In recent years, measures have been introduced in Georgia, Pennsylvania, Texas, Illinois and, most recently, California to apply special taxes to strip clubs -- specifically to fund sexual assault services. Now, even if you aren't inclined to view erotic entertainment as the source of all evil, this might seem an appropriate aim -- who wants to argue against additional support for rape survivors? It would seem even more so when you consider politicians' and activists' repeated claims of solid scientific evidence showing a link between strip clubs -- specifically those that sell alcohol -- and sexual violence.

That is, until you look at the alleged proof.

The key study advocates point to is one commissioned by the Texas Legislature in 2009. But that very report states, "no study has authoritatively linked alcohol, sexually oriented business, and the perpetration of sexual violence." What's more, when I talked to Bruce Kellison, director of the Bureau of Business Research at the University of Texas at Austin, and one of the authors of the report, about the alleged link between strip clubs and sexual assault, he said, "That's not really what our study was trying to do."

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Activists calling for the site to shutter its adult classifieds section on the grounds that it promotes sex trafficking -- like New York Times columnist Nicholas Kristof -- have seized on research from Advanced Interactive Media Group (AIM) showing that across a handful of sites carrying prostitution ads, 70 percent come from Backpage. Another significant finding from the organization is that the site's parent company, Village Voice Media, makes $22 million from such ads. Again and again, critics of the site trot out these, and similar, statistics drawn from AIM research -- but the organization’s latest study highlights just how far online prostitution spans beyond Backpage.

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Needless to say, Joe isn't surprised by allegations by two masseurs that John Travolta got handsy during massages. (Travolta's attorney has denied all the allegations, and called them "ridiculous.") “It happens all the time,” he says, and not just with celebrity clients. He frequently encounters men who try to fondle him, usually while he’s working on their glutes or lower back and their hand happens to be level with his crotch. “They think they’re so original, but they’re all so much the same,” Joe says, his voice rising. “They all use the same tactics, the same body movements, the same gyrations and grinding my table, the [heavy] breathing.”

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The silver, hand-cranked contraption is usually kept behind glass at Good Vibrations' Antique Vibrator Museum in San Francisco -- but staff sexologist Carol Queen made a rare exception. "This is very special," she whispered, unlocking the case and carefully pulling out Dr. Johansen's Auto Vibrator, a relic from 1904. The "auto" part is not so much: It was a two-person job, with her having to crank the device's handle to get it thrumming. Pressing my finger tips to its inch-wide circular platform of pleasure, I was pleasantly surprised by its power.

As I was by the two other vintage vibrators that I got to try out -- the White Cross Electric Vibrator from 1917, which has a pronged aperture that makes it seem like the ancestor of Jimmyjane's Form 2, and the Beautysafe Vibrator from the 1940s, which is reminiscent in look, feel and sound to a car waxer.

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A small white cotton T-shirt. I'd bought it four days earlier at Fashion for Eva on Sunset Boulevard, slept in it for three nights in a row, and stored it in a Ziploc bag in my freezer during the day. Those were the instructions for attending the pheromone party at the Silent Movie Theatre in Hollywood -- part singles soirée, part science experiment, part hipster cornucopia.

Here's how it works: Participants imprint their odor on cotton T-shirts and then bring them to the party. Upon registering and shelling out $30, they place their shirts in plastic bags with numbered Post-its – pink for women, blue for men. The bags are placed on a table in the party area in the courtyard out back, where guests can leisurely (or voraciously, as was sometimes the case) sniff shirts in between trips to the bar for an absinthe cocktail. When you find a shirt you like, you stand in line to get your picture taken with the prized numbered shirt. The photographs are projected on a slideshow throughout the night at the bar and on the big screen inside the movie theater.

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Better than talking about these things, she penned an advice column in 2009 with her daughter, Aretha, then 19, for the ladyblog Jezebel. Their answers to questions about everything from porn to Paxil were unflinching but playful, and at times controversial. Now the pair have collected those columns into a new e-book, "Mother/Daughter Sex Advice." Together, they read as an irreverent version of "Our Bodies, Ourselves" for the Internet age. The mother-daughter team also reflect on what the experience of writing the column was like, and it turns out it wasn't as weird as many would think: For the most part, it was just a continuation of conversations they had been having throughout Aretha's life.

I spoke with them both by phone about sex-positive parenting, where they draw the "TMI" line with each other, and their tips for making "the sex talk" less awkward.

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As Florence Williams writes in "Breasts: A Natural and Unnatural History," they're the most tumor-prone organ in the human body. They "soak up pollution like a pair of soft sponges," and transmit environmental toxins to babies through breast milk. "Breasts are bellwethers for the changing health of people," she says. While we've "genetically modified our crops to be able to protect them from the ill effects of pesticides," Williams writes, "we haven't yet figured out how to modify our breasts." Aside from using saline and silicone, of course.

