May 2, 2022 by Justin Lehmiller
It’s May, and that means it’s Masturbation Month yet again! So let’s talk about self-pleasure. The origins of Masturbation Month date back to 1995, when US Surgeon General Joycelyn Elders publicly said that masturbation is a natural part of human sexuality and something that should perhaps be taught in sex education courses. Elders’ comments set...
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December 24, 2021 by Justin Lehmiller
Unlike many animal species, humans don’t really have a mating season. We can have sex any time of year. However, there do appear to be some peaks and valleys in...
Videos
December 13, 2021 by Justin Lehmiller
Sex therapist Dr. Shirley Zussman passed away on December 4, 2021 at the age of 107. She had a remarkably long career in the field, having earned her doctorate in...
Sex Ed, Videos
September 27, 2021 by Justin Lehmiller
What does it sound like when you have sex? Is there any dirty talk? What about panting, moaning, and/or grunting? While people vary in their personal preferences for erotic sounds...
Videos
July 14, 2021 by Justin Lehmiller
The COVID-19 pandemic has impacted people’s sex lives in a number of ways, which I’ve written about extensively on the blog (see here for a video recap of some of...
Videos
June 16, 2021 by Justin Lehmiller
What do you do after sex? Some people like to spoon or cuddle, others like to sleep, and yet others like to grab something to eat or drink. But does...
Videos
February 22, 2021 by Justin Lehmiller
Most of us like to think of ourselves as having free will. We engage in behaviors—sexually and otherwise—because we choose to do so, right? But what if this wasn't entirely...
Safe Sex, Sex Ed, Videos
January 4, 2021 by Justin Lehmiller
The rise of online dating has given us a new way to connect with other people—and to meet people we probably wouldn’t otherwise encounter in our everyday lives. It has...
Videos
December 14, 2020 by Justin Lehmiller
It’s not uncommon for people in monogamous relationships to step out on their partners. Studies have reliably found that between 1 in 4 and 1 in 5 married individuals say...
Videos
November 18, 2020 by Justin Lehmiller
A few years back, a bunch of guys on the internet started challenging each other to go the whole month of November without ejaculating. It’s “No Nut November,” as they...
Videos
November 13, 2020 by Justin Lehmiller
How have people's sex lives and relationships changed as a result of the COVID-19 pandemic? Some of my colleagues and I at The Kinsey Institute conducted a study in order...
Videos
October 30, 2020 by Justin Lehmiller
Some women masturbate right after having sex with their partner. Intuitively, some might assume that this necessarily means she was dissatisfied with the sex and compensating for an unfulfilling experience....
Gender, Videos
October 14, 2020 by Justin Lehmiller
What is the average amount of semen a man produces? Where does semen actually come from anyway? Why do men ejaculate in spurts instead of a stream? Why is semen...
Videos
September 23, 2020 by Justin Lehmiller
“Pup play” is a form of sexual roleplay in which an adult human adopts the appearance and characteristics of a dog. This may include dressing up like a dog (wearing...
Kink & BDSM, Videos
September 11, 2020 by Justin Lehmiller
A lot of people struggle when it comes to finding long-term relationship happiness. So what can we do about this? As economist Rebekka Grun argues in the TEDx talk below,...
Videos
August 3, 2020 by Justin Lehmiller
How is the COVID-19 pandemic affecting the world of dating and relationships? According to sex therapist Esther Perel, disasters like this are a “relationship accelerator.” What exactly does she mean...
Videos
July 15, 2020 by Justin Lehmiller
Our sexual fantasies appear to reflect, at least in part, our personality traits and characteristics. I studied the sexual fantasies of 4,175 Americans from all 50 states for my book...
Videos
June 5, 2020 by Justin Lehmiller
Mating practices vary widely across different species—and they often occur in very unexpected ways. This is especially true when we look at how deep sea creatures mate.For example, lobsters engage...
Videos
May 22, 2020 by Justin Lehmiller
Interest in polyamory—and consensual non-monogamy more broadly—is on the rise. Google searches related to polyamory are increasing, apps for polyamorous dating are springing up, and popular media depictions of polyamorous...
Videos
May 13, 2020 by Justin Lehmiller
It’s May, and that means it’s Masturbation Month! With many of us living under lockdown and quarantine orders at the moment, now seems like the perfect time to talk about...
Videos
April 22, 2020 by Justin Lehmiller
What’s going on in the world of sex research today? What are some of the biggest controversies and challenges? I recently sat down with a few of my colleagues to...
Sex Ed, Videos
April 8, 2020 by Justin Lehmiller
Depression is one of the most common mental health issues in the United States. In fact, according to the National Institutes of Mental Health, 1 in 14 Americans experienced an...
