Earlier today I wrote a blog post for the Kinsey Confidential web site (which I hope you will check out!) that I wanted to share with you, too, as it is about an important sexual health web site I recently came across. Here it is:

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The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) frequently creates new educational tools for people to learn about their health. One of the major areas of work is in the area of sexually transmissible infections (STI).

Today I came across a recently posted section called "Making sense of your Pap and HPV test results" that I wanted to share with you. The human papillomavirus (HPV) has been getting increasing press and media attention in the US since Gardasil (a vaccine that prevents four HPV strains) came onto the market - however, most women (and men) who are sexually active have already been exposed to HPV, and Pap tests are still recommended for women regardless of whether they have ever had sex or had the vaccine (women should ask their healthcare provider how often they should be having Pap tests). 

Many women and their partners have questions about the Pap test, or about the newer HPV test which can tell a woman whether she has HPV and, if so, which strains (e.g., those that are most linked to genital warts or those that are more often linked to, but do not necessarily cause, cervical cancer). To learn more about HPV, the HPV test and Pap tests, check out the CDC’s special web site on these topics.

[Image via this web site.]

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Thanks to reader Anne for sending me a link to this article about why (and how and where) people have sex in (potentially) public spaces. You know - like sex in parks, dressing rooms, bathrooms, stores, churches, cars on the side of the road or parked behind abandoned buildings or closed shops, etc.

What is it about having sex in public? What’s the appeal? This article gets at little bits of it, particularly for those who choose to have sex in public because they want the thrill of maybe being caught or of being a bit exhibitionist. But I contend that there is another type of public sex that has little to nothing to do with that. Sometimes two people have such strong desires for each other - and maybe it only happens once in your life (one particular relationship) - that they literally cannot seem to not have sex immediately. Maybe it happens two or three times, ever, if you’re particularly fortunate or experienced.

This is what I am talking about: that, if the two were home, they would have sex privately. But if they are out in public, and it feels uncontrollable (even though, of course it likely is controllable), then that may explain at least a portion of the broom closet or bathroom sex events.

A 50-ish woman once told me about a relationship of hers that had just ended. She had had several very long-term monogamous relationships in her life, and a few flings and short relationships too. But not until her 50s did she come across a partner that she had such an unbelievable chemistry for - another woman who she had such strong chemistry with that they found themselves having sex in very risky, potentially public situations. Fortunately they had not got caught, and that wasn’t what she said they were after; it was just the immediacy factor. They simply had to be sexual with each other right then and there, when the feelings came on. Their desires were almost unquenchable The relationship was passionate and fiery in many ways but it was also short-lived (less than a year).

I know other women and men who have had similarly strong (and, again, relatively short-lived) sexual relationships. What is it about them? And how they drive ordinarily well-controlled, rational and patient women and men to act in ways that they perhaps would otherwise not? Is there a biological urge with some people that is particularly stronger than with others? One might argue that perhaps those are the best biological matches from an evolutionary perspective to mate with but then again (a) it seems many of those relationships are short-lived and not compatible in emotional ways and (b) how to account for the same-sex attractions that are just as strong as the other-sex attractions?

So what is it? And what do you think? Do you jump head first into these? Have you ever had such strong attractions? Did you have sex in potentially public spaces? And what is related to the thrill of getting caught or just because you felt like you absolutely had to have sex right that minute?

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I received this email today (below) from the National Vulvodynia Association (the term "vulvodynia" refers to vulvar pain). Apparently a woman is writing a book related to vulvodynia and is hoping to get in touch with women to learn more about their experiences. Here is the information:

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This is an interesting video if you can move past the over-generalizations and inaccurate statements at the beginning which make it seem like quite a lot of women in Russia are becoming wealthy. In fact, Russie  like many countries - still deals with poverty and corruption. And yet there are places where women who do have money can spend it on male strippers.

Granted, male and female strip clubs aren’t exactly similar to each other: you’ll notice the men in these videos, like men in strip clubs in the US, are a bit more silly than sexy (note the neon clown wig and other costumes, plus the club-style dance moves). Men in this video sometimes rub against women in dance move-like fashion - and even when grinding does occur, it is very different from the so-called "lap dances" in many female strip clubs in which the women rub against men’s crotches in order to help them to ejaculate.

