Q: Can a man have unprotected sex with his wife?

Also, can he have unprotected anal sex with his wife without contracting any disease? Can a man get a disease like HIV if he gets menstrual blood on his penis by having during the woman’s period? And what’s the safe period to have unprotected sex with one’s wife in order to avoid pregnancy? Harjit, Kolkata

A friend of mine hooked up with a guy for the first time recently. He was nice and cute and all that, but he refused to put on a condom.

“It was so damn awkward. All the foreplay was done and I said, ‘Come on, why don’t you wear a condom?’ And he refused to,” my friend told me. That’s a tight situation. What did she do?

Outside a dog, a condom is man’s best friend. Inside a dog, it’s a choking hazard! But really, they help us prevent STDs and complications in relationships.

Still I hear that recently a gentleman in Mumbai almost divorced his wife over her love for the latex friend. Couldn’t this idiot come up with a better excuse? Most men I know swear by condoms. Or maybe not.

College men with more testosterone have safer sex. Surprised? 

Higher testosterone levels are usually linked to risky behaviour, not the other way around. But when it comes to sex, being risky could mean flaunting sexual prowess by being open about buying and using condoms, according to a recent US study.

All kinds of people all over the world make mistakes with condoms, a new international study found.

Researchers compared 50 studies on common condom blunders like putting it on inside out, unrolling it first, or not pinching the tip. Encouraging people to use condoms properly would help cut STIs and unplanned pregnancies, the researchers say.

Sex toys put the fun into safe sex, say the owners of Nepal's first sex shop 'Sweet Secret' in Kathmandu.

Sex toys are a tricky topic in South Asian countries. In India they’re officially banned – though there’s a lively black market trade, and vibrators are often sold as ‘massage’ products. But meanwhile across the border in Nepal, the authorities take a more positive attitude.

In India, people who have sex before marriage rarely use condoms, a recent study found.

Only seven percent of young Indian women who have premarital sex ever use a condom. For guys the figure’s higher, but still just one in four ever used protection with a girlfriend. It’s down to lack of knowledge, embarrassment and trouble getting hold of condoms, the authors say.

The HIV virus is nearly twice as likely to pass from one partner to the other in a couple if the woman uses hormonal birth control, a new study found.

It’s bad news for AIDS prevention, because long-lasting hormonal injections are popular in AIDS-torn Africa. All the more reason to promote condom use, say the authors.

Young people all over the world say they don’t get enough information about sex, according to a survey of 29 countries published on World Contraception Day.

Only around one in five young people surveyed in India felt they were well informed about birth control options. And despite all the safe sex campaigns, many young people still don’t bother with condoms.

Ninety percent of young people in the Netherlands say they think it’s important to use a condom when having sex with a new partner, a recent survey found.

But 40 percent say they find it hard to raise the topic when it comes to the crucial moment. And young women feel especially awkward about asking a partner to use a condom.