A therapist who has sex to cure her patients

Padma Deva, 31, a London-based sex therapist, treads an unbeaten path in helping her patients cope with an unfulfilled sex life by sleeping with them. Her oldest client is aged 65 while the youngest is 25. "Both men consulted Padma because they were virgins and felt unable to have anysort of sex life. Padma helps them overcome their fears over nine two-hour sessions for which she charges £4,000," reported Daily Mail.
Trained by the International Professional Surrogate Association, Padma told the website that her role is to be a form of mentor, guiding people who are struggling with intimacy issues.
When Padma Deva meets a new client for work she does not go to a conventional meeting point like her office or a coffee joint, instead she chooses a private space like a hotel room.

"During an initial consultation with a new client, Padma - who has bases in London and Somerset - recommends a client sees their GP to rule out physical causes for their sexual problems, such as diabetes or high blood pressure. If surrogacy is deemed appropriate, she asks clients to take a sexually transmitted disease test beforehand. Only then can then the surrogacy work begin."
"The meeting usually lasts for two hours during which time the two of them are likely to undress, massage and caress one another. Sometimes they will have full sexual intercourse."
At the end of the encounter, the satisfied client will pay Padma for the service she has provided and the two will go their separate ways - until their next appointment.
You may conclude that Padma works in 'the oldest profession' of all. But you would be wrong.
Padma is not a prostitute but a trained psychotherapist who acts as a 'sexual surrogate' for men suffering from a variety of sexual problems which are hampering their ability to have a normal physical relationship.
"How does her family react?
Her family was initially shocked by her radical career change, though they are now supportive of her.
Equally, she says that while she is currently single, previous boyfriends have been understanding about her line of work.
"It takes confidence, intelligence and maturity in a man to be OK with what I do," she told Daily Mail.
What inspired her?
Padma is a former management consultant who decided to transform her life after watching the film Sweet November, in which Keanu Reeves plays an emotionally-inert workaholic.
She also told this to Daily Mail: "I read about the Mughal era in India, where they would send young boys to specialised prostitutes who would educate them in the art of love-making. I remember wishing something like that had been available to me."
How do professionals view her approach?
Psychologist Dr Mantell questions whether such cases wouldn't be better treated by more conventional forms of therapy.
"Turning to sexual surrogacy can be an emotionally messy experience. Clients become attached to their surrogates, the objects of their sexual fantasies, and this can lead to difficulties in transferring feelings to one's spouse or partner," he told Daily Mail.
Padma's response to detractors is: "To the skeptics, I would say that it is giving me a chance to have a life I could only dream of - and what's wrong with that?"

Reel Sex: The Private Sadness of a Sexpot

While some lucky individuals have already had the chance to see Simon Curtis’ peek into the life of a sex icon My Week with Marilyn at the New York Film Festival, the rest of us plebeians have to wait until November for our own chance. Now, early buzz for the Michelle Williams (Marilyn Monroe) vehicle has been favorable, however that is not what’s piquing my interest in the project. Rather I’m curious to see the maudlin-looking Williams’ embodiment of the sexpot. Williams is of course a stunning actress when she’s dressed for award season, but we rarely see that beauty on screen as she tends to embrace homely, makeup free characters. Clearly she will add an intriguing element of wistful sadness to the woman many of us wish to be.
But is Williams infusing her own brand of melancholy into the character, or did Monroe always have that just below the surface? Let’s face it, Monroe was a heartbreaking figure. She rearranged her face for fame, long before her abusive husbands would do the same. She fell in love with unavailable men and was destroyed by a pill addiction. She was rewarded with being forever beautiful, but she would never get to know that. That tragedy, above all, makes the queen of sad faces Williams a clever casting choice for the fallen icon. And this brief glance into Monroe’s life could potentially shake up everything later generations thought about the woman, or it could reintroduce us to the films of the flawed yet captivating original Blonde Bombshell.
In the weeks leading up to the My Week with Marilyn release, I’ve been thinking about doing just that. Dusting off old copies (many of them unopened due to impulsive purchases) of Monroe’s iconic films seems like the perfect way to prepare myself for a biopic sure to make me silently wipe away tears. For a woman known primarily as an antidote to the emotional coldness of Cold War America, Monroe actually used that baby voice to make more than just fluffy rom-coms. From Western fair like John Huston’s classic The Misfits to Henrey Hathaway’s noir Niagara, her brief career was spent jumping from genre to genre while she made her name (Katherine Heigl-style) in the sex comedy world.
Monkey Business (1952)
In 1952 Cary Grant was the ultimate sex god. He set the bar for fast talking and oozed charm men wish they could. It only makes sense that Howard Hawks would cast the lothario against Hollywood’s budding young sexpot. While Monkey Business told the story of chemist Barnaby Fulton’s (Grant) research into the possibility of a Fountain of Youth Pill, the standout was the saucy Monroe as Lois Laurel, Barnaby’s boss’s secretary, who tempts the chemist with her curvaceous legs.  The film follows the usual Hayes Code rules of suggestion without fulfillment, so Barnaby and Lois never act on their attraction. However audiences do get many lascivious gazes directed at Monroe’s body parts while she helps the science team determine just what caused each person associated with the formula to regress to younger personalities.
Monroe demonstrated an early talent for both physical comedy (see what I did there?) and expelling sexual charisma from her first moment on screen. She had been in other films prior to Monkey Business, but the challenge of acting opposite Grant and Ginger Rogers (Edwina Fulton) pushed her to find her own voice–that voice just happened to be higher pitched and more suggestive than expected.

