All posts by Em & Lo

Turkey Cooking Tips For Better Sex

However distasteful it may sound, there are a lot of similarities between cooking turkey and having sex: prepping naked skin, heating things up, getting stuffed, being done — and when you really think about it, they’re both kind of gross. So in honor of the upcoming Thanksgiving holiday, we’ve retrofitted the Food Network’s top 10 Turkey Tips for sex. And while it would have been easy, we’re proud to say we resisted solely equating the woman engaged in sex with “the bird.”

  1. Plan ahead. The best way to warm someone up is to take your time; count on several hours or even days of foreplay.
  2. Both low-heat and high-heat seduction styles have their merits. The classic method is 3 dates before sex; if you’re willing to sacrifice the possibility of long-term leftovers, you can do it on the first date.
  3. But for the hottest sex, start to get things cooking but leave it unconsummated at least overnight.
  4. People have better sex if they’re not over-stuffed. A light diet of mostly vegetables (carrots, celery, onions and garlic) with fresh herbs adds flavor without leading to dryness or bitterness.
  5. Keep a bottle of lube on the side; moisten generously.
  6. Dressing up for sex may look professional and pretty, but for the best sex, leave yourselves untrussed. And hey, it’s one less thing for you to do!
  7. Scatter rose petals on your bed before arranging yourselves on top. They’ll add tons of romance to your drippings.
  8. Deal with the legs and wings first — then you’ll have more success when you get to the breast.
  9. Once the turkey goes in the oven, don’t open the door too often. Every time you do, the heat drops precipitously, so it’ll raise both the cook time as well as the odds of dryness.
  10. Once cooking is done, tent yourselves loosely with a blanket and rest for about half an hour before diving in again. If you need more time to recover, you can rest for up to an hour without losing too much heat.

MORE FROM EMandLO.com:

The Softer Side of Pushkin Poetry

Not only was Alexander Pushkin the father of Russian literature, he was also a very naughty boy. In the early 1800s, he wrote plays, poetry, novels, essays and also incredibly dirty erotica. In fact, in 2005 some of his adult verses were seized in a crackdown on obscene materials near Moscow. And in 2014, a Russian law went into effect banning the use of swear words Pushkin used healthily throughout his work.

But rather than peddle what we would lovingly call his porn, today we’re going to focus on his most famous love poem, a chaste reflection on the love of beauty and the beauty of love. There have been several different guesses as to whom it was written for, the consensus being Anna Kern, a Russian socialite married to a general 31 years her senior whom she apparently detested. (Try not to let it ruin it for you that sometime after their affair, Pushkin called her the “Whore of Babylon.”) Below is a valiant attempt at a translation by John Dougherty —  a task Nabokov derided as a fool’s errand.

 

Pushkin_EugeneOneginTo ***

I recall the wondrous chance:
There before me I saw you
Such a brief and a passing glance
Such beauty, brilliant and true

In the clutches of hopeless despair
In the worries of life’s hurried storm
For long I heard a voice so fair
And dreamt of a lovely form

Years passed. A rebellious tempest’s blare
Scattered all former dreams
And I forgot your voice so fair,
Your form born of heavenly schemes

In solitude, in gloomy desolation
Quietly my days dragged along
Without God and without inspiration
Without tears, without life, without love

To my soul came an urge to dance:
And there again I saw you
Such a brief and a passing glance
Such beauty, brilliant and true

And my heart beat in adulation
And to it came the rebirth of
God, and divine inspiration
And life, and tears, and love

 

Want some other great love lines?
20 Sexy Poems to Turn Into Tattoos

How to Give a Toe Job: 10 Steps to Kissing Feet Like a Fetishist

Lovers often forget the feet completely. But why should fetishists have all the fun? Those little piggies have nerves that like to be touched, too. Here are a few tips to keep you on your toes while you’re on theirs:

1. Just as some people are protective of their anuses (lord knows why), others are shy about their feet — toe-sucking is not in everyone’s sexual repertoire. So first make sure your partner’s cool with you heading all the way down.

2.  If your partner’s embarrassed, start off by bathing their little piggies to assuage any fears they may have about stinky feet or toe cheese. Whether they’re embarrassed or not, insist on this for your own sake. (Unless you’re into that whole self-degrading, grosser than gross, The Cook, the Thief, His Wife and Her Lover meat truck scene thing — in which case, you’re on your own.)

3.  A foot-rub is a great segue into toe-sucking. Edible massage oil is a nice touch. Just make sure you have warm hands!

4.  Maintain eye contact. Not only does it up the raunch factor, but their reaction will help you avoid the ticklish spots (very important for not ruining the mood).

5.  It’s just like a blowjob: Start slowly, tease, don’t just suck, use your tongue to follow the curves (including in between the toes and the line of the arch), take your time, enjoy it, etc.

