Meet This Week’s Amazing Sex and Psychology Guest Bloggers!

I am currently on vacation and traveling through Asia, with stops in Japan, Thailand, and the Philippines! It’s an exciting trip and I’m sure I’ll have a lot to share when I come back. If you want a sneak peek at what I’m up to, follow me on Instagram and check out my story. I’m not going to let my travels stop Sex and Psychology from continuing to bring you the latest and greatest in sex research, though!

I’ve invited two guest bloggers to fill in this week. Both of them are sex researchers who are doing incredible work, and I’ve asked them to share some of their recent findings with you.

First up is Dr. Shayna Skakoon-Sparling. Shayna is a research fellow at Ryerson University and her work focuses on the psychosocial factors that influence sexual health decision making. She has conducted extensive work on the impact of sexual arousal on decision-making, with her latest work examining factors such as relationship motivation, partner familiarity, and the drive to seek social connection. In her current position, much of Shayna’s work is related to improving the sexual health of gay, bisexual, and other men who have sex with men. Follow Shayna on Twitter and check out her website to learn more about her work.

Shayna’s guest post will examine some of her recent research looking at how being motivated to form a relationship with someone impacts willingness to use condoms with that person.

Next is Dr. Taylor Kohut. Taylor is a self-described “sex-positive erotophile” who spends much of his time immersed in pornography research. He studies what porn is, who uses it and why, and what it’s effects might be on how people think, feel, and behave. In his words, he is “a skeptic who is fascinated (if a little worried) by moral panics concerning various aspects of sexuality,” and you’ll see exactly what he means by this in his guest post. If you want to learn more about his ongoing research program, you can check out his public OSF projects, or follow him on Twitter.

Taylor’s guest post focuses on what he has learned through his program of research about how pornography exposure affects adolescents.

Fun fact: Shayna was the teaching assistant for my study abroad course on sex and culture in the Netherlands for two years in a row, while Taylor was a guest lecturer for us! You can learn about our adventures in Amsterdam here.

Stay tuned, and enjoy this week’s guest posts! Your regularly scheduled programming will resume next week.

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