Speaking of, breast implants are more popular than ever: It's the most common form of plastic surgery, above even nose jobs and liposuction. Even cosmetic enhancement notwithstanding, breasts are bigger than ever, and girls are getting them at increasingly younger ages. These recent dramatic changes are the heft of Williams' book, although she also covers evolutionary basics, like why we have them, what they're made of and how they work. It's an interesting and engaging read peppered with factoids the kid from "Jerry Maguire" would no doubt appreciate (e.g., "the average breast weighs just over a pound"). Occasionally, it veers into technical territory that will put some readers to sleep, but overall it's a much-needed look at why breasts matter more than we realize, even in our boob-obsessed society.

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That's the world that would be created by a recent raft of abstinence education bills in Tennessee, Utah and Wisconsin. These initiatives are frightening -- but, viewed the right way, they shine light on extreme conservatives' deepest, darkest fears about sex. They're veritable inkblot tests for right-wing sexual pathos.

This week saw the passage of a Tennessee bill that has the usual aim of abstinence initiatives -- to "exclusively and emphatically" promote abstinence until marriage. But the bill ultimately goes above and beyond the usual. It allows parents to seek damages in court if a teacher “promotes gateway sexual activity" to their child. It's unclear what exactly "gateway sexual activity” is because the measure defines it vaguely as "sexual contact encouraging an individual to engage in a non-abstinent behavior." Critics of the bill have suggested that this could include everything from hand holding to french kissing. The bill also proscribes "implicitly" promoting or "condoning" gateway sexual activity (the latter could mean simply turning a blind eye to it, hence the example above).

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That's why Klein has updated the book in a new edition published this week to detail the ways that sexual rights have actually become "increasingly tenuous" under President Obama. Sure, abstinence-only programs have been greatly defunded, but the battle over sex education still rages on -- as do assaults on reproductive rights and all manner of sex-related business, entertainment, expression and experience.

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Look, I'm human, and as such, I've always found babies cute -- but, suddenly, right around my 28th birthday earlier this year, crossing paths with them caused me to grab the arm of my acquaintance as though I'd seen a celebrity. Reactions formerly reserved for baby animals began to apply to human infants. Noticing this shift, a friend who hadn't seen me for a while remarked, "Since when are you baby crazy?" The real question is: Since when did I become such a cliché?

It's not that I'm ready to reproduce -- good God, no -- but I do want to have a baby eventually, though the possibility seems many years off. Will I be ready -- emotionally, professionally, financially, romantically -- before my fertility nose-dives? This longing feels physically acute -- a twitching in my ovaries, an itching in my arms to cradle. In the past, I'd always written off the cliché of the woman in her late 20s or early 30s with a "ticking biological clock" as a sexist trope. Now I find myself reconsidering and wondering how real it is, and why it is.

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At least, that's the narrative playing out in the news today surrounding allegations of misconduct involving Secret Service agents and a prostitute -- possibly prostitutes, plural -- in Cartagena, Colombia, ahead of the president's visit there. The media has been whipped into a frenzy -- finally, another sex scandal! -- while officials have been quick to offer condemnation, some claiming that the incident could put national security at risk.

Now, before getting all hot and bothered, let's look at the actual evidence that's available: This happened before the president arrived in the country. The agents in question are not members of the presidential protective division. Officials have said that some of the agents under investigation "may merely have been attending a party and violating curfew," according to ABC News. Still, Republican congressmen Peter King (N.Y.) and Darrell Issa (Calif.) have claimed that the incident could leave the agents vulnerable to blackmail.

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But that hasn't stopped conservatives from claiming that the drop is a result of, you guessed it, abstinence education and, paradoxically, an increase in abortions.

Janice Crouse of Concerned Women for America expressed her outrage over the CDC analysis: "They don't even mention the fact there's been a tremendous increase in effectiveness and pervasiveness of abstinence education. They don't mention the fact that teen sexual activity, by their own admission, is down." As Think Progress noted this week, teen birth rates are actually highest in states with abstinence-only policies. Not only has it been widely documented that such programs are largely ineffective, it's also been shown that such programs may prevent contraception use.

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These are just a few of the stars, and awkward moments, of the new British documentary series that sets up disabled singles with a leading matchmaker service and then follows their search for love. The premise alone is ripe for debate -- and it doesn't help any that it's called "The Undateables."

The show, which premiered earlier this month (you can watch the trailer here), caused an explosion of controversy across the pond, with the Guardian declaring that Channel 4 has "hit a near impressive level of crass" and the Mirror saying that "the producers dress it up with a touchy-feely script safe in the knowledge the folks at home will laugh like drains." One writer described the popular public opinion that it is a "thinly veiled Victorian freak-show."

