CAN I GET a MAN WITH THAT?

FRIENDSHIP BRACELET

One person’s misplaced birth control is another’s trendy fashion accessory

When I was looking for a birth control method, I covered all my bases — I did online research, read any pamphlet I could get my hands on and had numerous Q&A conversations with my gynecologist. Though I had been sexually active for quite some time and would always use condoms with my partner, I felt it was time to definitely be a little more proactive in preventing an unwanted pregnancy. 

Pills, patches and shots oh my! I was super confused and didn’t know what route to go. After a few weeks of reading and questioning the hell out of my doctor, I decided the best and most convenient choice for me would be NuvaRing, a plastic vaginal ring.

It had been approximately a month since I had gotten on my birth control. I had gotten use to the placement of the NuvaRing and was ready to get it on with my partner! We hadn’t had sex in a month and I was beyond ready. The sex was amazing as usual — The foreplay was seductive and fun — he gave me the best head ever — and once we hit our groove, the positions were straight out the Kama Sutra. Did I mention that one side effect to my new method of contraception was that it won’t fall out during sex?

Read More

Hydeia Broadbent: 26, Living with AIDS

HIV/AIDS is the leading cause of death and disease in women ages 15 to 44 worldwide, according to the The American Foundation for AIDS Research. Today more women ages 15 and up are living with HIV/AIDS than ever before.
 
One of those women is Hydeia Broadbent, who was diagnosed with AIDS at age 3 and given three years to live. You might remember seeing her on Oprah back in the day — since childhood, she’s become a well-known AIDS activist.

Hydeia has dedicated her life to dispelling misconceptions about AIDS and HIV and today she’s a thriving 26-year-old motivational speaker. She has a passion for life and doesn’t see AIDS as a death sentence. And yes, she got a man with that (though she tells us she’s newly single).

Today, in honor of World AIDS Day, Hydeia sounds off on sexuality, her plans for the future and how we (yes, we!) can help fight AIDS.

AIDS (in 140 characters or less)

… something that affects everyone one way or another!

On growing up with AIDS

I just thought it was a disease that me and my friends had. No one treated me any different from other kids my age. It wasn’t until I was older that I realized I was a little different from everyone else. As an activist, it became my mission to make sure people living with AIDS weren’t discriminated against.

On dating with an STD

Having an STD doesn’t mean that your male or female parts stop working. It just means that you have to be safer about the choices you make.

On talking about safe sex

People don’t get to know each other anymore. They feel like sex is a way to get to know someone. We have to be responsible for our own bodies and our own health. It might not be a question you ask on the first date, but maybe a date two topic is, have you ever been tested for AIDS? Sex should be the last thing you do with someone.

Read More

IT’S NOT YOURS

Today’s contributor has an awkward run-in at the drugstore

My friends and I went out drinking for a bachelorette party.  As our rounds were coming to a close, I was chatting up a guy and we really hit it off. He was sexy, funny and my friends seemed to really like him. In my very inebriated state, I decided these were perfect reasons to get physical with this attractive stranger. After a hot make out session, we decided he was coming home with me that night. The details of what happened next are a bit fuzzy — I vaguely remember getting back to my apartment. The next memory I have is of us having missionary-style sex, and then me, waking up alone and naked in my bed.

Read More

CASE OF THE EX

Today’s contributor sets the guidelines for dealing with a run-in with an ex.

These are rules every woman should follow after a breakup:
Rule 1: Don’t try to be friends with an ex-boyfriend.
Rule 2: If you decide to break rule 1, wait at least two months before trying to be friends.
Rule 3: If previous rules are neglected, for the love of Jesus, do NOT let yourself be in the same room, alone, with him.
Rule 4: Don’t think with your heart.
Rule 5: If things are heating up, get the hell away from the ex. If you got this far in breaking all the rules, we know that ultimately, Rule 6 is what counts, and that is:
Rule 6: Remember birth control.

I said should. This is what happens in reality …

Read More

STICKS & STONES

Today’s contributor’s drunken role playing leads to a scandalous outburst

In my first years of college, I was an inexperienced, shall we say reckless drinker. One particular night, I thought I was Xena the warrior princess, and I decided to throw steak knives at a wall just so I could make her war cry.  Out of concern, my friends hid all sharp objects, but that did not deter my alter ego.
 