6.  No tickling, please. Lest you get kicked in the face.

7.  If your partner gets pedicures, make sure to give their tootsies attention soon afterward. They’re feet will never be smoother and softer. And your partner will feel they’re really getting the most out of those pedis! Just make sure they get them done at reputable places with strict hygienic procedures and safe equipment, otherwise you might come face to face with a fungal infection, warts or bacterial boils.  Speaking of: if your partner has anything resembling a foot infection, abort mission!

8.  Try out positions where you can stimulate your partner’s more traditional erogenous zones while continuing to suck the toes for a nice Pavlovian effect.

9.  Better yet, get in a position where they can stimulate you while you savor those little nubbins — double whammy!

10.  If you’re the kind of person who gets pedicures, use them to give love, too. Heck, use any body part: Thigh, hip bone, butt crack, you name it!

Want to get a little kinkier?
10 Simple Steps to “Fiftyize” Your Love Life

10 Really Annoying Things That “Guy’s Girls” Do

Our absolute favorite part of Gillian Flynn’s novel Gone Girl is when Amy Dunne rails against the concept of the Cool Girl, also commonly identified in the field as a “guys’ girl”: “Men actually think this girl exists. Maybe they’re fooled because so many women are willing to pretend to be this girl. … I beg you not to believe that your man doesn’t want the Cool Girl. It may be a slightly different version — maybe he’s a vegetarian, so Cool Girl loves seitan and is great with dogs; or maybe he’s a hipster artist, so Cool Girl is a tattooed, bespectacled nerd who loves comics. There are variations to the window dressing, but believe me, he wants Cool Girl, who is basically the girl who likes every fucking thing he likes and doesn’t ever complain.”

Tell it, Amazing Amy! Here are ten things that we find super annoying about guy’s girls:

1.

They eat cold pizza and hot wings and drink beer out of a can in front of guys…but eat lettuce (hold the dressing) and laxative pills on ladies’ nights.

2.

They throw other women under the bus at the drop of a hat, making fun of them (in front of guys) for being giggly or girly or needy.

3.

They give blowjobs without demanding cunnilingus, thereby breaking the golden rule and ruining sex for all the women who don’t like pretending to be guy’s girls.

4.

They don’t complain about earning less than men, because guy’s girls think being a feminist is whiny and uncool.

5.

They love to agree with guys, especially when it comes to talking about how hot another woman is. Thanks to them, the MFF threeway has become just another way to be the perfect girlfriend.

6.

They laugh at sexist jokes — even rape jokes — and say that anyone who doesn’t laugh is simply missing the irony.

7.

They claim that watching men’s sports is more exciting than watching women’s sports.

8.

They fake orgasms, confusing guys as to what actually works for women.

9.

They fake hobbies, too, trying on new likes and opinions (“I love playing Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 2“) like they’re trying on a new dress, to see which ones make them look hottest to guys.

10.

But they never act like guys in any important, ground-breaking ways — for example, they would never dare ask a guy out, or insist on coming first, or ask for a promotion at work, or vote for a female candidate for U.S. president.

Want to make amends for past “guy’s girl” sins?
10 Ways to Be Less Competitive with Other Women

10 Sexy Things to Be Thankful for This Thanksgiving

Whether you’re married, dating, single and loving it, or desperately seeking some lovin’, here are ten sexy things you can give thanks for this Thanksgiving. Consider this your holiday gratitude journal — except we already wrote it for you… one more thing to be thankful for. You’re welcome!

1. The Sex Toy Revolution

Once upon a time, sex toys were cheap nasty plastic things designed “for novelty use” only, and about as likely to get you off as a Geraldo Riviera topless selfie. These days, sex toy shoppers can choose from a huge variety of well-designed, well-made, gorgeous toys that are good for your body, good for the environment, and fantastic for your sex life. Don’t forget to tell Santa that you plan to be naughty and nice.

2. Sex Advice Wants to Be Free!

Back when sex toys were cheap nasty plastic things, sex advice columnists were a rare breed and most of the sex advice out there was the watered-down kind that advertisers in glossy magazines could stomach. These days, the web is littered with free sex advice columns, so it’s easier than ever to improve your own sex life. Not so good for our career prospects; excellent for your love life prospects.

3. Feminist Porn

Erika Lust and a bunch of women like her are now making erotic films that won’t make you feel icky (or, at least, will only make you feel icky for all the right reasons).

4. Your Mind Is a Fantasy Island

Here’s something that’s always been true: What goes on in your dirty little mind is nobody’s business but your own, and this is true whether you’re single, dating, or married for twenty years. Go ahead and break every rule in the sex book in your own head, we won’t tell.

5. Safer Sex Is Sexier Than Ever

Along with the sex toy revolution came a much wider choice in terms of condoms, both male and female. And we’re not talking about blue vs. green or red vs. gold, a la Julia Roberts in Pretty Woman. We mean it’s now easier than ever to find the condom that fits you just perfectly, and maybe even adds a little extra sensation for you and your partner.