Videos
April 1, 2020 by Justin Lehmiller
The clitoris is an organ that has been wildly misunderstood and mischaracterized for most of human history. The last three decades have dramatically changed the way that scientists think and...
Videos
March 18, 2020 by Justin Lehmiller
In any relationship, you’re bound to discover that your partner has one or two (or maybe ten or twenty) quirks that eventually come to annoy you. In these situations, it's...
Videos
January 24, 2020 by Justin Lehmiller
“Across the alt-right movement, leaders are telling young men not to masturbate, “ says clinical psychologist Dr. David Ley in a recent interview. Why is that? In part, because some...
Myth vs Fact, Videos
December 18, 2019 by Justin Lehmiller
Sex is seasonal, to some degree. Researchers have found that our sexual activity patterns ebb and flow throughout the year, and there’s an interesting change taking place right now. Sex...
Potpourri, Videos
November 8, 2019 by Justin Lehmiller
Is child sexual abuse inevitable? A lot of people seem to be under the impression that it’s only a matter of time before someone who is attracted to children acts...
Videos
November 4, 2019 by Justin Lehmiller
Every November, a bunch of guys on the internet challenge each other to go a whole month without ejaculating. It’s “No Nut November,” as they call it. Men do this...
Videos
October 18, 2019 by Justin Lehmiller
As a sex educator and researcher, one of the most common questions I get asked (besides “am I normal?”) is how a couple can stay sexually connected and passionate for...
Dating & Relationships, Videos
October 11, 2019 by Justin Lehmiller
I’ve read a lot of media articles recently arguing that men and women really aren’t that different—and that any differences that do exist are due entirely to cultural conditioning. While...
Gender, Videos
September 27, 2019 by Justin Lehmiller
How does pornography affect the way that teens think about and approach sex? Is there a link between pornography and sexual violence, as many in the media have claimed? Also...
Sex Ed, Videos
September 13, 2019 by Justin Lehmiller
Sperm and other microscopic organisms don’t have an easy time traveling from Point A to Point B. When an organism is that small, traveling just one inch is actually an...
Videos
September 6, 2019 by Justin Lehmiller
In many countries, including the United States, persons with intellectual disabilities are deemed unable to provide sexual consent. The argument behind this is usually that these individuals cannot understand the...
Videos
August 23, 2019 by Justin Lehmiller
The menstrual cycle is a rare phenomenon in nature. In fact, it turns out that human beings are just one of a handful of species on Earth in which females...
Videos
August 16, 2019 by Justin Lehmiller
I keep two plants in my home at all times. One is some leafy thing I bought years ago—I’m not really sure what it is, but it refuses to die...
Potpourri, Videos
August 9, 2019 by Justin Lehmiller
We are getting closer and closer to eradicating HIV, a sexually transmitted infection that has contributed to the deaths of at least 32 million people worldwide since the early 1980s....
Safe Sex, Videos
August 2, 2019 by Justin Lehmiller
The orgasm gap refers to the well-documented research finding that heterosexual men tend to have more consistent experiences with orgasm than heterosexual women. Specifically, men are not only more likely...
Sex Ed, Videos
July 26, 2019 by Justin Lehmiller
The human papilloma virus (HPV) is one of the most common sexually transmitted infections. More than one hundred strains of HPV exist and, while most of them don’t cause problems,...
Safe Sex, Videos
July 5, 2019 by Justin Lehmiller
A lot of people end relationships before ever truly giving them a chance, and it's because many of us take the "shopping list" approach to love. In other words, some...
Videos
June 21, 2019 by Justin Lehmiller
What percentage of Americans today identify as LGBT? And does this percentage differ across age groups? Also, how many Americans currently support same-sex marriage? And just how much does support...
LGBTQIA+, Videos
June 14, 2019 by Justin Lehmiller
Scientists have been working on developing a birth control pill for men for years. One prominent line of research has focused on using hormones to block production of sperm; however,...
Safe Sex, Videos
June 7, 2019 by Justin Lehmiller
What are the keys to a leading a happy and healthy sex life? And how do you unlock your authentic sexual self? Dr. Emily Nagoski addresses these questions in the...
Videos
May 24, 2019 by Justin Lehmiller
The way we think about casual sex is all wrong, as Dr. Terri Conley argues in the TEDx talk below. Conely walks us through some of the key findings from...
Gender, Videos
May 17, 2019 by Justin Lehmiller
You just might be taking your sense of smell for granted, argues Dr. Rachel Herz in the TEDx video below. In this talk, Herz describes how little appreciation we have...
Videos
May 10, 2019 by Justin Lehmiller
When it comes to men’s options for birth control, they really only have two choices: wear a condom or get a vasectomy. While the number of options available to women...
Safe Sex, Videos
April 19, 2019 by Justin Lehmiller
For humans, sex isn’t just about gratifying some carnal, animalistic urge. Rather, the physical act of sex can serve a lot of different psychological purposes. This helps to explain why...