During one of the many mind numbing drinking games, I accidentally spilled cherry punch on my boyfriend’s lap. “You’re a stupid, clumsy bitch!” he yelled, rubbing his tacky, embellished designer jeans. Clumsy, I might be, but stupid AND a bitch? He was messing with the wrong persona, I was Xena. And Xena does not take verbal abuse from men who wear beyond-metrosexual designer jeans.
 

Read More

GUARD YOUR LOINS

Today’s contributor gets a humiliating lesson in personal grooming

I don’t shave—at least not in the winter. It gets cold in New York and I kind of like the extra warmth—it’s cheaper than thermal underwear. And since I wasn’t seeing anyone last year, this also applied to my bush. I was comfortable with that until an old flame popped up unexpectedly. 

I was getting ready for bed when he called. He said he was in the area and wanted to stop by—catch up on old times. He even brought my favorite movie. There’s no harm in that, I thought. I’ll just keep his hands above my waist. But it was already after 10 p.m. and the only thing on the agenda was Shawshank Redemption—who was I kidding?

Read More

THE PUSSYCAT’S DOG

Today’s contributor has a penis-attacking pussy

Last month, my  boyfriend and I adopted a cat from a nearby shelter—an uber-friendly kitten named Doug, who loves to play with squeaky toys. The only problem is—when my boyfriend and I are having sex, Doug likes to watch. It creeps me out, so during sexy time, Doug gets the boot.

One night, we had toe-curling sex, not unlike usual. When we’re finished, my boyfriend always has a very large erection—I like to stare at him. I don’t know why, it just turns me on, so I make him stand in front of me while I lay on the bed. But for some very strange reason, unbeknown to us, Doug had made it into the bedroom that night.

Read More

LIKE A VIRGIN

A devirginized 20-something is touched for the very last time

I was a 23-year-old virgin laying lifeless on my back about to be deflowered. In true poetic fashion, the taker of my chastity was a guy who didn’t think I was good enough to be his girlfriend. There were no slow jams or sex by candlelight, just silence on a shaky futon in an unlit apartment. As he thrust in and out of me for about 10 minutes, I remember thinking, so this is it? When it was over I didn’t want to talk or cuddle, I just wanted to go to sleep, and hopefully forget the worst sex I never had in my life.

It didn’t get much better after that. A few weeks later, I decided to be proactive. “Harder! Harder!” I moaned in a disguised attempt to give instruction. “Chill!” he responded. Immediately afterwards, he forcefully pumped, causing the futon to bang against the adjacent wall, as if to mockingly say, “is that hard enough for you?” Three pumps later he abruptly stopped, put on his pants, and turned on the TV, while I lay there naked and dumbfounded. “What the fuck are you doing?” I asked. He smirked and continued staring at the TV.

Read More

FAILGATE PARTY

Today’s contributor has a near-death experience after a tailgating sexcapade

Editor’s Note: We’re a little tardy with this month’s period confession. But you know what they say—better late than pregnant. 

As an avid football fan at a division I sports college, the best part of heading back to school in the fall is football season—high-intensity games, tailgating parties, and God, yes, the football players. But after a near-fatal incident last year, football season hasn’t been the same. 

It all started at a homecoming tailgaite. Like everyone else, I was getting hammered in the parking lot on an absurd amount of beer. I stumbled back to my sorority house to change my tampon, when I ran into an old flame. Lets just say I never made it back to the party. Instead, I had wild and crazy, drunken sex, completely forgetting what I went back to the house for—a tampon, my period.

Read More

SIZE MATTERS

A flirty coed miscalculates the risk of a well-endowed ‘boner-factor’

It was free transit week for college students, so my roommate and I decide to pay her hometown friend a visit at Princeton. Bright-eyed and bushy tailed, we arrived at his off-campus house, enthused for a “normal” college experience (since our school often failed to provide students with straight guys and decent keg parties).

Upon meeting Nick, my roommate’s friend, I was instantly attracted. He was a sandy-haired, hazel-eyed, tattooed, lengthy musician whose nickname in high school was “Big Dick Nick” (according to my roommate). A few PBR’s into our night, I decided I wanted to explore this nickname a little deeper—pun intended.

Read More