11 Male Celebrities With Sex Advice All Men Need to Hear

23 Tuesday Jun 2015

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It’s a scene we know all too well: A woman, seeking to impress a new boyfriend, surrounds herself with magazines preaching the hottest ways to turn him on — “8 Positions to Drive Him Wild!” and “Naughty Sex Tips!” and, of course, “His Ultimate Sexual Fantasy!” The unequivocal takeaway: Women should be the ones figuring out how to make sex great by pleasing men.

Except, well, that’s only half the story. While women mull porn-style acrobatics and applause-worthy blow jobs, we’re missing an important thing that can make sex great for men: Making sure women are enjoying it as much as they are.

Despite the well-known orgasm gap, a 2010 study in the journal Personality and Individual Differences found that 90% of men say they do care if their partner gets off. And that intention matters: The more a man is invested in his partner’s pleasure, the narrower that gap becomes. Great sex, in short, means it’s great for both people involved.

Thankfully, these 11 kickass men aren’t shy about speaking up for what men should really be looking for when it comes to awesome sex.

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The Most Underrated Part of Your Relationship? Your Best Friend

23 Tuesday Jun 2015

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When Deborah, 27, was in labor, her husband was by her side for emotional support. But during a particularly painful moment, it was her best friend, Christina, who jumped into the hospital bed with her and held her.

“No questions asked, no words spoken. She knew exactly what I needed in that moment and was there to provide it,” Deborah told Mic.

It’s an extreme example of something many of us know but don’t say as freely these days. Our modern expectations for romantic relationships are that they are everything — that our significant other is our cheerleader, our biggest fan, our teammate and, as Bachelor and Bachelorette finales like to remind us, our best friend.

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13 Women With the Perfect Responses to Why They’re Still Single

16 Thursday Apr 2015

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Originally published on Mic.com – please click over to see the graphics!

If there is one thing all single women know, it’s that nothing ruins your day faster than the question, “So why aren’t you dating anyone?”

More people today are single than ever before: According to the Bureau of Labor Statistics, just over half of American adults are unmarried. And in 2006, the Pew Research Center found that among singles, 55% say they are neither cohabiting nor looking for a relationship. Despite what conventional wisdom might say, those singles are doing pretty well: Recent research — and plenty of anecdotal evidence — has shown that unmarried people with solid social support are just as satisfied as married people.

But that shouldn’t even matter. Some single women would love to be in a relationship, while some are totally happy to remain unattached. Either way, women who happen to be single shouldn’t face the stigmas they do. The only person who gets to pressure and question a woman about her love life is the woman herself.

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11 Reasons Everyone — Yes, Even Women — Should Masturbate

06 Monday Apr 2015

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Masturbation: It feels great, it works wonders on your sex life, and pretty much everyone is doing it. So why aren’t we all talking about how awesome it is?

“Solo sex” is so natural that kids start to experiment with it as young as 5 years old, which Lena Dunham candidly reminded us of. And yet, we still feel shame and embarrassment about our habits, or at least wonder if we’re “normal,” thanks to ridiculous myths and societal expectations that tell us we’re weird, sex-obsessed, or even selfish for wanting to give ourselves a hand.

But there are virtually no downsides to masturbation – only pleasure, and the confidence that comes with knowing exactly how your body works. Here are all the awesome things you should know about one of humans’ favorite extracurriculars.

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12 Women With Perfect Responses for Why They Don’t Have Kids

21 Saturday Mar 2015

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In a classic Seinfeld episode, Elaine sits surrounded by friends with kids as they accost her with the now-infamous line: “You gotta have a baby!” We can only guess millions of women watched, nodding their heads and wondering: What do you say when society demands to know when you’ll procreate, and why you haven’t done so yet?

Even as more millennials choose to delay children or remain child-free altogether, the demand on women to have babies is still high. Media has doubled down on celebrity “baby bump” coverage, and young women report feeling real pressure thanks to society’s strong link between femininity and motherhood.

Many women indeed long for children, while others are firmly against it and still more are undecided. But regardless of a woman’s feelings on childbearing, the decision to have kids is hers alone, to be decided for her own reasons. And no woman should have to submit to society’s relentless questioning on the matter.