Videos
April 12, 2019 by Justin Lehmiller
Sexual consent is all about having solid communication with your partner(s). However, many of us aren’t very good communicators in general when it comes to sex and, further, many of...
Videos
March 29, 2019 by Justin Lehmiller
Maintaining sexual desire is a challenge that many long-term couples face. So how do you keep the passion alive? As sex and relationship therapist Esther Perel argues, one of the...
Videos
March 22, 2019 by Justin Lehmiller
People have a lot of wrong ideas about how relationships work, and these romantic myths and misconceptions can interfere with our ability to find happiness.
Sex Ed, Videos
March 15, 2019 by Justin Lehmiller
From an evolutionary standpoint, it makes sense that males of a given species tend to be attracted to females and vice versa because this will encourage frequent reproduction and survival...
LGBTQIA+, Videos
February 18, 2019 by Justin Lehmiller
Difficulties with sexual desire and arousal are common among women and men alike. Unfortunately, medications don’t always fix these problems, in part, because many of these issues have psychological causes,...
Interviews, Videos
February 15, 2019 by Justin Lehmiller
There are a LOT of things that people get wrong when it comes to sex and relationships. As someone who studies these topics for a living, I’ve noticed that some...
Sex Ed, Videos
February 13, 2019 by Justin Lehmiller
Valentine’s Day is almost upon us and many people have love on the brain. So let’s talk about the science of love! I’ve put together a video compiling five things...
Dating & Relationships, Videos
February 13, 2019 by Justin Lehmiller
“Though we often associate love with the heart, the true magic can be seen inside the brain.”This fascinating video by ASAP Science explores the neurobiology behind love. It turns out...
Dating & Relationships, Videos
January 25, 2019 by Justin Lehmiller
There's a lot we can potentially gain from talking to our partners about our sexual fantasies. Among other things, this has the potential to increase our sexual and relationship satisfaction...
Sex Ed, Videos
January 18, 2019 by Justin Lehmiller
Readers of the blog often send me their questions about sex and relationships, and one that I’ve heard several times recently concerns infidelity and whether there are any reliable indicators...
Sex Q&A, Videos
January 11, 2019 by Justin Lehmiller
Sexual orientation is something that many people consider to be an innate characteristic—it’s something you’re born with. This idea is popular within the LGBTQ community, and it’s something that has...
LGBTQIA+, Videos
December 7, 2018 by Justin Lehmiller
Research suggests that, on average, people tend to have more sex in the summer than they do in the winter; however, December is the exception to the winter sex slump....
Potpourri, Videos
November 2, 2018 by Justin Lehmiller
How are men’s and women’s sexual fantasies similar? And how are they different? I surveyed 4,175 Americans about their sex fantasies as part of my book Tell Me What You...
Videos
October 5, 2018 by Justin Lehmiller
Most people are cisgender, meaning that their gender identity corresponds with their birth sex; however, some people are transgender, meaning their gender identity and birth sex are different. Increasingly, scientists...
LGBTQIA+, Videos
September 26, 2018 by Justin Lehmiller
Today, I’m answering YOUR questions about sex. I’ve put together a brief video in which I review ten questions submitted by readers of Sex and Psychology and explore what science...
Sex Q&A, Videos
September 26, 2018 by Justin Lehmiller
I’m answering more of YOUR questions about sex today. In the video below, I’ll review ten questions submitted by readers of Sex and Psychology and explore what science can tell...
Sex Q&A, Videos
September 7, 2018 by Justin Lehmiller
Why should scientists study love? Because, as social psychologist Dr. Art Aron explains in the video below, it's central to our health and happiness. Dr. Aron talks not only about...
Dating & Relationships, Videos
August 15, 2018 by Justin Lehmiller
It can be challenging to get over a breakup. Many people find that they can’t stop thinking about their ex and that this has negative implications for their mental health,...
Dating & Relationships, Videos
August 15, 2018 by Justin Lehmiller
Why does sex tend to feel good? In order to answer this question, we need to step back and look at what our brains and bodies are doing during sexual...
Videos
August 8, 2018 by Justin Lehmiller
One of the most reliable findings across studies of human sexual behavior is that heterosexual men report substantially more lifetime sexual partners on average compared to heterosexual women. In theory,...
Gender, Sex Ed, Videos
August 3, 2018 by Justin Lehmiller
The term "blue balls" is frequently used to describe "a dull, aching sensation that occurs during sexual arousal before or without ejaculation." You may or may not realize this, but...
Videos
July 27, 2018 by Justin Lehmiller
Studies suggests that most married adults have sex somewhere between a few times per month and a few times per week (side note: sexual frequency in relationships is similar for...
