Latest news with #Sex
Scottish Sun
4 days ago
- Entertainment
- Scottish Sun
I'm a good-looking woman but my husband's lack of interest in sex makes me want to stray
DEAR DEIDRE: DIRTY dancing, heavy snogging, outrageous flirting – I've done everything except actually cheat on my husband. He's the love of my life, but I'm struggling not to stray. When I go out with friends, they're always pointing out men staring at me. I can get drinks bought for us all evening. By the time I get home, I'm on a high, feeling gorgeous . . . then my husband just grunts at me. Last weekend, I ended up in a late bar and started dancing very raunchily with a younger man. It took all my control to turn him down for a nightcap. I'm a good-looking woman and take care of my appearance, but lately my husband doesn't even seem to notice. He'd rather watch football on TV than look at me. I'm 46, he's 50. We've been married for 25 years and have a grown-up daughter. People often mistake me for her older sister because I've spent so much time maintaining my looks. I wear matching lingerie, our bedsheets are satin and I'm the same size as the day I met my hubby. Yet there's no action. But when we were first dating, he couldn't keep his hands off me and would often take me out for 'country drives' that ended up with us having fun in a lay-by. In confident moments, I assume he's stressed with work — he runs his own business — or tired. But he'll happily stay up late watching the telly. Dear Deidre: Understanding why your man's gone off sex I can walk past him naked and he won't take his eyes off the screen. In my less-confident moments, I wonder if he's fallen out of love with me. I've tried talking to him, but he just laughs it off. A fling might be the wake-up call he needs to appreciate me DEIDRE SAYS: An affair could easily call time on your marriage. The problem isn't your desirability – your husband married you because he found you attractive. The issue is something's changed for him and he hasn't told you what. Encourage him to open up. Have a chat outside the bedroom and tell him how much you miss feeling connected and intimate. Ask him to share anything that's worrying him. A common reason men avoid sex is they're concerned they can't 'perform'. Lifestyle issues such as stress, depression, alcohol and smoking can affect their ability to get an erection. If that's the case, urge him to go to his GP. There are medications that can help, and erectile dysfunction can be a symptom of serious health problems, so he'll need a check-up. Please also read my support pack, Reviving A Man's Sex Drive. Get in touch with Deidre Every problem gets a personal reply, usually within 24 hours weekdays. Send an email to deardeidre@ You can also send a private message on the DearDeidreOfficial Facebook page. MY DISTANT TWIN PLANS TO CASH IN DEAR DEIDRE: FOR more than a decade, my twin brother completely cut himself off from our mum, saying she was a controlling narcissist. Now she's died and he wants a share of the inheritance. I'm the sole executor and beneficiary of Mum's will. Her estate is valued at around £250k, which is obviously going to be a life-changing sum for me. Her inheritance would have been shared equally between my brother and I, but he fell out with Mum 12 years ago and hadn't seen her since. At the time, she warned him that she'd cut him off. He said that was fine by him and she did, and updated her will to leave everything to me. Dad died many years ago, so I've looked after Mum by myself. I lived with her and supported her for five tough years while she was suffering with the cancer that finally claimed her life. After she died, I sorted out the funeral, the paperwork and cleared her house alone. Now my brother is asking me for money. He says his son could use it for a deposit on a flat. I'm reluctant to say yes because neither of them bothered with Mum when she was ill, and they wouldn't be in touch if it wasn't for the cash. Should I follow Mum's wishes and keep the money? Or should I let my brother have a fair share? DEIDRE SAYS: Dealing with grief alone is hard enough without family fall outs. I'd like you to read my support pack, Bereavement, to help you process all the emotions we go through when someone dies. This is a very difficult position to be in. It sounds like your brother understood the risk of estranging himself, and he had 12 years to change his mind. If you decide not to give any inheritance to your brother, he could contest your decision in court. But if your Mum's will was professionally drafted and legally sound, it's unlikely his claim would be successful. It's important to note that if your brother did want to challenge the will, then under the Inheritance Act 1975, he has just six months to do it from the date probate is