Monthly Archives: August 2018

Porn Makes Men Think Women Will Do Just About Anything

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Porn Makes Men Think Women Will Do Just About Anything

2018-08-29

Taxi-driver themed porn makes men think women will have sex with strangers on their commutes, a new study suggests.

en who watch certain porn genres tend to think that women are more likely to engage in unprotected, rough sex with strangers or co-workers, according to a new study. Many prior studies had examined “the association between porn use and various attitudes,” co-author on the study Daniel Miller of James Cook University in Australia told Fatherly. “However, the nature of these studies made it hard to determine causation.” Until now.

Indeed, past research has demonstrated a correlation between violent ideas and a preference for violent pornography, but it is hard to say whether porn influences attitudes. It could be that porn causes men to have colder attitudes towards women, or that men who already felt that way are more likely to consume that type of porn. More concrete studies have shown that men who watch porn in which condom usage is not depicted are less likely to use condoms themselves.

Miller and colleagues added to this body of research with a study of 418 men, conducted online to allow for more candor. “Coming into a lab and watching porn while a researcher is present is a very weird situation,” Miller says. “Porn watching is a private activity.” Participants were surveyed on their porn use over the past six months, and then shown either a 22-minute video of taxi driver-themed porn (where a driver propositions a woman for sex) or a 22-minute non-pornographic educational video. Then men were asked to evaluate how likely a woman was to except a sexual proposition from a taxi driver or her boss.

They found that viewing the taxi-themed porn did not influence how men evaluated women’s willingness to have sex. But past exposure did. Men who had watched taxi-themed or boss-themed pornography within the past six months were more likely to think that women would be interested in having unprotected, rough, porn-like sex with a stranger or manager. “I was surprised by how many participants indicated that they had watched taxi-themed porn in the past,” Miller says.

“I was expecting it to be a little more obscure than that.”

Miller acknowledges that participants were not randomly selected and are not likely representative of all men as a result — older, and less educated men, are unlikely to respond to online surveys. Miller recommends follow up research look at the effects porn has on the propensity to have one-night stands, and how it influences how men interpret women’s willingness to have sex. “If you are a porn user — and according to surveys, very large segments of the population are — it might be worth considering if porn has had an influence over your thinking, even at a very basic level,” Miller says.

“Are there men who just assume the over-the-top, oftentimes rough, sex depicted in pornography is the norm, even among two people who just met? This study would suggest that this is quite possibly the case.”

#LetsTalkSex: Is It Normal to Have a Curved Penis?

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#LetsTalkSex: Is It Normal to Have a Curved Penis?

Talking about sex is the best thing you can do for yourself if you are a sexually active person. You must educate yourself about safe sex practices, regardless of who you’re having sex with.

Over the past few weeks, we got multiple sexual health queries from our readers.

Dr Anurag Puri, Consultant, Department of Urology at Fortis Hospital Shalimar Bagh answer some of the queries here.

Last few days back, I slipped from the bed while sleeping. My penis was erect when I fell. There’s pain on the right side of the penis since then. Are there any home remedies for the same?

If you have fallen on erect penis and there is pain,there may be fracture of penis. You must immediately consult a urologist for clinical assessment and penile usg if required.

Is having a small sized penis genetic or is there some other issue? Will there be any problems if one has a small penis?
Small penis may be genetic or due to hormone deficiency. Even if the size is small and you are able to penetrate your female partner, then there’s no need to worry.

4 Sexual Health Benefits of Barre Workouts

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4 Sexual Health Benefits of Barre Workouts

You’ve probably heard of barre, a ballet-inspired workout that blends Pilates, dance, yoga, and technique driven exercises that focus on strengthening small muscles you may neglect in other types of training. But many guys have zero interest in trying a barre workout, thinking it’s exclusively reserved for women.

Think again, though, because you can totally benefit from taking barre. Not only will it build lean muscle, but it also may be able to improve your sex life. Which makes sense, when you think about it: the pulsing, tucking, and holding motions that are key to barre also work out the pelvic floor muscles, which are key to orgasm.

