Showing titles in Sexual & Reproductive Health

As a psychotherapist and professor of marriage and family therapy and sexuality at a Christian University, Tina Schermer Sellers, PhD, has spent a career listening deeply to the often untold, most tightly held, shame-filled stories of people’s lives. Over the last 30 years in particular, these stories have revealed the devastating effects of abstinence education, the purity movement of the evangelical church, and the simultaneous removal of media regulations that allowed for an influx of sexual violence against women to enter all forms of commercial media beginning in the 1980s.

Staying active during pregnancy and the postpartum period has vast physical and mental health benefits, but it’s also a subject that’s fraught with fear, myths, and misinformation. We’re told by doctors to exercise, but we’re not given the tools with which to do so. Enter: The Bump Plan, by personal trainer, pre-and-postnatal exercise specialist and mother of two, Hollie Grant.

Based on more than one hundred interviews with teenagers and young adults, activists, and experts, The Second Coming reveals how (mis)education, the internet, and politics have not only reshaped relationships but also unleashed a nationwide power struggle over the future of sex. From abortion clinics crowded with young patients, to “Dating with Dignity” seminars at the National Pro-Life Summit, to school board battles over what students should read, think, and feel, we meet folks from both sides of the aisle who are well-informed, empowered, and active (even if not always sexually).

Le mois qui suit l'accouchement est l'un des plus beaux moments de la vie d'une femme. Ces semaines sont pourtant éprouvantes pour la mère comme pour le nouveau-né : manque de sommeil, fatigue, douleurs, baby blues... Les jeunes mères se retrouvent souvent seules, les émotions à fleur de peau, pour affronter une phase de bouleversements. Cette période représente un enjeu majeur pour la santé future de la mère. Dans de nombreuses cultures, elle fait ainsi l'objet de soins adaptés (bandage du bassin, massages, conseils en nutrition...).

Every woman deserves to enjoy great sex with her husband, without inhibition or shame. But many wives live with the burden of self-doubt or feel mystified about what men really want in bed. Others wrestle with memories of sexual abuse or neglect, guilt over past intimate relationships, or negative feelings about their own bodies. Maybe you’ve been thinking you were alone in your struggle to discover sexual fulfillment.

For the modern world, it seems as if sexuality and spirituality have always been at odds. But what if the two are actually deeply connected? And what if science could prove this connection? From neuroscientist Andrew Newberg, Sex, God, and the Brain argues that our religious and spiritual experiences derive directly from our sexual being. While others have speculated on a connection between religion and sex, Newberg is the first to demonstrate that the underlying biological mechanism of religious, spiritual, and sexual experiences are identical.

After ten years of tear-soaked prayers and repeatedly dashed hopes, Sheridan Voysey and his wife come to a heart-breaking conclusion: their dream of having a child is over. Empty and confused from a decade of disappointment, they leave their jobs, pack their bags, and embark on a journey in search of restoration. Voysey chronicles the couple’s return to life. From the streets of Rome to the Basilicas of Paris, from the Alps of Switzerland to their new home in Oxford, Voysey and his wife begin the healing process while wrestling with their doubts about God’s goodness.

Infertility affects about 15 percent of couples globally, yet somehow infertility and In Vitro Fertilization (IVF) are taboo subjects, often hidden and un-talked about. 1000 Needles: How to Increase Your Odds and Take Control of Your IVF Journey removes the stigma with a touch of sass and an unapologetically honest voice, exploring one couple’s IVF challenges and discoveries in order to normalize the infertility conversation.

Superfreaks challenges and dismantles longstanding myths about kink perpetuated by pop culture phenomena like Fifty Shades of Grey and 365 Days. In doing so, Greenberg names the systemic marginalization kinky people experience and argues that we must build a society that accepts and celebrates sexual diversity of all kinds. The book also affirms the importance of consent and not “yucking someone’s yum”—key concepts inherent to the practice of kink that are essential building blocks for safer, more inclusive sex.