granted. You're allowed to give your brother a share of your inheritance. If you decide to uphold your Mum's wishes, you could give him something else instead, like jewellery, or personal belongings. SON'S SELF-ESTEEM AT LOWEST DEAR DEIDRE: MY son survived a terrible motorbike accident – but he lost his right leg and now his self-esteem is rock bottom. It was his first motorbike. He's only 21. He was riding home late one evening on a twisty country road when a deer ran out in front of him. He swerved to avoid it – and woke up in hospital two weeks later. His bike had hit a tree and his right leg had to be amputated. He is back at home now, but I hate seeing him so low and insecure. How can I help him get his life back? DEIDRE SAYS: Sadly, victims of traumatic injuries often lose their self-confidence. But the good news is, this is usually only temporary. With the right help and support, they naturally regain their self-esteem and build a new, positive future for themselves. Contact the charity Day One Trauma Support ( 0333 034 2107), which is committed to helping people rebuild their lives following catastrophic injury. It also offers support to family and friends. SEX-HELP CLINIC DEAR DEIDRE: FOR my boyfriend to climax he has to be in control, and it's starting to mess with my confidence. I've always had a high sex drive, so I was delighted when I met a man who is just as lusty as me. We had sex on our first date and basically haven't stopped since. We've been a couple for six months and I'm really happy – except I can't seem to get him to orgasm. If he's on top, he'll climax naturally. When I'm on top, or using my hands, he can't finish. He just gets quite frustrated and switches positions so he's the one in the driving seat, or uses his own hand instead. Then he'll orgasm. I noticed he uses his hand quite roughly. I thought at first I might be being too gentle but even when I tried using more pressure or a faster rhythm, I still couldn't get him there. What's really messing with my confidence is that I can't even bring him to orgasm with my mouth. I love oral sex and feel I've perfected my technique, but even that doesn't work on him. I'm starting to feel a bit inadequate. I've chatted to him about it all, and he says he's always been this way. Are we incompatible, or am I a bad lover? DEIDRE SAYS: A bad lover would never write to me asking for advice. You are actually a sensitive, attentive lover who is worried that her skills are not satisfying her partner. What might have happened is that he has masturbated a lot – possibly using pornography – and become used to the feeling of his own hand. Most men masturbate with a grip that is far stronger than their partner would use. Possibly, he has become so attuned to his own technique that he struggles to orgasm in any other way. An effective way to improve this situation would be to pause sex and masturbation. Put penetration on hold for two weeks, and let his excitement build up again naturally. Read my Sex Play Therapy support pack, as it contains exercises developed by sex therapists to help couples reconnect without sex.
NDTV
09-07-2025
- Entertainment
- NDTV
Rajkummar Rao And Patralekhaa Announce Their Pregnancy: "Elated"
New Delhi: Rajkummar Rao and Patralekhaa took to social media to announce their first pregnancy today. Sharing a graphic picture with a cradle in the middle, the text on the image read, "Baby on the way." The couple announced the happy news in a collaboration post and captioned it, "Elated." Rajkummar Rao and Patralekhaa dated for 11 long years before getting married in November 2021. They had first met during a music video shoot titled Yeh Aashiqui. Before that, Patralekhaa had seen him in Love, Sex, Aur Dhokha and found him creepy. However, while working on the music video, they bonded over films, and connected. Patralekhaa debuted in Bollywood opposite Rajkummar Rao in CityLights in 2014. View this post on Instagram A post shared by RajKummar Rao (@rajkummar_rao) Earlier, the actor reflected on his wedding with Patralekhaa, sharing that they skipped ceremonies and instead celebrated with a series of parties on repeat. Asked what part of wedding ceremonies he would still want to be on repeat, Rajkummar told IANS, "At my wedding, we didn't have ceremonies like sangeet or haldi. We just had parties-one during the day on the first day, then another at night. Then came the wedding, followed by another party that night. It was already on a loop!" "We had theme parties like a pool party and a white party like that," added Rajkummar, who married Patralekhaa in 2021 in Chandigarh after over a decade of dating On the work front, Rajkummar Rao is gearing up for the release of Maalik on July 11, 2025. Patralekhaa's last release was Phule earlier this year.