 

What is barre?

Barre class is basically a mixture of ballet, pilates, and yoga. It mostly focuses on the lower body, such as the thighs, gluteal muscles, and legs, as well as the core. Most exercises are done at the bar.

“In comparison to strength training, which focuses on improving more massive movements (e.g., squatting), barre works toward enhancing smaller, ‘isometric’ movements,” says clinical sexologist Dr. Damian Jacob Sendler.

Those “isometric” movements are a form of strength training in which you apply tension without contracting the muscles — and they can lead to greater gains in the bedroom. Here’s the low-down on barre and why you should sign up ASAP. Leggings are optional.

1) It improves your circulation and increases the strength of your erections.

It’s no secret that ballet dancers are in really, really good shape. “In one classic study from the 1980s of a group of professional ballet dancers, barre exercises increased the amount of calories burned, improved normal oxygenation of the heart muscle, and improved core strength of the leg muscles,” he says.

Improved oxygenation allows the brain and heart to work better together and utilize oxygen more effectively, he says. And that plays a role in “driving greater sexual performance in attaining and maintaining an erection for more extended periods of time,” he adds.

Better circulation = more blood flow to the penis. “Blood plays the central role in causing penile engorgement, so healthy flow of the blood into penile tissue ensures successful erection,” he explains.

2) You have more staminas and can hold positions for longer.

You’ll get your heart rate up with each pulse and hold, which helps to build endurance in general. “This may be air squats, lunges or holding a plank posture for 1-3 minutes,” says Dr. Holly Richmond, also a clinical sexologist. “Improved cardio means increased stamina in the bedroom—you can have more sex and for a longer duration,” she says. (And hey, that’s the dream, right?)

3) You become more flexible.

Greater range of motion and flexibility is another key feature of barre workouts. “Being flexible allows you to get into and hold various and more challenging sexual positions,” says Richmond. You can get deeper, spread your legs wider, and bend with ease. So, if you’ve been tempted to try a few “advanced” sex positions, barre might just help you get there.

4) You’ll have stronger orgasms.

“Perhaps most specific to barre workouts—and one of the reasons I chose them after I had my children—is how effective they are for strengthening the pelvic floor,” says Richmond.

This benefit isn’t just specific to women. Research backs this up, indicating that weak pelvic floor muscles are associated with erectile dysfunction.

Many barre exercises utilize squeezing, pulsing, thrusting and holding of the muscles in the glutes and hips, which strengths those crucial pelvic muscles, Richmond says.

“Essentially, you just have to squeeze your pelvic floor like you are trying to stop peeing with every isometric barre pulse. After 4-6 months of barre workouts, most of my patients (men and women alike) report stronger orgasms,” Richmond says.

This article originally appeared on Men’s Health.

4 Sexual Health Benefits Of Barre Workouts

Health workers ‘should help people with STIs notify their partners’

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Health workers ‘should help people with STIs notify their partners’

2018-08-24

Health workers should help people with sexually transmitted infections notify their partners about their condition, according to new official guidance.

Helping people diagnosed with sexually transmitted infections (STI) inform their partners may stem the spread of infection, according to a new draft quality standard by the National Institute for Health and Care Excellence (Nice).

The new document states that healthcare workers, such as GPs, practice nurses and sexual health consultants, should support people diagnosed with an STI to notify their partners.

“Partner notification may be undertaken by the healthcare professional or the person diagnosed with an STI,” the document states.

It added: “Supporting people who have been diagnosed with an STI to notify their partners can help to reduce the transmission of STIs.

“It can also ensure that their partners are tested, and if necessary treated, as soon as possible to prevent health complications.”

Services should ensure that they are prepared to talk to people about “partner notification” and to support people to inform their sexual partners, Nice said.

In 2017, there were 422,147 diagnoses of STIs made in England, it added.

The new quality standard, which has been put out to consultation, aims to improve the care for people accessing sexual health services.

It also states that patients should be seen within 48 hours of requesting an appointment, to reduce the likelihood of them passing on infections and to reduce complications of illness.

