Your sex life

Explore the sexually and sensually responsive erogenous zones of the human body.

Hormones have a significant impact on our levels of sexual desire. Learn more about testosterone, estrogen, and the sexual response.

Are these common misconceptions making you feel less than certain about taking the pill? Learn why they don't have to.

After sterilization, the birth control pill is the second most common contraceptive method used by Canadian women. What is the birth control pill? There are 2 kinds of birth control pills available in Canada. The combination pill uses a mixture of estrogen and synthetic progesterone or progestin. The mini-pill contains only progestin.

Find out some of the most common reasons women may experience pain during sexual intercourse.

You would think I'd feel comfortable writing about sex. After all I'm a middle-aged family doctor, married for over 30 years with grownup kids. But I find this subject a little embarrassing. I can understand why, even though a third of them have sexual problems, my patients seldom ask for help solving them.

Which sweet treat will you choose for your true love on Valentine's Day?

What are the benefits of taking the pill? The most obvious benefits are that the pill is safe, very effective (when used properly), and a reversible method of birth control. In terms of safety, the pill causes very few deaths overall, and the deaths that do happen often occur in women known to be at higher risk for complications from using the pill.

What are the side effects of taking the pill? The most common complaints in pill users are nausea, "spotting" or breakthrough bleeding, weight gain, breast tenderness, mood alterations, and headaches. These are most severe when a woman first starts to take the pill, and often tend to disappear within 3 months.

Deep vein thrombosis (DVT) is the formation of a blood clot in the deep veins of the body. It usually occurs in the deep veins of the leg, where the blood flows more slowly. Blood clots are masses of sticky blood cells that form when a blood vessel is damaged. The body naturally creates blood clots as part of regular maintenance to seal small breaks in a blood vessel and to stop bleeding.

Why do we humans press our lips together in a kiss?

The reasons that women may not be enjoying sex are numerous and often complex. Sexual experiences reflect the mingling of the mind and the body. What goes on in the mind is affected not only by what is going on sexually and nonsexually between the partners, but by everything that has gone on in the woman's life.

—Rosemary Basson, MD Painful sex is a common situation Many couples are unable to have intercourse because the woman finds that it hurts too much. One woman, named Victoria, described her situation like this: "When we used to try to have my partner's penis enter, it wouldn't go in - it felt too tight - there was a painful, burning sensation.