Dispelling the myth that everyone else is having "perfect sex", or even that there is such a thing, this book explores taboos, debunks myths, and brings together the latest research to a topic that has preoccupied the vast majority for millennia. Reframing assumptions about sex, and moving away from a shame-based approach to a pleasure-focused, biopsychosocial one, Kate Moyle, a certified psycho-sexologist and relationship therapist, aims to encourage curiosity and pleasure.

Learn from the author's experience how you can have a perfectly healthy pregnancy at the age of your choice. So, maybe, you're having those moments when you feel like...you're not too sure about having a kid early on, or you'd rather wait for the perfect time. Let me tell you: it's okay. It is perfectly okay to have a baby late, especially if you keep your health in check.

For We Need To Talk About Love, Laura Mucha has interviewed hundreds of strangers, from the ages of 8 to 95 in more than 40 countries, asking them to share their most personal stories, feelings and insights about love. These intimate and illuminating conversations raised important questions. Drawing on psychology, philosophy, anthropology and statistics, We Need To Talk About Love combines evidence, theory and everyday experience and is the perfect listen for anyone who is curious about how we think, feel and behave when it comes to love.

Secrets of a Webcam Girl is the true story of a girl's transition from business suit to birthday suit as a means to fix mounting financial problems. Annabelle begins working as a webcam girl, stripping and performing sex shows online. Her efforts to capitalize on the recession-proof sex trade prompt a foray from webcam to massage table, where she offers happy-ending body rubs. Told with candor and wit, this memoir reveals the fetishes and infidelities of her patrons, whose hidden identities often trigger stunning revelations and unfettered perversities.

In this pathbreaking audiobook, ethnographer Staci Newmahr delves into the social space of a public, pansexual SM community to understand sadomasochism from the inside out. Based on four years of in-depth and immersive participant observation, she juxtaposes her experiences in the field with the life stories of community members, providing a richly detailed portrait of SM as a social space in which experiences of "violence" intersect with experiences of the erotic.

Many women still suffer a long-ingrained dissociation with their own vaginas and a misunderstanding of what goes on "down there". With expertise and a dose of humor, leading ob-gyn, educator, and women's health advocate Dr. Sherry Ross addresses every urgent, confounding, culturally taboo or embarrassing question women have about vaginas, with the goal of healthier, happier lives for all.

Kevin Leman wants you to know that men are less complicated than you give them credit for. At the core of men, you'll find a sensitive, emotional being that needs to feel loved, respected and needed. The more you understand and are sensitive to the fears, anxieties, and insecurities that make the men in your life behave the way they do, the stronger your relationships will be.

Exhibitionism can be a consensual erotic pleasure and a means to overcome shyness and body image issues. Featured here are suggested exercises, as well as discussions of erotic dress, talk, personas and roleplay involving your partner, exhibitionism and the sex industry, and more.

Elizabeth G. was twenty-two years old and travelling around Australia when she came across a job opportunity at an erotic massage parlour in Sydney. Fast forward eighteen years and she had built up a trusted list of regular clientele working as a high-end London escort and was frequenting some of the city's most exclusive hotels.

More than a quarter of pregnancies end in miscarriage. Experiencing this loss, you may wonder why it happened, what happens next, and what it means for your future. You may also feel incredibly alone. For more than 20 years, Dr. Kate has taken care of those navigating the physical and emotional pain of pregnancy loss. After experiencing two miscarriages of her own, she wrote Your Guide to Miscarriage & Pregnancy Loss to offer others the same compassionate conversation she has with her patients.

Beginning in the 1950s, William Masters and Virginia Johnson convinced hundreds of people to shed their clothes and copulate—in the name of science. For more than 40 years, the pair served as the nation's top experts on love, sex, and intimacy. In this eye-opening work, critically acclaimed biographer Thomas Maier presents an unprecedented look at the research team of Masters and Johnson, their pioneering studies of intimacy, and their lasting impact on the love lives of men and women. Masters of Sex offers a titillating portrait of the team's real-life story.