6. Masturbation Is Free… and Calorie-Free

So give yourself a good stuffing this Thanksgiving, heh heh.

7. Let Me Google That For You

Wondering if it’s normal to be a virgin at twenty-six? Wondering what percentage of women orgasm without clitoral stimulation? Wondering if you can get the HPV vaccine if you’re thirty? Wondering what condoms feel best? Wondering if the female condom is worth a try? Wondering what the hell the P-spot is? There was a time when we did all this wondering but Google wasn’t there to clear things up in the privacy of our own homes.

8. Gay Marriage Is Now Legal in the United States

Let us all give thanks that 2015 was the year in which same-sex marriage became legal nationwide, after the United States Supreme Court ruled in Obergefell v. Hodges that state-level bans on same-sex marriage are unconstitutional.

9. 2015 Is (Mostly) a Good Time to Be Having Sex

Remember when gay sex and birth control were both illegal? Remember when more people were dying from AIDS than living with it? Remember when doctors tried to “cure” women’s “hysteria” with industrial-strength vibrators? Remember when the clitoris didn’t get invited to the party? Yeah, neither do we. Consider yourselves lucky.

10. Yours Truly

We know it’s not polite to toot your own horn, as it were, but we’ve been dishing out sex advice for free on a daily basis since 1999. That’s more than fifteen years, people. In other words, longer than a lot of marriages, longer than most people stick with a job, longer than either Facebook or Twitter has been around. We don’t expect a medal (unless you have a medal, in which case we’d gladly accept one) but we thought you might like to know that someone has been there for you every day for the past fifteen-plus years.

Newly dating?
How to Know When to Invite a New Partner to Thanksgiving

Should She Lose Her Virginity to a Married Man?

We get a lot of advice questions coming in at EMandLO.com, but sadly, we just can’t answer them all. Which is why, once a week, we turn to you to decide how best to advise a reader. Make your call on the letter below by leaving your advice in the comments section. 

I am a 26-year old black female who is also a virgin. I’ve had only two short-term relationships. Needless to say, I have never been in love. I have considered my STEM-related career as my partner.

I really dread dating. There are the good guys who seem too odd to me, the ones who are too physically affectionate, the ones whose histories I know and thus make me feel like second choice, the former-party-animals/hook-up-kings-turned “reformed gentlemen”. I don’t know if it’s all bullshit. Sometimes I think I would be better off just going on Craigslist and finding a discreet sex partner. Guys don’t care anyway.

Five months ago, I made an acquaintance with an older man (42 but looks 27). He moved to the area for a temporary work assignment. Without his wife and kids. I’m sure that they keep in contact on a daily basis. About a week ago, both of us were at a mutual friends’ gathering. A few hours later, the older man and I had a conversation. Everything, was going so good until… he kissed me. I can’t lie that it felt amazing. Of course, HE’S MARRIED! I had excused myself, left the party and went straight home.

The next day, he met up with me. He apologized, said that he never felt more attracted to someone of my ethnicity (he’s white). “Had opportunities but missed them”. There is more sexual chemistry than I have ever imagined possible with this man, which brings me to this question:

Knowing what the consequences would bring as well as the use of contraceptives, should I just lose my virginity to this man? He asked to me to be his FWB for the rest of his work assignment period. He also said that if I am a virgin, that is ok, he hasn’t been with one since his first girlfriend in high school. I know that a lot of people are going to get hurt, especially his wife. I also know that he will not leave the marriage.

— Jane the Virgin

Should she do the deed with this guy?
Chime in below!

Your Weekly Horoscopes: November 16th, 2015

aries (Mar. 21st-Apr. 20th)
Sometimes a straight-up, no-BS approach to seduction is more effective than all the rules and bouquets and notes passed in class. In fact, as a general rule, we recommend the straight-up, no-BS approach all the time. Avoid cheeseball lines and just say what you’re thinking — assuming that what you’re thinking is “You’re totally hot, can I talk to you?” and not “You’ll do, wanna go?”

taurus (Apr. 21st-May 20th)
Did you know there’s a new website that’s giving away free iPhone 6s Plus’s to the first 500,000 people to register? And if you believe that, we’ve got some land in Florida we think you might be interested in. Someone may take advantage of this trust that you give out like a religious freak handing out heaven pamphlets on the subway. Open your eyes.

gemini (May 21st-June 21st)
You’ve got a totally bitchin’ week ahead of you. But make sure you take a chill pill before going out if you want to score with any hotties. If you’re all like, “Cool beans!” you’ll only attract the batcavers and dweebs in Izod shirts. As if! Gag us with a spoon. You need to be more like, “Whatever, dude.”

cancer (June 22nd-July 22nd)
Go to the gym. Oh, just freaking do it already.

leo (July 23rd-Aug. 22nd)
What was that Kissinger said about power being an aphrodisiac? He was right on the money, especially for you this week.

