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...Unfortunately, the pastor who talked up the liberation that comes from admitting you’re in the wrong now seems more interested in helping people understand why they don’t need to. In her new book, Shameless: A Sexual Reformation, Bolz-Weber is out to set Christians free from the angst and humiliation churches have often foisted on them because of their sexual proclivities and behaviors. But the way the book goes about doing so is by rejecting wholesale the idea of “sexual purity” and, with it, the need to confess sexual transgression....

The number of U.S. adults not having sex has reached a record high, according to a Washington Post analysis of data from the General Social Survey. Twenty-three percent of respondents, or nearly 1 in 4, reported having no sex in the past year, according to the Post. More than 30 percent of adults reported having monthly sex and nearly 40 percent reported having sex weekly or more. Young men between 18 and 30 years of age saw one of the biggest declines in sexual activity, with 28 percent saying they had no sex over the last year. The same data...

Women, more than men, tend to feel stultified by long-term exclusivity—despite having been taught that they were designed for it.

FULL TITLE: Feminist pastor, 49, proudly unveils a sculpture of a VULVA that she had made from old purity rings - before giving it to a delighted Gloria Steinem as a token of respect and gratitude A feminist pastor has unveiled a sculpture of a vulva that was made entirely with old purity rings. Nadia Bolz-Weber, 49, Christian author and theologian, showed off the sculpture - which was made by melting down the old jewelry - during a conference on Thursday, February 14, when she presented it to American activist Gloria Steinem. The mother-of-two, who lives in Denver, said the...

Karen Pence, the wife of America's vice president, Mike Pence will be teaching art at a Christian school in Virginia that bans LGBTQ children and requires employees to declare their religious beliefs. Like a real-life setting for "The Handmaid's Tale," Immanuel Christian School insists applicants initial a pledge to "live a personal life of moral purity." Listen to what else the pledge says: "I understand that the term 'marriage' has only one meaning; the uniting of one man and one woman in a single, exclusive covenant union as delineated in Scripture." It asserts that God intended sexual acts only between...

Ahead of next month’s special session on sexuality intended to resolve an issue that has dogged the United Methodist Church for decades, a group of affiliated college and university presidents issued a strong call for full inclusion of LGBTQ Christians. The group, which represents presidents of 93 United Methodist-affiliated colleges and universities, urged the denomination to amend its policies and practices to recognize the “sacred worth” of people regardless of gender identity or sexual orientation. The three-paragraph statement won unanimous approval in a vote taken Friday (Jan. 4) by the National Association of Schools and Colleges of The United Methodist...

Gone are the days when intimate relationships were shared between two people. And an Australian woman, who identifies herself as polyamorous, has opened up about how she embraces sexual relationships with multiple people. Penny has been in polyamorous relationships for five years - a lifestyle where she enjoys spending time with more than one person on an emotional level. Like any monogamous relationship, the woman goes out with the man or woman she 'loves' on romantic dates, cuddles up with them on the couch and has sex with them.

NEW YORK (AP) — U.S. birth rates declined last year for women in their teens, 20s and — surprisingly — their 30s, leading to the fewest babies in 30 years, according to a government report released Thursday. Experts said several factors may be combining to drive the declines, including shifting attitudes about motherhood and changing immigration patterns. The provisional report, based on a review of more than 99 percent of the birth certificates filed nationwide, counted 3.853 million births last year. That's the lowest tally since 1987. Births have been declining since 2014, but 2017 saw the greatest year-to-year drop...

A record number of Californians were diagnosed with a sexually transmitted disease in 2017, according to a new report released Monday by the California Department of Public Health. More than 300,000 cases of chlamydia, gonorrhea and early syphilis were reported, which equates to a 45 percent increase compared to 2012, the CDPH reported.

Straight couples will be asked by the Government if they would like the option of having a civil partnership rather than getting married. Minister for Women Victoria Atkins is to launch a poll on the issue this month. The move comes before the start of a Supreme Court case tomorrow challenging the law restricting civil partnerships to same-sex couples. In a civil partnership - which came into law for same-sex couples in 2005 - a couple is entitled to the same legal treatment in terms of inheritance, tax, pensions and next-of-kin arrangements. Last night, a spokeswoman for the Equal Civil...

he teenagers tucked their hands into their sweatshirt pockets as they shuffled to form a circle. Some gazed at the asphalt, trying to avoid the game they had been drafted to play. “It’s like hot potato/musical chairs, but with a penis,” said the girl leading the group. The kids gathered on a spring morning in South Los Angeles were about to get a hands-on lesson in sex education. Many health experts say that public health problems are best tackled outside the doctor’s office — that fixing the culture that perpetuates them is more effective than changing a single patient’s behavior....