Sex Ed, Videos
July 16, 2018 by Justin Lehmiller
Sex and aging is a topic I've wanted to include more coverage of on the blog for a long time; however, when you run a research-based blog, it's hard to...
Videos
July 16, 2018 by Justin Lehmiller
When people think about sex and aging, they have a tendency to focus on all of the things that might interfere with sexual satisfaction as we get older, such as...
Videos
July 4, 2018 by Justin Lehmiller
What's your favorite sexual fantasy of all time? I asked 4,175 Americans to tell me their biggest sexual desire as part of a recent survey I conducted and the results...
Videos
May 23, 2018 by Justin Lehmiller
Scientists who study sexual arousal have found that when they show participants a pornographic video, many people (especially women) show signs of genital arousal while simultaneously reporting that they do...
Sex Ed, Videos
April 23, 2018 by Justin Lehmiller
Difficulties with sexual desire and arousal are common, especially among women—and they’re notoriously difficult to treat with medications alone. However, the good news is that these problems are responsive to...
Interviews, Sex Tips, Videos
March 21, 2018 by Justin Lehmiller
One of the most popular stereotypes of male sexuality is that men want sex all of the time because they're just "wired" that way. In other words, sex is seen...
Sex Tips, Videos
March 14, 2018 by Justin Lehmiller
Incest, usually defined as sex between close blood relatives, is one of the most pervasive sexual taboos across cultures. Many different theories have been advanced to explain this taboo, but...
Kink & BDSM, Videos
February 28, 2018 by Justin Lehmiller
Studies have found that people overwhelmingly rate monogamous relationships as superior to consensually non-monogamous relationships on virtually every dimension you can think of [1]. For example, monogamy is seen as...
Dating & Relationships, Videos
February 21, 2018 by Justin Lehmiller
Pink and blue are colors that are commonly associated with gender in many Western cultures. Specifically, pink is widely considered to be a “girl color,” whereas blue is widely thought...
Gender, Videos
February 14, 2018 by Justin Lehmiller
With Valentine’s Day upon us, many folks have love on the brain—so let’s talk about the science of love! In the video below, I've compiled five of the most fascinating...
Dating & Relationships, Videos
February 7, 2018 by Justin Lehmiller
There's a common tendency to assume that when someone in a relationship cheats, they're doing it because the relationship is broken; however, this isn't necessarily true. People who are perfectly...
Dating & Relationships, Videos
February 2, 2018 by Justin Lehmiller
The American Sexual Health Association (ASHA) has declared February to be National Condom Month. For my part in helping to increase awareness and education about condoms this February, I created...
Safe Sex, Videos
December 15, 2017 by Justin Lehmiller
When it comes to relationships, a lot of people are under the impression that there’s just one “right” person out there for them—a so-called “soul mate” or perfect partner. In...
Videos
December 15, 2017 by Justin Lehmiller
Generally speaking, people tend to have more sex in the summer months than they do in the winter months; however, December is the exception to this winter sex slump. In...
Potpourri, Videos
December 1, 2017 by Justin Lehmiller
Today is World AIDS Day, a global public health campaign that began 29 years ago in order to increase HIV/AIDS awareness and education. In support of this campaign, I'm sharing...
Safe Sex, Videos
November 10, 2017 by Justin Lehmiller
Eharmony and other popular online dating sites promise to help users find compatible romantic partners through the use of specialized matching algorithms. These services were founded on the idea that...
Dating & Relationships, Videos
October 30, 2017 by Justin Lehmiller
In the video below, I've compiled a list of seven interesting facts about vaginas and vulvas--all tastefully displayed against the backdrop of (mostly) fruits and flowers that bear a minor...
Videos
October 6, 2017 by Justin Lehmiller
The penis is a fascinating piece of human anatomy; however, it turns out that most of us don't actually know all that much about it. So, in the video below,...
Videos
September 29, 2017 by Justin Lehmiller
Fetishes are sexual desires that hinge upon specific objects (like boots or panties), non-sexual body parts (like feet or armpits), or bodily fluids (like urine or breast milk). Though many...
Kink & BDSM, Videos
September 22, 2017 by Justin Lehmiller
Think you know everything there is to know about orgasms? Test your knowledge by watching the video below, which highlights ten of the most fun and interesting scientific facts about...
Videos
August 11, 2017 by Justin Lehmiller
What is “normal” or “typical” when it comes to sex isn’t the same from one culture to the next. In fact, there’s incredible variation in sexual attitudes and practices throughout...
Videos
August 9, 2017 by Justin Lehmiller
Where does our sexual orientation come from? That's a question that we don't yet fully understand. However, a growing body of research suggests that it may be determined, at least...
LGBTQIA+, Videos
June 28, 2017 by Justin Lehmiller
Even though the marriage rate in the United States recently hit an all-time low, most Americans still view the institution positively and consider it to be the ideal relationship state....