virgo (Aug. 23rd-Sept. 22nd)
Things will get better as the week progresses. Try to have patience if the person you’ve been jonesing for hasn’t been too receptive. We hate to say it, but if you play a little hard to get, it will probably help. We’re stopping short of suggesting you send yourself flowers with a saucy little card from your imaginary luvva in the hopes that your true beloved sees this and suddenly realizes that yes, you are the person they are supposed to marry, mate, grow old with, and die next to.

libra (Sept. 23rd-Oct. 23rd)
You will meet a perfect candidate for love, but only if you take a class in multi-culturalism.

scorpio (Oct. 24th-Nov. 22nd)
You’ll be inclined to get into a relationship for all the wrong reasons this week. You know, the usual: No plans for the weekend; six months since you got laid; urge to cuddle; desire to make your ex jealous; desire to please your parents; fear of dying alone, etc. We can’t promise that you won’t die alone, but we can promise that any relationship you enter into in this state will come back and bite you in the ass within the month. And hey, if we’re wrong, you won’t care, because you’ll be in a great relationship that’s not biting you in the ass. So everyone wins!

sagittarius (Nov. 23rd-Dec. 21st)
Not to freak you out or anything, but the soulmate clock is ticking, the Jeopardy theme song is winding down, the hotties are all pairing off, it’s cuffing season, and YOU DON’T HAVE A DATE. You can’t afford a night in; put those drinks on the credit card and paint this town red.

capricorn (Dec. 22nd-Jan. 20th)
Your quick wit will score points with the cutie pies this week, but don’t get demerits by making jokes at the expense of others.

aquarius (Jan. 21st-Feb. 18th)
You may be pushing yourself too hard. Hence, you’ll feel under the weather. Not optimal conditions for “making sweet music.” So don’t feel that you have to do something that you may not want to do. For instance, if you’ve got the sniffles, don’t put on that gimp mask. And if you’re on the Pepto . . . well, need we say more?

pisces (Feb. 19th-Mar. 20th)
You can’t fight this feeling anymore. You’ve forgotten what you started fighting for. If you have to crawl upon the floor, go crushing through their door, baby, you can’t fight this feeling anymore.

 

For England’s War Poet Rupert Brooke, Sex Was a Battlefield, Too

Rupert Brooke (1887-1915) was a World War One poet best known for his sonnet “The Soldier,” which opened with these lines: “If I should die, think only this of me: / That there’s some corner of a foreign field / That is forever England.” The New Yorker describes him this way: “Upper-class and stiff-upper-lipped, blond-haired and blue-eyed, eager to sacrifice youth and beauty for king and country, Brooke embodied a romantic and remarkably tenacious national fantasy.”

But war wasn’t his only subject matter, it turns out — he also liked to write about love and, especially, lust.  W. B. Yeats famously dubbed Brooke “the handsomest young man in England.” And though he never saw any war action — he died in Greece of a blood infection following a mosquito bite, two days before he has was due to start fighting —  we’re guessing he saw plenty in the bedroom, if this sonnet about sexual desire and conquest is anything to go on. “Libido” appeared in his first book of poems, despite the fact that his publisher considered the phrase “your remembered smell most agony” to be in most bad taste.

Libido

by Rupert Brooke

How should I know? The enormous wheels of will
Drove me cold-eyed on tired and sleepless feet.
Night was void arms and you a phantom still,
And day your far light swaying down the street.
As never fool for love, I starved for you;
My throat was dry and my eyes hot to see.
Your mouth so lying was most heaven in view,
And your remembered smell most agony.

Love wakens love! I felt your hot wrist shiver
And suddenly the mad victory I planned
Flashed real, in your burning bending head…
My conqueror’s blood was cool as a deep river
In shadow; and my heart beneath your hand
Quieter than a dead man on a bed.

Want something a little more romantic?
Sylvia Plath’s Ode to Young Love

20 Fun Facts About the World’s Relationship with Butt Toys

Not just butt toys, but prostate massagers for men, to be exact (though some may be enjoyed by the female of the species as well). Our friends over at LELO reviewed the sales stats for all their top-of-the-line P-spot products over the past few months and found some interesting trends: the US may beat Australia in prostate pleasure, but the UK beats us….

prostatemassageheatmapUS635

  1. NYC tops the US sales table accounting for 27% of prostate massager sales
  2. The most sales per capita were actually in Miami, with over 50 year-olds purchasing the most
  3. In Las Vegas, 70% of sales were by under 35’s, and by both men and women.
  4. LA men are 3 times less likely to own a prostate massager than men in NYC.
  5. Men in San Francisco are 7 times more likely to own a prostate massager than their neighbors in LA.
  6. Over in Salt Lake City,  women made up 66% of sales.
  7. In Chicago, the vast majority of sales were by men.
  8. New Yorkers researched the most before purchase, visiting lelo.com on average 3 times before purchase.
  9. Washington D.C. residents ranked 2nd for sales per capita, typically bought on the first visit. 
  10. The folks in Houston also showed a lot of interest in researching prostate massage, vising LELO’s prostate massage articles more than any other city.
  11. The average age of US men buying prostate massagers is 42.