Some 300 young people from all over the world from different backgrounds and even different religions, gathered this week in Rome to provide advice to an upcoming summit of Catholic bishops on youth, have discussed a wide array of topics, and among other points plan to offer the bishops a frank admission that they simply couldn’t reach consensus on hot-button issues of sexual morality.On Thursday, they debated over a first draft of the document they’re going to present to Pope Francis, who will then pass it on to a Synod of Bishops on youth and discernment that will take place...

I'm in an open marriage. Well, to be simultaneously more and less specific: I'm in a nonmonogamous marriage. An "open" marriage, in the nontraditional world, means that the couple may be having sex with other people but with no emotion involved. In contrast, in a "polyamorous" relationship, it means the couple is having sex with others and may also be having full-fledged relationships with others.

The conversation has become predictable. A friendly acquaintance — a neighbor, a fellow parent, our real estate agent — asks about my work. I say I’ve been writing a book about the pope, and the acquaintance smiles and nods and says “Isn’t he so wonderful?” or, “That must be an inspiring thing,” or, “I have a friend who would love to read it.” And then eventually I find myself saying, uncomfortably, “Well, they should know that it’s not entirely favorable.”

A conservative advocacy group is not down with dating website OkCupid’s new “DTF” ad campaign. The group, CitizenGo, has launched a petition calling for officials in Portland, Oregon, to remove the ad campaign which it claims “promotes lesbian sex, prostitution, drug use, and promiscuity, and it will be viewed by millions, including children, in public places.” “The most recent and most offensive ads are popping up in Portland, Oregon,” the group says on the petition. “You can find several different ads posted on or around the TriMet [public transit agency], their metro system, which includes bus lines, light rail, and...

When I was a freshman in college, I thought I met the love of my life. He was cool and fun and sexy, an older frat guy who was good at beer pong and knew exactly how to make me laugh. Within weeks of our first meeting, he became my official boyfriend. Within six months, we moved in together. Another six months later and we were engaged. It was a whirlwind romance by any definition — except for the fact that I cheated on my boyfriend three times. Despite the heartache it caused, my experience with infidelity taught me a...

Kate Millett, whose 1970 book, “Sexual Politics,” made her, as one writer put it, “the principal theoretician of the women’s liberation movement,” and who went on to be a leading voice on human rights, mental health issues and more, died on Wednesday in Paris. She was 82. Her spouse, Sophie Keir, said the cause was cardiac arrest. Living in New York City, they had been going to Paris every year to celebrate their birthdays, she said. Ms. Millett was in her mid-30s and a generally unknown sculptor when her doctoral dissertation at Columbia University, “Sexual Politics,” was published by Doubleday...

A divorce coach who charges $2,500 a session to advise women how to leave their husbands has insisted she is not a “marriage wrecker.” Single Emma Heptonstall ditched her high-flying job as a lawyer and set herself up as a self-proclaimed “divorce alchemist” — teaching mainly women, but occasionally men, how to have “happy splits.” The 44-year-old said: “I’m the divorce alchemist for ladies who leave. I know some people think I am not in a position to advise, having never been married, but I think that makes me objective.” “I’m not going to compare my situation with other people’s...

A dearth of marriagable men has left an “oversupply” of educated women taking desperate steps to preserve their fertility, experts say. The first global study into egg freezing found that shortages of eligible men were the prime reason why women had attempted to take matters into their own hands.

When Daniel and Elizabeth married in 1993, they found it was easy enough to choose a ring for her, but there were far fewer choices for him. Daniel, then a 27-year-old who worked in information technology, decided to design one himself, requesting that tiny stones be placed in a gold band, like planets orbiting in a solar system. He was happy with the ring, and what it represented, until it became obvious after the wedding that he was allergic to the nickel that was mixed in with the gold in the band. As if in revolt, his finger grew red...