Sleeping Around: Viagra - the hard facts?

By Catherine Townsend

Today's Daily Mail weighs in yet again on Viagra, this time saying that ever-younger men are taking the drug in an attempt to keep up with the so-called "Sex and the City generation", illustrated by Carrie Bradshaw wearing a man-eating flower.

Isn't this 'trend' story about ten years too late? Men have been taking Viagra recreationally since it was introduced a decade ago for a variety of reasons: they wanted to have multiple orgasms, stay hard for hours or perform long after their erections should have wilted due to alcohol or drug use.

Sleeping Around: More bedtime stories

By Catherine Townsend

Madonna's estranged brother is writing a scandalous tell-all book, according to the New York Post, about her wild and crazy days before she met Guy Ritchie and settled down to a life of country living, Kaballah meetings, and cultivating a bizarre British accent.

Her brother Christopher Ciccone, who had a falling-out with Madonna several years ago, has collaborated with British journo Wendy Leigh on an exposé of his sister for Simon Spotlight Entertainment, an imprint of Simon & Schuster - and it's going to be "brutal".

Sleeping Around: Beware of the 'bridezillas'

By Catherine Townsend

It's wedding season, and this piece about "bridezillas" on CNN had me laughing out loud. Maybe I've been very lucky to have amazing girlfriends, but I find myself amazed at these women are who force their friends to wear hideous lime-green bridesmaid's dresses and foot the bill for endless parties, gifts and trips.

Would any psychotic bride-to-be seriously expect her best friend to be eating beans on toast for months as a result of her own greed?

Sleeping Around: How was it for you?

By Catherine Townsend

For those of us who have a bit too much time on our hands... Online sex toy retailer LoveHoney is launching the UK Sex Toy Awards, and they need judges!

Instead of using a panel of so-called "sexperts", they are taking applications from the general public. Each judge will receive 10 sex toys worth more than £300. My nomination would definitely be the vibrating Rock Chick - perfect for a rainy afternoon.

Sleeping Around: In defence of British men

By Catherine Townsend

Although I hate to generalise about nationality, my passion for British men was reignited this week after I agreed to a blind date with an American. "This guy is a writer too, and he's really emotionally aware," my friend Victoria said.

I should have known that this would be the death knell for our date. Much as I love dissecting my feelings over cocktails, I want to be fantasising about leaping into bed on a first date, not lying on a therapist's couch.

Sleeping Around: The infamous four

By Catherine Townsend

It's the story of four friends bonding, wild sexual plot lines and rampant commercialism: I'm talking of course about this month's Vanity Fair, in which we learn that former US president Bill Clinton has been running with a pack of real-life skirt-chasing, sexually potent billionaires whose sexploits put the fictional Sex and the City girls to shame.

Members of the posse (bios provided by Gawker) include Ron Burkle, the wealthy supermarket magnate who gave Clinton a job after he left the White House and supposedly has 19-year-old girlfriends, and flies in a custom-converted Boeing 757 that his aides privately refer to as "Air Fuck One."

Sleeping Around: Sex toys go green

By Catherine Townsend

I'm all for doing my bit for the environment, and on that note, SmartPlanet has just published a round-up of best green sex toys (via Fleshbot).

Many old-style sex toys contain phthalates; harsh chemicals used to create a softer feel to hard plastics. The EU banned phthalates from children's toys in 2004 because of concerns about the toxicity and related health risks. If they aren't safe enough for the inside of a child's mouth, I'm certainly not putting them anywhere near my private parts.

Sleeping Around: Contorted yoga diversions

By Catherine Townsend

It's 3pm and I'm contorted into a pretzel-like position, feeling the sweat slide down my back as I move one step closer to nirvana in my yoga class. Ironically, I decamped to my local studio to find inner peace and escape rampant sexual thoughts. Because unfortunately, despite telling me that he was "crazy about me" and that we had a "connection", my Cannes crush, Liam, still has a girlfriend.

Sleeping Around: The Weakest Link

By Catherine Townsend

Last night, the BBC presented a special edition of The Weakest Link entitled "Wags and Glamour Girls". The climactic moment of car-crash TV for me occurred when host Anne Robinson quizzed Big Brother 8's Charley Uchea (left) about dystopian literature.

A snapshot from this meeting of minds is below. I had to watch through my fingers...

Sleeping Around: Shrinking feeling

By Catherine Townsend

Shrinks are once again seeking the definition of what constitutes "normal" sex, and the in-fighting is threatening to turn ugly. MSNBC reports that the American Psychiatric Association has announced the names of "working group" members who will guide the development of the new Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders (DSM).