Gentlemen Prefer Blondes and How to Marry a Millionaire (1953)
Later the next year, two films boosted Monroe’s stock in the romantic comedy realm. Both Gentlemen Prefer Blondes and How to Marry a Millionaire provided the voluptuous blonde a leading voice, something Monkey Business did not offer. Gentlemen reunited Hawks with his muse along with the delightful Jane Russell. Dorothy (Russell) and Lorelei (Monroe) are two lounge singers who travel by cruise ship to Paris in hopes of taking the City of Lights by storm. Get your head out of the gutter, these women are not THOSE kinds of performers, however they do take advantage of the men they meet on the way there (oh, the charms of rape-free transatlantic travel).
The film’s most notable moment sees Lorelei donning a pink ball gown and gliding down a laminate staircase lined with adoring suitors while she declares “Diamonds are a girl’s best friend.” Even if you have never seen this film before, that particular scene is so vivid in pop culture consciousness and the sexual prowess Monroe expels captivates both men and women to this day. Even me, a fair-weather Monroe fan can’t help but pretend to be Lorelei Lee every time I descend a grand staircase during gala season. Thanks for that, Marilyn.
Meanwhile, How to Marry a Millionaire takes the gold digging Monroe image to the next level. Switching out director Hawks for Jean Negulesco, Monroe is one of three women who set their sights on finding rich men to take them away from financial insecurity. Each woman looks beautiful and refuses to wear pants until the absolute most necessary moment (oh, freedom!). While the film is squishy offering, there are moments where Monroe, acting opposite power houses Lauren Bacall and Betty Grable, allows some of her private anguish peeks out from behind her sensual smile. She is a woman trying to find love and security—two things Monroe searched for in her personal life—but at the same time she must accept that to receive those constructs she has to also give up a bit of herself. Of course the film ends happily, with her finding someone to love her for her, but looking back Monroe was vulnerable in a way she didn’t want us to see.
The Seven Year Itch (1955)
I really don’t feel like I need to say more than white dress on a subway grate.
Oh, you want more? Okay, Okay. Director Billy Wilder also wanted her to put on thicker underwear because her lady parts kept showing.
The Seven Year Itch once again put Monroe in the role of a tempestuous beautiful neighbor sent from Sinland to seduce a faithful husband and father. Richard (Tom Ewell) is charmed by The Girl (Monroe), who becomes fodder for his sexual fantasies. While this is Monroe’s most iconic role, it’s also probably her saddest. She was at the height of her fame, a time in any actress’s career when she should get to enjoy the roles she plays, however we once again see her true heartache just under the surface. It later came out that Monroe was plagued with the beginnings of her descent into depression, something she would be haunted by until her death in 1963.
The films she made leading up to her death, including The Misfits and Some Like it Hot, provided her with financial security and the opportunity to live as comfortable a life as possible. She married Joe DiMaggio and Arthur Miller, divorced both of them, and then died alone on a cocktail of barbiturates and booze didn’t. Monroe was lost from the beginning, and it’s unfortunate that she found her peace only in death. But, her films remain reminders of her strong acting, her sensual aura, and her tragic sadness.
I think Williams completely understands that.

Robo-sex could be common in future

Auckland: Robo-bar staff, even robo-sex and hotel rooms that change colour, could be commonplace in future travel scenario Tourism futurologist Ian Yeoman from University of Wellington, New Zealand, said that by 2050 mass tourism would spawn a range of new indoor tourism products.

It would include indoor artificial ski centres, circuses, zoos, golf courses and recreated landscapes, as well as giant cruise ships, according to a Wellington statement.

Even robot "prostitutes'' that would not pass on diseases such as HIV could make an appearance, said Yeoman.

Tourism operators could turn to robots as cheap labour. For instance, robo-waiters at cocktail bars, remote-controlled camera-carrying guard dogs in hotel lobbies and self-cleaning hotel rooms were all likely, said Yeoman.