  12. prostatemassageheatmapWorld635

    1. People living in the UK are more likely to buy prostate massagers than those in the US.
    2. People in Australia are curious but have yet to take the plunge (traffic from Australia to lelo.com’s prostate massage articles tend to stay on the page and read more than any other country, but their rate of purchase is noticeably low). 
    3. In Spain, women buy more prostate massagers than men, suggesting heterosexual couples are now much more confident in prostate play.
    4. In Italy, the older you are the more likely you are to purchase a prostate product, suggesting Italians feel prostate massage has significant health benefits.
    5. In France, the younger generations are more curious — on average, the French are the youngest customers.
    6. Sweden has the 2nd highest prostate massager sales per capita.
    7. The Germans rank third in the world for prostate products per capita and interestingly the vast majority are bought by men (it tends to be more even generally). 
    8. Speaking of sales per capita, prostate massage products are just as popular in Russia as they are in the USA. 
    9. In Asia, we see a decrease in sales per capita, with China and Japan filling the last two spots in Lelo’s top ten countries by total global sales: China is 10% less likely to buy than Japan, and Japan does the least amount of pre-purchase research. 
    While Lelo is a sponsor of this site, this is not a sponsored post — we just thought these were fun and interesting stats worth sharing! 

    Want your fella to get in on this action?
    How to Introduce Your Guy to His Prostate

Happy Veterans Day!
Petty Officer 2nd Class Marissa Gaeta of the USS Oak Hill (LSD-51) shares the traditional “first kiss” with her fiancée, Petty Officer 3rd Class Citlalic Snell (2011)

We hope you’ll take a moment today to honor, in some small way, one or two or a few of the brave people who have served this country and helped secure the rights that allow two independent women to talk about Kegels and sex toys ’til the cows come home.

See you back here tomorrow with your regularly scheduled dose of love, sex, and everything in between!

7 Must-Have Handbag Items for Spontaneous Casual Sex

Straight ladies, if there’s any chance your evening will end up in a sleepover, transform your purse into a make-shift washbag. Even if there isn’t a snowball’s chance in hell you’ll be getting nooky tonight, carry these items with you anyway — because the best hook-ups happen when you least expect them.

  1. Compact ballet flats. Don’t be caught making the walk of shame home at 7am in your uncomfortable six-inch disco stilettos. Sidekicks foldable ballet flats can transform that journey home into a walk of fame.
  2. Condoms. Even if you’re on the Pill, or some other form of birth control, do not assume that it’s the guy’s responsibility to provide the STD protection, simply because he’s the one to wear it. You are responsible for your own sexual health. Plus, there’s nothing worse than running out of safety socks when you’re both up for round two!
  3. Mascara & moisturizing lipstick. You don’t need your whole ten-pound makeup bag, just these two essentials. The mascara will brighten up tired eyes in the morning — L’Oreal’s Double Extend is a good affordable bet. And a moisturizing lipstick will add color while soothing lips chapped from kissing. The lipstick can even double as impromptu rouge (though your cheeks will probably already be flushed from the evening’s activities). And this one comes with its own mini mirror. With these simple tools, you’ll look bright and fresh in the morning, without looking overdone.
  4. Dissolvable breath strips. A toothbrush and toothpaste, even travel-sized, is a bit much to tote around all evening. But you don’t want to be chomping on a piece of gum like a cow, either after dinner or before breakfast (before you’re ready to get out of bed and clean your teeth). Minty breath strips are compact, powerful and dissolve quickly, so you can get onto more important things.
  5. A tank top. If what you’re wearing out that night will look funny on a commuter train home in the morning (or out at brunch), then pack something small you can wear as a top alternative. Nothing gives away a one-night stand like a sequined halter top glittering in the morning light. Note: If you are attending a super fancy affair, either bring a purse which can hold a casual skirt too or don’t sleepover (a girl’s gotta have her dignity).
  6. A book of matches. Speaking of dignity, should you find yourself in the unfortunate and unlucky situation of being stuck in his bathroom in desperate need of a room deodorizer, light a match, quickly blow it out, and flush it down the toilet.
  7. A razor. If you’re one of those women who can’t stand her own stubble, carry a razor in your purse. Because if you end up at his place, chances are he’ll have some shaving cream in his bathroom that you can borrow for a quick touch up. Remember, men can be very territorial about their razors, and nothing’s more annoying to him than nicking his neck the next day because you dulled his Mach 3 with your leg hair — and yes, he’ll always be able to tell.

