May 24, 2023 by Emily Mendelson
“We are the recorders and reporters of facts—not the judges of the behaviors we describe.” – Alfred Kinsey Founded in 1947 at Indiana University, the Kinsey Institute is the premier institute for scientific research on sex, gender, and reproduction in the world. For over 75 years, the Kinsey Institute has conducted robust scientific inquiry aimed...
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February 9, 2023 by Olivia Adams
AI is getting smarter. It can produce text that’s virtually indistinguishable from a human, and it has a massive knowledge base. So what will it mean for the future? What...
Media & Culture, Sex Ed
February 2, 2023 by Emily Mendelson
OnlyFans is a digital patronage platform with over two million independent sex workers and a user base of 170 million registered accounts. Given the speed at which OnlyFans use gained...
Kink & BDSM, Media & Culture, Sex Ed
November 16, 2022 by Emily Mendelson
The season three finale of Netflix’s Love is Blind was released last week, which means we finally get to see who said “I do.” Hosted by Nick and Vanessa Lachey, the...
Media & Culture, Myth vs Fact
October 26, 2022 by Emily Mendelson
The need to stay home and, for many, the need to find alternative means of income as a result of the COVID-19 pandemic resulted in a substantial rise in the...
Media & Culture
September 21, 2022 by Justin Lehmiller
Generally speaking, sexual activity is good for our mental health. Sex (however you like to do it) has the potential to enhance our psychological well-being, as well as the connection...
Dating & Relationships, Media & Culture, Sex Tips
September 5, 2022 by Justin Lehmiller
I’m excited to announce a unique study abroad program in conjunction with the Sexual Health Alliance. We are offering study abroad courses in both Amsterdam and Berlin focused on sex...
Media & Culture, Potpourri
December 20, 2021 by Justin Lehmiller
What was the most popular porn search term of 2021? According to Pornhub’s latest report, it was hentai. This term has been near the top of the list for a...
Fantasies, Media & Culture
September 13, 2021 by Justin Lehmiller
One of the topics that we explore extensively in my sex and culture course in Amsterdam is sex work. As part of this course, I give my students the opportunity...
Interviews, Media & Culture
September 6, 2021 by Justin Lehmiller
In my study abroad course on sex and culture in the Netherlands, one of the things we have been discussing is cross-cultural differences in sexual health and sex education. Teens’ sexual...
Media & Culture, Sex Ed
September 1, 2021 by Justin Lehmiller
Today in my study abroad course on sex and culture in the Netherlands, we’re focusing on sex work, particularly the link between sex work and mental health. Many studies have...
Media & Culture, Sex Ed
August 18, 2021 by Justin Lehmiller
Sixty-eight years ago this week (August 20, 1953), the media first reported on some of the major findings from Alfred Kinsey’s classic book Sexual Behavior in the Human Female. This...
Books & Films, Media & Culture
June 2, 2020 by Justin Lehmiller
Most of you only know me as a sex educator and researcher, but I actually started my career teaching college courses on the psychology of prejudice—and I ended up teaching...
Media & Culture
April 29, 2020 by Justin Lehmiller
During this time of lockdowns and quarantines, I know that many of you are looking for ways to pass the time, so allow me to suggest some entertaining and educational...
Media & Culture
April 3, 2020 by Justin Lehmiller
There are a lot of conflicting media reports out right now about how the COVID-19 coronavirus pandemic is affecting people’s sex drives. Some are saying that all of the stress...
Media & Culture, Sex Ed
March 18, 2020 by Justin Lehmiller
In the last few weeks, I’ve seen a ton of headlines predicting a massive baby boom stemming from the COVID-19 coronavirus pandemic—and some people are making very bold claims. Case...
Media & Culture, Myth vs Fact, Safe Sex
March 13, 2020 by Justin Lehmiller
There is no escape from coronavirus news. It’s all anyone can talk about on my social media feeds and everywhere I go. It’s permeating every aspect of our lives, including...
Media & Culture
June 27, 2018 by Justin Lehmiller
I've been reading and hearing a lot about spotted hyenas in the media lately. They caught my attention because, well, hyenas don't usually show up in my newsfeed very often...
Media & Culture
April 25, 2018 by Justin Lehmiller
People email me with questions about their sex lives all the time. More often than not, these questions boil down to the same theme: "Am I normal?"A lot of folks...
Media & Culture
October 13, 2017 by Justin Lehmiller
Dozens of allegations of sexual harassment and assault against Hollywood producer Harvey Weinstein have surfaced in the last two weeks (see here for a complete list). These allegations have prompted...
Media & Culture
August 30, 2017 by Justin Lehmiller
My social media feed has been blowing up lately with links to article headlines like this one from HuffPost, “Women Want More Sex Than Their Partner Does, According To New...
Gender, Media & Culture, Myth vs Fact
April 3, 2017 by Justin Lehmiller
We’ve all seen headlines before that say things like “More Sex Means More Money.” These headlines try to present the results of scientific studies in very simple and straightforward terms:...
Media & Culture
February 1, 2017 by Justin Lehmiller
Most popular media reports touting the results of the latest sex study suffer from one of the following problems: they're either inaccurate, biased, or highly sensationalized. Unfortunately, too few readers...
Media & Culture
September 21, 2016 by Justin Lehmiller
A lot of people claim to be “experts” on sex and relationships. However, as you probably know, being an “expert” isn’t an official title—anyone can claim expertise if they want...
Media & Culture
May 18, 2016 by Justin Lehmiller
When it comes to teaching American adolescents about sexuality, “we are completely silent around girls' sexual entitlement and girls' pleasure,” says Peggy Orenstein, author of the new book Girls &...
