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Psychology

Essays and videos offering insights into the self, relationships, cognition and neuroscience
The honesty of pornography | Aeon
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Stories and literature

The honesty of pornography

Often vilified as a weapon of male supremacy, pornography in fact has much to tell us about ourselves and our culture

Kathleen Lubey

The invention of free love | Aeon
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History of ideas

The invention of free love

Percy Shelley thought romantic love freed men and women from the strictures of monogamy, but did it free them equally?

Neil McArthur

The legacy of Sappho | Aeon
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The ancient world

Sappho’s homoerotic poetry was beloved in ancient Greece – and burned centuries later

5 minutes

Mother and baby | Aeon
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Human rights and justice

The staggering cruelty of Ireland’s Church-run ‘mother and baby homes’

18 minutes

Tainted love | Aeon
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Love and friendship

Tainted love

Love is both a wonderful thing and a cunning evolutionary trick to control us. A dangerous cocktail in the wrong hands

Anna Machin

The gallery that destroys all shame | Aeon
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Teaching and learning

The vulva dialogues – inside a sex-ed class that rebels against genitalia shame

11 minutes

Deal breakers | Aeon
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Personality

Art students divulge (and animate) the dating pet peeves they find unforgivable

3 minutes

Slow sex, long life | Aeon
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Biology

Slow sex, long life

Tokyo’s imperial archives advise what science now confirms: the secret of longevity lies in the gentle arts of the bedroom

Denis Noble

Idealising the predator | Aeon
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Sex and sexuality

Idealising the predator

How did certain French intellectuals get away with preying upon young girls, shamelessly, in public and over decades?

Lily Dunn

Are men animals? | Aeon
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Gender

Are men animals?

Diagnosing men as violent and oversexed beasts is tempting but it’s a regressive idea built on dubious analogies

Matthew Gutmann

Saintmaking | Aeon
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Human rights and justice

When the Sisters of Perpetual Indulgence canonised Derek Jarman

24 minutes

Spring fever | Aeon
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Sex and sexuality

What does the Dutch model of comprehensive, ‘shame-free’ sex-ed look like?

9 minutes

Sex on the curriculum | Aeon
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Education

Sex on the curriculum

Sex education is a battlefield over morals and young bodies, and has exposed fractures in American life for over a century

Kristy Slominski

Literary prostitutes | Aeon
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Stories and literature

Literary prostitutes

I self-published erotica to make ends meet. Could I follow in Anaïs Nin’s footsteps or was I doomed to churn out filth?

Sam Mills

Shameful | Aeon
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Stories and literature

Shameful

Women who write about their pain suffer a double shaming: once for getting injured, twice for their act of self-exposure

Katherine Angel

The case of Norman Douglas | Aeon
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Sex and sexuality

The case of Norman Douglas

He was a literary lion and an infamous pederast: what might we learn from his life about monstrosity and humanity?

Rachel Hope Cleves

The penis: a life | Aeon
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Biology

The penis: a life

Boned, spined, spiked, corkscrewed or double-headed: why did so much variety arise when a simple tube would do?

Emily Willingham

The trouble with love and sex | Aeon
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Love and friendship

‘What does sex mean to you?’ A fly-on-the-wall view of relationship counselling

50 minutes

The psychologist who sparked the gay rights movement | Aeon
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Mental health

The pioneering psychologist who proved that being gay isn’t a mental illness

7 minutes

Female husbands | Aeon
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History

Female husbands

Far from being a recent or 21st-century phenomenon, people have chosen, courageously, to trans gender throughout history

Jen Manion

Testosterone is widely, and sometimes wildly, misunderstood | Aeon
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Gender

Testosterone is widely, and sometimes wildly, misunderstood

Matthew Gutmann

Islamic sexology | Aeon
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Sex and sexuality

Islamic sexology

Popular stereotypes of Islam as a prudish religion ignore rich traditions of freewheeling, explicit erotica and advice

Mark Hay

The joy of intimacy | Aeon
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Love and friendship

The joy of intimacy

A polyamorous friend challenges me: are you really happily monogamous or are you just hung up about your philandering dad?

Lily Dunn

Anti-climax | Aeon
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Sex and sexuality

Anti-climax

Coitus reservatus is an ancient technique promising bliss and longevity. Does orgasm data back up these tantric ideas?

Peter von Ziegesar