The Happy Trail

Polygamy: (n.) the state or practice of being married to more than one person at the same time Polyamory: (n.) the state or practice of having more than one open romantic relationship at a time Comparing the definitions of these two words, there seems to be little difference other than the word “marriage” and the words “open relationship”. Asking any person on the street, they would likely say that there was little to no difference between these two concepts. A likely response would be “Don’t they both mean being allowed...

The holiday season is a joyous time. With it comes a flurry of fun and, of course, food. Around this time people have been known to pack on a few pounds. A little extra weight can mean major stress for those owning a mirror. Body image is something many of us struggle with, as there is increasing pressure to look a certain way. Even those aware of the damaging standards that the media pushes face the same problem of insecurity; just because we know the standard is unobtainable does not...

In its debut, Viagra burst into the pharmaceutical market, curing sexual performance issues for men. Many women have been waiting for the same magic pill to alleviate their own sexual issues related to both desire and performance. To some degree, we can blame the sexist nature of the world for prioritizing male sexual deficiencies over women's , but the lack of sex drive-enhancing drugs for women is a complex issue. Today, there are twenty four variations of male sexual performance/pleasure enhancing drugs on the market. This number is staggering compared...

In spite of the overwhelming evidence indicating the prevalence of queerness and gender non-conformity throughout the histories of all cultures, places and even many species of animals, recent history has witnessed the rise of the phrase “the white man’s disease” in communities and countries of color to describe the phenomenon of non-heteronormativity. The phrase is meant to imply the innate Caucasian nature of queerness, denying its presence anywhere but the lives of white people. Similarly, in the mind of modern America, the thought of the average gay man or a...

People love sex for various reasons. What you may not know is that there are numerous benefits, besides pleasure, associated with slamming the ham. Euphemisms aside, sex is more than just blind erotic pleasure. In fact, a ridiculous amount of studies have been dedicated to the analysis of some of our most intimate moments. The focus of this article will be on the more substantiated reports and studies, because there is some pretty ludicrous stuff out there. For instance, one study suggested that women who walk more “fluidly” were more...

Produced in 1846, the first pornographic film was an extremely short, black-and-white clip of a remarkably solemn middle-aged man gingerly inserting his penis into the vagina of an equally solemn middle-aged woman. Fast forward 169 years and you arrive at the present day, where the history of the pornographic tradition has seared an image of porn as something grim, sometimes violent, questionably consensual and frequently both misogynistic and racist into our cultural memory. Depending on who you ask, the phrase “porn star” will likely bring to mind the image of...

Men dominate politics. Currently women make up only 18.5 percent of Congress. Similarly, women only hold 24.2 percent of state legislature positions, with 20 in the Senate. Clearly, it seems odd that women make up roughly half the population, but only one-fifth of our Senate. Oh, and we still have not had a woman be our Commander in Chief. In the past century, our nation has made some progress. Today, it is no longer revolutionary when a woman runs for office. It is wonderful that we now have openly gay...

The question of the extent of one’s sexuality is one that has long haunted the Puritan idealism of America, threatening to shake the foundation of America’s sexual expectations. Yet that foundation seemed more or less durable until a man named Alfred Kinsey (1894-1956) came along and shattered America’s conceptions of sexuality with his studies, and in particular, with something that is mentioned frequently but little understood – the Kinsey Scale. As one of the most influential pioneers of sex research in the twentieth century, Dr. Alfred Kinsey broke barriers when...