Spectator
08-07-2025
- Entertainment
- Spectator
Period talk needs to stop. Period
When the supermodel Brooks Nader's period started at Wimbledon, naturally she turned to social media. 'Tries to be chic. Starts period at Wimbledon,' Nader wrote, alongside a snap on TikTok showing blood stains on the back of her skirt. 'A canon event for all us girlies!', someone bleated in response. The American model was praised for being 'real' and 'NORMALISING' periods. May I be the first to say: Nader should have kept this to herself. This is just the latest example of a disturbing tendency among women to overshare about their menstrual cycles. Nader flaunting her uterine shedding in a white designer outfit is being hailed as a victory for feminism. Her fans would lead us to believe she is single handedly upholding the very notion of women's empowerment. She isn't. The grisly celebration of women bleeding only confirms the way menstruation has become a hot topic. Women are obsessed with talking about their periods, in what we are told is not an icky example of TMI (too much information), but a brave victory towards finally ending the (alleged) shame and stigma surrounding periods. BBC Breakfast presenter Naga Munchetty has spoken frankly about her experience of debilitating painful periods, giving talks at book festivals and popping up on the radio to speak about her menstrual cycle. Her BBC colleague Emma Barnett has written a whole book, Period: It's About Bloody Time, on women's bleeding. Davina McCall has made an industry out of women not having periods, cashing in on the menopause©. McCall has released two documentaries on the subject – Davina McCall: Sex, Myths and the Menopause and Davina McCall: Sex, Mind and The Menopause – and co-authored a book called Menopausing. Am I the only one longing for a time when professional women were not reduced to talking about their hormones? This onslaught of menstrual chat has become so bloody relentless. 'It's that time of the month again…to shout about periods!' the Wellbeing of Women website says, having celebrated Menstrual Hygiene Day on 28 May. No, it isn't. Bookshop shelves are streaked with the blood red covers of tomes imploring readers that it's Not Just a Period (although it is). Oscar-winning films explore the impact of our time of the month. Athletes, pop-stars and actresses clamour to share yucky details of what it's like to dare to appear in public while having their periods. Do these ladies not realise that women have been doing this for centuries without fuss? The excessive sharing of details about bodily fluids is bad enough, but what's worse is how totally disingenuous the whole conversation around the 'shattering the shame' of periods is. Sure, in some countries around the world women are still compelled to isolate themselves or hide during their periods. This is appalling. These women deserve our help. But that's hardly the case in the UK, where it's been years since Kiran Gandhi ran the London Marathon 'free-bleeding' with crimson stains streaming down the inner thighs of her red leggings. That was in 2015. We've seen it all before. Women have been making art out of their menstrual blood since the 1970s. A decade on, the enthusiasm for celebrating women's periods is becoming unbearable. Our foremothers fought hard for women not to be defined by their bodies; they pushed back against the limiting notion that women are too fragile, or emotional at certain times of the month, to function. They resisted the attempt by some men to reduce us to our child-birthing capacities. But by focusing obsessively on periods, women risk reinforcing that message. A recent survey of Gen Zers found that 78 per cent of them supported companies bringing in menstrual leave. Some countries, including Spain, have implemented such policies, although luckily Italy saw sense – perhaps realising that this idea risks reinforcing harmful sexist stereotypes, not least the idea that women might be emotionally unstable during their periods or incapable of normally functioning in a workplace. This, of course, is a notion that's been used forever to keep women out of public spaces. This whole discussion of periods is especially triggering for me as I grew up with hippies. I was thus forced to see in my first period with a family celebration. My teenage years were haunted by trips to Glastonbury (the hippie town not the festival) where we celebrated the sacred yoni (google it. Or on second thoughts, don't). You can't imagine what it does to a teenage girl's sense of her body to be inundated with images of trees carved into the shape of vaginas and sung chants celebrating her divine feminine flow. If anything, it was that creepy perving that made me ashamed of my period in the first place. It showed me first-hand how a culture that ostensibly celebrates 'earth mothers' is used by leftie men to keep women as breeding grounds, home makers and carers. Meanwhile, men get to do the fun stuff like getting stoned and whittling spoons. It's the year 2025, and I refuse to believe that anyone is really still ashamed of having periods – and I'm sick of hearing about them. While it's true that women wait too long for gynaecological care, it doesn't mean we have to ruin every dinner party with chats about periods. God knows I'm a prolific over-sharer, but even to me that feels a bit bloody much.