Dating & Relationships, Videos
June 23, 2017 by Justin Lehmiller
A reader submitted the following question:"Why do men have nipples? Do they have some purpose I don't know about?"Thanks for this great question! I've been asked about this many times...
Sex Q&A, Videos
June 7, 2017 by Justin Lehmiller
Teen sexting is an issue that parents and politicians alike are increasingly worried about. The message they’ve been sending to teens has been pretty uniform: don’t do it. Of course,...
Videos
May 26, 2017 by Justin Lehmiller
How is sex determined? In humans, it’s a matter of genetics, and it begins the moment a sperm cell fertilizes an egg, thereby producing a certain combination of sex chromosomes....
Videos
May 12, 2017 by Justin Lehmiller
Throughout the animal kingdom, genitals are very complex—way more complex than they are in humans. Take the male argonaut octopus, for example, which has a detachable penis that can swim...
Videos
May 9, 2017 by Justin Lehmiller
May is Masturbation Month. We can trace the origin of this special month back to 1995, when US Surgeon General Joycelyn Elders said that masturbation is a part of human...
Videos
May 3, 2017 by Justin Lehmiller
As a sex educator, I’ve been asked many times whether it’s safe to have sex during pregnancy. I’ve answered this question before on the blog and, although the research is...
Videos
April 14, 2017 by Justin Lehmiller
American sex education courses are seriously lacking when it comes to the subject of women's sexual anatomy and pleasure. Not only are terms like "vulva" and "clitoris" rarely uttered, but...
Videos
March 10, 2017 by Justin Lehmiller
The question of whether men and women differ when it comes to intelligence has long been a subject of scientific debate. For instance, some researchers have argued that men have...
Gender, Videos
March 1, 2017 by Justin Lehmiller
A lot of parents avoid talking to their kids about sex because they are afraid the experience will be awkward, embarrassing, or uncomfortable. However, parents aren't doing their kids any...
Safe Sex, Videos
January 16, 2017 by Justin Lehmiller
Abortion is one of the most controversial and hotly debated political topics in the United States today--and that debate is about to hit a fever pitch, given the double whammy...
Safe Sex, Videos
January 6, 2017 by Justin Lehmiller
A lot of people in relationships find that their partner has one or two (or maybe twenty) quirks or habits that annoy them. In these situations, it's tempting to think...
Videos
December 2, 2016 by Justin Lehmiller
Before Viagra and penile implants, impotent men didn't have a lot of great options for treating their erectile difficulties. In fact, almost all of the early "treatments" for ED were...
Sex Tips, Videos
December 2, 2016 by Justin Lehmiller
Sex research is a tough business to be in. This field has more than its fair share of critics, some of whom have gone to great lengths to intimidate sex...
Videos
November 18, 2016 by Justin Lehmiller
Financial domination (or findom, as it's known for short) is an uncommon sexual interest in which people--usually men--find it arousing to be "forced" to give their money to a dominant...
Kink & BDSM, Videos
October 28, 2016 by Justin Lehmiller
Why do humans and so many other species reproduce by having sex? If you think about it, a case could be made that asexual reproduction is faster and more efficient...
Videos
October 21, 2016 by Justin Lehmiller
There are dramatic cross-cultural differences in the legal status of prostitution. These range from complete criminalization to legalized, government-regulated sex work. So which model is best? Well, that depends upon...
Videos
October 7, 2016 by Justin Lehmiller
Women have been using tampons to capture menstrual flow for thousands of years. In the past, tampons consisted of everything from wool to paper to plants. The modern tampon--which is...
Videos
September 30, 2016 by Justin Lehmiller
It's a common experience in the world of online dating for people to develop the impression that good-looking people are disproportionately likely to be, well, jerks. Great face, nice body,...
Videos
September 19, 2016 by Justin Lehmiller
Research suggests that most married folks have sex somewhere between a few times per month and a few times per week. Very few do it every single day. But let's...
Sex Ed, Videos
September 7, 2016 by Justin Lehmiller
How do you keep a romantic relationship healthy and strong over the long haul? Research suggests that the way we respond to our partners' emotional states may be particularly important....
Dating & Relationships, Videos
August 17, 2016 by Justin Lehmiller
There are undoubtably some important differences between the male and female orgasm. Among other things, men tend to reach orgasm more often, women are more likely to have multiple orgasms,...
Gender, Videos
July 29, 2016 by Justin Lehmiller
Being a successful sex researcher is--and always has been--a tough business. Sex research has a lot of vocal critics who aren't comfortable with the work we're doing, some of whom...
