It sounds disreputable, allowing financial distress to justify the receipt of sexual favors. And nowadays, it’s a guarantee to get your name into the newspapers. But, really, hasn’t the female used her allure as a means of getting what she wants, since time began? And if everyone is an adult, exercising free will, is it so bad? My story begins when I (I’m Eric) shared the second bedroom of my rented townhouse with a colle...

It sounds disreputable, allowing financial distress to justify the receipt of sexual favors. And nowadays, it’s a guarantee to get your name into the newspapers. But, really, hasn’t the female used her allure as a means of getting what she wants, since time began? And if everyone is an adult, exercising free will, is it so bad? My story begins when I (I’m Eric) shared the second bedroom of my rented townhouse with a colle...

It was an accident the first time Chris saw me naked. I had stayed over at my boyfriend Bobby’s apartment Friday night, as I often do. Bobby had to work early Saturday so he left me asleep in the bed. His roommate, Chris, was on a camping trip with friends, so I was alone in the apartment. I took a shower, wrapped my hair in a towel and walked down the hall toward the bedroom without any clothes on (I was alone, right?) T...

I’ve previously written about my college’s psychology department, and its creative, interactive approach to teaching. Nowhere was it more creative – or interactive-- than in the Human Sexuality program. What I haven’t mentioned before, until now, was the clinic. We first learned of it when our professor addressed the Human Sexuality 101 class. “You’ve all done very well in confronting your own sexuality, and becoming comf...

The whole roommate situation is what one does when you’re young and don’t know any better, or poor and don’t have much choice. One sacrifices privacy, quiet and independence when everything you do in your own place has to be measured by how it impacts on someone else. I mean, who wants to put up with such impositions on your life? Not me. Unless of course that roommate is a certain girl named Carissa. I still get weak whe...

I’ve always led a conventional life when it comes to women. I’ve had girlfriends, sure, but two at once? That’s the stuff of fantasy -- what happens to guys with magnetic personalities, or maybe a lot of money. So how did it happen that I was on vacation in a Caribbean resort in one bed with two beauties? The origin of my story began innocently enough. My girlfriend Melissa and I (I’m Brad) had signed up to travel to Mart...

The Dare The letter came in the mail, a small, neatly hand-addressed envelope, almost hidden amongst the junk mail and bills that makes up 95% of what I get.  There was no return address but the postmark was local.  I get so few real letters now, what with Facebook and emails, that it was the first piece I opened.  How many people can identify the instant their life turned in a new direction?  I can.  It was the moment I...

The letter came in the mail, a small, neatly hand-addressed envelope, almost hidden amongst the junk mail and bills that make up ninety-five percent of what I get.  There was no return address but the postmark was local.  I get so few real letters now, what with Facebook and emails, that it was the first piece I opened.  How many people can identify the instant their life took a new trajectory?  I can.  It was the moment...

I’d been eyeing Melanie at work for a few weeks.  She was a new employee at our software development firm, a computer programmer, as am I.  I’d chatted a little with her, but hadn’t yet worked up the courage to ask her out.  I’ve always been very shy.  It didn’t help that she is so beautiful.  Tall, blond hair, hazel eyes, with a firm, full athlete’s body.  And a lovely face and smile. It’s embarrassing to admit, but too...

The contest began innocently enough, as I guess all such things usually do.  Friendly competition between friends.  Who’s fastest, who is smarter, who is more skilled at some silly game.  But the consequences of a challenge cannot be foreseen.  And winning and losing is an illusion.  Sometimes one wins by losing.  Sometimes there are no losers.  Sarah and I (I’m Jonathan) had been married for seven years.  Our best friend...

We never intended for our college dorm to become clothing-optional.  In fact, probably none of us girls would have moved in if we knew in advance that would happen.  It just evolved.  Our small liberal arts college in the Midwest always prided itself on being, well, liberal.  The dorms were made co-ed long before it became common.  One dorm room on a floor would have women; the other, men.  Men's and women’s bathrooms wer...

The four of us, two guys, two gals, rented a house together.  While we knew each other from college, we hadn’t planned on becoming roommates.  But unless you’re one of those over-paid Washington lawyers – which none of us was -- the high cost of living in the DC area meant that no one could afford our own place.  So we found a four bedroom house, across the Potomac River.  We dated, but not each other.  There was an unwri...

I was on a business trip with a colleague, Catherine.  We are both accountants and were working on an audit of a client’s year-end financials.  During the day, we worked at the client’s offices.  At night, we worked at the hotel.  We had adjacent rooms which had an interior passageway that would allow the two rooms to be open to each other if two doors were opened.  But there was a doorknob only on one side of each door;...

I grew up in a conservative, religious household, the only girl with two younger brothers.  Girls in my parent’s circle were not given much free rein.  Church services weekly were important, and as I matured, I was warned about the male of the species.  When my parents did allow me to date, it was usually in a group setting, so there were plenty of impediments to prevent hormones from getting out of control.  I was pretty...

My college has a first-rate psychology department, where one can study learned texts on human behavior.  But book learning has its limits, so the department prides itself on conducting clinical exercises that expand on the material.  That academic rigor applies throughout the department, but nowhere more starkly than in its course on human sexuality.  All participants in that course have to agree ahead of time to particip...