A Nice spokesman said: “It’s important that partners of people diagnosed with an STI have the opportunity to be tested themselves and if necessary treated, in order to prevent the spread of infections and to reduce their risk of developing health complications.

“That’s why our draft standard supports best practice in current sexual health services, that help and support should be provided to people who might otherwise find it difficult to tell their partners about their STI.”

Welcoming the new standard, Dr Diana Mansour, vice president for clinical quality for the Faculty of Sexual and Reproductive Healthcare (FSRH), said: “One of the recommendations of the draft standard is that people diagnosed with an STI are encouraged to notify their partners.

“FSRH strongly supports this recommendation so that STI morbidity is reduced in the community.

“For healthcare professionals, this means supporting people to contact their own partners or to directly contact, test and treat partners of those with an STI without revealing the patient’s identity.

“Partner notification can make patients feel uncomfortable. It might pose a strain in relationships new and old or cause embarrassment with more casual partners.

“However, STIs can pose serious health consequences both to the patient and their partners such as infertility and pelvic inflammatory disease.

“STI rates are on the rise, with a 20% increase in syphilis cases in 2017 compared to 2016, so we encourage people to visit their local sexual and reproductive health clinic and be tested.”

Are women with disabilities second class citizens?

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Are women with disabilities second class citizens?

There are an estimated 40 million EU citizens facing numerous barriers in the enjoyment of their rights, suffer social exclusion, discrimination and violence.

Despite representing 16 per cent of the EU’s female population, women and girls with disabilities are still living on the margins of society. Such actions must stop and the European Institutions must speak out collectively to prevent this ongoing abuse.

Women with disabilities need special support, yet there is no proper focus on them at EU level, neither in the strategy on women nor in the strategy on persons with disabilities. It’s as if they have disappeared, like they are of lesser value than the rest of the population.

It has been heart-warming therefore to see the European Parliament’s FEMM Committee has focussed on this subject and asked the European Economic and Social Committee (EESC), the body representing European organised civil society to do the same.

The EESC adopted its opinion on the matter in July, calling on EU Institutions and Member States to step up their efforts to protect women and girls with disabilities, who continue to face multiple and intersectional discrimination on the grounds of both their gender and disability, often resulting in their social exclusion.

The situation of women and girls with disabilities is not only worse than that of females without disabilities, but it is also worse than that of their male peers.

They are up to five times more likely to be victims of violence, domestic as well as institutional. Gender and disability stereotypes can also be found in media and in educational systems across the EU, thus constituting to an obstacle to an inclusive education.

Only 18.8 per cent of women with disabilities are employed, against 28.1 per cent of men. Those employed, often face underpayment while those that are unemployed are exposed to poverty and social exclusion.

“Disability should be mainstreamed in EU gender policy and gender in the EU disability strategy, as well as in the implementation of the European Pillar of Social Rights”

Disability should be mainstreamed in EU gender policy and gender in the EU disability strategy, as well as in the implementation of the European Pillar of Social Rights. For this, the UN Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities (UNCRPD) and its Article 6 which concerns women with disabilities must be implemented fully.

EU funds should be used to support Member States to introduce measures that guarantee the full participation of women with disabilities in public and political life, employment and education and empower them to have full control of their sexual and reproductive rights.

Access to healthcare must be improved for these females: both disability-specific as well as mainstream healthcare services. Healthcare facilities and equipment – such as mammogram machines and gynaecological examination beds – are often physically inaccessible to them, meaning that they find themselves excluded from preventive health measures, like breast screenings.

The EESC called for an end to forced sterilisation and for all women to be granted the right to make their own decisions about retaining their fertility or starting a family and stressed the importance for the EU and Member States to implement the Istanbul Convention on preventing and combating gender based violence.

The EU and its Member States should launch an awareness-raising campaign about disability-related legislation, which should make women and girls with disabilities more visible and help combat prejudice against them.

It is hoped that women with disabilities will put themselves forward in the upcoming European elections in May 2019.

About the author

Gunta Anca is European Economic and Social Committee, Rapporteur Women with Disabilities