Want to bring your A game to casual sex?
5 Ways to Spice Up a One-Night Stand

Your Weekly Horoscopes: November 9th, 2015

aries (Mar. 21st-Apr. 20th)
Focus on joining worthy causes this week and someone special will notice. Yeah, aren’t you smart? Make it look like you’re spreading sunshine and doing your bit for the community, when all you really care about is getting laid. It’s the double whammy: You impress them because you’re out there saving the world, and you appear hard to get because you’re obviously too busy saving the world to be interested in little old them. Suckers. At least we know the truth.

taurus (Apr. 21st-May 20th)
The time is perfect to fall in love. All you need is a spunky Gemini or Leo or Aquarius. Oh sure, just go to the corner store and pick one up. They’re on sale, conveniently lined up on the shelf in alphabetical order. Right next to world peace and those cute little flying pigs.

gemini (May 21st-June 21st)
If you must take candy from strangers, make sure it’s wrapped.

cancer (June 22nd-July 22nd)
If you’re Little Red Riding Hood, then the object of your affection is the wolf. Which may not necessarily be a bad thing if you’re down for having sex like wild, rabid animals. But if you’re expecting frills, pot pourri, and home-baked goods from this relationship, you’ve got another thing coming.

leo (July 23rd-Aug. 22nd)
You can talk your way into anyone’s heart — but where’s the beef?

virgo (Aug. 23rd-Sept. 22nd)
A great philosopher once said, He who talks too much eats shoe before too long. And no amount of seasoning is gonna make it taste better. So know when to shut it.

libra (Sept. 23rd-Oct. 23rd)
We’ll be the first to admit: Dating’s really hard. What other game do you know where every player has their own set of rules (which are constantly in flux and not always obeyed)? However, this week you make it all look easy. Have you considered getting your own talk show?

scorpio (Oct. 24th-Nov. 22nd)
The stars usually aren’t this pornographic, but they say this week that “your stamina will be up” (a euphemism if ever we heard one) and you’ll have the ability to “do it ’til the cows come home” (pretty straightforward there). Don’t waste this precious time working when you should be, well, doin’ it. Just make sure you’re safe.

sagittarius (Nov. 23rd-Dec. 21st)
Your sex drive is going to be sagging a little this week, but not to worry. It’s not like your partner is going to take it personally or anything. No, just go right ahead and pop off to your Scrabble tournament, stay up all night playing online poker, get stumbling drunk with your friends, watch home improvement shows on TV. No, don’t bother explaining yourself. Really. That would be too much like communication, wouldn’t it?

capricorn (Dec. 22nd-Jan. 20th)
If you get out of the house and take part in community events this week, you will meet someone who is just as much of a homebody as you are. And then the two of you won’t ever have to go out again. You can just stay home, co-signing letters to your local politicians, learning macrame together, ordering in Thai, and forgetting how lonely you used to be when you were single and all your “friends” coupled up and stopped calling you. Anyway, it’s been nice knowing you.

aquarius (Jan. 21st-Feb. 18th)
God, your hair is perfect. Your teeth? Like a freakin’ Gleem commercial. When you walk into a room, everyone turns and stares, mistaking you for a celebrity. You’ve even got an entourage that’s just one hanger-on short of a harem. Well, you better enjoy it while it lasts, because someone’s going to expose you for the charlatan you are. And when they finally tell everyone about the time they caught you naked with the Jell-O mold, then where will you be, huh? Work on some substance.

pisces (Feb. 19th-Mar. 20th)
Don’t mix business with pleasure. This means no sex on the boss’s desk for at least a week. And we mean it!

Raunchy Poem of One Couple’s Sex Life, from Oral to Anal, Vanilla to Kinky

Bernadette Mayer, born in 1945, is an avant-garde American writer known for her stream-of-consciousness narrative style that draws heavily on her journals. Her poetry about the experience of motherhood was groundbreaking for its accuracy and honesty. Oh, yeah, and she likes to talk about oral sex, anal sex, kinky sex, and why women deserve to come more than men, too. All of which you’ll find in her poem below…

First Turn to Me

41J3F1EZMBL._SX305_BO1,204,203,200_First turn to me after a shower,
you come inside me sideways as always

in the morning you ask me to be on top of you,
then we take a nap, we’re late for school

you arrive at night inspired and drunk,
there is no reason for our clothes

we take a bath and lie down facing each other,
then later we turn over, finally you come

we face each other and talk about childhood
as soon as I touch your penis I wind up coming

you stop by in the morning to say hello
we sit on the bed indian fashion not touching

in the middle of the night you come home
from a nightclub, we don’t get past the bureau

next day it’s the table, and after that the chair
because I want so much to sit you down & suck your cock

you ask me to hold your wrists, but then when I
touch your neck with both my hands you come

it’s early morning and you decide to very quietly
come on my knee because of the children

you’ve been away at school for centuries, your girlfriend
has left you, you come four times before morning

you tell me you masturbated in the hotel before you came by
I don’t believe it, I serve the lentil soup naked

