so pleasurable – he has somebody else doing his job. He can just sit back and relax.

8. He wants to hit heaven as soon as possible.

Even when a guy doesn’t have premature ejaculation, it seems that he can’t wait to reach ecstasy. With his sexual excitement soaring, men have trouble holding back. This is often interpreted as “he can’t wait” to climax.

Yet, many men are well aware that holding off makes for a more intense orgasm. A number, too, would love to luxuriate in their lovemaking rather than rush through such magnificent moments.

Original Story foxnews.com

Roman Catholic couples are being encouraged to pray together before they have sex.
A book published by a prominent Church group invites those setting out on married life to recite the specially-composed Prayer Before Making Love.
It is aimed at ‘purifying their intentions’ so that the act is not about selfishness or hedonism.

The prayer, which appears in the Prayer Book for Spouses, implores God ‘to place within us love that truly gives, tenderness that truly unites, self-offering that tells the truth and does not deceive, forgiveness that truly receives, loving physical union that welcomes’.
It adds: ‘Open our hearts to you, to each other and to the goodness of your will.
‘Cover our poverty in the richness of your mercy and forgiveness. Clothe us in true dignity and take to yourself our shared aspirations, for your glory, for ever and ever.’
The 64-page book has been published by the London-based Catholic Truth Society.

Marital advice: The prayer book
The group has close links to the Catholic Bishops’ Conference of England and Wales.
The Rt Rev Paul Hendricks, who is the Auxiliary Bishop of Southwark and sits on the charity’s board, said he thought the prayer’s inclusion was ‘brave but good’.
‘I suppose it is a bit idealistic but it is recognising that God is at the heart of the marriage relationship between husband and wife,’ he said.
‘It is important for the Church to affirm the value of marriage and family life and I suppose this is a particular way of doing that.’
‘Perhaps it is something that has not been tried, certainly for a while  -  I can’t remember seeing something like that before.’
The book contains prayers for every stage of marriage and family life, including engagement, planning for parenthood, pregnancy and caring for children and elderly parents.
The prayers, written by a variety of authors, are interspersed with Catholic teaching on the meaning of marriage and family.
The book pushes the message that marriage should be exclusive and life-long and condemns abortion.
It criticises ‘those who, in our times, consider it too difficult, or indeed impossible, to be bound to one person for the whole of life, and those caught up in a culture that rejects the indissolubility of marriage and openly mocks the commitment of spouses to fidelity’.
It adds: ‘It is a fundamental duty of the Church to reaffirm strongly the doctrine of the indissolubility of marriage.’

Read more: dailymail.co.uk

Have you ever imagined what your sex life might be like if you had two vaginas? Hmmm … double the vaginas, double the pleasure, right? Not, according to 28-year-old Brit Lauren Williams, who actually had two vaginas. After getting tired of tending to her 21-day period (OMG, kill me now), she suspected something might be wrong with the lady bits and went to get it checked out. After a lot of confusion and misdiagnosis, her vagina’s double life was revealed. She had two of everything—two vags, two uteri, two cervixes. Evidently, this is a rare disorder called a “bicornuate uterus.” Lauren was shocked; she had never noticed before, nor had her doctors or boyfriends. But why would her boyfriends have said anything—each of her two vaginas was very small if you know what I’m sayin’. Lauren underwent surgery to remove the barrier between her vags, leaving her with one giant vagina. A happy ending … I guess? I bet OctoMom is jealous.

Original Story:  thefrisky.com

I often teach that to find where the G-spot is in a woman, and how it might feel, you can simply put your thumb in your mouth and feel the rougher, ridged area just beyond your teeth, on the top part of your mouth. Beyond that ridged area is the upper palate and halfway between the ridges and the upper palate is the area that is analogous to the G-spot. I find it fascinating that the interior of the mouth seems so close in structure to the yoni (vagina in Sanskrit) and the G-spot area.

The upper palate area is filled with nerve endings. Try putting your little vibrator up there sometime and see how it feels! It’s kind of intense. Obviously suckling and eating creates the evolutionary nerve aspects of the sensitivity of the mouth.

The erotic feeling of sucking, whether it be a lollipop, water bottle or beer or some aspect of the anatomy like a nipple, thumb or lingam (phallus in Sanskrit), was developed during infancy to not only create a sensory experience while eating but to provide intimacy training for the child and mother (or primary care giver). Both the mother and the child produce the ‘bonding’ neuro-hormone Oxytocin during nursing. The accompanying eye gazing that occurs between mother and child trains the baby to seek the intimacy of faces, and specifically the eyes, as it grows older. Interestingly, Oxytocin is also produced during orgasm.

The upper palate is also the area you place your tongue during advanced breath, energy and meditation work. The tip of the tongue points straight to the fontanel at the top of the head (the ’soft’ spot) and is reputed to open up the nadis or energy channels in the body. When a person has a Kundalini * energy experience there have been reports of an ambrosia like nectar of immortality — Amrita (Sanskrit) — that drips precious drops from the back of the throat. Experiencing female ejaculation, also called Amrita by many Western Tantricas, is associated with G-spot stimulation. It has been noticed by many Western practitioners that a marked difference in age appearance of skin quality and facial vibrancy is also associated with female ejaculation. Well, I’ll take any kind of Amrita I can get.

So, there seems to be the potential of a G-spot in the vagina and one in the mouth, too. During Tantric sex certain positions have the ability to facilitate the movement of energy upwards. If both the upper palate, with the tongue applying pressure, and the G-spot, with the lingam applying pressure, are activated during sex, an aligned channel is opened up to activate all of the body. This is a tool that can be used to align and open up the chakra channels for Kundalini energy to flow. This same effect can be discovered and utilized by connecting the tongue to the roof of the mouth, sitting in an up-right, meditative pose and doing PC muscle (Kegels) exercises while visualizing the energy movement. This is the simpler way to play with the effects of this practice before you take it into the sexual arena.

I discovered this dual connection between the mouth and the yoni quite a few years back and have never heard anyone else refer to it before. I love oral sex and had wondered why that might be so. Yes, I love to eat, so that is a part of it — OK, I’m oral! I have also noticed that during oral sex it’s the slow out-stroke that always gets me. It’s the same with intercourse. The long, slow out-stroke is the one that triggers orgasm for me. So what is it about these two very similar areas of the body? Why are they so similar in construction and what might that mean for our pleasure and our ability to build and expand erotic energy?

I would love to have feedback from anyone who has experienced orgasm through mouth contact or who recognizes the connection of both G-spot orgasms and erotic stimuli in the mouth, too. Oh, and could you please let me know what you think about these Sanskrit words like lingam and yoni (vagina is such a ‘hard’ sounding word) — do you like this or do they just get in the way?

* Various interpretations of the origin of the word Kundalini (Sanskrit) are Kunta, Cunta and Kun all of which mean female genitalia, Shakti (Shiva’s consort), queen and Mother Earth — a distinct later degradation being ‘cunt.’

Original Story:  huffingtonpost.com

Not only do they have our very own PIXIE LOTT to feast their eyes on, but outrageous US chart-topper LADY GAGA also makes an appearance.

FHM … out now
FHM
The singer features in a sizzling shoot wearing a black PVC leotard with a huge bow on the front.

And we wouldn’t expect anything less from the star who has become synonymous with wearing scandalous outfits.

So much so that it wouldn’t surprise us if she hadn’t even changed her costume for the FHM shoot.

The magazine’s feature puts forward the cases for and against the star.

Loved and loathed in equal amounts by the general public, GaGa certainly divides the nation.

So, would you or wouldn’t you?

Original Story:  thesun.co.uk