Politicians are finally talking about sex work, but they still don’t really get it — For decades, politicians have debated the laws governing sex work without including many actual sex workers in the conversation. But that dynamic has begun to change. In recent years, sex worker rights movements have become more visible than ever before; not just on the streets or in the media, but…

Whatever precautions I’ve felt necessary to protect my privacy, hiding my face from the world has never been one of them — Almost 20 years ago, I started a new life for myself. I was 18, in college, and newly enamored with a trend known as “indie porn” — and I jumped headfirst into exploring the scene, becoming a part of a vibrant online community that was challenging assumptions about what erotic…

Improvements in access enabled by telemedicine can literally be a matter of life and death — Over the past few years, telemedicine — a term broadly used to describe any method of remotely accessing medical care, including over the phone, through email, or via video chat — has gone from a sci-fi proposition to an increasingly ordinary part of health care. In many parts of the…

Andrea Barrica, who launched one of the industry’s most popular sextech startups, wants to usher in a revolution to upend the oppressive mores of Silicon Valley — Andrea Barrica never expected to have a career in sextech — or even a career in tech, period. She grew up in a strict Filipino Catholic household, where sex was only discussed as something harmful. And her vision of the future was limited to a safe and predictable future: marriage…

These two deeply divergent attitudes towards sex and romance could be seen as symbolic of a real-world schism — A few years back, I fell really hard for one of my friends. Though we never quite reached a level of intimacy that one might call dating, on more than one occasion an evening of drinking would land the two of us in bed together, and my passions for him…

Sex will never be safe. Use protection. — For most of human history, sex has been unavoidably risky. Until the advent of modern biology, the mechanisms behind pregnancy and sexually transmitted infections (STIs) were poorly understood. And though humans have spent millennia tinkering with various methods of contraception and prophylactics, it wasn’t until the invention of the rubber…

While some activists hope amending Section 230 would end revenge porn, doing so could also take away safe spaces — In the mid-1990s, when the internet was still relatively new, Congress passed a 26-word provision as part of the Communications Decency Act that has shaped social media and online platforms ever since. The provision, known as Section 230, says that internet companies are not liable for their users’ content. It…

Erotic deepfakes are only going to make the question of sexual ethics muddier and more confusing — In a 1990 episode of Star Trek: The Next Generation, a socially anxious crew member named Reginald Barclay manages his fears and insecurities by retreating to the holodeck, where he programs fantasy versions of his fellow crew members. His male colleagues are recast as his adoring acolytes, while his female…

By design, telemedicine offers flexible appointment schedules, low-cost care, and the ability to discreetly access health care — When Sheila first got married, she was a serious Catholic who believed using contraception was a sin. But after seven years of marriage, three kids, and giving up her beliefs to become an atheist, birth control began to seem much more appealing. (Sheila asked that her last name not be…