"Robotics will become important, because you're going to have labour shortages in the future,"he said, adding "But you're talking about extreme futures."

Yeoman said technology would also revolutionise hotel bedrooms, with beds that sensed a guest's comfort needs and chemical wallpaper that could change colour to suit a guest's mood.

Of course, special pills could override a traveller's need for sleep. "If you look at some of the research from the US Army Research Centre, what they do at the moment, when soldiers go into battle, they're given sleep deprivation tablets," he said.

"To a certain extent you could replicate that into travel and tourism, taking a tablet to do a 24-hour experience," added Yeoman. These findings were presented at a tourism conference.

* News * Science * Reproduction Pill may make sex less satisfying for women, but relationships last longer

Taking the pill was associated with less sexual satisfaction in a relationship, but greater non-sexual satisfaction. Photograph: Alamy

Women on the pill are less attracted to their partners and less sexually satisfied than women not taking the pill, according to a study involving more than 2,500 couples.
But relationships that start when women are using this contraceptive method tend to last longer, the researchers found, and these women are happier with the non-sexual aspects of the partnership, such as care and support for children.
In the study, led by Craig Roberts at the University of Stirling, scientists used questionnaires to gauge the quality of 2,519 women's relationships with men, with whom they had at least one child. Around half of the women were on the pill when they met their partners.
The results showed both positive and negative consequences of the woman using the pill when she met her partner. "Such women may, on average, be less satisfied with the sexual aspects of their relationship, but more so with non-sexual aspects," said Roberts, whose work is published on Wednesday in Proceedings of the Royal Society B.
"Overall, women who met their partner on the pill had longer relationships – by two years on average – and were less likely to separate. So there is both good news and bad news for women who meet [their partner] while on the pill. One effect seems to compensate for the other."
The mechanism for the finding is by no means certain, but Roberts speculated that it could have something to do with a set of genes called the major histocompatibility complex (MHC), a key component of a person's immune system. This set of genes also has an important evolutionary role in guiding people to find mates who are genetically dissimilar, because genetic diversity within their offspring's MHC will lead to an increased chance of surviving novel diseases and environments.
"Women tend to find genetically dissimilar men attractive because resulting babies will more likely be healthy," said Roberts. "It's part of the subconscious 'chemistry' of attraction between men and women."
Previous research has shown that women's mate preferences change over the course of their menstrual cycle as hormone levels fluctuate. During non-fertile stages, they are more attracted to men who appear more caring and reliable and who might be good fathers. At their most fertile phase, they prefer men with more "masculine" faces.
The hormonal levels of women using the pill, however, do not alter much across a month and most closely reflect those typical of the non-fertile phases of the menstrual cycle. "It seems that our preferences are shaped by these hormonal levels, so preferences of women on the pill don't change around ovulation in the way seen in normally cycling women," said Roberts.
Women on the pill may end up finding men with MHC genes similar to theirs more attractive. This may lead to lower sexual satisfaction but will land them with more reliable men who, ultimately, make them more generally satisfied.
Roberts said that his study controlled for factors such as individual and country-specific attitudes to sex and relationships. He said that the results might be something for women to consider when deciding whether to settle down with a partner.
"If there are hormonal influences that affect that choice in a less-than-ideal way then we need to pay attention to it." He suggessted that if a woman was worried about this, then it might be worth trying coming off the pill and using a non-hormonal form of contraception for a few months. "If that doesn't induce any kind of change in the satisfaction with her partner, then that's the best you can do."
He added: "In my view, choosing a partner is one of the most important decisions we make in our lives. If it works we stick with them for the rest of our lives and we have children with them and we marry our economic resources together. It's a pretty big step so you want to get it right."

Philippines: How many sex tourists, how many victims?

The recent Philippine Tourism Congress avoided a hot subject - sex tourism. This is the scourge that is causing endless abuse and exploitation of women and children. It is also destroying the moral and family values of this country and damaging the name of Philippine tourism. Some Philippine officials have hotly disputed a statistic mentioned by the US Ambassador, Harry K Thomas, Jr that 40% of the tourists coming to the Philippines are sex tourists. The Philippine officials raising a storm, are embarrassed that the ugly shameful truth has come out.

The exact figure may never be known, but can anyone prove 40% is not true? And is any percentage acceptable? The evidence is clear, the sex bars and clubs are filled with foreign customers and thousands of young women and even minors are for sale. The Ambassador, to end the controversy over his remark, said he regrets it, but he should not, it highlights a shocking reality - the truth of widespread sex tourism.

When it comes to such blatant crimes against women and children, denial, silence and indifference is a form of consent and is unacceptable. Church and State have to speak out and act more decisively to end this destructive industry that is widely tolerated. It is the major cause of the trafficking of persons in the Philippines. "Our faith is dead" says St James, "when there is no action for the needy"(2 James Ch.2.vs 14-26).

