On Sunday, Reddit user u/baldski_is_jesus asked girls, "What is something many guys think is cool but is actually the opposite?" Here are the best responses:

(1. Breathing?)

I was 31 the last time I got pregnant. And after a lifetime of certainty that I did not want to be a mother, I felt an unexpected thing, cutting through the panic and the nausea: happiness.

Every morning since an intuitive nudge sent me to fetch a pregnancy test from the drugstore, my breasts oddly sore and my stomach in a low-level but constant state of turbulence, I would wake up with the thought: “I can do this. I want to do this.”

By the time I fell asleep at night, I was sure there was no possible way I could do this, this being raising a child on my own.

There has been a lot of hand-wringing about declining birth rates, the lowest in more than 30 years, across all race and class divides. We’re told millennial women “choosing” not to have children will be bad for the economy, it will be bad for the ageing baby boomer population, it will be bad for the real estate market. According to Forbes, it’s bad for older women desperate for grandchildren. But are people actually deciding to delay families, or are they finding themselves in unstable situations where the addition of a child seems unworkable? The reasons given when op-ed writers bother to ask millennials – too much debt, not enough financial security, a romantic market that is as rocky as the job market – point more to the latter.

If everyone makes it into the world safely, things that used to be taken for granted are now scarce resources one might fight and compete for. Vitally important systems like decent childcare, education and healthcare has disappeared, leaving parents to choose between inadequate choices or sacrificing untold amounts of money, time and energy to compete the limited amount of something better.

After years of decline, rates of congenital syphilis are once again on the rise in the US. According to an analysis published by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) on June 5, cases of congenital syphilis—or a syphilis infection passed from mother to baby during pregnancy—rose 261% from 2013-2018, from 362 cases to 1,306 cases. Of those 1,306 cases in 2018, the CDC reported 94 resulted in stillbirths or early infant deaths.

“This is the highest number of congenital syphilis cases reported in the US since 1995,” Anne Kimball, MD, MPH, who works in the CDC's Division of Sexually Transmitted Disease Prevention, tells Health. “The rise in congenital syphilis parallels an increase in syphilis among women overall, so the increase is largely because more women of reproductive age (15-44) are getting syphilis. In fact, the US rate of primary and secondary syphilis has increased almost every year for nearly 20 years.”

Dear How to Do It,

I’m a single father in my late 30s interested in getting back into the dating game following a two-year hiatus. As someone who spent most of his 20s involved in making pornographic movies, I’ve spent my 30s normalizing sex and relationships. As an extremely well-endowed man, I came to accept the idea for a long time that I would never serve more than one purpose to a woman and that a serious, committed relationship was just not in the cards for me—that I was essentially a novelty act for curious women. I don’t want to give a potential partner the impression that sex is unimportant to me, but I also don’t want to feel like I’m being used for that one specific reason either. After so many instances of dating a woman until she can find out for herself if bigger really is better, I’m starting to lose hope that anyone will ever see me as a legitimate partner and not just a fun story to gossip to their girlfriends about. How should I approach the subject without scaring off a potential partner?

—More Than a D

Bigger is better — to a point.

Sexual self-esteem influences almost every sexual decision you make, from who you engage with and when to whether you constrain yourself and how.

However, very little is known about sexual self-esteem and who has more or less of it. This is particularly important because sexual self-esteem and sexual satisfaction are closely related. Several studies suggest that lower sexual self-esteem negatively impacts sexual satisfaction. Another study, by Hale and Strassberg, reported the results of an experiment to test the effects of low sexual self-esteem and showed that male participants’ sexual arousal was significantly and negatively affected by poor sexual self-esteem.

What Is Sexual Self-Esteem?

Sexual self-esteem is feeling capable of being involved in sexual practices with successful procedures and results. Sexual self-esteem tends to differ with age and one’s partner’s sexual skills or interest, and it may vary for men and women and across cultures.