Media & Culture
May 11, 2016 by Justin Lehmiller
When science is reported in the media, it is often horribly distorted. One of the biggest reasons for this stems from the fact that many of the journalists and bloggers...
Media & Culture
October 9, 2015 by Justin Lehmiller
When it comes to sex, a lot of what we think of as being "normal" today was illegal and carried serious punishments in the not-too-distant past. For instance, federal law...
Media & Culture
July 19, 2015 by Justin Lehmiller
Flibanserin, a drug some of you probably know more commonly as "female Viagra" or "pink Viagra," has been in the news a lot lately. This is a drug that is...
Media & Culture, Sex Tips, Videos
June 10, 2015 by Justin Lehmiller
Although sex is a topic about which many of us are inherently curious, there are surprisingly few reliable sources out there for learning about it, especially sources that are grounded...
Media & Culture, Psychology
February 6, 2015 by Justin Lehmiller
This Valentine’s Day weekend, a lot of couples will be heading out for dinner and a movie—and for many of them, their film of choice is likely to be the...
Kink & BDSM, Media & Culture
July 10, 2014 by Justin Lehmiller
Katie Couric recently ran a segment on her show entitled “How To Prevent Your Kids From Watching Porn.” The title of the segment makes the agenda clear: all pornography is...
Media & Culture
October 28, 2013 by Justin Lehmiller
Compared to the United States, European nations tend to have more relaxed attitudes toward public nudity. Certainly, there’s a lot of variability across individual countries in terms of the type...
Media & Culture, Myth vs Fact
September 16, 2013 by Justin Lehmiller
A new study looking at the link between men’s testicular size and their parenting qualities has been making the rounds in the media lately, with provocative headlines ranging from “Choose...
Media & Culture, Myth vs Fact
August 20, 2013 by Justin Lehmiller
Sixty years ago today (August 20, 1953), the media first reported on the findings of Alfred Kinsey's classic book Sexual Behavior in the Human Female. It was the first book...
Media & Culture
August 12, 2013 by Justin Lehmiller
In a recent New York Times editorial, author Susan Jacoby laments the increasingly popularity of “sexting,” cybersex, and other such virtual connections. Jacoby argues that virtual sex lacks the sensuality...
Media & Culture, Myth vs Fact
July 8, 2013 by Justin Lehmiller
One of the reasons I started this blog is because I saw too many media reports about sex research that were sensationalized, misleading, and (in some cases) just plain wrong....
Media & Culture
May 13, 2013 by Justin Lehmiller
In a recent piece on Salon entitled “My Virginity Mistake,” author Jessica Ciencin Henriquez talks about how an abstinence pledge ruined her marriage. In her words: “Without having sex before...
Media & Culture
May 6, 2013 by Justin Lehmiller
The Internet exploded today with stories about an incredibly dangerous “sex superbug” at our doorstep. Some of the more provocative headlines included “Sex superbug could be ‘worse than AIDS’” (CNBC)...
Media & Culture
May 1, 2013 by Justin Lehmiller
A recent piece in the Wall Street Journal (WSJ) entitled “How often should married couples have sex? What happens when he says ‘more’ and she says ‘no?” caused quite a...
Media & Culture, Sex Tips
April 12, 2013 by Justin Lehmiller
A new study examining women’s perceptions of penis size has been making the rounds in the media lately with headlines ranging from “Science Proves Women Like Men with Bigger Penises,”...
Media & Culture
January 7, 2013 by Justin Lehmiller
A new study published in The Journal of Sex Research about the psychological effects of exposure to online pornography has been making the rounds in the media recently. A number...
Media & Culture, Myth vs Fact
December 26, 2012 by Justin Lehmiller
Earlier this year, a study was released suggesting that children are better off when raised by heterosexual couples than by same-sex couples [1]. That study received widespread media attention, despite...
LGBTQIA+, Media & Culture
December 2, 2012 by Justin Lehmiller
Last week, the Harvard College Munch became an official student organization on campus. The goal of this group is to provide a forum for students who are interested in “kinky”...
Media & Culture
September 10, 2012 by Justin Lehmiller
Are couples who start having sex right away not as happy in the long run? A new study has found that heterosexual romantic partners who had sex within the first...
Media & Culture, Myth vs Fact
August 22, 2012 by Justin Lehmiller
A recent study looking at the types of women that men are attracted to during times of stress made huge international news this month. Among the many headlines I came...
Media & Culture, Myth vs Fact
July 11, 2012 by Justin Lehmiller
Last year, the U.S. Preventive Services Task Force came out against the prostate-specific antigen (PSA) test. This test has been widely used for years as a way of screening male...
Media & Culture
June 20, 2012 by Justin Lehmiller
There was a recent media frenzy about a new study suggesting that the hormone oxytocin may improve male sexual desire and functioning. Among some of the more provocative headlines I...
Media & Culture
June 13, 2012 by Justin Lehmiller
Every time a new study comes out comparing the outcomes of children raised by same-sex and heterosexual couples, it garners a huge amount of media attention. It doesn’t matter what...
LGBTQIA+, Media & Culture
March 28, 2012 by Justin Lehmiller
I make it a point to keep up with the latest sex and relationships news but, unfortunately, I find that a lot of the media reports on these topics are...
Media & Culture
December 22, 2011 by Justin Lehmiller
I recently read an article entitled Teen Sex May Affect Brain Development, which suggested that sexually active adolescents may have an elevated risk of mood disorders compared to their peers...
Media & Culture