Miami Herald
01-07-2025
- Politics
- Miami Herald
Sex, corruption and tapes: Scandal shakes Spain's Socialist government
In 1989, filmmaker Steven Soderbergh shook up cinema with 'Sex, Lies, and Videotape' which explored the darker sides of sexuality, the lies embedded in human relationships and the objectification of women. I bring this up in light of the political crisis shaking Spain, where the Socialist government (PSOE) of Prime Minister Pedro Sánchez is on the edge of a cliff. This time, it's not just lies and sex — it's an alleged corruption scheme involving kickbacks received by top Sánchez advisors in exchange for political favors, mostly related to public works contracts. The scandal has reached deep into the PSOE leadership and continues to unfold. At the center of this scandal are three men: former Transport Minister José Luis Ábalos; former PSOE organization secretary Santos Cerdán; and Koldo García, their trusted aide who allegedly handled the dirty money — the commissions that were skimmed off the top and pocketed. These men were instrumental in Sánchez's rise to power and helped consolidate his leadership. But now, their proximity to power makes this all the more damning. And the scandal just deepened Monday: Santos Cerdán was ordered into provisional prison without bail by Spain's Supreme Court. He stands accused of belonging to a criminal organization, accepting bribes, and influence peddling. The judge cited the risk of destruction of evidence and coordinated criminal activity across public institutions. Cerdán now joins Koldo and Ábalos in a fall from grace so severe, even their closest allies have cut ties. The Spanish Civil Guard, in a nearly 500-page report, calls this an organized crime network, and it's inching dangerously close to the prime minister himself. Once welcome at Moncloa Palace, these men are now political poison. Former colleagues who once 'would've put their hand in the fire' for Ábalos and Cerdán now deny ever knowing them. As for Koldo García, he is seen as the operative who got his hands dirty—enriching his superiors, himself, and even his family. In true underworld fashion, García tried to shield himself from the fallout. Knowing the day might come when the whole house of cards collapsed, he secretly recorded conversations with his bosses . These tapes — now in the hands of authorities and partially leaked—are damning. They capture discussions of massive commissions tied to government contracts, awarded to companies willing to pay bribes. The men even quarrel like vultures over how to split the spoils. But it's not just corruption that makes these tapes horrifying. It's also the blatant misogyny. Koldo and Ábalos are caught speaking crudely about the women they allegedly hired for private parties — classifying them by sexual skill, discussing how to divide them and referencing their nationalities (Colombian, Romanian, etc.). The most 'favored' were reportedly assigned apartments. What emerges isn't just kickbacks — but the outlines of a prostitution ring allegedly funded with illicit money. This is especially shocking from a government that touts feminism as a core value. The Sánchez administration has positioned itself as a champion of gender equality, with many female leaders fronting that battle. Listening to these degrading tapes, it's impossible to believe these men reserved their vile language for private chats — it seems embedded in their mindset. And Sánchez, who styles himself a modern, progressive man, surely knew how coarse and sexist these men were. Yet they remained his confidants. Now we wait to see what Sánchez knew — and when. For the moment, he's clinging to victimhood, blaming the opposition for trying to 'bring down a legitimate government.' But legitimacy isn't destroyed from the outside. It's rotted from within. And as for the prime minister's inaction on the misogyny of his closest aides? Let's remember: it's not enough for Caesar's wife to be above suspicion — Caesar himself must be, too. Sadly, many in politics fail that test.
Scotsman
25-06-2025
- Entertainment
- Scotsman
Here's what it's like to be 'cancelled' for your beliefs amid trans debate
Sign up to our daily newsletter – Regular news stories and round-ups from around Scotland direct to your inbox Sign up Thank you for signing up! Did you know with a Digital Subscription to The Scotsman, you can get unlimited access to the website including our premium content, as well as benefiting from fewer ads, loyalty rewards and much more. Learn More Sorry, there seem to be some issues. Please try again later. Submitting... What does it mean to 'cancel' a writer? Is a 'culture' of cancellation really happening? Are the numerous tales of 'houndings' of mainly female authors solely a problem for the individuals targeted? Or, as many have long suspected, are these new trends harming the sustainability and integrity of the wider publishing world? Addressing such questions is the impetus behind a new report, Everyday Cancellation, commissioned by SEEN (Sex, Equality and Equity Network) in Publishing, in partnership with human rights organisation Sex Matters. Advertisement Hide Ad Advertisement Hide Ad Written by researcher Matilda Gosling, the report is a shocking compendium. It details how an entire literary ecology of writers, publishers, and literary institutions have operated to effectively shut out 'gender critical' (GC) writers, editors, and others in publishing. Campaigners celebrate the recent Supreme Court ruling