Noah Berlatsky

Billie Holiday, Ella Fitzgerald, Edith Piaf: they're all still practically household names.

I am on my knees in 15-degree weather scrubbing poop from the sidewalk, and I have an epiphany of sorts—I do not want this dog.

Lower your standards, live in moderate amounts of filth, and go to bed early. The cat will thank you.

Female masturbation is sexy in part because it flirts with lesbianism. For male masturbation, it's a different story.

Illicit passions aren't less enjoyable because they're illicit. Quite the contrary.

A new Facebook post calls into question cover depictions of hyper-sexualized men and women.

Action movies don't usually bother much with romance. The trailer for The Transporter: Refueled certainly doesn't. The hero is cool — sexy women, plural, throw themselves at him, or at least stand near him and things blow up; there are fights and revenge and high production values. Romance is, at best, a secondary concern.

Some love stories don't end happily. So why do so many romance novels insist they do?

To understand this debate, it's important to consider historical context.

Hating sex workers—and treating them as things—can get you money.