Howl Magazine | New York

How Being Sex-Positive Can Lead To More Pleasure & Better Sex

In my previous article Doing the Nasty, we talked about how sex-negative culture (SNC) has seeped into our psyche through practically everything we consume, from tv shows to our cereal, and how those messages make their way into our bed. We briefly discussed a few scientifically proven strategies that can help us unlearn these “no” messages and train ourselves to accept our bodies. What we want to examine in this post is how this SNC– which makes us believe our bodies are wr

Julia de la Torre

Demystifying: Gender

Source Nadine Schwickart© Discovering the conversation being had around gender is very rewarding. As a cisgender woman in the twenty-first century I haven’t had to think about gender too much because of how the world is constructed to be accessible to me on many levels. People often express their confusion as to why there are so many gender identities these days and that its just kind of silly, kind of like a trend. Of course these are people who have been privileged enough t

Julia de la Torre

Becoming A Trans Ally: A Few Tips

This past year has been big for the LGBTQ community. The marriage equality act was passed nationwide a day before the pride parade here in NYC, and what a day it was. Caitlyn Jenner was on the cover of Vanity Fair for the first time in June 2015. Laverne Cox has been a huge activist for trans rights— with a powerful portrayal of Sophia in Orange Is The New Black, a trans woman stripped of her dignity and rights in prison. Mainstream media is catching on, and we all know a la

Julia de la Torre

The Complete Guide To Getting An IUD

I recently made a trip to Planned Parenthood to get an IUD (also known as IUC- Intrauterine Device/Contraceptive), which despite some bad rep it's gotten throughout the years, remains the most effective form of birth control on the market (See chart). I'm a person who has suffered from bouts of depression and anxiety, on top of a genetic history of blood clotting, making hormonal birth control not an option for me. I tried the birth control pill for a few months, and the eff

Molly-Margaret Johnson

What’s wrong with my vagina? Episode 5: Performance Anxiety

Q: What’s wrong with my vagina? A: It feels pressured to perform We’ve all been there. A countdown to a big lay. An upcoming trip with new bae, a lover coming home from abroad, a certain someone is in town for one night only- you know the type i’m talking about. It’s a one way ticket to fuck city. While we hear a lot about performance anxiety for people with penises, I also believe people with vaginas experience something similar. For me, this anxiety can manifest hours befo

Molly-Margaret Johnson

What’s Wrong with my Vagina? Episode 12: I'm not getting my period.

What’s Wrong with my Vagina? It’s experiencing amenorrhea Our vaginas have a million ways of communicating with us, and amenorrhea is no exception. The most well known reason for amenorrhea (lack of menses) is pregnancy. If you stop having a period and there’s a chance you could be pregnant- grab a pregnancy test from your pharmacy or dollar store to find out so you can take next steps. Another reason for amenorrhea is menopause. At a certain point in our lives our bodies sto

Molly-Margaret Johnson

Whats Wrong With My Vagina? Episode 11: Wardrobe

Q: What’s wrong with my vagina? A: It wants you to change your wardrobe. Black leggings aren’t my unspoken uniform simply because I’m super basic– it’s also because that’s what my vagina wants me to wear. Growing up and even through my early twenties, my body never adjusted to restrictive clothing (read: all “women’s” clothing). Almost all pants rubbed me the wrong way. Literally. It lead to chaffing, pain and even nudged BV or yeast infections into existence. This was frustr

Molly-Margaret Johnson

What’s wrong with my Vagina? Episode 10: Scent

Q: What’s wrong with my vagina? A: It smells. Let me open with the line you know I’m about to open with. Vaginas do not smell like a basket of roses. Or birthday cake or vanilla or candy or whatever the fuck. Vaginas do (and should) smell... vagina-y. I, like probably many of you, struggled with accepting my natural scent. Mainstream media, product endorsement and fuck boys were not to thank for this journey. Now I’m incredibly thankful for my vaginal smells and I’ll tell yo

Molly-Margaret Johnson

What’s wrong with my vagina? Episode 9: Zits

Q: What’s wrong with my vagina? A: It has a zit Photo by Eliza Brenessell Zits. They’re pretty straightforward. When you see (or feel) one on your face- there’s no question of what it is. Even those blessed with the clearest is of skin has had and can identify one. But, when it comes to one on your V, it can be a little more mystifying. Pimples down there can occur on the outside (bikini line, or wherever hair grows) or on the inside (usually on the labia, or pretty near to t

Molly-Margaret Johnson

What's Wrong With My Vagina? Episode 8: Chlamydia

Q: What’s wrong with my vagina? A: Chlamydia but it’s NBD Chlamydia is the Fisher-Price of STDs. It’s super common, uneventful and incredibly easy to treat (Yes, it’s treatable!). I’ve had chlamydia a handful of times and I know countless other people with vaginas who have too. The reason it’s so common is because it usually goes symptomless regardless of genitalia. The way I have described it, that almost everyone agrees with, is that something just doesn’t quite feel right

Molly-Margaret Johnson

What’s wrong with my vagina? Episode 7: Bacterial Vaginosis

Q: What’s wrong with my vagina? A: BV BV is basically vaginal social anxiety. BV (bacterial vaginosis) usually occurs when we introduce our vagina to new people and things. Whether our vaginas like the new things or not, it gets a little freaked out and lets you know with a little BV. The most common things that cause BV are new partners, multiple partners, lube, vaginal deodorant or soap. The bacterial balance in our vaginas is very delicate and easily disturbed– this introd

Molly-Margaret Johnson

What’s Wrong With My Vagina? Episode 6: Spring Break

Q: What’s wrong with my vagina? A: You took it on SPRIIIIIIIIING BREAAAAAAAK!!! Listen, my vagina has me fucking whipped. What vagina wants, vagina gets. Mine is incredibly sensitive to almost everything, so my diet, wardrobe, workout regime and sex life all revolve around making it happy. And yet, there are times that I’m basically like “sorry homie” and raise what is basically vaginal hell. (read: spring break). The “spring break” is my vagina's nemesis. Check it out– it’s

Molly-Margaret Johnson

What's Wrong With My Vagina? Episode 4: Period Care Products!

