How Covid killed the one-night stand – and made us all kinkier

Restrictions starved us of intimacy – and the data suggests we found it not in one-off fumbles, but rather by getting experimental in bed

‘I used to judge people’: the Polish woman who became her city’s lone voice for abortion rights

Monika was too busy with her young family to join the early protests against Poland’s strict abortion laws. But when she became pregnant for the fourth time, she realised she had to act

Phil Harvey obituary

Social entrepreneur who used profits from sex shops to subsidise contraception in developing world and to champion civil liberties

Activists call for revolution in ‘dated and colonial’ aid funding

Aspen Institute’s new voices want donors to exercise humility and trust grantees to know what their communities need

‘Give yourself a hand’: Queensland Health encourages masturbation in cheeky social media post

Spokesperson says aim of message was to reduce stigma and normalise healthy conversations especially among young people

Exposed: UK clinics still offering to ‘restore virginity’ before marriage

Undercover reporters for ITV documentary find procedure widely available in London

STI rates ‘at their highest numbers’ in US as Covid dominates health funding

Rebound of sexually-transmitted infections the result of sluggish testing, changing behaviors and persistent issues with education

Viral TikTok video of IUD removal at home prompts warning from health authorities

Sexual health experts urge women not to copy DIY procedure, saying ‘you wouldn’t take out your appendix’

Labia liberation! The movement to end vulva anxiety for good

Women have long been taught to be ashamed of their vulvas, with increasing numbers turning to cosmetic surgery in pursuit of genital ‘perfection’. But a new generation is fighting back

Delivering babies in a Nigerian camp: ‘I’ve had to use plastic bags as gloves’

After seeing a woman die in childbirth, Liyatu Ayuba stepped in and has now delivered 118 babies in a community cut off from public health services

Sex workers fighting for human rights among world’s most ‘at risk activists’

Exclusive: Front Line Defenders report says rights defenders working in sex industry face ‘targeted attacks’ around the world

Contraceptive ‘mini pills’ to be offered over the counter in UK

Progesterone pills can be dispensed by pharmacists without prescription from late July, for a charge

Celebrity buzz: how stars’ bedroom toys have got us all talking about sex

With famous users leading a rebrand, bedroom accessories lose their stigma in a £90bn health and wellness boom

Marc Thompson: how an HIV diagnosis at 17 helped him change Britain

In 30 years as an activist, he has fought to stop black gay men being forgotten, broken taboos about homosexuality and campaigned to make life-changing PrEP medication available on the NHS

‘Sexplosion’? Romance in the air as retailers look to a post-lockdown summer of love

As Covid restrictions ease, firms predict boom in sales of all things romance, from dating apps to condoms and sex toys