Here are 12 women who had the perfect responses to the dreaded baby questions.

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Jada Pinkett-Smith’s Comments Miss the Point About Male Sexuality

12 Thursday Mar 2015

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If we took a peek inside the male brain, what would we find? Jada Pinkett-Smith — and society at large — is pretty sure it’d be sex, sex and more sex. Something the ladies would know nothing about, right?

During an appearance on Late Night With Seth Meyers on Thursday, the Magic Mike XXL star said being constantly surrounded by the “tastiness” of her nearly nude male costars helped her, as a woman, finally understand what it’s like to be ruled by another “head.” That is, a little guy “down there” who demands relentless procreation. Pinkett-Smith said:

“That was the moment I was like, I feel really bad for guys, because all day long, you’re constantly dealing with that kind of stimulation.”

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9 Things All People in Long-Distance Relationships Know to Be True

04 Wednesday Mar 2015

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Leah, 25, from Arizona, was hesitant when she first began developing feelings for Stephen, a 22-year-old from Northern Ireland she met on the photo-sharing app Fling. Long-distance relationships are hard, she knew, and she worried that she would hold him back in his everyday life. But they decided to give it a try, and six months later, they’re still going strong.

Online dating and tools like FaceTime and Skype, not to mention a tough job market that forces people to move more, have made long-distance relationships more common than ever. The U.S. Census Bureau estimates that 3.6 million married Americans are living apart (a 40% increase since 1999), and the former Center for the Study of Long Distance Relationships puts the number of college students in LDRs at 4.4 million.

For couples like Leah and Stephen, it can really work. “The biggest positive surprise has been that we have made this work for so long already,” Leah told Mic, “and that I have discovered what love really is.”

It sounds cheesy, but it’s true: The challenges of LDRs end up revealing what really matters in a relationship, long-distance or otherwise. Here are the things you learn after living with your love hundreds of miles away.

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9 Pieces of Dating “Advice” That Are Actually Bullshit

24 Tuesday Feb 2015

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If you’ve been single and ready to mingle for any length of time, you’ve probably picked up bits of “advice,” all of which add up to a confusing, outdated set of guidelines that tell us what to say and do (or not) in order to land a spouse (the assumed goal, of course). 

How long should you wait to text him back? Four hours minimum. When can you sleep together? After no fewer than three dates. Should you move in together? Of course not — why would he buy the cow when he can get the milk for free?

This advice has never really been proven, of course, yet somehow we still hear it from parents, grandparents, friends and even ourselves in moments of self-doubt. The truisms have been so bought into that many have been immortalized into a book called (what else?) The Rules.

These platitudes are more than annoying to hear — they’re harmful and deeply offensive. They not only put the blame on single people, but they also assume men and women play different roles in this game called love (not to mention that dating is only happening between men and women). But it’s 2015. We know better. It’s time to kill these nine “rules” once and for all.

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One Surprisingly Intimate Way To Know You’re With the Right Person

12 Thursday Feb 2015

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Do you hold hands?

You may have already kissed that special someone, indulged in a couch makeout session, and even had sex; but the thrill of holding hands is as real and more important than any other type of physical intimacy.

We often view sex as the height of physical intimacy, so it seems counterintuitive that the innocent act of holding hands could be so emotionally charged. But in today’s dating era, holding hands feels more intimate than ever. And if you find yourself wanting to reach out and grab your date’s hand, that could be a sign that this relationship is the real deal.

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This Is What Hollywood Keeps Getting Wrong About the Female Orgasm

02 Monday Feb 2015

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It’s official: Actresses are getting tired of doing “the orgasm face.”

The Affair star Ruth Wilson lamented that she’s constantly required to make “that face” onscreen, telling Net-A-Porter‘s The Edit last week, “I kept insisting, ‘Why have I always got to do the orgasm face? There should be a male orgasm face. Why is it always the woman who’s orgasming?'”

Anyone can picture the exact face she’s referring to. From the perfectly arched back to the mouth that stays delicately pretty even when it’s moaning, TV’s classic O-face would have you believe every woman looks, sounds and acts exactly the same during sex.

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