Pill blamed for loss of libido
If you, like me, are one of the 100 million women who religiously take oral contraceptive every day, it’s worth bearing in mind that you could be in for a nasty side effect. A report published in the Journal of Sexual Medicine suggests that a chemical produced by the pill continues to suppress testosterone levels for up to a year after users stop taking it. Testosterone is central to levels of desire experienced by both men and women. Use of the pill has been associated with lack of desire, painful sex and inability to climax, but until now most researchers believed side-effects disappeared within a month of discontinuing use of contraception.

Purple prose and shower hose
British food critic and writer, Giles Coren, had the somewhat dubious honour of receiving the 13th Annual Bad Sex in Fiction award for his debut novel, Winkler. The passage that won Coren the award describes a character’s penis as “leaping around like a shower hose dropped in an empty bath.” (Presumably the shower has to be turned on, as it were, for the image to make even bad sense, but we’ll let that pass!) While not as hotly contested as the Man Booker, Coren beat off (sorry) what can be fairly described as stiff (sorry again) competition from Salman Rusdhie, Paul Theroux and John Updike to clinch the prize. And not a woman in sight – is that sexist or what?

Pleasure at a price, plus tax
A new tax on pornography in Italy could harm Italian Prime Minister, Silvio Berlusconi’s chances at re-election. The tax will apply to all hardcore porn, and was steered through parliament by the National Alliance party, despite objections from Berlusconi’s Forza Italia party. The tax has provoked angry reactions from not only the Italian porn industry, but from ordinary Italians as a reversal of the government’s promise to reduce taxes. According to political pundits, the 2006 election will be hard fought and the porn tax controversy could be the final straw for Berlusconi.

Books
Veteran sex researcher, Shere Hite has released her latest book, Oedipus Revisited: Sexual Behaviour and the Human Male Today. In this book, Hite argues that sexuality is changing and humanity is entering a new age of sexual creativity and playfulness. Hite first came to prominence in the 1970s as author of The Hite Report, a series of studies on human sexuality. Oedipus Revisited is available from Eason at www.buy4now.ie for €23.83

Humour
Among the many glamorous gifts yours truly received this Christmas was a book called The Odd Squad’s Sexy Sex Manual by cartoonist Allen and Becky Plenderleith. The Odd Squad promises to have none of the answers to the all the myriad questions we have about sex, but it does promise that the following chat up lines are ‘slap-free’ guaranteed. I have my doubts but here you go:
For him:
- I love housework
- I hate football
- I hate blowjobs
- I change my underwear daily
For her:
I own stripper tassels
I never want children
I love watching porn
My father owns a brewery
The Odd Squad’s Sexy Sex Manual can be ordered from Amazon.co.uk for £7.99. Other titles in the series, such as The REAL Kama Sutra and The Odd Squad Little Book of Sex are also available.

Sexton’s Miscellany
Fellatio Master Class

The most important thing to know about blowjobs is that they feel great. However, if you have a partner that’s not so keen on oral congress, you might persuade them otherwise with these interesting fellatio facts.

• The term fellatio comes from the Latin fellatus and means ‘to suck’. A woman adept at fellatio was called a fellatrice.
• Cleopatra wasn’t just famous for her great asps. The Greeks called her ‘the Gaper’ for her legendary blowjob skills.
• Fellatio is still illegal in a number of US states.
• The Chinese called fellatio ‘playing the jade flute.’
• In ancient Rome fellatio was used as a punishment for minor transgressions.
• In a New Guinea tribe, young men perform fellatio on the warriors as part of their initiation rites. It is believed that the warrior’s sperm will give the young man vitality.