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There is part of me that wishes that I was not tied to the relationship I have so that I could continue exploring. It is not that my wife is not interested in joining me so much as it is that we are at different stages. I have a firm grasp on what I want coupled with a bit of fearlessness while she is still coming to know her wants and desires and is not entirely comfortable with where they sometimes lead. What I have been struggling with is: a) Will we ever be at the same place and b) What I am supposed to do in the meantime?

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The New York Times described it as "a bill that would require sites within the state to obtain documentation that escorts advertised there are at least 18" -- but it's a bit more complicated than that. (It's almost always more complicated than stated when it comes to sex trafficking.) The law makes it a Class C felony for anyone to advertise "commercial sexual abuse of a minor if he or she knowingly publishes, disseminates, or displays, or causes directly or indirectly, to be published, disseminated, or displayed, any advertisement for a commercial sex act, which is to take place in the state of Washington and that includes the depiction of a minor." That applies equally to pimps as it does to an online classified site like the controversial Backpage.com.

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Peter Leone, a professor of medicine at the University of North Carolina's Center for Infectious Diseases, is one of those experts. Earlier this month, he spoke at an international health conference and underscored the importance of exploring such possibilities. Real-world social networks -- in other words, a person’s circle of friends and sexual partners -- have already proved to be strong predictors of STI risk, he says. It follows that sites like Facebook, which convene all of those real-world connections in one virtual setting, have huge potential in this arena.

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I grabbed my friend's arm and whispered, "My favorite male porn star just walked in the door." She looked at me dumbfounded: "You have a favorite male porn star?" OK, so the competition isn't steep and, yes, I'm one of those mythic women who actually like porn (but for the record, we make up an estimated one-third of visits to adult sites). When I first clicked across this man -- with his smoldering eyes, strong nose and athletic body -- it allowed me to forget for a moment that porn is largely made by and for men. He's a rare male performer who is charismatic, young and handsome -- everything the infamous Ron Jeremy is not.

Seeing him in person, there was one thought on my mind: I need to sleep with him.

I'd been practicing for this moment since puberty. At age 12, I started investigating the world of sex online like a naughty Nancy Drew, desperately trying to solve the mystery of the male sexual psyche -- and, given that I now write about sex for a living, I guess I've never stopped. From early-'90s chat rooms to hardcore gonzo porn, I've plumbed the depths of men's desires, desperately trying to figure out exactly what men want in bed so that I could be exactly what men want in bed. Somewhere along the way, I started to explore what I desired -- beyond just being desired -- thanks in no small part to the men of porn.

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Soon, we were cutting class together to sit in Starbucks or take BART to San Francisco's touristy Pier 39, where we would watch the barking sea lions and traipse through Madame Tussauds Wax Museum. We had a knack for finding secluded park benches perfect for make-out sessions. It wasn't just teenage lust, though: We were best friends, the sort who shared secrets with complete trust and understanding. We wrote each other poems and talked on the phone for hours -- you know the deal. It was first love.

At 18, I was sure that we would get married, have kids and live happily ever after. A decade later, I'm actually still certain that we'll be together forever, only in an entirely different sense. He's my brother now -- not by law or blood, but choice and circumstance. I swear it's much less "Jerry Springer" than it sounds.

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It’s one of several photos on the website Occupy Valentine’s Day, which applies the ethos of the anti-Wall Street movement to the consumerism of cupid’s holiday -- and it’s just the latest attempt at creating an alternative celebration. “I think we need a new and different type of analysis around relationships,” says Samhita Mukhopadhyay, the site's creator and author of "Outdated: Why Dating Is Ruining Your Love Life." “This is not about being anti-love, but instead anti the unfair structures that force us to love a certain way.”

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Not that sex therapist Marty Klein is actually selling any of those things -- but his new book, "Sexual Intelligence: What We Really Want From Sex and How to Get It," offers something better: an alternative to chasing that erotic mirage. His message is antithetical to the sex advice found everywhere from self-help books to the supermarket checkout line: The secret to a fulfilling sex life is mental, not physical.

It isn't the sexiest directive, but it might actually get you somewhere. Klein has drawn on more than 30 years of counseling experience for this smart handbook on how to develop what he calls "Sexual Intelligence," which he describes as the thing that "gets you from hormone-driven sex to sex you choose," "from 'sex has to validate me' to 'I validate my sexuality.'" The challenge here is to let go of notions of what "successful" and "normal" sex looks and feels like. The reward is a sex life where "failure" is virtually impossible.

Salon spoke to Klein by phone from his office in Palo Alto, Calif., about why so many sexual problems can be blamed on idealizing sex and our bodies as they were in our youth.

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