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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The controversy arose when, sometime in April, Heritage Keepers Abstinence Education was quietly added to an Office of Adolescent Health list of approved groups eligible for government funds -- “the holy grail of the Administration’s commitment to a science-based approach to teen pregnancy prevention and a directive for grantees of the President’s Teen Pregnancy Prevention Initiative,” wrote four prominent sexual health experts in RH Reality Check. They accused HHS of “succumb[ing] to the political pressure of social conservatives and allowed the ideology of the right to prevail over the health and well-being of the nation’s youth.”

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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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The Department of Health and Human Services didn't bother to issue a press release about the problematic addition, but a handful of tireless sexual health advocates -- Debra Hauser, Monica Rodriguez, Elizabeth Schroeder and Danene Sorace -- noticed the change on the department's website and today took to RH Reality Check to spread the word. Previously, the only approved abstinence programs on the list were after-school programs.

The program, Heritage Keepers Abstinence Education, "contains little or no information about puberty, anatomy, sexually transmitted diseases, or sexual behavior," they write, nor does it "include information about the health benefits of contraception or condoms." Worse still, it relies on inaccurate, fear-based classroom exercises, promotes heterosexual marriage as the only happy and healthy life path, harps on the potential harm of premarital relationships, promotes hoary gender roles and stereotypes and entirely ignores the existence of LGBT people.

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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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If that seems like an unfamiliar attitude toward sex and parenting, it might have something to do with the fact that Natalie's parents aren't American -- they're Dutch. They are one of dozens of Dutch families interviewed by Amy T. Schalet, assistant professor of sociology at the University of Massachusetts, in her new book, "Not Under My Roof." Schalet's book compares the sexual attitudes of American and Dutch parents and her findings are nothing short of staggering: Whereas most American parents panic about the idea of allowing their kids to have sex with other kids under their roof, for many Dutch parents, it's not only fine -- it's responsible parenting.

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The 39-year-old activist has written about looking for hookups on Craigslist's Casual Encounters, expounded on the challenges of "fucking while feminist" and passionately advocated for the "Slut Walk" movement. But regardless of whatever parental discomfort her raunchy CV may inspire, she's written just the sex-advice book that teenage girls – and plenty of their elders -- desperately need right now: "What You Really, Really Want: The Smart Girl's Shame-Free Guide to Sex and Safety."

Too many books in this genre promise certain drive-your-man-wild tricks, or they take a side in the politicized debate over hookup culture. Friedman instead has one thing on her agenda: Getting girls to explore and embrace their own authentic sexual identities without shame, fear or guilt. Instead of arguing for empowerment through one-night stands or, conversely, abstinence, she leaves it up to young women to decide what it is that's best for them. But she also offers guidance along the way, urging them to critically examine the social pressures and media messages that have shaped their understandings of sexiness, sexual fulfillment and love.

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The 51-year-old isn't afraid to admit it, either -- in fact, it was her opener when giving a TED Talk two years ago about her business venture, the website Make Love Not Porn. A video of the successful British entrepreneur, with her angular blond bob, tight leather pants and stilettos, giving the raunchy four-minute speech at the venerable conference quickly went viral. The popularity of the clip wasn't just a result of her cheeky frankness, but because she articulated something about our modern sexual experience that is either talked about in a moralizing manner or not at all -- that the proliferation of porn is profoundly changing the way that we have sex.

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So, I decided to call upon some experts in the fields of sex research and education to help devise a multiple-choice exam for grown-ups, one that incorporates the key knowledge they find most lacking in the real world -- but without being a total snooze. After all, you're busy adults, and some of you no doubt find it difficult enough to make time for actual sex. I hope this will be less a realization of your lingering college exam nightmares than a fun challenge and, by gosh, a learning experience.

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I think there's a lot to be said for this video, and I might not be the person to say it. It's so simple, yet so profoundly sad. Why is this dog walking itself, you may ask. Where did its master go? Where is the dog planning to go next? And is it just a sad statement on our society that some kids taping this poor ole' guy on the boardwalk think it's "awesome" that this dog is forlornly carrying its own leash in its mouth?

2. Anderson Cooper loves that Gerard Depardieu urination story:

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Early readers who discovered his Savage Love advice column (which he launched in 1991 for Seattle's the Stranger and which went into heavy syndication in the nation's free weeklies) were first jarred by how readers' questions began -- "Hey, Faggot," Savage's attempt to reclaim and defuse the word -- then hooked by his remarkably candid style. In that just barely pre-Internet world, when sex was a subject left to breathy advice columnists in the glossies and late-night radio, Savage was like a breath of fresh air. Or maybe a quick whiff of poppers.

