Every product is independently selected by obsessive editors. While we all might be curious about the best plunger or probiotic tampon or cold-sore remedy , it can be difficult to discuss these more personal items. But with new options can come confusion, so we talked to sex therapists , sex educators, sex workers, sex writers, and even the hosts of a sex podcast.

The research

More From Thought Catalog
After several weeks of worrying about the broken condom, Resnic got tested for HIV. The test came back positive. The odds of contracting HIV from a single act of unprotected anal sex are extremely low—experts put the risk below 1 in Resnic became obsessed with answering that question: He read everything he could find about condoms at his local public library in Miami. He learned how latex condoms are made by dipping phallic molds into vats of liquid latex, which is peeled off after it dries , and how they are regulated the Food and Drug Administration considers condoms medical devices and dictates how they are manufactured and labeled.
Watch Next
Whatever you call it—love glove, salami sling, or Casanova's pet name, "English riding coat"—nothing quite beats today's modern latex condom for cost-effectively blocking conception and sexually transmitted infections. Used correctly and consistently, an FDA-approved jimmy hat or Johnny bag can be counted on to all but eliminate the risk of postcoital mayhem, from after-hookup paternity suits and HIV, to penile warts and a feeling your urine stream has turned into lit kerosene. That last scenario—my late Uncle Phil's description of the wartime clap he contracted after unprotected sex with an Italian prostitute—still gives my willy the willies. With so many problems so easily circumvented, why do most men see the rubber strait-jacket as passion's equivalent of cruciferous vegetables and dental floss? One obvious reason: Condoms are also highly effective at blocking pleasure, spontaneity, and emotional intimacy. Since then, advances in aeronautics have sent probes to Mars, but other than the introduction of latex, the condom is nearly identical to the way it was.
Though period sex can be a bit messy, it is safe. Orgasms may relieve menstrual cramps. Menstrual cramps are a result of your uterus contracting to release its lining.