Young men in Britain will now be able to pick up free condoms at barber shops and football fields as part of an initiative to reduce teen pregnancy and the spread of sexually transmitted infections. After attending an educational session on safer sex, they will receive plastic cards that can be used to collect condoms at convenient locations in which they already congregate like football fields and barber shops.

What a great initiative to get young men involved in both contraception and safer sex!

At a recent conference on HIV/Aids, researcher Dr. David Este reported on the benefits of HIV education programs that are accessible through previously-established community gathering places like salons and barber shops. While sexual health clinics are essential to promoting healthy sexuality, they can be intimidating (particularly for young men) and may not always be easily accessed due to location and limited hours of operation. Making condoms available in places that youth already...

I don't have a penis and I've never wanted one. As a woman, I'm subject to impossible pressures with regard to my physical makeup, but I can't even begin to fathom the anxieties associated with penis size. While it may not factor heavily along the path to enlightenment and it doesn't seem to matter to most women, men are socialized to obsess about the size of their penises. Joking, bragging, worrying, strategic shaving, lying and measuring are common symptoms of this cultural fixation that reduces men to the size of their members.

Studies of men who worry that their penises are too small overwhelmingly indicate that their anxieties are unfounded. They often underestimate their own size or overestimate perceptions of normal penis size. More importantly, they miscalculate the degree to which their sexual partners desire a larger penis. Research indicates that 85 percent of women are happy with their partner's penis size in comparison to only 55 percent of men who report satisfaction...

This post is continued from a previous post here...

But does size matter? From a sexological perspective, penis size has very little impact on the sexual pleasure of the penis-bearer or his partner. For men having vaginal sex with women, the shape and size of the vagina do not require large objects of insertion for pleasure and a well placed penis, finger, dildo or other object can produce far more pleasure than an oversized rod. In a relaxed state, the vagina is a short potential space with walls that gently touch and close together and the richest nerve endings are located near the opening. The g-spot, which can produce intense response and orgasm for some women, can generally be stimulated by any object of two inches in length. However, vaginas also come in different sizes, so it may be a matter of finding the perfect fit.

More importantly, the clitoris, that wonderful pleasure organ through which most women achieve orgasm, is not located in the vagina. A penis, finger, feather,...

Could you coach football without ever having seen a game?

Each time I host a workshop that addresses the expansion of sexual repertoire, I'm reminded of the fact that very few of us have had the opportunity to learn about sex through the valuable lens of observation. Sure. Many of us have glanced at (and admired) our reflections in the heat of action in an overhead ceiling mirror and we've all been exposed to a whole bunch of actors (I use this term loosely) having the sexual time of their lives, but how many have actually watched others have sex for educational or erotic purposes? Very few.

And how many people have received any formal training in how to give and receive sexual pleasure? Other cultures teach their children how to pleasure themselves and offer formal instruction to young adults in the art of loving and sexual pleasure. This may sound outlandish, but some of our common sexual practices (too much tequila and some sloppy fumbling around in the dark) aren't exactly...