The Preda Foundation gives free legal assistance and shelter to victims of sex trafficking. The case of two daughters, 12 and 14 years old, trafficked and sold as sex slaves by her parents to two foreign sex tourists at an Olongapo beach got no justice. Despite strong evidence of guilt, the case was dismissed on technicality. In another case, two children were made sex slaves at ten and eleven years old for four years by two American sex tourists in Olongapo City. They got no justice either and one has been abducted. The two child abusers, a father and son from California, went free and escaped when the law enforcers failed to present the evidence.

The sex tourists lie, bribe and go free. They are the big spenders and coddled by authority. Sex tourism, ignored by officialdom, is the scourge that spreads HIV-AIDS, moral depravity, child abuse, incest, abortion, woman abuse and corruption throughout Filipino society. Many victims fill the children's refuge centers seeking help, crying for justice. Thousands more victims are left to suffer. The sex industry is damaging the good name of the nation.

The US Ambassador was making an important speech appealing to judges to give more basic justice for the trafficked, exploited and oppressed women and children. The lack of justice in the Philippines is like people without food, it can drive many to violence. It has kept this nation at war with itself and has fostered an insurgency that can only end when corruption ends and justice is done speedily, fairly and with integrity. Then peace will reign.

What percentage of sex tourists can be tolerated, if not 40% of all arrivals? 10% of 3.5 million tourists is ok? For me and many more people of conscience who respect the dignity of women and children, even one act of rape, child abuse and sexual exploitation is one too many.

The estimated number of children alone trafficked or lured into the sex trade is said to be between 60,000 to 100,000 children, a statistic that most non-government agencies and UNICEF stand by. The number of women trafficked could be ten times that. In the Olongapo area, a research project learned that 5000 women are working in the sex trade in that city and nearby Subic Town.

In its July 2011 edition, The Reader's Digest, known for its meticulous research, shows a chart of human trafficking world wide and says that 500,000 Filipino women and children are trafficked to the United States and other nations every year. So how many more victims are trafficked internally from the poor regions of the Philippines to the cities and sex tourist resorts? Visit the bars and many thousands will be found.

These bars and clubs are managed by foreigners, and they offer the victims for sale in modern slavery auctions operated with a Mayor’s license and permit proudly displayed. Is this government approval? The sex tourism and the bars are a blight on the nation and must be closed down. Instead, human rights must be respected and work with dignity and fair wages must replace them.

Sex education in UK schools ‘not good enough’

CAMPAIGNERS are warning that school sex education lessons are not up to scratch, as a survey found most youngsters get more information outside the classroom.
Around one in seven – 13 per cent of teenagers – said they learned most about sex at school, according to a poll by Brook, the sexual healthy charity for young people. More than a third – 36 per cent – said they got most of their information about sex from friends, with 13 per cent saying they learned about the subject from magazines, books, music lyrics and videos or TV.
Just under one in 10 said they received information from their parents and around five per cent said they learned about sex online from pornography.
The poll asked more than 2,000 14- to 18-year-olds for their views on school sex and relationships education (SRE).
Almost half (47 per cent) agreed that SRE in their school did not cover what they really wanted to know about sex. Just over a quarter – 26 per cent – claimed that SRE at their school was “non-existent”.
Jules Hillier, Brook deputy chief executive, said: “Young people in Britain deserve honest, useful information about sex and relationships but SRE in UK schools is failing them.”

Inquiry Into Child Sex Abuse By Street Gangs

The sexual exploitation of thousands of children by street gangs is to be investigated in a new two-year probe.

There are fears more than 10,000 children are being abused

The investigation is being led by Deputy Children's Commissioner Sue Berelowitz.
It will examine the scale of the problem amid fears more children than current estimates may be being targeted.
The most recent figures suggest up to 10,000 youngsters could be subject to sexual abuse by gangs or other groups.
But initial research carried out for the Office of the Children's Commissioner has suggested this figure could be much higher.

It is a corrosive problem that needs serious research and action to help those affected.

Rebecca Einhorn, from the NSPCC 

Ms Berelowitz has already said existing data is inadequate and the full extent of this type of abuse is unknown.
Maggie Atkinson, Children's Commissioner for England, said the inquiry would be "a wake-up call for us all".
The investigation team will gather evidence from police and local authorities as well as health and youth justice workers before publishing an interim report in July.
More information will then be gathered the following autumn into early 2013, and the final report will be released in September that year.
Concerns have already been raised this year about a lack of action over the sexual abuse of children.
Leading children's charity Barnardo's warned in August that parents and professionals were missing telltale signs of youngsters being groomed for sex.
And in June, the Child Exploitation and Online Protection Centre (Ceop) published research which found two-thirds of Local Safeguarding Children Boards were not meeting guidelines and did not have "basic processes" to stop sexual abuse.
Rebecca Einhorn, from the NSPCC's Street Matters project, said: "Many girls' lives are seriously damaged by gangs who run this type of grooming.
"It is a corrosive problem that needs serious research and action to help those affected.
"Each year we work with up to 250 girls - four out of five of them have been snared by these predatory offenders.
"We know this type of sexual abuse affects many communities across the UK and has a devastating impact on the young victims.
"But hopefully this inquiry will give us a clearer picture of just how big the problem is and help those working in the field find solutions to protect these vulnerable children."