Studies also suggest that sexual self-esteem is negatively affected by a variety of life experiences, including childhood sexual abuse, sexual victimization, physical disabilities, and health issues. Another study found that sexual self-esteem is positively associated with general self-esteem.

The COVID-19 pandemic has caused lockdowns across the world, cutting off opportunities for socializing with others. While hard data is not readily available, this lockdown likely led to a massive decrease in promiscuity and casual sex. Now that lockdowns are easing, social venues are beginning to reopen and singles are once again starting to mingle. This will undoubtedly increase opportunities for casual sexual encounters.

However, the long period of home confinement will have given many people pause for thought about their lifestyles—including their sex lives. For some, this may have led to a rethinking of sexual priorities, while for others this extended period of involuntary celibacy can not end quickly enough.

"I just wanted to fuckk as many women as I can, but I could feel like its empty... during one week, I was with 4 or 5 different girls but the next day I felt this emptiness, and I would say each of them take a part of your soul, and make you more empty… because of that I stopped doing that… and I knew this was a mentally healthy thing to do."

I was totally addicted. It was soul-eating. I discovered I was addicted about 3 or 4 years in, and I realized that my life was taking a drastic turn. I was in school but I wasn’t interested in school anymore. I was heavily into running but I wasn’t interested in a single bit of running. I was just interested in clubs and girls… and I was tired of just focusing on girls and not focusing on my life… I decided to build myself first, that is what I am doing now…"

In a free society, it is a fundamental right to enjoy a sexual lifestyle of one’s own choosing (within the limits of the law). As lockdowns continue to abate, more and more people will be looking to rekindle their sex lives: including casual sex, one-night stands, and "friends with benefits." For some people, this will be harmless fun and an enjoyable recreational activity.

But some research—

DEAR ABBY: My fiance, “Jay,” has a 14-year-old daughter who has been home-schooling during the quarantine, and she refuses to put pants on. When we ask her to, she gets upset.

She isn’t built like the average teenager. Abby, she’s 5’10” and weighs 200 pounds, so it’s like seeing a grown woman in her underwear.

I think it’s inappropriate for a young woman her age to be unwilling to dress herself fully, and I don’t like seeing her like that every time I go to their house.

Jay doesn’t notice. He says it doesn’t bother him, and he doesn’t mind when I ask her to put shorts on.

I don’t feel it’s my place at this point to dictate what she wears, but I’m uncomfortable. I don’t know if I’m crossing a line or if it’s normal to feel this way. Help!

DIDN’T THINK I WAS A PRUDE

Dear How to Do It,

I live in a small apartment in New York City, and I’m currently “sheltering in place”/self-isolating with my family (husband, two small kids). I was sent home from my job that I love, with no idea if or when they will ever reopen. My parents fall in the coronavirus “at risk” category of 60+ with underlying conditions. I, myself, have a rare lung condition, and I don’t know if that puts me in a higher risk group, too. So, having said all that, I’m struggling with thoughts of existential anxiety 24/7 and have zero libido. My husband, while largely in the same boat, does not have this problem and his sex drive is as high as ever. He thinks I should try to take my mind off things, and the best way to do that is with an orgasm. I think the odds of me orgasming right now are … zero. I can’t turn my brain off. Even during foreplay, I find myself worrying about my parents dying, worrying about the upcoming bills we have with only one income, worrying about going grocery shopping and contracting COVID-19, even if we take precautions. I feel guilty for denying my high-sex-drive husband sex, but I just don’t know how to relax enough to enjoy myself while we’re staying inside for the next weeks during this pandemic.

—COVID Coitus

The new paper in JAMA Pediatrics draws on data from 29 studies that reported 11,918 black teens. Sexual health interventions included, among other things, school-based health classes and community organization programs.

“We focused on black adolescents because they face greater health disparities when it comes to the risk of unplanned pregnancy and contracting sexually-transmitted infections (STIs) compared to other adolescents,” says first author Reina Evans, a PhD student at North Carolina State University.