Psychology, Videos
July 22, 2016 by Justin Lehmiller
Why do we cheat? Undoubtedly, there are many possible reasons. For example, sometimes people commit infidelity because they are in unhappy or dysfunctional relationships. Other times, it's because people are...
Videos
July 11, 2016 by Justin Lehmiller
A lot of people think there’s something wrong with them because they don’t have the constant desire for sex that people on TV and in the movies seem to have....
Videos
June 27, 2016 by Justin Lehmiller
A lot of books and websites featuring pick-up tips for straight men extoll the virtues of having a so-called "wingman." According to the Urban Dictionary, a wingman is "a guy...
Videos
June 15, 2016 by Justin Lehmiller
In this TEDx talk, forensic psychologist Luke Broomhall explores the importance of thinking differently about how to prevent child sexual abuse. In the United States and many other countries around...
Kink & BDSM, Videos
June 1, 2016 by Justin Lehmiller
Sex surrogates are people who help clients deal with sexual difficulties by engaging in direct sexual activity with them. In addition, surrogates often help persons with physical disabilities more generally—many...
Sex Tips, Videos
May 25, 2016 by Justin Lehmiller
In order to develop a close, intimate relationship with someone else, you need to be willing to open up to that person—to let your defenses down and become emotionally vulnerable....
Dating & Relationships, Videos
April 18, 2016 by Justin Lehmiller
The conventional wisdom when it comes to marketing is that sex sells. This is why it’s not uncommon to see television commercials and magazine ads that focus more attention on...
Videos
April 11, 2016 by Justin Lehmiller
Social psychologists have found that people have a tendency to view their romantic partners in overly idealized ways. For example, we may view our partners as being more intelligent, compassionate,...
Dating & Relationships, Videos
April 11, 2016 by Justin Lehmiller
How should we teach people about sexual consent? This is a question that has been getting a lot of attention lately from scientists, politicians, and sex educators alike. Increasingly, one...
Videos
April 4, 2016 by Justin Lehmiller
In the popular media, casual sex is often portrayed in a negative light, with writers focusing largely on the physical and psychological risks of having it. But is this activity...
Videos
March 20, 2016 by Justin Lehmiller
Survey studies have reliably found that a majority of men and women say they have removed some or all of their pubic hair before. The reasons people report for doing...
Videos
March 13, 2016 by Justin Lehmiller
In the last few years, LGBT rights have advanced greatly in America; however, most of the benefits have gone to the Ls, Gs, and Bs. Far fewer have gone to...
LGBTQIA+, Videos
February 26, 2016 by Justin Lehmiller
When men mistake women’s politeness or friendliness for flirting, this is known as sexual misperception. And it’s incredibly common. However, it’s relatively rare for this to go in the opposite...
Gender, Videos
February 14, 2016 by Justin Lehmiller
The U.S. marriage rate is in decline. In fact, it keeps hitting record lows. Some view this as a very discouraging sign about the state of Americans’ relationships. However, whereas...
Dating & Relationships, Videos
February 7, 2016 by Justin Lehmiller
Penile appearance varies widely throughout the animal kingdom. For instance, some penises have multiple heads (spiny anteaters), others are shaped like a corkscrew (lake ducks), and yet others are several...
Videos
February 2, 2016 by Justin Lehmiller
For your viewing (and learning) pleasure this Valentine's Day weekend, here's a playlist of five of my favorite videos on the science of love. These videos span quite the range...
Dating & Relationships, Videos
January 3, 2016 by Justin Lehmiller
What goes on inside the brain during sexual arousal and orgasm? And are there any neurological differences between men and women in this regard? In the Big Think video below,...
Sex Ed, Videos
December 22, 2015 by Justin Lehmiller
What is it about sex that makes it so pleasurable? For many people the answer to this question would seem to be pretty obvious: orgasm. But is that really the...
Videos
December 17, 2015 by Justin Lehmiller
Breasts are an important part of human anatomy for multiple reasons. Beyond helping to sustain life, they also play a role in sexual arousal for women and men alike. In...
Videos
December 7, 2015 by Justin Lehmiller
The United States has made great strides toward equality for lesbian, gay, bisexual, and transgender (LGBT) Americans over the past 15 years. For example, same-sex marriage is now legal nationwide,...
LGBTQIA+, Videos
November 29, 2015 by Justin Lehmiller
World AIDS Day is a global public health campaign that began 27 years ago and takes place annually on December 1. In support of this campaign, I am sharing the...
Videos
October 29, 2015 by Justin Lehmiller
Among married people in the United States, studies have consistently found that somewhere between 1 in 4 and 1 in 5 folks say they have cheated before--and that's just the...
Videos
October 23, 2015 by Justin Lehmiller
In this fascinating and humorous TED talk, evolutionary biologist Dr. Marlene Zuk offers a look into the sexual practices of a wide range of insects, from dragonflies to honey bees...
