Are you allergic to sex?

Keira Knightley and Michael Fassbender in A Dangerous Method.

The problem might sound rare, but as many as one in ten women may suffer from it. The reactions may be mild (irritation, itcing) but can be so severe as to cause a life-threatening allergic reaction called anaphylactic shock. It has also been shown to spark asthma attacks.

Nevertheless, Dr Michael Carroll, a lecturer in reproductive science at Manchester Metropolitan University, says his unpublished research indicates that up to 12 percent of women may have the condition. He says it appears underdiagnosed, partly because those affected are too embarrassed to see a GP.

He says doctors often misdiagnose the symptoms because of their similarity with other conditions such as dermatitis and some sexually transmitted diseases. Women aged 20 to 30 are thought to be worst affected, displaying reactions immediately, or up to an hour, after sex. Those with the allergy react adversely to all men’s semen.

Australian scientists believe this sensitivity could be a factor in another common and often debilitating condition – endometriosis, which causes painful or heavy periods.

Endometriosis is caused by the endometrial cells lining the womb migrating to the ovaries, the lining of the pelvis behind the uterus and the top of the vagina. It is also linked to infertility, with up to half of infertile women having the condition, says Endometriosis UK, adding that the cause is unknown and has no cure.

It is not only women who can suffer. In rare cases, men can be allergic to their own semen. Symptoms include a flu-like illness, with pain, redness and discomfort affecting the head, eyes, nose, throat and muscles, extreme fatigue and difficulty concentrating.

One case, reported in March in The Journal Of Sexual Medicine, involved a Chinese man whose skin broke out in rashes when exposed to his semen. Doctors at the Peking Union Medical College Hospital could identify no cause.

Research four years ago, by Dutch investigators in the same journal, identified 45 men with the problem. The symptoms occurred only after ejaculation, indicating the men were protected so long as the fluid remained in their testes.

Doctors are still developing ways to help women. Korean doctors reported in 2011 that they had helped a 33-year-old woman with severe allergic reactions to semen, including breathing trouble, to become pregnant by giving her antihistamine tablets to take one hour before making love.

Doctors at St Mary’s Hospital and the Department of Immunology at Central Manchester University Hospital, meanwhile, reported in the journal Human Fertility in 2013 that women with a high risk of anaphylactic shock from the allergy can be made pregnant by removing their partner’s sperm from the fluid and then implanting it.

Dr Michael Carroll, the reproductive scientist who led that study, says he has since been contacted by women all over the world with the problem.

#WorldPenisDay: Micro-penises can still make an impact

Sex with a micro-penis can be just as stimulating as sex with a larger penis - if not more, sex therapists insist. 

While the average erect penis in America is 14,1cm for a fraction of men (0.6 percent of the global population) theirs reaches a maximum of 7.62cm. 

A number of men affected by the condition have shared their woes online, saying they were ashamed that their partners felt nothing. 

But sex therapists insist they cannot see why there is so much stigma since some of the most stimulating parts of sex do not involve penetration.

"It can help you focus on other kinds of stimulation, like clitoral stimulation," New York-based sex and relationship therapist Stephen Snyder, MD, told Daily Mail Online.

Dr Snyder, author of  Love Worth Making, has had counselling sessions men with micro-penises in the past. 

He points to the fact that most women do not achieve an orgasm through penetration alone, and as such, it should not be the primary issue for heterosexual men with a micropenis. 

"Some women like that feeling of being really filled up, but that's not for everyone," he explains. 

"For many women, other kinds of stimulation are far more important.

"Think about it this way: lesbians have been having perfectly fine sex with no penis at all forever."

Indeed, research published by Indiana University School of Public Health-Bloomington in September found 75 percent of women require clitoral stimulation to orgasm. 

The team found just 18 percent could climax from vaginal penetration alone.

According to Dr Snyder, men who know penetration is not their strong suit may be driven to become more adept at other kinds of stimulation, that may be far more bracing for their partner.  

Micro-penises are believed to be associated with abnormal genital development in the womb, as well as defects in testosterone production.

Some are treated in childhood with hormone injections, though it is difficult to prescribe such treatment since it is not always clear whether a boy has a micro-penis or has not yet developed.

However, the injections are only effective in childhood, since growth cannot be extended once they have reached adulthood.  

French folks are as sexy as ever

By Kate Kelland

London - France is well positioned as the world's sexiest state, according to a global survey of lovemaking published on Tuesday.

