Here are some useful and easy to follow tips on how to clean your sex toys that I have found. Horray for blogger’s em & lo at “Daily Bedpost.” Here’s what’s written on this blog and a link to the rest of the article:“1. First, try to buy toys that come with specific cleaning instructions — if it doesn’t (and no “novelties” do), be sure to ask or email a nice sex-toy salesperson for advice. But keep in mind that cheap novelties are often so poorly designed that they can’t be cleaned properly. For instance, if a toy has seams but can’t be taken apart without it breaking, it’ll never get really clean; those nooks and crannies can harbor bacteria that’s harmful to sensitive vaginal and anal canals.

2. Wash a toy before its first use, immediately after every use (as opposed to just waiting to clean it before the next time), and immediately before each use, too, if you’re not storing it correctly (i.e., if it’s gathering dust bunnies under your bed).”Read the rest.

AdamEve.com has come out with a toy cleaner that works with any adult toy regardless of material! Check it out here. Also, here’s a great intro to the wild and wonderful world of sex toys.

This made me laugh out loud. I sent it to all of my friends who have a tendency to freak out about having and STD. I mean, for a while there, trips to the sexual health clinic were like Sunday brunch. This is not to say we were being extra promiscuous, just that sometimes the fear that sex-ed and the wild world of the unknown will one day converge as an STD can be worrying…for minor hypochondriacs and people who pay attention to the 0.01% wild card of condoms. On a more serious note, these anyonymous “i tested positive for an STD” e-cards may just be the slightly odd, but incredibly useful, thing to help make the sexual wilderness a safer place.

Is this patch the key amping your libido? Or are sensual enhancement products, like those infused with pheromones, akin to old wives’ tales. Apparently, this patch mimics dopamine, a happy chemical produced during stages of infatuation. So, you’re supposed to feel sexier and generally better. But does it work?

I had a friend who never left the house on a date without rubbing her wrists in a lilac bush…she always got the opportunity to go on a second date. (She was gorgeous and charming too, but it was the LILACS I swear.) What do you think? Hoax or personal aphrodisiac?

Did you know saffron has been used as an aphrodisiac for ages (manually picked from the stigmas of the crocus flower, and $1,000 a pound, but that’s a chef’s matter). The divine spice with the golden color only releases its scent when heated. And my what a scent it is. In Sweden, it’s used in traditional winter baked goods called “lussekatter” and they are very yummy. (And maybe explains the incredible number of pregnant women in the summer time?) You and your lover can benefit from this delicious spice by adding a pinch to milk, then warming it up. Indulge in the aroma, drink, and have at it!

I couldn’t write a better article on the HPV/cervical cancer vaccine, and it turns our 26 is the cut-off point for getting it (my gyno just told me) so have a look at this Marie Claire article.

Sex, Lies, and the HPV Vaccine

The cervical-cancer vaccine is the biggest women’s-health breakthrough in years. So why did I have to talk my doctor into it — and keep the shot in the office fridge?

By Julia Scirrotto

“Arm or butt?” my gynecologist barked as she entered the exam room, already tearing the packaging from the prefilled syringe I’d brought to the appointment. I had been trying for almost two hours to have someone, anyone, in the practice stick me with my second dose of the cervical-cancer vaccine Gardasil, to no avail (my doctor had been tied up with an emergency labor; her associate “doesn’t do the vaccine”), and I was seriously considering injecting myself.

“Is there a reason your associate wouldn’t give me the shot?” I asked, pushing down the waistband of my skirt as the vaccine oozed into my left cheek. “Does she not believe in it? Does she think it’s not effective?”
“No, she doesn’t give it because she doesn’t want to be bothered reminding people to keep up with it,” my doctor said, referring to the three doses that must be administered over a six-month period.
“That’s why I’m telling you, schedule the third injection now. I’m not going to call you — you’re on your own.” She scribbled a few notes onto her clipboard and was gone.

My doctor and I had been sparring over Gardasil since I first mentioned it last March. I was 26 and eager for what the American Cancer Society called “one of the most important advances in women’s health” — a vaccine against cancer-causing HPV (short for human papillomavirus, the most common STD on the planet). But my physician seemed to view the inoculation as an unnecessary nuisance. Hardly anyone was getting it, she told me, and I of all people didn’t need it because I had a long-term boyfriend. “Wait and get it if you break up,” she said. “You’ve already been exposed to any HPV he has by now.” When I insisted, she rolled her eyes and handed me a prescription for all three doses. I was to fill it on my own at a specialty pharmacy for $164.95 a pop and bring the needle with me to each of the three injection appointments. “It’s an expensive vaccine, so we don’t stock it in the office,” she explained. She didn’t mention that each dose would have to be refrigerated and that I’d soon be triple-wrapping syringes in plastic bags and shoving them to the back of the office Sub-Zero disguised as my lunch. Read the rest.

Sex Ed isn’t what you learned in high school. Here are a few great links to learning how to make your bedroom time explosive, more intimate and loving, and more exciting.

Learn Tantra. Tantra teaches the totality of life: listening to your body, opening your heart, merging into the space of consciousness. Al and Pala cover topics such as Tantra, relationships, sacred lovemaking, spirituality, and the Kama Sutra.

Oral Sex Classes (NYC).  These classes are the taught by gay male instructors who have real-life experience as well as MEP training on how to give an amazing blowjob.

Relationship Coaching. “We work with clients to create relationships in which they can be self-expressed, confident, radically honest and bold. With the resources, structure and support we provide in the coaching sessions, you will discover how to be fearless in your relationships, sexuality, and connections with others.”

Sexual Health Classes. Planned Parenthood offers free workshops that help you play safe and live healthy.

Glass is an amazing material. I highly recommend choosing it for your sex toys. The high-grade, non-porous borosilicate glass used by companies like Forbidden Novelties offers a slippery sensation and glides easily along your body’s every curve. It also warms to your body’s temperature and can be cooled for fun sensationplay.

Because it is a non-porous material (here’s a little sex ed for ya), it can be fully sterilized…washed like your dishes, boiled…whatever your sterilization method of choice is. This just means, if kept properly clean, you never have to worry about you body’s health. Speaking of which…

Though there are no conclusive studies stating explicitly that phthalates, an agent that softens plastic that is ubiquitous, will give you cancer and disrupt your production of hormones, a debate on the matter rages on. (Think “cigarettes don’t harm you…conclusively” statements made by tobacco companies.) Play safely with yourself and choose a more body-friendly adult novelty…like glass, wood, medical-grade silicon, or steel. By the way, you can win the glass toy pictured above here at Sexcerpts!