“This disparity stems, in large part, from the context in which black teens make decisions about their health. For example, stress from racism and discrimination, as well as unequal access to health care can impact the health of black teens. We wanted to see whether sexual health interventions can be a valuable tool in addressing this disparity.”

The findings show that young people were slightly more likely to abstain from sex if they took part in one of these programs—particularly if the intervention occurred at school. The researchers also found a modest increase in condom use for adolescents who took part in an intervention.

In 1990, as a newly minted social worker, I was invited to present at a San Francisco-based HIV/AIDS conference about what we now refer to as Compulsive Sexual Behavior Disorder and its relationship to the transmission of HIV. At that time, we had few solutions for people with HIV/AIDS. They mostly got sick and died. So this was a matter of life and death for the gay community.

Back then, I was a young, passionate, highly engaged therapist who sincerely wanted to combat HIV/AIDS. That’s why I was giving this talk – a talk that eventually became my first book, Cruise Control. But this was my first talk in front of a professional audience, and I was completely terrified. How would they receive me? Would they hear and accept my message about the need for sexual behavior change to curb the HIV/AIDS pandemic?

Well, it didn’t go well. The moment I began to express concern about having just walked in on some men having sex in one of the bathrooms in the hotel where this very conference was being held, the boos began: “You’re just like those jerks who closed the bathhouses,” and, “Go back to your effing conservative life, you homophobic jerk.” To my audience, individuals who were considerably more attuned to social bias and prejudice than medical science, my message was misperceived and unwelcome.

Melissa Pintor Carnagey’s puberty workshops still feature the same genital anatomy models and quizzes around body care, but these days she looks out on a virtual classroom of adolescents sitting at home alongside a parent. A few weeks ago, she took her in-person classes to Zoom, where familiar exercises have gotten a technological update: a software program allows students to text her their associations with puberty. A colorful on-screen collage of words like “pimples,” “breasts,” “hair,” “acne,” and “sex” show up on the screen, each growing in size relative to the number of students who submit it.

Since Carnagey’s puberty workshops went online, they continually sell out within 48 hours of open registration. “We’ve definitely seen an influx in families seeking out resources for sex ed,” said Carnagey, founder of the organization Sex Positive Families. “Parents are very hungry for access to these conversations, the information, and the resources.”

Shocking allegations in a new federal lawsuit accuse the Transportation Safety Authority (TSA) of refusing to allow a transgender 16-year-old girl to board her flight unless she showed an officer her genitals.

Jamii Erway and her mother Kimberly were prevented from boarding their flight out of Raleigh-Durham International Airport in North Carolina in May 2019. The mother and daughter sued earlier this week.

The lawsuit says that when Erway went through the scanner, it set off a false positive. When the teen explained that she is transgender and if they changed the gender marker on the machine everything would be fine, they refused. Instead, the agent called a supervisor.

“Notwithstanding, and for reasons still unknown to plaintiffs, [the supervisor] advised Jamii that she would need to accompany her to a private room, expose herself, and allow [the supervisor] to ‘feel up in there,’ i.e., touch her genitals,” the complaint alleges.

In a televised address, Duterte said it was vital everyone cooperates and follows home quarantine measures, as authorities try to slow the coronavirus contagion and spare the country's fragile health system from being overwhelmed.

The Philippines has recorded 96 coronavirus deaths and 2,311 confirmed cases, all but three in the past three weeks, with infections now being reported in the hundreds every day.

"It is getting worse. So once again I'm telling you the seriousness of the problem and that you must listen," Duterte said late on Wednesday.

"My orders to the police and military ... if there is trouble and there's an occasion that they fight back and your lives are in danger, shoot them dead."

"Is that understood? Dead. Instead of causing trouble, I will bury you."

A serial sexual predator who carried out a “horror” attack on a stranger had been set free from prison despite posing a known risk to women and girls, a court heard.

William Gordon, 34, was released just weeks before he stalked a series of women in south London late at night while “scouting” for a victim.

When he struck, Gordon pinned a woman against an alleyway wall as he sexually assaulted her and, after she broke free, chased her down to continue the attack.