In a poll of more than 350 000 people, condom maker Durex found that lovers across the globe are having sex an average of 103 times per year, but the French are living up to their romantic reputation with an average of 137 times.

Greeks and Hungarians followed close behind, with averages of 133 and 131 times a year.

Asian countries lag behind in the love stakes with the Japanese managing just 46 times per year and those in Hong Kong and Singapore just 79 times.

"As it was an Internet-based survey, people could be very frank about their sex lives - possibly even more so than with their partners," said Rosie Lodge, a spokesperson for Durex.

"The results show the wide spectrum of sexual experience and attitudes across the globe and the high number of respondents shows that people are becoming increasingly willing to talk about sex and their particular likes and dislikes." Britons lead the pack when it comes to foreplay, devoting an average of 22,5 minutes compared to a global average of 19,7. The fastest lovers were the Thais with just 11,5 minutes.

But despite their efforts on foreplay, Britons appear to be among the least satisfied by their sexual experiences, with a third saying they had faked an orgasm in the past year.

The Macedonians were the most satisfied with only 13 percent saying they had faked an orgasm and the Japanese are the least satisfied at 40 percent.

The survey found that half of all respondents were more worried about HIV and Aids than any other sexually transmitted disease.

But a troubling 35 percent of people who took part in the survey admitted to having had unprotected sex without knowing their partner's sexual history.

Those most likely to throw caution to the wind were the Danes and the Swedes, both on 64 percent, followed by the Japanese, Norwegians and South Africans, all at 58 percent.

When it comes to spicing up sex lives, pornography emerged as the most popular choice, with more than a third of lovers worldwide admitting to having used porn.

Pleasure-enhancing condoms were second and bondage equipment such as blindfolds and handcuffs third.

Live sex show spices up college class

Chicago -

No, it wasn't a Monty Python sketch. A human sexuality class really did get a live sex show in an auditorium at Chicago's Northwestern University.

The topic of the day was bondage, swinging and other fetishes. Then, after the class was officially dismissed, students were told they could stick around for a demonstration of sex toys and the female orgasm.

About 100 students - and apparently one of their mothers who was sitting in on the class that day - were in the auditorium when an exhibitionist couple offered to perform.

Most stayed to watch as the woman undressed on stage and her male partner brought her to orgasm with a device that looked like a machine-powered saw with a phallic object instead of a blade.

“It is probably something I will remember for the rest of my life,” said student Justin Smith, 21.

“I can't say that about my Econ 202 class and the material that I learned there.”

Once the demonstration began, Smith said, “there was a lot of covering of the mouth like 'Oh my gosh.' It was pretty quiet.... I didn't really see people take affront, but they were engaged with the experience.”

Faith Kroll, 25, said she had planned to simply answer questions and show off her sex toys but was game to demonstrate in the flesh after the students were shown an “absurd, clinical” video.

“One of the students asked what my specific fetish was and mine is being in front of people, having the attention and being used,” she told the Chicago Sun-Times. “The students seemed really intrigued.”

Psychology professor John Michael Bailey said he initially hesitated, but decided to allow the public sex act.

“My hesitation concerned the likelihood that many people would find this inappropriate,” he wrote in a statement. “My decision to say 'yes' reflected my inability to come up with a legitimate reason why students should not be able to watch such a demonstration.”

The university defended the risque display.

“Northwestern University faculty members engage in teaching and research on a wide variety of topics, some of them controversial and at the leading edge of their respective disciplines,” spokesman Alan Cubbage said in a statement.

“The university supports the efforts of its faculty to further the advancement of knowledge.” - Sapa-AFP

We have more fun between the sheets

South Africans are among the top in the world when it comes to having orgasms, the Durex Sexual Wellbeing Global Survey has found.

In all, 66 percent of South Africans orgasmed almost every time they had sex, a figure equalled only by Spaniards, Mexicans and Italians and which beat Brazilians into second place at 65 percent.

"The survey shows that having a fulfilling sex life contributes to our overall sense of wellbeing and general health, and that orgasms can play an important part in achieving this," said Durex South Africa brand manager Byron Bekker in a statement.

People from Hong Kong and China were least likely to orgasm at 24 percent, followed by the Japanese at 27 percent.

The research was conducted among 26 000 people in 26 countries, and questioned aspects of people's sex lives, their health, general wellbeing, education, beliefs, sex and relationships, attitudes to sex and social circumstances.

According to the survey, 58 percent of all people who usually achieved orgasm were content with the emotional aspects of their sex life, compared with 29 percent of those who rarely climaxed.