Sex with student gets ex-teacher year in jail

Former Laguna Hills High School Teacher Sentenced to Year in Jail for Having Sex with Student
A now-retired Laguna Hills High School teacher who pleaded guilty to having sex with a student was sentenced today to a year in jail and three years of formal probation.
David Araya, 57, was also ordered by Orange County Superior Court Judge Michael Leversen to register as a sex offender for the rest of his life and to enroll in a sex-offender treatment program.
Araya, who taught Spanish classes, pleaded guilty in September to luring a child with an intent to commit a crime, oral copulation of a child and unlawful sex, all felonies -- and two misdemeanor counts of annoying or molesting a child.
Araya started the sexual relationship with the student in August 2009, according to Jim Amormino of the Orange County Sheriff's Department. The girl's mother discovered the relationship when she checked her daughter's Facebook account and saw sexually charged communications between the girl and her teacher, he said.
Araya taught at the high school for about 10 years, but retired when investigators confronted him about the relationship, Amormino said.
The girl was 17 years old at the time, his attorney said. Students at the high school were allowed to choose a classroom in which to spend a free period, and she picked Araya's classroom, defense attorney Doug Myers said.
"Over the course of time, a consensual, but obviously wrong,
relationship developed," Myers said. The two engaged in "sexual contact" three times in September and October 2009 in Araya's classroom, Myers said.
"Mr. Araya, from the beginning of my dealings with him, always took responsibility and tried to make amends to the people he hurt, including the victim, her mother and her father," Myers said.
Araya enrolled in a treatment program six months before charges were filed, the attorney said.
"This (sentencing) was really the culmination of him being in treatment for 16 to 17 months and wanting to take responsibility and put the whole situation behind him," Myers said.
The judge offered the plea deal, Myers said, noting that Deputy District Attorney Angela Hong had sought a two-year prison sentence.
Attempts to reach Hong after business hours were unsuccessful.
Araya was "a highly regarded teacher" for about 30 years, Myers said. "I have a stack of letters from former students (written on his behalf). This was really an isolated situation with one student that occurred under unusual circumstances." 

Captive sex slave for 10 years tells her story

(CBS News)  For 10 years, Tanya Kach, of McKeesport, Pa., was held as a sex slave under her abductor's complete control. Now, she's come out to tell her amazing survival story.

In 1996, Kach was a 14-year-old girl carrying around grown-up problems. Her parents were splitting up. And, like most girls that age, adjusting to the teenage years was tough.
Kach told Lynne Hayes-Freeland, of CBS Pittsburgh station KDKA-TV, "My mother wasn't in my life at that point. My dad completely forgot he even had had a daughter and we were living under the same roof, and I was hanging around with the wrong crowd."
That combination made Kach the perfect target for Thomas Hose. He worked as a security guard at her middle school, and they became fast friends. Meeting under the stairwell there, Kach says she believed she was starting a relationship with a man 25 years her senior -- a man who was taking charge.
Kach recalled, "He was an authority figure, wearing a uniform and a badge. (He was) somebody that you would trust, and he befriended me."
But Kach quickly got in over her head. When she ran away from home, she ran to Hose,- who was living with his parents and a son. Hose kept her hidden away in a second-floor bedroom for 10 years. Even his parents say they never knew she was there.
To the outside world, Tanya Kach was a missing milk carton kid -- thus the title of her book, "Memoir of Milk Carton Kid."
Kach told CBS News her life in captivity was "absolutely horrible." She says she was confined to a bedroom 24 hours a day and led downstairs to a take a shower at most once a week.
Hayes-Freeland asked, "There were times that you didn't have access to a bathroom?"
"He put a bucket in there, and said, 'That's your bathroom,'" Kach said. "I was just so brainwashed. I feel humiliated now. Absolutely."
Kach says her worst memories are the holidays, and Christmas Eve in particular. She spent four of them inside a closet on the second floor of the Hose home.
"It broke my heart," she said. "I thought of my family, wondering if they were thinking about me."
Over time, Hose allowed Kach to go on the back porch of the house when he was getting ready for work. She didn't leave because he promised to hunt her down and threatened her life.
"He would just point. I was like a dog," she said. "I did what my master told me. I went in the closet."
That lasted for years. Hose made Kach change her hair color and her name, and with those changes came limited freedoms. As she got out, Kach wanted more. She found a friend at a nearby convenience store and one day confided in him that her name wasn't Nikki at all -- but Tanya -- and she was the girl police had been looking for for a decade. He called police and Hose was arrested.

