The rise in non-traditional sexual relations that marked the “swinging ’60s” actually began during the ’50s. Recent analysis indicates that widespread use of penicillin, leading to a 75% decline in syphilis deaths during the 1950s, launched the modern sexual era, and not the birth control pill

9 Surprising Facts About the Scientific Study of Sex

The scientific study of sex is much more exciting than an awkward sex ed class. While writing my book Sex Weird-o-Pedia, these were some of the most interesting facts about science and sex that I came across.

1. Some sex researchers didn’t want their findings to get into the wrong hands.

The pioneering sex researcher Richard von Krafft-Ebing didn’t want his knowledge in the hands of ordinary folk. So he wrote Psychopathia Sexualis, the founding document of modern sexology—which was published in Germany in 1886 then translated and published in English in 1939—in Latin to discourage regular Joes (and/or Janes) from reading it.

2. You burn more calories mowing the lawn than you do having sex.

Sex might seem strenuous when thing… Continue Reading (4 minute read)