Q: What’s wrong with my vagina? A: It wants you to switch up your period care products! Photo By @nylo_g If you’re like me, you’ve been using the same type of period care product since your very first period. Usually it’s pads or tampons, and old habits die hard. For me it was pads. Getting my period at the ripe age of nine, I wasn’t even aware that there was an opening to shove anything up. Pads were all well and good for over a decade for me. Until recently, after getting m

Molly-Margaret Johnson

What’s Wrong With My Vagina? It wants to be romanced (Valentines edition)

Q: What’s wrong with my vagina? A: It wants to be romanced (and so do I, tbh) Photo by @nylo_g It’s that feeling when you’re fumbling around in bed with your Tinder date and the foreign-ness of each other’s bodies leads to rushing as opposed to exploring. It’s the feeling when you have to walk out of your front door in ten minutes but could really, really use with a quickie with yourself. It’s the time when physical stimulation goes from zero to one hundred. Are these someti

Molly-Margaret Johnson

What’s Wrong With My Vagina? Episode 3: Bartholin Cysts

Q: What’s wrong with my vagina? A: Oh shit, that’s a bartholin cyst. The Bartholin Glands are two little glands on both sides of our vaginal opening– the most overlooked MVPs our vagina has. Their purpose? They make us wet! While mostly they’re open and making sure everything runs smoothly, there’s potential for those openings to get clogged or infected. And that is called a Bartholin cyst. Bartholin cysts are what happen when those glands get clogged up and those trapped flu

Molly-Margaret Johnson

What’s Wrong With My Vagina? Episode 1: A Yeast Infection

Q: What’s wrong with my vagina? A: You have a yeast infection. (And that really sucks I’m so sorry). Itchiness like you’ve never experienced itchiness. I always know I have a yeast infection when I find myself with my hands down my pants half the day trying to scratch that itch. Yeast infections symptoms are itchiness, thick and white discharge and potentially pain in the vaginal opening. Do they make your vagina smell like yeast? The jury is still out. I’ve had chronic yeas

Pau Dltm

Anal Play From A to Z

Are you ready to try anal play? (Or maybe you just want to be super prepared when the topic of anal comes up?) Either way, here’s a list of things you can’t forget if you’re thinking of getting/giving some booty love. Before we start: Anyone - independent of sex, gender or sexual orientation- can practice and enjoy anal play, because everybody has an anus*. So, to make it as inclusive as possible we’ll use the gender neutral terms TOP and BOTTOM. TOP: the one who is doing the

Julia de la Torre

We're Launching Our Shop Today!

Howl Mag New York is opening shop for the first time today! Our selection of merchandise is fun, body-positive, sex-positive, hand-crafted and basically a donation to our project so we can keep delivering consistent content through our magazine. Something extra cool about our shop? 10% of the proceeds of our Magical Penis Soap and Magical Pussy Soaps will go to reproductive rights organizations such as Planned Parenthood, Fondo María (in Mexico), Center for Reproductive Right

Pau Dltm

IDAHOT: Let's Talk About Biphobia

Photos by Poem Baker © Here at HOWL we are committed to fighting stereotypes, ignorance and discrimination, especially around the subject of sexuality and sexual orientation. Some of us are, in fact, members of the queer/LGBT community ourselves. Today is the International Day Against Homophobia, Transphobia & Biphobia, and we want to take this opportunity to send a shoutout with much love to our bisexual readers and focus in on the topic of biphobia. Why talk about Biphobia?

Pau Dltm

Your Sexual Brakes & Accelerators

Yes, sex and erotism can often be experienced as unsolvable mysteries. There are aspects of our sex life, anatomy, desire, pleasure, orgasm (or lack thereof), which seem like paradoxes we just can’t wrap our minds around. Sometimes experience will be the one to provide the answers, sometimes it’s the right partner, but other times it’s the right THEORY. Many people such as myself have found that the Dual Control Model of Sexual Response (DCM) which proposes that we all have a

Howl, New York

How Being Sex-Positive Can Lead To More Pleasure & Better Sex

Demystifying: Gender

Becoming A Trans Ally: A Few Tips

The Complete Guide To Getting An IUD

What’s wrong with my vagina? Episode 5: Performance Anxiety

What’s Wrong with my Vagina? Episode 12: I'm not getting my period.

Whats Wrong With My Vagina? Episode 11: Wardrobe

What’s wrong with my Vagina? Episode 10: Scent

What’s wrong with my vagina? Episode 9: Zits

What's Wrong With My Vagina? Episode 8: Chlamydia

What’s wrong with my vagina? Episode 7: Bacterial Vaginosis

What’s Wrong With My Vagina? Episode 6: Spring Break

What's Wrong With My Vagina? Episode 4: Period Care Products!

What’s Wrong With My Vagina? It wants to be romanced (Valentines edition)

What’s Wrong With My Vagina? Episode 3: Bartholin Cysts

What’s Wrong With My Vagina? Episode 1: A Yeast Infection

Anal Play From A to Z

We're Launching Our Shop Today!

IDAHOT: Let's Talk About Biphobia

Your Sexual Brakes & Accelerators

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