Thomas Hose, now 53, pleaded guilty in June 2007 to charges of involuntary deviate sexual intercourse with a minor, interfering with the custody of a child and child endangerment. A judge sentenced him to 15 years in prison. He is eligible for parole in February 2012.
Kach said, "He's an absolute monster. There's just no words to explain him."
What's next for Tanya Kach? She is working on an associate's degree and hopes to be a realtor.
Hayes-Freeland said on "The Early Show" that Kach plans to have her voice heard at Hose's parole hearing in February. Hoping to avoid seeing her former captor, she plans to submit written or videotaped testimony.

Lady Gaga makes men wait for sex

Lady Gaga

Lady Gaga would never have sex early in a relationship.
The 25-year-old singer - who is dating 'Vampire Diaries' actor Taylor Kinney - believes it is important to always practise safe sex and wants young women to appreciate they can "honour their body" by not "putting out" too soon.
She said: "It's always been important to me, as it's for my generation, a most relevant consideration when you're growing up. Sex doesn't mean nothing; sex means so much.
"I hope that young women know that sex is still a big deal, and they don't have to put out soon. If they want someone to court them for a while before they give it up, that's wonderful and beautiful, and a man will only respect you more for honouring your body. I am that way."
Gaga - who is a spokesperson for Mac cosmetics' Viva Glam campaign, which raises awareness of AIDS and HIV - also insisted she doesn't mind if people don't always like what she does or says because she thinks the most important thing is to always make "brave" choices in life.
She told the USA Today newspaper: "People won't always love your work and they won't always the love the causes that you fight for, but at the end of the day, I think I could be OK with it all if I knew deep down in my spirit that I was always brave and I was always doing the hardest thing."

More Teens Using Birth Control When They First Have Sex: CDC

U.S. teens haven’t altered their sexual behavior much in the past several years, with rates of sexual activity and contraceptive use little changed since 2002, new stats from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention show.
One thing has shifted, though: teens are being more cautious about contraception when having sex for the first time. Some 85% of males aged 15-19 reported using a condom during their first sexual experience in the four years ending in 2010, a jump of 9 percentage points since the last iteration of the National Survey of Family Growth, conducted in 2002.
More males — 16%, up 6 percentage points — also reported using a condom when they first had sex in addition to a hormonal method of birth control used by the female, the study finds.
The past several surveys have showed a continued decline in sexual activity and a rise in contraceptive use for those teens who are having sex.
In 1988, more than half of teen females and 60% of teen males who had never married reported having had sexual intercourse. Now, those numbers stand at 42.6% for young women and 41.8% for young men. Abstinent teens most frequently cited religious or moral objections to sex as a reason for holding off. The two other top reasons — for both young men and women — were a desire to avoid pregnancy and not having found the right person yet.
Rates of teen pregnancy and sexually transmitted infections declined throughout the 1990s, as more comprehensive approaches to the prevention of HIV and teen pregnancy were used, says John Santelli, a public health professor at Columbia University. But in the past decade, the public policy has shifted to a focus on abstinence, which is “not a long-term solution for young people,” he tells the Health Blog.  (Santelli was not involved in the CDC research.)
The latest survey shows the most commonly-used contraceptive method is condoms, with 96% of young females having reported using that method of birth control. Other common methods were withdrawal, at 57%, and the pill, at 56%.

Mind-Blowing Sex Causes Amnesia in 54-Year-Old Woman

For one woman, sex was mind-blowing and, literally, totally forgettable, all at the same time.
A case study published in the September issue of the Journal of Emergency Medicine reported that a 54-year old woman experienced memory loss after having sex with her husband. The patient came into the Georgetown University Hospital emergency department, complaining she could not recall anything 24 hours before climaxing.
The authors of the case report, Drs. Kevin Maloy and Jonathan Davis of Georgetown, diagnosed the woman with transient global amnesia, a rare and sudden episode of memory loss. According to experts, the episodes are temporary and unlikely to happen again.
 ”Transient global amnesia is caused by a scrambling of the memory circuits in the brain, often brought on by physical or emotional triggers,” said Dr.  Carol Lippa, a professor of neurology at Drexel University Medical School. “In post-coital cases, transient global amnesia may be related to changes in blood flow in the vessels that feed the brain’s memory formation areas — sort of a remote consequence of the altered blood flow that occurs during sex.”
Experts say it’s unclear what exactly causes TGA, but it has been found to occur after strenuous physical activity, severe pain or psychological distress.
“TGA can occur after any activity, and I’d imagine that it could occur while someone is playing Ping-Pong, but that wouldn’t be as titillating,” said Shimamura.
About three to five out of 100,000 people experience the condition each year, said the study. Men and women over 50 years old are most likely to experience the peculiar memory loss.
 Lippa noted that sex can lead to other adverse effects on a person’s health, including heart attacks and even sudden cardiac death, especially in people who have cardiovascular risk factors.
But before knocking sex, Lippa also mentioned the physical benefits of sexual intercourse.
“Sex may boost immunity, relieve stress, improve sleep, create bonding between couples and it reduces the risk of some types of cancer,” said Lippa. “The good news is that these cases usually resolve in less than a day, and the majority of cases never recur.” 

