A lot goes in to a good sex life, and for women it can be more of a mind game with our conscience than anything else: Are my legs shaved? How’s my breath? Am I bloated? What’s he really think of my naked body? It’s common for women to over analyze things and want everything to be perfect to be “in the mood,” but that can be the biggest antagonist of them all.

We’ve got four weeks to get you ready for a romping good Valentine’s Day night. So follow these four key tasks our experts have identified to help you work on body image, toning, flexibility, and a little weight loss. There’s a good chance you’ll be the one wanting to skip dinner and head straight to the sheets…

Body Image

We all have insecurities about our bodies, but realize how important a positive body image is for enhancing our sex lives.

“Even without changing your body, learning to love it (or parts of it) can do wonders for you in the bedroom,” says Brooke Randolph, LMHC, our resident mental health expert. “If you hate your body and want to hide it, it’s hard to really relax and be tuned into your partner and what you’re experiencing. When you feel good about yourself, you’re more likely to not only try to seduce your partner, but you’re more easily seduced by them as well.”

Try these sexy self-confidence boosters:
Read Full Post >

This morning on my walk into work, I couldn’t help but notice an older gentlemen biking past in the opposite direction starring at me. When instances like this happen, I usually combatively stare the other person back to let them know ‘It’s not OK to stare at people – it’s rude and creepy.’ But unfortunately, I was wearing sunglasses so he couldn’t see my furrowed eyebrows and fully puzzled gaze. 

According to a new study from Cornell University published in the journal PLoS ONE, the eyes have it all, especially when it comes to assessing another person’s sexual orientation. Perhaps if I’d have gone sans-shades this morning, my pedestrian friend would’ve gotten the clear message that ‘Yes, I’m heterosexual, but no, I’m not interested.’

In their research, authors of the study found four trends: heterosexual men responded most to images of women, homosexual men responded most to images of men, homosexual women responded most to images of women, and heterosexual women responded to both images of men and women, but were more likely to engage in men.

In congruence with previous research that found a person’s pupils widen when he or she is sexually attracted to someone, this new study found similar links: That a person’s sexuality is revealed by the way their pupils react.
Read Full Post >

Daniel Keenan Savage was born October 7, 1964 in Chicago, Illinois. Dan’s parents, William and Judy Savage, were of Irish ancestry and raised him and his three other siblings in a Roman-Catholic household. After high school, Dan attended the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign where he majored in theater and history. He became theater director at the university and used the stage name Keenan Hollahan. Hollahan was his grandmother’s maiden name.

In 1991, Savage moved to Madison, Wisconsin after he graduated college and started a sex advice column called Savage Love. The openly gay writer used the column as a forum for his opinions on love, sex, and family. The column’s popularity grew and Savage Love Live on Seattle’s radio was born. From 1994 to 1997 people would call him on the radio to get advice about relationships, sex, and family. During 1998 to 2000 Dan wrote an advice column called Dear Dan.

Dan kept writing pieces for different media outlets during the 21st century. He began to tour the country with speaking engagements at various types of events about relationships, sex, family, politics, and issues in society. In 2005, Dan married Terry Miller in Vancouver. A few years later, the couple adopted a son named D.J.
Read Full Post >

Finally, a little comfort that our inability to refuse cheesecake at any given moment is more than just a ‘self control’ problem.

A new study from Dartmouth College has found that the things we crave – from decadent food to sex – depend on the way our brains are wired, thus suggesting that giving into temptation has more to do with genetics than sheer will power.

Researchers studied 58 Dartmouth freshman females, 48 of whom returned six months later for a follow-up behavioral session. Participants underwent an fMRI session within the first month of arriving at college. To ensure a pure state of mind, the women were asked to refrain from eating, consuming alcohol or caffeine, or smoking for two hours prior to their session. Before the scan began, the freshmen were weighed, had their BMIs calculated, and then asked a set of questions to assess their current state of hunger and activity level.

The participants’ brains were then scanned while they were shown a variety of images, including animals, food, people drinking alcohol, people in sexual scenes, and environmental scenes.
Read Full Post >

If you are looking to find a partner, men, you now have more of a reason to eat right and exercise. New research suggests women may lust after a man’s immune system more than a hot bod or smoldering face.

Men with high levels of testosterone are seen as more attractive to women, and the same men have stronger immune responses, researchers report in the journal Nature Communications. Testosterone is responsible for more “manly” features, and women are attracted to them because they signal good health, as proved in a recent study.

Researchers gathered 74 Latvian men in their early 20s and took blood samples immediately before and one month after their first dose of the Hepatitis B vaccine which triggers the immune system to create antibodies against the virus. The researchers recorded these levels of antibodies as well as testosterone levels and cortisol, the stress hormone that negatively effects the body.

Read Full Post >