Women should insert jade eggs into their vaginas to increase the chance of orgasm (1) . Don’t believe in sexual soulmates (2) . For a happier life, have sex once a week (3) . Which of these tips are click bait, and which are grounded in empirical research? I am trained in this area of study and sometimes cannot tell the difference! (Okay we all probably knew jade eggs were not the best idea). Although it has been several years since researchers systematically analysed sex tips in popular magazines (4), these analyses suggest that this sex advice is often only weakly based on research at best...

The ease of access to pornography via the Internet has sparked a renewed interest in the effects of porn on consumers, with much of the public debate on the topic highlighting potential harms. We see everyone from the media (1) , to high-profile academics, to politicians weighing-in on the issue. One accusation that’s frequently levied against porn is that it harms romantic relationships. For example, notable social psychologist, Phillip Zimbardo, has claimed that porn “is creating a generation of risk-averse guys who are unable (and unwilling) to navigate the complexities and risks inherent...

Everyone gets bored from time to time. What do you do when you have these everyday feelings of boredom? In some cases, psychologists found that during such bouts, people sometimes watch porn, masturbate, or become preoccupied with thoughts about sex to deal with the adverse nature of boredom. What is less commonly known, however, is that an everyday experience like boredom can also threaten people’s sense of meaning in life. Did you know that people watched more porn during the Covid-19 pandemic [1]? Not surprisingly, many people also reported feeling more bored than usual given the...

People keep talking about sexual consent, but what is it? Let’s dive into some recent research and discover that there is more to sexual consent than you might think. Sexual consent is nuanced. Internal consent feelings and external consent communication vary from person to person and context to context. This article breaks down several recent findings to demonstrate how there is more to sexual consent than people often acknowledge. I complement these findings with suggestions for future research that will deepen our knowledge of sexual consent. Finally, I encourage readers to continue...