What you stated toward the end was basically my first thought on reading the rest of the article. Of course more women are diagnosed with mental illness. It isn't because more of them have symptoms, it is because if they are struggling they are more likely to go and try and get help. That lack of willingness on the…

Hey, I like facts too! I think this would be a pretty hard fact to prove. There isn't a lot of quantifiable data, to my knowledge, that lists what kinds of issues teens go to their school guidance counselors to discuss. Also, it's possible they'd skip the guidance counselor and go to a friend or someone they trust to…

Well that is messed up... I'm sorry to hear that. I just mean that's a pretty big 'fact' to just throw around - that it's like a global pandemic. I could be wrong, I'm not saying that's not a distinct possibility. I just like being able to back up what I say with facts or if I decide that I want to take action on…

Only proof I have to offer is my own sister, and conversations I've had with her and her friends, all in the age 15-17 range (!!! I know, 15) who have no idea why their boyfriends want them to gag or choke during oral sex.

No, I didn't mean to be judgmental of people who enjoy sex - hey, good for them. I don't like other people's bodily fluids, so I choose not to partake in them. To each his own. I just meant that here in America - and Bill Maher pointed this out years ago - marriage has been hijacked by Hallmark. People have really…

You acknowledge that there is regional variation in neural plasticity, but you are ignoring the underlying circuitry. Most people have at least a superficial familiarity with "reward pathways/centers" in the brain. I'm talkin' 'bout dopamine, son! You'd be hard pressed to find neural connections stronger and more…

"...all across the globe, young girls have wept in counsellors' offices as they tell of gentle and caring boys suddenly turning nasty because they thought that was what you are supposed to do in sex." Any proof at all to this claim? Sounds made up.

I think you're on to something there - before there was internet, I think the really rough stuff was something people deliberately sought out, seeing as you'd mostly have to buy or rent it and as such make a decision on what to buy/rent and what not.

Thanks for that!

Thanks for sharing your experience!

I think that it's important to stress non-sexual aspects of life, too, and let people have interests outside of sexuality. Not shield them from and pretend it doesn't exist, but rather, just... not everything has to be sexy, not everything has to be about getting off, and that includes relationships. Cuddling can be…

I agree that we should be more lenient about brief nudity and light sexuality. The idea that Moon Bloodgood's topless scene would move Terminator Salvation from PG13 to R is crazy.

I would love to hear more about this arrangement— how it came to be, your thought process, etc. It sounds really lovely and I commend you.

No, you're misunderstanding my point. You say that adults with fetishes aren't all crowding into zoos and killing themselves using autoerotic asphyxiation. I am saying that muddies the issue because the point isn't that there's no such thing as healthy expression of a fetish. Of course there is. The issue is…

The article was specifically about boys' first experiences with porn. It's about how encounters with more extreme porn very early in your sexual development can shape your sexuality, not about adults with fetishes. This sort of porn is not new, but its mainstreaming is.

Personally, I gave up on sex with men. I got so tired of men expecting women to perform like porn stars that I married, literally, my best friend, and we have a "friendship marriage". Lots of physical affection, but sex, eh, once a year, maybe. He likes it that way, I love it that way, our relationship is based on…

Younger people's brains are more plastic than older people's brains, so habits developed at a younger age are harder to break. This is what accounts for the fact that younger people are more readily able to learn new languages, and why alcohol exposure at a young age can more likely lead to alcoholism.

An adult, sure. (Most) adults can tell the difference between fantasy sex and real sex. I've read plenty of rape fics, but I'm certainly not a rapist and I know exactly how consent and rape culture work IRL.

It's not that it was too concise, it's that it's only a portion of the definition. The guy's implication actually does make sense. If you get used to masturbating to a certain kind of violent porn when you're young, you will, in fact, form neural pathways that link those images to orgasm.

Teach your kids that girls don't like getting raped because that's pretty much all straight porn is.