Videos
September 28, 2015 by Justin Lehmiller
Historically, masturbation has been viewed as an immoral activity capable of causing a wide range of negative health effects, including everything from blindness to hairy palms to insanity. Warnings about...
Videos
September 21, 2015 by Justin Lehmiller
Despite major concerns about the effectiveness and side effect profile of flibanserin (also known as "Addyi"), the drug so many have misleadingly referred to as "female Viagra," it is coming...
Potpourri, Videos
August 19, 2015 by Justin Lehmiller
Adolescent sex education is extremely inconsistent throughout the United States. Some kids receive it at school, others don't--and those who receive formal sex education aren't necessarily any better off than...
Videos
July 29, 2015 by Justin Lehmiller
Feederism has been described as "a fat fetish focused on erotic eating, feeding, and gaining weight." There are two basic types of people who exist in this fetish culture: feeders...
Kink & BDSM, Videos
July 23, 2015 by Justin Lehmiller
In case you aren't familiar with the term "lifehack," it refers to any "tool or technique that makes some aspect of one's life easier or more efficient." Based on the...
Videos
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
July 16, 2015 by Justin Lehmiller
Although casual sex is something that most Americans have done before, it is a sexual activity that continues to be viewed in a largely negative light. For instance, casual sex...
Myth vs Fact, Videos
July 9, 2015 by Justin Lehmiller
How much do we really know about human pheromones? Not quite as much as the ever-growing number of bottled pheromone peddlers would have you believe. Indeed, it turns out that...
Videos
June 18, 2015 by Justin Lehmiller
For much of our history, our bodies have been used to separate us into categories that tell us who we are (e.g., male vs. female). However, the more that science...
Gender, Videos
June 10, 2015 by Justin Lehmiller
In this TEDx talk, psychologist Dr. Meg Barker challenges us to rethink the so-called "rules" of relationships. She argues that clinging to the old rules is indeed problematic, but that...
Videos
May 22, 2015 by Justin Lehmiller
In this TED talk, therapist Esther Perel gives a fantastic presentation on infidelity that is rooted in both scientific research, as well as her own clinical observations. She addresses a...
Videos
May 14, 2015 by Justin Lehmiller
In this TEDx talk, mathematician Dr. Hannah Fry discusses what mathematics can offer to the study of love and how we can potentially apply it to our everyday lives. Not...
Videos
May 1, 2015 by Justin Lehmiller
In this TEDx Talk, Dr. Gary Lewandowski takes a look at the science behind relationship breakups and argues that they often aren't as bad as we think they're going to...
Dating & Relationships, Videos
March 27, 2015 by Justin Lehmiller
In this TED talk, therapist Ester Perel (author of Mating in Captivity: Unlocking Erotic Intelligence) argues that, in the modern world, married people have come to expect a lot of...
Videos
March 20, 2015 by Justin Lehmiller
In this fascinating TED talk, anthropologist Helen Fisher describes the evolution of love, the neurochemical foundation behind it, and the essential role in plays in our lives. She also talks...
Videos
March 12, 2015 by Justin Lehmiller
We humans like to think of ourselves as having free will. We like to think, for instance, that how many sexual partners we have and how quick we are to...
Videos
February 19, 2015 by Justin Lehmiller
People have been looking for ways to enhance their libidos and sexual functioning for centuries; however, it turns out that most of the aphrodisiacs that have been discovered to date...
Videos
February 6, 2015 by Justin Lehmiller
For your viewing (and learning) pleasure this Valentine's Day weekend, I've put together a playlist of five of my favorite videos on the science of love and attraction. These videos...
Videos
January 16, 2015 by Justin Lehmiller
There are currently two billion children in the world. How many will there be 100 years from now? Will that number go up, down, or stay the same, and why?...
Videos
January 1, 2015 by Justin Lehmiller
In this TED talk, Elizabeth Pisani argues that, in order to prevent the spread of HIV, we need to start making policy decisions that are rational for public health instead...
Videos
December 21, 2014 by Justin Lehmiller
In countries ravaged by HIV where access to contraceptives and barriers is limited, it is not uncommon for donor agencies from around the world to come in and flood the...
Safe Sex, Videos
November 24, 2014 by Justin Lehmiller
There are a lot of great TED talks out there about sex, but one of my personal favorites is Dr. Debby Herbenick’s presentation on “Making Sex Normal.” It was first...
Videos
October 31, 2014 by Justin Lehmiller
In this TEDx talk, Dr. Terri Orbuch describes the science behind lust and love. Research shows that these are completely distinct experiences and, as Orbuch explains, there are actually four...
Videos
October 16, 2014 by Justin Lehmiller
In this TEDx talk, Mechai Viravaidya talks about his work promoting condoms in Thailand from the 1970s until today. Viravaidya’s efforts have been so successful that he has been dubbed...
