The vagina is self-cleaning – so why does the ‘feminine hygiene’ industry exist?

From talcum powder to jade eggs and douches, an industry has grown up to sell products – some of which are harmful – that play on women’s fears about being dirty or smelly

Sexual health clinics in England see record demand amid budget cuts

Councils say they could struggle to respond to unforeseen STI outbreaks if cuts aren’t reversed

Mindful sex: could it put an end to unhappiness in bed?

Mindfulness has been used to treat depression and encourage healthy eating. Now, with huge numbers of men and women reporting sexual dissatisfaction, it is being applied to our relationships

Syphilis diagnoses are booming – it’s clear sexual health needs an overhaul

Responsibility for services is shared by NHS and councils and there is little evidence of a united effort on prevention

Got a good sex life? Don’t let ‘predictive’ scientists suck the joy out of it

Their idea of scheduling sex has probably improved many relationships, but their latest research is troubling, says psychoanalyst and author Anouchka Grose

Dangerous liaisons: why syphilis and gonorrhoea have returned to haunt Britain

Clinic appointments fill up in minutes and babies are once again being born with syphilis – what is behind Britain’s sexual health crisis?

My life in sex: ‘Erectile dysfunction eats away at your confidence’

The vasectomy patient

Enough of the knob gags: penis size is a mental health issue

An academic researching penis size and self-esteem was bombarded with puerile messages. But for many men, it’s no joke, writes Rhiannon Lucy Cosslett

Dating apps didn’t cause the STI crisis – it was cavalier Tory cuts

Every £1 on prevention and treatment saves the NHS £11, yet sexual health centres are closing due to a lack of funding, says author and broadcaster Nichi Hodgson

The US has an HIV epidemic – and its victims are gay black men

If white men were being infected at the horrifying rate that African-Americans are, it would be front-page news, says Steven W Thrasher, who contributed to the book The Unfinished Queer Agenda After Marriage Equality

When I admitted I was HIV positive, my fellow academics excluded me

After disclosing my diagnosis, colleagues called me ‘reckless’ and cut off contact. I felt stigmatised and alone

How sex toys are being redesigned to help survivors of sexual assault

A healthy sex life can feel unattainable for survivors of sexual assault. But new products, from brushes to non-penetrative tools, are giving women a powerful way to reclaim their bodies

The decline of Club 18-30 isn’t all about sex, sex, sex you know

It’s easy to see why Thomas Cook is considering the raunchy holiday club’s future – the package holiday is dead, says the Guardian columnist Rhiannon Lucy Cosslett

Patients being turned away from sexual health clinics, RCN says

Short-staffed clinics are at ‘tipping point’, leading to fears over a drop in infection testing

The Tories’ latest campaign tactic? Blaming Labour for hepatitis

A Tory local election leaflet claimed that Labour was responsible for ‘delivering’ hepatitis in the area. Can this party get any more farcical?