Nevertheless, this is an interesting look at one strip club and the female manager of the dancers:

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Sometimes I think people don’t believe me when I tell them that they should consider getting tested for sexually transmissible infections (STI) such as chlamydia, gonorrhea, syphilis, and HIV even if they have never noticed any symptoms. Chlamydia, for example, is the most common bacterial STI in the country - and is particularly common among young women and men ages 15-24 - and yet many young women and men failt to get tested for it, even though it is one of the most "silent" STIs of them all (meaning, it often shows no noticeable symptoms at all).

In a recent study, researchers tested men who have sex with other men for chlamydia and gonorrhea, even though none of these men had any symptoms of either infection. Over a period of one month, 114 men were tested. Guess how many came back positive for at least one (if not both) of these two STIs, chlamydia and gonorrhea? ELEVEN PER CENT! (Yes, that’s a lot). 

If you are now or have in the past been sexually active with another person (oral sex, vaginal sex or anal sex), please consider getting tested for chlamydia and gonorrhea, as both of these infections - if left untreated - can cause problems with fertility. It’s part of being an adult, and part of being a sexually responsible person - plus, it shows care and kindness for your partner. Deciding to NOT get tested - even though you could be putting your partner at risk - is neither kind nor responsible. To learn more about STIs, testing and treatment, visit the CDC web site or Planned Parenthood, or talk to your healthcare provider. I have seen far too many students of mine, and clinic patients, test positive for infections that they never knew they had (and often that they then spread to a partner) so please take your health (and your partner’s health) seriously and with care.

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Although this article is inteded to be read by psychiatrists and other healthcare providers who may be treating women for postpartum depression, if you have an interest in the topic then you may find it to be of interest too. Pregnancy is a period of intense hormonal changes and these changes take on different patterns from trimester to trimester, and again after giving birth. Women commonly feel some changes related to mood, and many women experience what are commonly described as the "baby blues", in the weeks after given birth, probably as a result not only due to their body re-adjusting after having given birth, but also as a result of the changes to sleep, eating and anxiety that they may feel as they try to take care of a new baby. 

Some women, however, experience diagnosable postpartum depression (PPD). Women with PPD sometimes are interested in taking medications so that they can feel better and try to attend more to their new baby (and the rest of their family, including their relationship partner). For women who are breastfeeding, however, the issue of medication is particularly important, as women (and their healthcare providers) need to look into which medications are safe to take while breastfeeding as well as when might be the ideal time to take medications, so as to minimize the risk of exposing one’s baby to high levels of the medications. To learn more about these special concerns, read the full text of the original article here.

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Procedures to terminate an early pregnancy are typically very safe and effective when performed by trained medical professionals in safe, sanitary conditions. Unfortunately, legal restrictions against abortion and situations in which women (culturally or individually) lack power are just two of the characteristics associated with poorer outcomes and unsafe abortions. In a recent article from Maternal Mortality, the issue of unsafe abortion practices is examined. Read an abstract of the article here.

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In this episode of Kinsey Confidential, I respond to a listener’s question about performing analingus (also called "rim jobs") on and having anal sex with his girlfriend. You can listen to it here and learn more about our WFIU-produced Kinsey Confidential podcasts on the KC web site or NPR web site.

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Yikes! Vaginal cuts and tears from sex - especially non-lubricated sex - can hurt. Listen to this Kinsey Confidential podcast listener’s question about discomfort and post-sex bleeding, and my response, here. Check out the Kinsey Confidential or NPR site for more information about our podcasts, which are produced by an amazing team at WFIU at Indiana Univeristy.

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Check out this article from CNN that refers to research about how moderate exercise during a girl’s teen years seems to be related to lower breast cancer risk during adulthood, potentially due to the effect exercise can have on estrogen levels. The writers note that exercise during adulthood can still help to lower risk of breast cancer, so those who weren’t active as teens can still be proactive about trying to reduce their risk now.

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