I massage your feet to seduce you, you are reluctant,
my feet wind up at your neck and ankles

you try not to come too quickly
also, you dont want to have a baby

I stand up from the bath, you say turn around
and kiss the backs of my legs and my ass

you suck my cunt for a thousand years, you are weary
at last I remember my father’s anger and I come

you have no patience and come right away
I get revenge and won’t let you sleep all night

we make out for so long we can’t remember how
we wound up hitting our heads against the wall

I lie on my stomach, you put one hand under me
and one hand over me and that way can love me

you appear without notice and with flowers
I fall for it and we become missionaries

you say you can only fuck me up the ass when you are drunk
so we try it sober in a room at the farm

we lie together one night, exhausted couplets
and don’t make love. does this mean we’ve had enough?

watching t.v. we wonder if each other wants to
interrupt the plot; later I beg you to read to me

like the Chinese we count 81 thrusts
then 9 more out loud till we both come

I come three times before you do
and then it seems you’re mad and never will

it’s only fair for a woman to come more
think of all the times they didn’t care

Want more hot monogamy?
10 Best Things About Married Sex

Why You Should Never Fake an Orgasm (Except in This One Case)

Faking, Defined

Every woman has faked an O at least once in her lifetime. Pretending to climax is a theatrical art — one that even thespian Keanu Reeves would find challenging to pull off convincingly. There’s a healthy dose of heavy breathing with much melodramatic “oohing” and “ahhing” sprinkled throughout (all informed by porn and “When Harry Met Sally“) that builds to an Oscar-worthy crescendo, followed by a quick resolution phase (“That was great. Nightie-night!”). And it’s all done for the benefit of a partner’s ego… or simply to get said partner to roll over and go to sleep (finally).

The Problem with Faking

While these are good intentions, no good can come of them. Faking begins a vicious cycle of deceit and miscommunication: your partner thinks they gave you an orgasm with their patented moves, so they keep using those patented moves, thus you feel obliged to keep “responding” to them, until after a year of faking you finally break down and reveal your ruse out of pure exhaustion and boredom, at which point they break up with you because you’ve humiliated them with your damn lies!

The Reality that Faking Belies

Why insist that sex be so goal oriented? Isn’t the journey as important as the destination? Climaxing is no more a prerequisite for great sex than wearing nice lingerie is. And damn it, it’s not easy for many women to get to their very own Xanadu. There’s no simple formula like there is for most dudes: insert, thrust, repeat. Female genitals are sensitive, and fickle, and picky. And there’s no shame in that. You’ve simply got to work with your partners — using honest communication, gentle instruction and enthusiastic suggestion — to teach them its moods. Pretending we live in a simpler world, genitally speaking, will only make things more complicated in bed. 

The One Exception to the No Faking Rule

That said, there is one instance when faking is acceptable: on a one-night stand, when you will not see this person again and thus, there is no learning curve. In such a situation, giving yourself the freedom to act orgasmic may make you feel more orgasmic. (Hey, if forcing yourself to smile can make you feel happier…) 

This Ain’t Just a Lady Thang

Finally, while this is a predominantly female phenomenon, don’t think that men can’t fake. Oh yes they can…and do! A plethora of factors may contribute to a no-show: stress, depression, intoxication, relationship problems, medication, a thick condom…the list goes on. Add that to the overwhelming pressure of male ejaculatory expectation. Two or three dramatic climactic thrusts, a quick removal of the condom in a darkened room, and you’re none the wiser. Put that in your pipe and obsess about the next time you’re doing it with a dude.

Have you been a naughty girl?
4 Ways to Admit to Him You’ve Been Faking

10 Ways to Be Less Competitive with Other Women

Why are women competitive with each other? Evolutionary psychology says that it’s to protect their wombs from physical harm, while feminist psychology claims it’s because they’ve internalized the patriarchy. A writer in the Times this past weekend posited a different explanation: “We aren’t competing with other women, ultimately, but with ourselves — with how we think of ourselves. For many of us, we look at other women and see, instead, a version of ourselves that is better, prettier, smarter, something more. We don’t see the other woman at all.” In other words, it’s not you, it’s me.

One thing that pretty much everyone can agree on, however (okay, except for maybe the evolutionary psychologists, who never agree with anyone) is that female competition is an ugly thing. So here are ten ways to be a better, less competitive, less undermining friend to the fellow females in your life:

1. Don’t Make Fun of Vocal Fry

Or any other stereotypically “girly” ways of talking, like up-speak or saying “like” a lot. It encourages a culture where it’s okay to make women feel bad about themselves.

2. Don’t Fish for Compliments About Your Body

Because when you force another woman to say something nice about your body — even if you’re having a bad body image day — what’s really happening is that that woman is comparing herself to you. And, even if she’s Cindy Crawford, she’ll find a way to make a negative comparison and end up feeling bad about herself.