In addition, eight out of 10 (77 percent) of those who frequently orgasmed felt close to their partners during sex, as opposed to 54 percent of those who had difficulty having orgasms.

In South Africa, nine out of ten (87 percent) people who usually orgasmed felt at ease with themselves sexually and 60 percent were psychologically healthy compared with 50 percent of the British.

Although 83 percent of South African men almost always climaxed during sex, only 49 percent of women did.

The survey found that massage could be effective in improving the number and intensity of orgasms, as could spending more protected time with partners, and that sex toys could enhance the quality of women's orgasms, as could more foreplay. - Sapa

Here's looking atchoo: sneezes linked to sex?

Women who suspect a man of having sex on the brain should listen out for a sneeze, as a pair of British doctors say that sneezing may be a sign of arousal.

In an unusual paper published on Friday in the prestigious Journal of the Royal Society of Medicine, Mahmood Bhutta and Harold Maxwell cite the case of an unnamed middle-aged patient who suffered uncontrollable fits of sneezing whenever he thought of sex.

Intrigued, the pair unearthed further evidence - although less robust - among anonymous Internet chat rooms, where 17 people of both sexes reported sneezing immediately upon thinking of sex and three others who said they sneezed after orgasm.

Bhutta, a specialist in ear, nose and throat medicine at the John Radcliffe Hospital in Oxford, said the phenomenon could be more widespread than thought and might even be inherited.

"It certainly seems odd, but I think this reflex demonstrates evolutionary relics in the wiring of a part of the nervous system called the autonomic nervous system," Bhutta said.

"This is the part beyond our control, and which controls things like our heart rate and the amount of light let in by our pupils.

Sometimes the signals in this system get crossed, and I think this may be why some people sneeze when they think about sex."

Bhutta said there were only one or two references to the sex-and-sneezing link in published medical literature.

The most recent was a letter to the Journal of the American Medical Association in 1972 involving a 69-year-old men who complained of severe sneezing following orgasm.

But embarrassment or social inhibition may have prevented the topic from being aired, suggests Bhutta, who says further research could shed light. -Sapa-AFP

Gay people are better at sex, according to science

Gay people might have faced generations of persecution, harassment and social torment, but finally, science has dealt them a decent hand: they're apparently better at sex.

We're being facetious, of course. But research published this year suggests that the above is true. 

A study looking at the differences in orgasm frequency among gay, bisexual and heterosexual men and women suggests that same-sex partners are better at bringing their lovers to ecstasy than their heterosexual counterparts. 

This is reliant on the premise that good sex is defined by the frequency of orgasms.

The study, published by a group of researchers, including human sexuality expert David Frederick, assistant professor of psychology at Chapman University, says that although heterosexual men were most likely to say they always orgasmed during sex (95 percent), gay men and bisexual men weren't too far behind (89 percent and 88 percent) respectively. 

On top of that, 86 percent of gay women said they always orgasmed, compared with just 66 percent of bisexual women and 65 percent of heterosexual women. 

By looking at the higher likelihood of orgasm for gay men and women - and again, on the premise that good sex is defined by the frequency of orgasms -  sex between two men or two women could be better than sex between a man and a woman. 

Of course, the other glaringly obvious conclusion from this study is that men in general, regardless of sexuality, orgasm more than women, as pointed out by Professor Frederick, who told CNN: " What makes women orgasm is the focus of pretty intense speculation. Every month, dozens of magazines and online articles highlight different ways to help women achieve orgasm more easily. It is the focus of entire books. For many people, orgasm is an important part of sexual relationships."

The study also found that women were more likely to orgasm if they received more oral sex, had longer duration of sex, were more satisfied in their relationship, asked for what they wanted in bed, praised their partner for something they did in bed, tried new positions, had anal stimulation, acted out fantasies and even expressed love during sex. 

Women were also more likely to orgasm if their last sexual encounter included deep kissing and foreplay, as well as vaginal intercourse. 

Professor Frederick also suggested that the reason between the orgasm gap could be sociocultural or even evolutionary. 

Women have higher body dissatisfaction than men and it interferes with their sex life more. This can impact sexual satisfaction and ability to orgasm if people are focusing more on these concerns than on the sexual experience. 

There is more stigma against women initiating sex and expressing what they want sexually. One thing we know is that in many couples, there is a desire discrepancy: One partner wants sex more often than the other. In heterosexual couples, that person is usually the man.

Either way, although this study is good news for gay and bisexual people - regardless of gender - if there's one thing it proves it's that even when it comes to orgasms, the patriarchy has struck again.