He made rough trade an art form, an archive, a world. The men wrecked him. The work saved him. David Hurles: the outlaw who invented rough trade porn. Image courtesy of the Bob Mizer Foundation.

New research explores how many people are into dirty talk and why it's arousing.

He made rough trade an art form, an archive, a world. The men wrecked him. The work saved him. David Hurles: the outlaw who invented rough trade porn. Image courtesy of the Bob Mizer Foundation.

A brief, complicated history of straight men who sleep with men—and why respectability tried to throw away the receipts. Photo by Wolrider YURTSEVEN.

Purity culture teaches folks to fear sex and feel ashamed of it. So how do you move past it? That's what we're talking about in this episode.

A brief, complicated history of straight men who sleep with men—and why respectability tried to throw away the receipts. Photo by Wolrider YURTSEVEN.

I walked into the Van Gogh Museum thinking I knew his story. I didn’t. Seeing his work up close changed how I understand art, pain, and the people we lose too soon. But this isn’t a tragedy. It’s a lo...

A third of Gen Z-ers are celibate, according to recent surveys. Not all of them forego sex by choice — but some who are willingly celibate say it's about self-improvement and empowerment.

The rise of “therapy speak” and how, for better or for worse, it’s reshaping the way we talk about emotions, conflict, and relationships.

Behind my return to the Beach Boys Landmark—and the ghosts, songs, and memories that followed me there. Photo by Paul Pastourmatzis.

The closing essay of t Str8 No Chaser's military series, which explores how servicemen have long revealed the gap between behavior and identity, and what they can still teach us about sex, humanity, a...

Years after coming out, I realized I was still waiting–for community, for permission, for reflection. This essay is about what happens when you stop waiting and start building your own language of bel...

The porn panic that made heroes into criminals.

From bunkhouses to battlefields, soldiers and sailors forged intimacies the military couldn’t erase. Str8 No Chaser® uncovers their hidden history.

Upcoming essays, musings., and obervations about identity, culture, masculinity, and memory. Photo by Lucas Newton on Unsplash

A prospective partner’s sexual history provides important information that can be used to minimise mating-related risks. Such information includes the number of past sexual partners, which has an inverse relationship with positive suitor evaluation. However, sexual encounters with new partners vary in frequency over time, providing an additional dimension of context not previously considered. Across three studies (N = 5,331) with 15 samples, we demonstrate that the impact of past partner number on a suitor’s desirability as a long-term partner varies as a function of distribution over time. Using graphical representations of a suitor’s sexual history, we found that past partner number effects were smaller when the frequency of new sexual encounters decreased over time. This moderation effect was stronger, and often curvilinear, when past partner numbers were higher. We replicated these findings in 11 countries from five world regions. Sex differences were minimal and inconsistent pointing to a lack of a sexual double standards. Sociosexuality (openness to casual sex) was a consistent moderator and tended to mute the sexual history effects. These findings suggest that people not only attend to a potential long-term mate’s quantity of sexual partners, but also the context surrounding these encounters such as pattern and timing. Together, the findings raise the possibility of an evolved mechanism for managing mating risks present in both sexes and across populations and adds nuance to a contentious topic of public interest.

It was well after 10 p.m. when the barking started, yet again.

A few hours from sunset, I furiously wrapped work for the day.

A few hours from sunset, I furiously wrapped work for the day.

A personal reckoning with desire, identity, and the forgotten legacy of Alfred Kinsey.

A personal reckoning with desire, identity, and the forgotten legacy of Alfred Kinsey.

Gay-for-Pay: Polarization, Posers, and the Pleasure Principle