3. Never Fight Over a Guy

Don’t make fun of another woman, or dis another woman, to impress a guy. And don’t try to out-dress another woman, or out-flirt another woman. It’s never worth it in the end.

4. Don’t Google His Ex

And don’t bad-talk her, either. It’s just bad female karma.

5. Don’t Primp in Front of Your Friends

As with fishing for compliments, this is just one more way to draw attention to your face or body, and no doubt your friends are convinced you have a nicer body and face than they do (even if you happen to think the exact opposite).

6. Don’t Mock Female Insecurity

You’ve seen those women at parties who roll their eyes at other women who are trying too hard or wearing something too tight to gain attention or giggling too much or making a fool of themselves in an attempt to impress a guy. That doesn’t set you apart as a powerful, independent woman — it makes you a mean girl.

7. Don’t Try to Be a “Guy’s Girl”

It’s tempting to want to run away from female competitiveness and cattiness and just be friends with guys. But really, this is just a subtle way to denigrate women. If you don’t like female friendship, then change it!

8. Don’t Be Faux Humble

Don’t pretend that you feel bad about your body just to make your friend feel better about her weight gain. This doesn’t count as empathy, it’s just one more way to subtly compare and contrast yourself with your “friend.”

9. Be a Good Secret Keeper

The best way to change female friendship is to be a good friend. Be kind Be a good listener. And never ever break someone’s trust just to make a guy laugh.

10. Walk in Her Shoes

Not literally. Because that might make your friend feel bad about her hammer toe. No, we mean, if you catch another woman being competitive, don’t respond in kind. Remind yourself that it’s not about you — she’s probably just using you as a warped mirror and feeling bad about herself. Take a deep breath and be the bigger person.

As Emily Gordon writes in the same article: “We don’t need to lower the stock of other women, either for the future of the species or for our own psyches. When we each focus on being the dominant force in our own universe, rather than invading other universes, we all win.” So let’s be winners, ladies!

Can men and women be true friends?
Our Wise Guys weigh in

Your Weekly Horoscopes: November 2nd, 2015

aries (Mar. 21st-Apr. 20th)
If there was a recommended daily allowance of sexual energy, then you’d be eating fifteen bowls a day of Booty Flakes this week. Don’t O.D.

taurus (Apr. 21st-May 20th)
Don’t mix business with pleasure this week. The gossip-mongers by the water cooler are hungry for fresh meat. You could be the pastrami in their scandal sandwich if you’re not careful. But then again, what do you care what those losers think? They’re not the boss of you . . . Or are they?

gemini (May 21st-June 21st)
No matter how many new shirts you buy, how many manicures you get, how much money you throw around, or how much affection you offer, your attempts to impress will be moot. People will see through you like a thinly sliced sliver of ginger. Of course, they won’t say no to the affection. But their lack of reciprocation will burn worse than wasabi on your tender, pink parts.

cancer (June 22nd-July 22nd)
Everyone has a “one who got away.” If you don’t make your move soon, you’ll be getting another. Block all the exits and don’t let them leave until you’ve made them an offer they can’t refuse. Or at least get their email address.

leo (July 23rd-Aug. 22nd)
Dress in yellow. Just say hello. Now bust a move.

virgo (Aug. 23rd-Sept. 22nd)
If you take it upon yourself to organize social gatherings, you get to pick events that flatter your butt. Like bowling, for example. And if you have a nice butt and you’re a good bowler, other people will want to have sex with you.

libra (Sept. 23rd-Oct. 23rd)
It’s set-up city this week. A friend, a relative, a co-worker perhaps, will hook you up with a possibility. Resistance is futile. Submit! And don’t be shy: You’re a star and they’re an astronomer. Which could just mean they’re a total dork, but it’s always nice to be liked.

scorpio (Oct. 24th-Nov. 22nd)
Pace yourself in this relationship and don’t give up too much: we have a feeling it might be a bit of a Betamax.

sagittarius (Nov. 23rd-Dec. 21st)
If you want to dish it, you have to be able to take it — like, no innocent flirting with your neighbor if the same behavior in your partner would unleash the green-eyed monster within you.

capricorn (Dec. 22nd-Jan. 20th)
Finally! This week you’ll actually make a mental connection with someone you’re getting busy with. So you might want to stick around for cuddle time for a change.

aquarius (Jan. 21st-Feb. 18th)
Remember that scene in Naked Gun where Leslie Nielson says, “Everywhere I look, I see reminders of her”–and then the camera pans to two massive concrete bunkers that look like boobies, right next to a skyscraping phallus. That’s what you’ve got to look forward to this week. But don’t go humping cold, hard, unfeeling concrete structures just to scratch that itch: Warm human flesh may be easier to come by than you think. You just gotta ask. (Just don’t ask them to come over and watch Naked Gun on DVD.)

pisces (Feb. 19th-Mar. 20th)
Philanthropy helps make the world a better place — and it makes your ass look good.