Disabled Navy Veteran in Same-Sex Marriage to Sue for Benefits

A disabled Navy veteran is suing the Department of Veterans Affairs to recognize her marriage to her longtime female partner in what is believed to be the first time a U.S. veteran has sought recognition of same-sex marriage from the department.
Carmen Cardona, 45, of Norwich, Conn., announced details of the lawsuit at a press conference in New Haven Thursday morning. The 18-year Navy veteran was filing an appeal with the U.S. Court of Appeals for Veterans Claims after the Department of Veterans Affairs (VA) denied her and her wife spousal disability benefits last year.
"I’m proud that I served my country while in the Navy," Cardona said in a statement prior to the 11 a.m. press conference. "It is important to my wife and me that the government respect my service by acknowledging our marriage, and that we be treated equally."
Cardona, who maintained aircraft during her years of service, applied for and began receiving military-connected disability compensation from the VA for carpal tunnel syndrome, which she developed as a result of her duties following her honorable discharge in 2000. The Puerto Rican native is still able to work and subsequently became a correction officer in Connecticut; she currently works at the York Correctional Institution in Niantic.
Cardona married her longtime partner in Norwich in 2010. She later applied for spousal benefits from the VA -- to which legally married disabled veterans are entitled to -- but officials denied the application pursuant to a VA statute that prevents the federal government from recognizing same-sex marriages.
"We could use the help to pay our mortgage, but this is not only about the money," Cardona's statement continued. "President Obama is right that [the Defense of Marriage Act] discriminates against gay and lesbian people. There are many other veterans out there just like me. I am standing up and asking to be treated equally in part to let others know they are not alone."
Officials at the Department of Veterans Affairs declined to comment on the ongoing litigation.
"If an appeal is filed, VA lawyers will analyze the legal arguments made by the appellant and respond appropriately in its briefs," VA spokesman Randy Noller wrote FoxNews.com in an email.
The VA benefits law, which is listed within Title 38 of the U.S. Code, indicates that for purposes of veterans benefits a "spouse" is defined as a "person of the opposite sex who is a wife or husband." The Board of Veterans Appeals relied upon this law rather than the Defense of Marriage Act in ruling that Cardona's same-sex partner could not be considered a "spouse" for benefits purposes.
Sofia Nelson, a law student intern at the Veterans Legal Services Clinic at Yale Law School, which is assisting Cardona in her case, said denying Cardona and her wife benefits solely because of their sexual orientation "advances no valid government policy."
Nelson said there are roughly 1 million gay and lesbian veterans in the United States.

Ashton’s sex gal bares all

It’s a steamy hot-tub tale even Charlie Sheen would be proud of.
Blond bombshell Sara Leal finally broke her silence about the wet and wild romp she shared with Ashton Kutcher -- describing in detail how she had boozy unprotected sex with him twice and was even ready to have a kinky three-way with her pal.
The “Two and a Half Men” star -- who lied and said he was separated from wife Demi Moore at the time of their hookup -- has great endurance in the sack, she spilled to Us Weekly and London’s Sun newspaper.
“He was good. We weren’t like making love, but it wasn’t weird or perverted,” she said.

Coleman-Rayner

KISS AND TELL:Hot-tub hottie Sara Leal claims a frisky Ashton Kutcher told her and a pal he was separated from Demi Moore.

