Sex

A flawed utopia: The Men, by Sandra Newman, reviewed

4 June 2022 9:00 am

The problem for feminism is men. Not, specifically, in the sense that men are the source of women’s problems, although…

A child’s eye view: Fight Night, by Miriam Toews, reviewed

28 May 2022 9:00 am

Writing from a child’s point of view is a daredevil act that Miriam Toews raises the stakes on in her…

Tina: the drug devastating the gay community

26 March 2022 9:00 am

The ‘chemsex’ drug devastating the gay community

This be the curse: Philip Larkin’s big problem

12 March 2022 9:00 am

Philip Larkin’s big problem

Women don't 'consent' to their own deaths

16 November 2021 5:30 am

A ruling by the Court of Appeal last week has further enshrined the notion that women can consent to their…

The grim reality of gender reassignment

14 November 2021 9:17 am

Lisa Littman, a doctor and researcher, recently surveyed ‘detransitioners’ — people who thought they were transgender then changed their minds.…

Why can't men write about sex?

27 September 2021 9:04 pm

Not long ago I was a regular Tinder user. Having heard that gingers were romantically incompatible, I decided to mix…

Foucault was shielded from scandal by French reverence for intellectuals

31 July 2021 9:00 am

Consider the hare and the hyena. The hare, Clement of Alexandria told readers of his 2nd-century sexual self-help manual Paedagogus,…

New Zealand's transgender debate is turning nasty

14 July 2021 7:25 pm

New Zealand was the first country in the world to give women the right to vote in parliamentary elections. But now,…

A sex education from Aristophanes

5 June 2021 9:00 am

The publication of the new Cambridge Greek Lexicon reminded the comedian and classicist Natalie Haynes of her frustrations at school,…

Sun, sex and acid: Thom Gunn in California

1 May 2021 9:00 am

San Francisco is a fantastic place… it’s terribly sunny… I am having a splendid hedonistic time here… I find myself…

Do schools really have a problem with sexual violence?

10 April 2021 9:00 am

Schools and the problem of ‘rape culture’

The fossil-hunting is more interesting than the sex: Ammonite reviewed

27 March 2021 9:00 am

Ammonite is writer-director Francis Lee’s second film after God’s Own Country, one of the best films of 2017, and possibly…

Enjoyably tasteless: Power – The Maxwells reviewed

6 February 2021 9:00 am

This year marks three decades since Robert Maxwell fell naked to his death from the deck of his yacht, The…

Paint in the bloodstream: The Death of Francis Bacon, by Max Porter, reviewed

9 January 2021 9:00 am

Francis Bacon once told the art critic Richard Cork: ‘I certainly hope I’ll go on till I drop dead.’ Max…

Come back, doggers, all is forgiven

19 December 2020 9:00 am

Bring back the men having sex in the undergrowth. This was the thought that occurred to me and my friend…

seattle washington state

Washington State is a worrisome window into the future

14 November 2020 8:48 am

Seattle I have seen the future, and it looks much like Washington State. But let’s get there by steps. The…

My nights of passion with Juliette Gréco

10 October 2020 9:00 am

Gstaad Juliette Gréco’s recent death in her nineties brought back some melodramatic memories. In 1957 Gréco was one of France’s…

Let’s talk about sex: the brilliance of ‘bonk’

10 October 2020 9:00 am

I take it personally that a word I practically saw being born is now unrecognised by people almost old enough…

Spectacular and mind-expanding: Tantra at the British Museum reviewed

3 October 2020 9:00 am

A great temple of the goddess Tara can be found at Tarapith in West Bengal. But her true abode, in…

Too many of our children are battling severe depression

26 September 2020 9:00 am

Christopher Hitchens once said that women just aren’t as funny as men and Caitlin Moran believed him. But that was…

Why people have sex in graveyards

5 September 2020 9:00 am

The oldest churchyard in Torquay is being used by people openly having sex and sunbathing nude in broad daylight. This…

Dogging on our doorstep

1 February 2020 9:00 am

Some might say it was a typical over-reaction on my part to erect hidden cameras at the horses’ field. First…

Is it a Rake’s or a Pilgrim’s Progress for Rob Doyle?

18 January 2020 9:00 am

‘To live and die without knowing the psychedelic experience,’ says the narrator of Threshold, ‘is comparable to never having encountered…

The good sex award goes to Sarah Hall: Sudden Traveller reviewed

14 December 2019 9:00 am

Sarah Hall should probably stop publishing short stories for a while to give other writers a chance. If she’s not…