 We’re smack dab in the middle of summer and in an alternate reality, this would be peak summer fling season. Making eyes at strangers in crowded bars, flirting during daytime pool parties. But alas we are in the hellhole that is 2020 and COVID-19 cases are increasing across the country. We had a long-planned sex series in the works, but in adjusting to this new reality, some of those pieces needed to be reconfigured. While we do have some classic personal essays, including this highly amusing love letter to BDSM, we also asked writer Fancy Feast to talk to sex workers about doing their jobs in the midst of the pandemic and the writer Julia Pugachevsky chatted with a few sexperts about why your sex drive may be all over the place right now. We also have an amazing feature on glory holes, the trending sex act of the moment, thanks to New York City Department of Health’s refreshingly frank sex advice.
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Personal Essays  The Art Of Sitting On Men's Faces The ass is an opening into a world that doesn’t have to be this one.
Bike Shorts Are The Pandemic Blessing I Didn’t Expect I was skeptical when bike shorts first got trendy again. But after experimenting with them as a comfy quarantine look, I’m fully obsessed.
Quitting Sex Was The Best Thing I Ever Did For Myself My sex life as a fat woman was a trickle of accumulated humiliations and loneliness, so I decided to try enjoying my own company instead.
I Didn’t Think Monogamy Was For Me. Then My Boyfriend And I Tried BDSM. I used to worry that queer monogamy was the kiss of death. But my boyfriend’s new chastity cage showed us a world of sexual possibility — for just the two of us.
Coming Out As Nonbinary Changed My Sex Life For The Better I was terrified to come out to my partner. Turns out it was the best thing I ever did — for myself, for our relationship, and for our sex life.
Features  Ben Kothe / BuzzFeed News; Getty Images The Enduring Allure Of Glory Holes Historically associated with gay male culture, the glory hole is a remarkably durable form of sexual expression that both straights and gays use to this day.
5 Sex Workers Talk About Doing Their Jobs During COVID-19 Five people who had been doing in-person sex work before the pandemic talk about how they are managing — mentally and financially — in a new reality.
Conservative Teens On TikTok Are Going Through Some Growing Pains TikTok has given pro-Trump teens a platform to make memes — and get attention. But what happens when the news isn't funny anymore? Why Your Sex Drive Might Be All Over The Place Right Now A recent poll by BuzzFeed/Ipsos shows sex lives haven’t changed all that much during the pandemic, but some people have actually found their sexual groove right now.
Money Is Tight Right Now. Here’s How 9 People Are Getting By. From a mechanic whose six-figure salary has been halved to a hairstylist who has lost her home, readers across the US gave us a look at their financial reality.
Books  38 Great Books To Read This Summer, Recommended By Our Favorite Indie Booksellers From pulp sci-fi to a queer graphic memoir to a political deep-dive, these are some of our favorite booksellers' favorite reads..
18 Great Books That Are Out In Paperback This Month Colson Whitehead's Pulitzer Prize–winning The Nickel Boys, Jia Tolentino's best-selling essay collection, and more.
16 Romance Novels That Are Explicitly, Scorchingly, Don't-Read-In-Public Sexy Bossy billionaires, forced proximity, strangers-to-lovers, and *a lot* of sex — these are some of the most popular erotic romances on Goodreads.
23 Audiobooks That Are Even Better Than The Print Version From Malcolm Gladwell's hybrid audiobook/podcast to Jessica Simpson's memoir with original music — these are the books you really need to listen to.
17 New Thrillers You Need To Add To Your Summer Reading List Your summer vacation might be canceled, but your summer reading list is about to get a lot more thrilling.
24 Black Bookstagrammers Who Should Be On Your Radar Diversify your feed and your bookshelf.
Cultural Criticism  Ben Kothe / BuzzFeed News; ABC, Getty Images Reality TV's Racism Goes Deeper Than Casting Recent firings and casting choices on Bravo and The Bachelor, following complaints about racism, are a reminder of all the work still left to be done behind the scenes.
Cult Classic But I’m A Cheerleader Championed Femme Lesbianism I thought I needed to be better at being feminine — to be better at seeming straight. Jamie Babbit’s sleeper hit, turning 20 this year, helped me see that queer people don't need to be fixed.
The Most Popular Movie On Netflix Right Now Is Basically Porn The bizarrely misogynist Polish erotic film 365 Days has taken over the streaming service during the pandemic. Spoilers, obviously, as if anything matters anymore.
Padma Lakshmi’s New Show Tries To Decolonize American Food History By centering the cuisines of immigrants and Black people, Taste the Nation feels like a direct response to the overwhelming whiteness of American food media.
5 TV Shows You Should Watch Right Now From Michaela Coel's I May Destroy You to the new season of The Twilight Zone.
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