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An explicit, ambitious debut novel that delivers on sensuality but struggles to balance story, substance and seduction

Sex, politics and very little else: A look at The Sweetest Taboo

An explicit, ambitious debut novel that delivers on sensuality but struggles to balance story, substance and seduction

The sextech industry is changing our pleasure-seeking behaviours.

Sextech and the mating habits of humans

The sextech industry is changing our pleasure seeking behaviours, so what does this mean for us as a species?

Sexuality is often neglected because patients and doctors are uncomfortable with the subject and lack the courage and skills to discuss it

The tricky topic of sex after cancer diagnosis

Sexuality is often neglected because patients and doctors are uncomfortable with the subject and lack the courage and skills to discuss it

A recent conference demonstrated how eager young women in Sierra Leone were for information, and how helpful it is to receive it

Teaching African girls about sex

A recent conference demonstrated how eager young women in Sierra Leone were for information, and how helpful it is to receive it

Showmax’s ‘Sex in Afrikaans’ explores the continued taboo of representing sex in the Afrikaans language. (Showmax)

Sex and censor-bility

Showmax’s ‘Sex in Afrikaans’ explores the continued taboo of representing sex in the Afrikaans language

This edited book excerpt ‘puts class squarely in the middle of what is a global mental health crisis’

‘1 000 nights in silence with you’: An extract by Mia Arderne

This piece by Mia Arderne from the book ‘Touch: Sex, Sexuality and Sensuality’ ‘puts class squarely in the middle of what is a global mental health crisis’

Out for the count: A team from Statistics South Africa counts the transient population as the 2022 census kicks off with census night in Marabastad, Pretoria, on 2 February. (Alet Pretorius/Gallo Images)

2022 census discriminates against LGBTQIA+ community

LGBTQIA+ organisations have accused Stats SA of being discriminatory for excluding transgender, non-binary and intersex categories in a question relating to sex

On the pulse: Writer Lebohang Mazibuko’s debut novel will appeal to adults and teenagers alike; the plot follows protagonist Naledi as she navigates the pressures of becoming a woman. Photo: Anthony Horak

Extract from ‘Bantu Knots’: The time of budding breasts

Lebohang Mazibuko’s debut novel, ‘Bantu Knots’ is both poignant and relevant — and speaks to teenagers and adults alike

What’s your flavour? Whether your tastes run to virtual sex, sixty-nining, or bondage, you don’t have to be cishet or gender nonconforming to enjoy a touch of novelty. (Photos & illustrations: Siphumeze Khundayi and Katia Herrera)

‘Touch: Sex, Sexuality and Sensuality’ — the erotic in action

Full to the point of rupture, Touch still leaves the reader yearning for more

Photographer: David Paul
Museums Victoria
Persisting: A rare silver-headed antechinus. Males do not survive for more than a year because of the frenetic breeding season. (David Paul)

‘Suicidal reproducer’ survives Australia’s wildfires

With a third of their habitat burnt, scientists feared the silver-headed antechinus had not survived

Magical work: For Tiffany Kagure Mugo, writing about sex has been a journey of learning and unlearning.   (Delwyn Verasamy/M&G)

The Portfolio: Sex writer Tiffany Kagure Mugo

Writing about sex has come a long way from the advice dished out by the local ‘married Aunty’. At times, Tiffany Mugo has felt like she’s faking it

Desire: People protest outside Thailand’s ministry of digital economy and society after it banned the adult website, Pornhub, at the end of last year. The site recorded 33.5 billion visitors in 2018. (Lauren DeCicca/Getty Images)

Exploitation rules global porn industry

Porn stars and sex workers are badly treated — they should be protected by the law

Mighty Sparrow performing in the mid 1950s. (courtesy Calypso Dreams)

Excerpt: ‘Taking a Six for a Nine: Sexual imagery in the Trinidad Calypso’

Keith Warner explores the sensual pulse of calypso, focusing on the Mighty Sparrow, in an essay from the ‘Erotique Noire’ collection

(Delwyn Verasamy/M&G)

From ‘academic boys’ to ‘sex-jaros’: What it means to be a black boy in a South African township

Toxic masculinities help drive everything from HIV infection rates to gender-based violence. But before we ask, what does it mean to be a ‘man’ in South Africa, should we wonder…

(Delwyn Verasamy/M&G)

Eusebius McKaiser: A witness to Covid-19 stigma

Let us please not repeat the devastating Aids story where people died of shame rather than admit being infected by the virus

(John McCann/M&G)

Keep sexual frustration in check during isolation

Don’t let your libido get the better of you and keep your sex extra safe, by staying home

(John McCann/M&G)

Kegel exercises aren’t solely for people with vaginas

Often people think that kegels are targeted solely at women who want to increase the tightness of their vagina, whereas in fact the exercises are for everyone who wants to engage…

(John McCann/M&G)

Cyberflashing: Get your dick off my phone

It’s the tech version of the street corner flasher — or a man hoping you’ll reciprocate with a clit pic

The reality is that most men will have sex with a pothole or an attractively-shaped hole in a tree if the pothole or tree seems in the slightest bit willing. (Reuters)

If women behaved like men when it comes to sex, our society would fall apart

We seem not to consider this behaviour particularly remarkable. Indeed, we take it for granted

The reasons for the dozens of times I moaned and writhed in exaggerated ecstasy differed according to the partner

Claiming your climax is hard

And the Oscar for best orgasm depicted in a biopic goes to … Kagure Mugo