Dads can’t get laid. It’s a trope. It’s a meme. It’s Christina Applegate and Will Arnett in Up All Night sneaking off to a hotel just to sleep. It’s Rob Huebel telling Josh Duhamel in Life As We Know It that even gay dads have to kiss their sex lives goodbye. It’s comedian Rob Delaney calling sexual rainchecks “abusive.” Though there are certain scientific phenomena that lend the cliche credence–perhaps the same low testosterone that makes new fathers less likely to cheat drives them to dress in contraceptively bad outfits–it’s mostly just a stereotype. Dads mount nothing but shelves. Everyone gets it and many fathers internalize it even though there’s…

New research finds a decline in sexual frequency. Americans are getting it on less often. That’s what my co-authors and I found after combing through data on over 25,000 American adults who were asked how often they had sex: The average adult now has sex 9 fewer times than the average adult claimed in the late 1990s. The declines were largest among married people living with their partners, who now have sex 16 fewer times a year. That decline has been in effect on for a while, since at least the late 1990s. Never-married people had sex more often in the 2000s than in the 1990s as the norms around premarital sex changed, but after 2008, that group’s…

Sex isn’t the most important part of a relationship. By Ashley Papa We’re constantly hearing about the latest and greatest ways improve things between the sheets, not just because sex is fun and healthy, but because it’s important for the strength and closeness of long-term romantic relationships. Right? Sure, that’s the common refrain, but the reality may tell a different story. Research finds that one in five married people in America (20 percent) have not had sex in the last month, 12 percent haven’t done the deed in the last three months and 6 percent haven’t had sex in more than a year. (“Sexless” is defined as having intercourse 10 times or…

DAY 1: That wedding night sex where it’s either completely amazing, or you don’t bother and just go to sleep. It’s your wedding night, which means either you’ve been looking forward to this for a really long time, or you’ve already had so much sex and you’re so exhausted from your wedding day, you just like, “LOL, we can do it in the morning.” It’s OK. Lots of married couples do that. But if this is your first time having sex, you’re running on pure adrenaline and curiosity. Also, congratulations on having sex! DAYS 2–10: Honeymoon sex. “Honeymoon” is code for “boning a lot somewhere cool and maybe we rode…

Three years ago I had sex every single day, for one whole year. To answer the most popular questions I’ve been asked since: No, it was not with 365 men. It was with one, my husband. Yes, even while I was on my period. I have no idea what my kids were doing while we were having sex. I assume not watching us. And finally, no, I didn’t do it to save my marriage. I did it to save myself, the effect it had on my marriage was merely a perk. Shortly after having my third child, I remember getting out of the shower, catching a glimpse of myself in…

Were you waiting around forever before tying the knot with your significant other? Or did it just seem that way? And if you’re wondering why a ring has to seal the deal, you probably haven’t heard this story. Now, a survey from Bridebook, a UK-based wedding website, suggests that these days UK couples typically date for 4.9 years before walking down the aisle. Interestingly, the divorce rate is at its lowest level for nearly 50 years, and some therapists believe the reason could be that couples now enter marriage knowing their partner and relationship better than ever before. “Four years of time is a nice chunk of time to flesh…