His was a blazing, rude voice bursting out in a '90s culture still weirded out by reports of teens, gays and presidents actually having sex. Along the way, he dropped the "faggot" tag, created a wildly popular podcast, and coined irresistible expressions -- from "GGG" (his advice that partners should be "good, giving and game"), to "pegging" and "diamondbacking" (go ahead, look them up) -- that are as rudely hilarious as he is. He's got a show slated for MTV, and he's emerged as the leading voice not only on sex information but also sexual identity, and may well be the most effective gay rights spokesman around.

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1. Lady Gaga's dark secret: Biographer Ian Halperin is telling the world that Gaga is a sick drug addict who is obsessed with her weight.  OK, but is she really bisexual??

2. Bristol Palin questioned on "stolen virginity": Barbara Walters calls out the memoirist for her description of her first time having sex with Levi Johnston. Walters: "It must have been OK, because you kept on having sex with him, yeah?"

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The parody of the popular dating site PlentyofFish.com features countless profiles of hot, young, promiscuous things with syphilis. A sexy bachelorette explains why she isn't into waiting past the second date for some action: "im in the last stage of syphilis so im gonna be gettin nerve system problems and some brain disorder issue." A bachelor uses his complete hairlessness as a selling point: "Started getting patchy hair loss from my syphilis, so I figured I’d just shave it ALL off. That's right, all 240lbs of me hairless." Those are the tame examples; there are vivid descriptions of full-body rashes and pus-filled sores. Should you attempt to contact one of these fine young fictional singles, a shaming message will pop up -- for example, "I guess seizures, dementia, blindness and tumors turn you on."

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A little private time is common in consultations with teens; it gives them the opportunity to be honest about various behaviors, including sexual activity, that they wouldn't discuss in front of their parents. CDC statistics show a third of girls in the U.S. are sexually active by age 15, so these talks can make the difference between a teenage girl staying healthy by practicing safe sex, and becoming a star on the next season of "16 and Pregnant."

The MTV show has generated a lot of controversy because of the way the mothers and mothers-to-be on the program behaved after they'd decided to have a child. But, for a pediatrician like me, the show raises a different question: Did these young women have the chance to talk privately with their doctors before MTV started shooting their second trimester?

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This isn't the first time an STD lawsuit has made headlines (see: Michael Vick, David Hasselhoff and Robin Williams), nor is it a phenomenon reserved for big-name celebs. For example, in 2009, a California woman won a $7 million lawsuit against the (very rich) man who concealed his status and gave her herpes. These hard-to-win cases are extremely rare -- but anecdotally, at least, the dishonesty around this subject is hardly unusual. I decided to talk to people about how they had lied, and been lied to, about incurable but common STDs like herpes and HPV. I found that once I started asking around, it wasn't difficult to find stories of deception -- during one-night stands and long-term committed relationships alike.

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That's where The Daily Cramp comes in. I'll let the site explain itself:

Let's face it ... men simply don't understand women. And there's a reason for that: women have a hormonal cycle that we don't have. It's like they're taking uppers and downers every day, and we don't know which pill they swallowed.

The Daily Cramp is a once daily newsletter that helps men solve the greatest mystery of the last 10,000 years: women. It's 1 part science, 1 part Dear Abby, and all parts funny.

We were conceived after one wild night in Miami and delivered at Startup Weekend Miami on November 21, 2010.

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In Tennessee, for example, state Sen. Stacey Campfield has succeeded in getting the state Senate Education Committee to approve a bill prohibiting teachers from talking about homosexuality. The bill, which will make it "illegal to discuss any sexual behavior other than heterosexuality prior to the ninth grade," will now move to the floor of the Senate.

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So why did he allow it to happen? It was part of an optional lecture -- which came with multiple warnings about explicit content -- after his human sexuality class. It featured three guests involved in the BDSM scene who were planning to talk about their kinky lifestyle. It happened that the presenters arrived early during the professor's lecture on the g-spot and female ejaculation, both of which are scientifically controversial. When it came time for the guests' presentation, one of them, Jim Marcus, suggested that he and his fiancée, another speaker, provide a genuine example of female ejaculation right there on the spot. After brief hesitation, Bailey agreed.

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