All posts tagged: sex and relationships

What Happy V Unhappy Married Couples Bring Up In Sex Therapy

What Happy V Unhappy Married Couples Bring Up In Sex Therapy

Published by Sam Flores

About 20% of Brits say they feel somewhat sexually incompatible with their partners; a factor you might think determines their levels of happiness. But speaking to HuffPost UK, sex therapist and intimacy coach Leigh Norén said that “oftentimes unhappily married couples and happily married couples bring up the same sorts of issues in sex therapy”. What tends to be different, though, is how they present and the causes behind their concerns. What do happy vs unhappy married couples bring up most in sex therapy? Both groups often come in to discuss “mismatched libidos, erectile unpredictability and orgasm issues,” the sex therapist said, “but the sexual problems affect the couples in different ways”. Among happy couples, there might still be a lot of physical, but non-sexual, affection, she added. They’ll also have, “A lot of emotional connection. But it’s no longer translating into sex for various reasons. “For instance, they might feel more like roommates than lovers because their identities have become enmeshed. They act like a collective and do everything with one another, as opposed …

The 19 Best Sex Toys Of 2026 For Your Next Orgasm

The 19 Best Sex Toys Of 2026 For Your Next Orgasm

Published by Sam Flores

We hope you love the products we recommend! All of them were independently selected by our editors. Just so you know, HuffPost UK may collect a share of sales or other compensation from the links on this page if you decide to shop from them. Oh, and FYI — prices are accurate and items in stock as of time of publication. This might sound dramatic, but I’m forever grateful I live in an age where sex toys are more normalised than ever. Just think about it: for hundreds of years, men’s pleasure has reigned supreme. And good for them – who doesn’t want to maximise their pleasure in life? But everyone should have equal opportunity to get off, and unfortunately, the orgasm gap persists in 2026. We still know criminally little about the female body; I mean, the clitoris has literally just been mapped in the same way as the penis. Plus, that eight in 10 women need clit stimulation to orgasm is still a little-known fact (they’re not teaching you that in sex ed, …

Sex After Menopause: Women Over 50 Share How It Feels And How To Feel Better

Sex After Menopause: Women Over 50 Share How It Feels And How To Feel Better

Published by Sam Flores

Menopause can bring about a number of mental, physical and emotional changes — including some shifts in your sex life. Clinically speaking, menopause is reached when you’ve gone 12 straight months without a period, marking the end of one’s reproductive years. The average age of the last menstrual period is 51, according to the American College of Obstetricians and Gynaecologists. But the transitional phase leading up to menopause, known as perimenopause, typically lasts about four years — though it can be as short as a few months or as long as 10 years. Colloquially, however, many use the word “menopause” as an umbrella term to encompass the whole process. During perimenopause, which often begins in your mid 40s, levels of hormones like estrogen and progesterone fluctuate. This can lead to irregular periods, hot flashes, insomnia, brain fog, mood swings, vaginal dryness and low libido — all of which can impact one’s sex life directly or indirectly. It’s worth noting that, for some individuals, symptoms may be intense and last a while, and for others they …

9 Expert Habits to Improve Your Relationships From Neuroscientist Amir Levine

9 Expert Habits to Improve Your Relationships From Neuroscientist Amir Levine

Published by Jenni Sidey

Create a shorthand of expectations “The five pillars of a secure life are: consistent, available, responsive, reliable, and predictable—or CARRP. I have a friend, we’ve been friends for a really, really long time. Around COVID time, there were times when we had ups and downs in that friendship. But now we have this new language of CARRP. “Because of this book launch, I’ve been so busy, and I think he called me twice, and I hadn’t responded. I hadn’t called back. And he called me again the other day, and he said, ‘Well, you haven’t been as responsive. You haven’t been CARRP lately.’ And I owned it. I immediately apologized, and I said, ‘You’re totally right.’ I explained what was going on, and that I’m so sorry. “He said, ‘No, no, it’s fine.’ But, in the past, without having this language, he might have sulked and not said anything. And if he had said something, I probably would’ve responded defensively. And there were periods of our friendship, we’ve been friends for 20 years, that we …

I Went on a Quest to Find the Perfect Wedding Cologne. Here’s What I Chose

I Went on a Quest to Find the Perfect Wedding Cologne. Here’s What I Chose

Published by Jenni Sidey

To my surprise, he was well-prepared. Per Gontarski, so-called wedding-day scents are so common now that that Scent Bar even has a shelf labeled “I Do” that carries the likeliest matches. He says many couples come in at the last minute looking for a wedding day fragrance. Some want to share a scent, but most make individual choices that complement one another. Cliché as it may be, this is when florals reign supreme, especially for women. (Gourmands not far behind.) And for men, barbershop-style fougères are the top choice, as they have been since the dawn of colognes. For a niche option from an IYKYK-type brand (and one that’s common with affianced Scent Bar buyers), Gontarski points to Parfum MDCI’s Invasion Barbare, thanks to its fougèrian freshness paired with a fantastic ginger snap. With that one, he says “a little goes a long way, so it’s gonna get you through that entire day.” As for an enduring designer staple, he says go for green: Guerlain Vetiver de Guerlain is both a timeless and refined choice, …