about the definition of the word 'woman' (Picture: Henry Nicholls) | AFP via Getty Images Discrimination, harassment and self-censorship It is impossible to cover the extent of its findings in a short column. But I would urge anyone insisting that 'cancel culture doesn't exist' to digest it. Reading the tales of self-censorship, discriminatory policies, and internal harassment of some in various publishing houses, you'd be forgiven for forgetting that GC views are shared by the majority of the UK population. Those views can be summarised as: women, as a category definition, are adult human females, and this definition is vital for women's cultural and legal protections. Additionally, such writers question the speed at which the counter view, known as 'gender identity ideology', which views 'woman' as a social category rather than a fixed reality, has spread rapidly throughout society. Advertisement Hide Ad Advertisement Hide Ad READ MORE: Why UK Supreme Court gender ruling is a historic setback for trans rights The number of books pushing this controversial set of ideas in children's publishing is a key concern highlighted in the report. Reflected back in prize lists and which writers are invited to conduct school visits, publishing houses are aiding a contested belief system being taught to young people as fact. As literary agent Matthew Hamilton says, this is clear evidence of 'indoctrination'. I am one of the case studies in Gosling's report. Like Hamilton, and only five others, I waived my anonymity. This is not due to any particular bravery. 'For most of history, 'Anonymous' has been a woman,' Virginia Woolf said. I simply refuse the silence this cultural atmosphere has imposed on so many. Advertisement Hide Ad Advertisement Hide Ad Open hostility in much of literary world GC viewpoints are perfectly ordinary. They also concur with the law of the land. This was clarified with finality by the recent Supreme Court judgment in For Women Scotland versus Scottish ministers. But in much of the literary world, there is open hostility against anyone who expresses them. Even if my views were not certain on this issue, I would still find the treatment meted out to GC authors unacceptable and often frightening. I have told my own 'hounding' story many times; it is difficult to summarise its intensity. I first tripped the wire in 2019, setting in motion a profoundly isolating, years-long period of near-constant harassment, culminating in the loss of my entire former livelihood as a poet and literary events programmer. What is often not realised is that my hounding has never ceased, despite my having successfully written my way through it. Like many, I grow weary of highlighting every incident – but it is an extraordinary treatment to become used to. Advertisement Hide Ad Advertisement Hide Ad Ideology trumps sales The Everyday Cancellation report outlines the scaffolding that props up a literary-sector hounding: an individual is targeted for some 'misdemeanour'; institutions turn a blind eye or go along with it; those who hound are platformed and their targets ostracised; bystanders remain silent while self-censoring and fretting. Meanwhile, publishers push gender-identity titles that sell about 3,000 copies while giving six-figure advances to the trans-identified authors who write them. GC writers get comparatively small advances, and tiny publicity budgets, then sell – in some cases - hundreds of thousands of copies internationally, as was the case with Helen Joyce's Trans: Where Ideology Meets Reality. Ideological motivations are clearly trumping both the commercial interests of publishers, and the sensible programming decisions of festivals. This has long baffled those of us aware of these numbers. The report also contains a wake-up call for those who enjoy a bit of Scottish exceptionalism. Of the highlighted areas of particular concern? 'Children's publishing'. And 'Scotland'. Advertisement Hide Ad Advertisement Hide Ad Sorrow for a world that could have been Arts funding body Creative Scotland, the report concludes, 'appears not to have given proper consideration to its public-sector equality duty', by implementing priorities that are discriminatory towards GC writers. Its stance is part of the reason that Scottish arts organisations in particular seem to be 'shaped by transactivism', given they follow Creative Scotland's lead. As someone so affected by this stifling cultural climate, I've thanks as well as sorrow for this sobering report. Thanks, because it confirms so fully what isolated and hounded authors have long known. Sorrow, as I wish for a world where it never had to be written. In that world, the anonymous author who reports being reprimanded by his agent for having a sympathetic GC character in his submitted (and rejected) manuscript has just gained a great review for a portrayal of a realistic older female protagonist. Advertisement Hide Ad Advertisement Hide Ad The unnamed fiction writer who discovered her own publicist had tried to get her deplatformed from a book festival? She's sitting in an Author's Yurt somewhere, signing multiple copies. Publishers once again look for quality, sales, and not propaganda. Children are not being pushed wholly confusing views. A books world focused on quality, grappling difficult issues, and doing so with creativity. It's a world I once knew. I hope this report will chip away at the forces that destroyed it, and that 'Anonymous' can one day write freely, without such fear and punishment.
