All About Sex

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Journalist Michael Castleman has been writing about sexuality for 35 years. His latest sexuality book is Great Sex: The Man's Guide to Whole-Body Sensuality. See full bio

July 15, 2009

Desire In Women: Does It Lead To Sex? Or Result From It?

The conventional wisdom is that desire precedes sexual arousal. This works for most men. Men are often coiled springs of desire and easily aroused. Men often describe their libido as a drive similar to hunger or thirst. Twentieth-century sexologists assumed that women's libido was, if not identical, then similar--and that if women didn't feel desire, then something was wrong. Read More

June 30, 2009

Does Sex Increase Risk of Prostate Cancer?

Prostate cancer strikes 232,000 American men annually and kills 30,000, numbers similar to the toll of breast cancer on women. Could sex boost men's risk? That disturbing possibility has been raised by several recent studies: Read More

June 15, 2009

Which Vibrator is Best ?

Sex toy marketers offer dozens of vibrators. Which one is best? That depends on you, and maybe your lover, and on the kind(s) of stimulation you enjoy. Read More

June 1, 2009

Want to Prevent Colds? Have Sex Weekly

How many times have you heard or said: "Don't kiss me. I have a cold." It makes sense. Close contact spreads colds, so avoiding physical intimacy with cold sufferers should be a sensible way to avoid humanity's most common illness. But a study at Wilkes-Barre University in Pennsylvania shows the opposite, that the close contact of lovemaking reduces risk of colds. Read More

May 14, 2009

Gays vs. Straights: Any Differences in Sexual Satisfaction?

The phrase, "battle of the sexes," implies a yawning chasm between men and women that includes their sexual sensibilities. The corollary implication is that lesbian/gay couples have less of a "battle." Because they are members of the same gender, they are more likely to appreciate lovers' feelings, including feelings about sex. Read More

April 27, 2009

Does Pornography Cause Social Harm?

Many people feel offended by pornography. Those who find it odious have every right to their opinion. Read More

April 15, 2009

Premature Ejaculation: Try Sex Therapy BEFORE Drugs

Forty years ago, pioneering sex therapists William Masters, M.D. and Virginia Johnson developed a simple, effective program that quickly cures most men's rapid, uncontrolled ("premature") ejaculation (PE). The Masters and Johnson program, modified a bit over the years, is still used today. It empowers 90 to 95 percent of men to break the PE habit and learn to last as long as they'd like. Read More

March 30, 2009

How Common Is Masturbation, Really?

An old joke observes that 98 percent of people masturbate--and the other 2 percent are lying. But according to a recent study based on a representative sample of American adults, only 38 percent of women said they'd masturbated at all during the past year. The figure for men was 61 percent. Read More

March 16, 2009

The Most Important Sexual Statistic

Only 25 percent of women are consistently orgasmic during vaginal intercourse. This bears repeating: Only one-quarter of women reliably experience orgasm during intercourse-no matter how long it lasts, no matter what size the man's penis, and no matter how the woman feels about the man or the relationship. Read More

Books by Michael Castleman

Great Sex

Sex Basics

Sex is the most profound and intimate way to express your love for someone. Different people enjoy and pursue sex in different forms—as the pioneering sex researcher Alfred Kinsey put it, the only universal in human sexuality is variability itself. But within the universe of intimacy and pleasure that sex affords is a lot of room for error.

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