AI Podcasters Really Want to Tell You How to Keep a Man Happy

AI Podcasters Really Want to Tell You How to Keep a Man Happy

Published by skeptic

“It’s soft propaganda,” says Mandii B, cohost of the sex and lifestyle podcast Decisions, Decisions. The videos, and the rhetoric they spew, are trained on toxic gender tropes. “It subtly shapes beliefs and expectations without offering depth or accountability. It reminds me of how the American Dream was packaged and sold for decades: a clean, repeatable narrative that didn’t necessarily reflect the messy, diverse realities people were actually living. This content does something similar with relationships. It promotes digestible ideals without context, nuance, or responsibility.” Actual dialog, however, isn’t the end goal for these accounts. Nearly everyone of the pages WIRED reviewed was a funnel to paid courses on AI influencing. In addition to a digital business launch kit ($117) or six-week intensive product accelerator course ($147), the creator behind the Ari Banks avatar offers a $497 lesson plan called “AI Content University” where people learn to “Create viral AI podcasts & talking head content, Master the Realism Formula™ (so your content doesn’t look AI), and Use lip sync + voice cloning to bring your …

Why ‘Outercourse’ Is Just As Important As Penetrative Sex

Why ‘Outercourse’ Is Just As Important As Penetrative Sex

Published by Sam Flores

When we talk about sex, often we’re really referring to intercourse. But there’s so much more to a satisfying sex life than just penetration. And when we broaden our definition of sex to be more inclusive, there’s a whole world of pleasure to be gained. That’s where “outercourse” comes in. “Outercourse is really an umbrella term for a wide variety of sexual activities that don’t involve any type of penetration,” clinical sexologist and sexuality educator Lawrence Siegel told HuffPost. It’s “a way of increasing sexual passion and eroticism,” he continued. “Any rubbing, touching, kissing or caressing that doesn’t involve any part of one body entering any part of another. It can also involve mutual masturbation, scissoring and dry humping.” (That being said, what constitutes outercourse may vary person to person. For instance, some people believe fingering and oral sex are examples of outercourse, while others do not.) What many people call foreplay would be considered outercourse. But when we refer to all of these sexual acts as just foreplay, it reinforces the idea that penetration …

The Best Sex Positions For People Over 60

The Best Sex Positions For People Over 60

Published by Sam Flores

As we age, it’s natural for our bodies, minds and everyday lives to change. And those shifts bring about changes to our sexuality, too. But different doesn’t necessarily mean bad. It’s very much possible to have satisfying sex well into your 60s and beyond, even if it’s not the same kind of sex you had in your younger years. For some, that may mean trying different sex positions that honour their current body and its abilities, while also exploring other intimate acts that don’t necessarily include penetration. “Getting older is not about trying to be able to do the same sexual activities you’ve always done before,” clinical sexologist and sexuality educator Lawrence Siegel told HuffPost, “but to find positions and paces that are more comfortable and make the sexual act more enjoyable.” “If sex is painful or uncomfortable, it leads to disappointment and avoidance, which detracts from the quality of life for both individuals and couples,” he added. wundervisuals via Getty Images These expert-backed tips will make sex after 60 more pleasurable. Finding ways to …

In Dating, Here’s How To Tell If Your Standards Are Too High

In Dating, Here’s How To Tell If Your Standards Are Too High

Published by Sam Flores

Having standards when dating is important. But sometimes we get so caught up in the pursuit of the perfect partner that we let those standards get in the way of meeting quality people. When you’re swiping through a dating app and find yourself rejecting person after person, it’s worth asking: Are your standards too high? “With dating apps, it is easy to dismiss someone in seconds with a swipe,” Bonnie Winston, celebrity matchmaker and relationship expert, told HuffPost. “You are looking at a human being, but we get used to not realising it is an actual soul, a living and breathing person.” It happens to the best of us; no one wants to risk another failed relationship. And with the right mindset, standards can actually help you weed out the wrong potential partners. But what kind of high standards are actually self-sabotaging, and which ones are worth keeping? Here’s what dating experts want you to know. The Most Common High Standards Dating Experts See From physical traits to lifestyle preferences, dating experts have heard just …

Trump’s Economy Has Come for Sugar Babies

Trump’s Economy Has Come for Sugar Babies

Published by skeptic

When Nikki Saryan called one of her former sugar daddies in March, she wanted to talk about money, just not in the way he expected. Though there was a time when she pulled in $20,000 a month and was treated to first-class trips to New York City, Saryan now needed investment advice. Specifically, Saryan wanted to know what stocks to buy, “like where exactly I should safely put my money or if I should even put it in the stock market at all,” she tells WIRED. Instead, her sugar daddy, a finance guy in his late sixties, suggested a slow-growing, low-risk investment account with Charles Schwab that would be a safer bet than Wall Street. Considering that a Truth Social post by President Donald Trump can cause global markets to rise and fall in an instant, he might have a point. “He told me not to invest in any stock right now, to calm down and relax, because everything is kind of going to shit at the moment,” she says. During this latest economic downturn, …