Once their first steamy, two-hour sex session ended, Kutcher’s pillow talk included topics like national politics and her religious beliefs.
“He asked about my parents, if they were still together,” she said. “I told him my parents divorced when I was 6. He was like, ‘Let me guess, you don’t believe in love.’ ”
And just as they were ready to go at it again, Kutcher’s bodyguard, bizarrely dressed as a priest, confiscated Leal’s cellphone and deleted texts about the evening she sent to friends.
It all began when Leal and her pal, both bottle-blondes, were naked on Kutcher’s lap in a bubbling hot tub on the balcony of his luxurious Diamond Suite at San Diego’s Hard Rock Hotel on Sept. 23.
That’s when the 22-year-old administrative assistant said Kutcher told the girls he had broken up with his wife Moore, 48.
“Aren’t you married,” asked Leal’s pal, Marta Borzuchowski, who had quickly stripped down to nothing to join Kutcher, 33, and Leal in the tub.
Kutcher was quiet for a few seconds, then replied, “I’m separated,” Leal said.
And technically he was -- his wife was 2,851 miles away in New York.
The dripping-wet trio soon moved to his bedroom, where he tried to talk the girls into having three-way sex.
They were still damp and wearing only bathrobes as they sat on his bed, she said. He had only a towel wrapped around his waist.
“Ashton and I started kissing and then he kissed my friend,” she said “He was rubbing my leg and he asked my friend, ‘Would you be comfortable rubbing Sara’s leg?’ And she was like, “Yes.’ ”
He asked if the girls had ever had a threesome. “I said no,” Leal said.
And then nature called.
“I had to pee so I got up,” she said.
“I was so nervous. When I came back my friend was gone. He was like, ‘Well she left. I told her if she was uncomfortable she could leave.’ He was lying down on the bed, so I just laid next to him. We started kissing again. He lost his towel. I took my robe off. Then we had sex.”
She admitted he didn’t wear a condom.
“It kind of caught me off-guard, but we still did it,” she said.
Leal had first noticed Kutcher early that night at the San Diego nightclub, Fluxx. She and some friends later made their way into a private party Kutcher threw at his hotel suite.
When he saw her in his room, Kutcher served Leal shots of booze and mixed her a vodka Sprite cocktail.
He put the moves on her soon after, suggesting she and Borzuchowski join him in the hot tub.
“I started looking for towels,” said Leal. “He just came up and kissed me.”
After they had sex for the first time, the two made small talk, discussing where she grew up and when her birthday was. She also told him that she was religious -- a Lutheran from Texas.
“He said, ‘Oh, my gosh, are you a Republican?’ I was like, ‘What, do you like Obama?’ He said ‘Yeah,’ and asked if I could name any up-and-coming candidates. I said Rick Perry.”
Then they had sex again.
“He was like, ‘I enjoy things like this because I’m an actor 90 percent of the time and it’s fake. It’s nice to have moments that are real. I’m here now and you’re here now, enjoying it,” she said.

Now a sex guide from Malaysia's Obedient Wives

A member of Malaysia's Obedient Wives Club. 

JUST months after telling its members to serve their husbands better than prostitutes, prompting widespread criticism, the Obedient Wives Club of Malaysia has stirred further controversy by publishing a guide to Islamic sex.
The 115-page pocket-sized book, which will outrage many Muslims and non-Muslims, says a Muslim man can have sex with all of his wives at the same time. Under strict Islamic tradition a man have can up to four wives if he can provide for them all.
The club prompted an outcry from women's groups and Islamic religious authorities when it was established in June, claiming to have 1000 members.
Malaysia's Minister for Women, Family and Community Development, Shahrizat Abdul Jalil, asked government officials to monitor the club to ensure it would not ''muddle'' the minds of Malaysia's younger generation. But Ms Shahrizat said the government could not restrict the club's activities, saying ''we are, after all, a democratic country''.
Among organisations that condemned the club was the Wanita Malaysian Chinese Association, which passed a motion describing its advice to women as an insult to their basic human rights.
In its foreword, the book says studies showed women gave their husbands only 10 per cent of what men desired of their wives' bodies. It contains explicit sex details, including fondling of a breast, and one chapter deals with ''how sex becomes worship''.
The book says sex is sanctioned by God and is intended to make a new life.
''You [God] have said that all these acts are halal, pure, beautiful and like a prayer [between man and wife],'' it says.
In June, club members said they planned to set up chapters in other Asian nations, including predominantly Muslim Indonesia.
But there has been little support for an expansion of the club after criticism of its policies by a number of Muslim groups.
Malaysian media have reported the club has links to a religious cult banned by the Malaysian government 20 years ago.
In June, the club's vice-president, Dr Rohaya Mohamad, prompted criticism when she advised women to behave like a ''first-class whore'' while in the company of their husbands if they wanted their marriage to succeed.
The book is circulating in Malaysia at a time that radical Islam is expanding across Asia through a movement called Hizbut Tahrir, which is attracting many middle-class Muslims, including businessmen, lawyers and mothers.
The organisation's Indonesian chapter has hundreds of thousands of members. Hizbut Tahrir wants to unite all Muslim countries in a globe-spanning bloc ruled by strict sharia law.
Although banned in some countries, including Pakistan and Bangladesh, Hizbut Tahrir is operating openly in Australia.