Safe Sex, Videos
October 8, 2014 by Justin Lehmiller
In this TEDx talk, Dr. Caroline Heldman argues that American culture has led many of us to falsely believe that being a sex object is empowering. To the contrary, she...
Videos
September 18, 2014 by Justin Lehmiller
Dr. Shirley Zussman is a practicing sex therapist in New York City--and she recently turned 100-years-old. Across all of her years in practice, sex has changed a lot, from the...
Videos
September 3, 2014 by Justin Lehmiller
In this TED talk, sexuality educator Al Vernacchio argues that Americans need a new metaphor when talking about sex. Vernacchio claims that, all too often, we talk about our sex...
Videos
July 30, 2014 by Justin Lehmiller
Did you know that the argonaut octopus has a flying, detachable penis? Or that female kangaroos have three vaginas? Or that female hyenas have clitorises so large that people often...
Videos
July 25, 2014 by Justin Lehmiller
Are men really more likely to cheat than women? Are bigger breasts less sensitive than smaller breasts? Do guys reach their sexual peak early in life, while women reach theirs...
Videos
July 11, 2014 by Justin Lehmiller
In this fascinating TED talk, Dr. Helen Fisher explores what happens inside the brain when we experience romantic love. To that end, Fisher describes a series of studies she conducted...
Videos
June 27, 2014 by Justin Lehmiller
In this fascinating TED talk, Dr. Sheeren El Feki explores the nature of sex and sexuality in the modern Arab world. Of course, most people recognize that the Middle East...
Videos
May 30, 2014 by Justin Lehmiller
Many athletes abstain from sex before major sporting competitions out of fear that sexual activity might negatively affect their performance. For instance, it was recently reported the British boxer Carl...
Videos
May 12, 2014 by Justin Lehmiller
There are numerous factors that help determine why we develop attraction to some people and not others. However, what we're going to focus on here is the role that the...
Videos
May 4, 2014 by Justin Lehmiller
A few years back, I posted an article about the most unusual (and amusing) study of animal sex I have ever read, which concerned the world’s first known case of...
Potpourri, Videos
April 11, 2014 by Justin Lehmiller
As part of my Human Sexuality course, I teach about sexual anatomy in both biological females and males. During my anatomy lecture, it is not uncommon for students to ask...
Videos
March 28, 2014 by Justin Lehmiller
“The diversity that we see in sexual structures in the animal kingdom that has evolved in response to the multitude of factors surrounding reproduction is pretty mind-blowing.” – Carin BondarIn...
Videos
January 22, 2014 by Justin Lehmiller
“Why are we so drawn to dance, and is it really equivalent to a human mating call? More importantly, does dancing increase your potential to ‘get some?’”In the fascinating video...
Videos
November 27, 2013 by Justin Lehmiller
The human papilloma virus (HPV) is one of the most common sexually transmitted infections today, and it is responsible for a wide range of health issues, including genital warts, as...
Myth vs Fact, Videos
October 18, 2013 by Justin Lehmiller
In this TEDx video, Northwestern University psychology professor Eli Finkel explains how the nature of marriage has changed dramatically over the last few decades. In particular, people today have fewer...
Dating & Relationships, Videos
September 27, 2013 by Justin Lehmiller
Have you ever wondered why people often use physical terms to describe the emotional pain they experience from breakup and other forms of social rejection? It turns out that the...
Dating & Relationships, Videos
May 29, 2013 by Justin Lehmiller
Despite the fact that birth control has become widespread over the past few decades, many controversies and misunderstandings persist. One area where much confusion remains is the topic of emergency...
Myth vs Fact, Videos
March 11, 2013 by Justin Lehmiller
In this Big Think video, psychologist Christopher Ryan discusses how we live in a world that upholds sexual monogamy and fidelity as relationship ideals; however, this sharply conflicts with what...
Sex Ed, Videos
February 22, 2013 by Justin Lehmiller
According to popular folklore, condoms were invented in the 18th century by the personal physician of King Charles II of England, who was supposedly named the “Earl of Condom.” However,...
Potpourri, Videos
January 21, 2013 by Justin Lehmiller
“The penis is a very effective solution to a very basic biological problem.” – Diane KellyThere is amazing variation in penises throughout the animal kingdom. Some phalluses have multiple heads...
Potpourri, Videos
November 30, 2012 by Justin Lehmiller
In this TED talk, author Mary Roach describes ten facts about orgasm. Although these facts are somewhat obscure and won’t necessarily impact your own sex life one way or another,...
Potpourri, Videos
November 14, 2012 by Justin Lehmiller
What happens inside your brain and body during an orgasm? A whole lot. Orgasm in both men and women is a heck of a lot more than just a few...
Potpourri, Videos
