The Independent

Surveys have shown that men can look forward to longer sex lives than women

Four in 10 men over 75 say they are still having sex

...but only two in 10 women. Jeremy Laurance on the startling increase in libido among the 'Viagra generation'

Inside Love & Sex

Love: The old, old story

It's the fact of life they rarely teach you when you're growing up: the slow, inevitable cooling of desire that creeps up on us with age. Should we welcome it – or rage against the dying of sexual intoxication? Thomas Sutcliffe reflects on love and time

A line-up of Bunny girls at the Playboy Club in 1963

Bunny Years: Hugh Hefner on life with a controversial icon

It's now 50 years since the first Playboy Bunnies donned their tails, waggled their ears and performed the strange contortion known as the Bunny Dip to serve drinks to their suit-and-tie-wearing customers. When the original Playboy Club opened in Chicago in 1960, the ideal customer was "somebody with money and taste", as Hugh Hefner, the brand's now 84-year-old founder, tells me raspingly from his LA mansion. And he got such beaux sabreurs in droves to the Chicago, New York, London and myriad other Playboy establishments that were to follow. The Bunnies and what he calls their "clean, healthy, girl-next-door beauty" were, of course, the come-on – and, according to Hefner, the most crucial decision he made was to add collars and cuffs to their uniform: "Before that," he declares, "it looked like a bathing suit; they gave it elegance."

Ten reasons for getting dumped on holiday

If you fancy making it to Valentine's Day with your relationship still intact here’s a what-not-to-do to do while on holiday with your other half.

Quit hankering after the One Big Love

When it comes to relationships, life doesn't always work out as planned

Men tell more lies than women, survey claims

"Love all, trust a few" - but whatever you do, don't believe men.

David Letterman with Obama on his chat show

Celebrity sex scandals

This week, chat show star David Letterman shocked his audience when he revealed he had slept with female employees, and as a result had been blackmailed for 2 million dollars.

Grahame Bond rented out Halswell House to a Dutch company but failed to research their parties

It's a very nice house in the country (but not for an orgy)

Wealthy guests sipped champagne, but at midnight everything suddenly changed

Women 'need chlamydia test for every partner'

Women should be tested for chlamydia every time they have a new sexual partner because screening alone is unlikely to cut their chances of pelvic disease, researchers said today.

Unbuttoned: Sam Roddick in her London sex shop Coco de Mer

Let's talk about sex: Sam Roddick on why families must brave this tricky topic

Sam Roddick couldn't discuss sexuality with her mother, the Body Shop founder, Anita. But, she tells Lena Corner, families must brave this tricky topic

The G-Spot and other myths about sex

No sex please, we're British. As tight-lipped as the average person is about discussing sex, there are loads of rumours about the act - probably stemming from the playground - which seem to have worked their way into the mainstream.

Robin Tyler and Diane Olson became the first same-sex couple to be married in Los Angeles

State of the union: 18,000 Californian gay couples are legally married in a state which outlaws it

Last year, California passed a controversial law allowing same-sex marriage for the first time. But now, the state's Supreme Court has overturned that right, resulting in a uniquely bizarre situation whereby 18,000 gay couples are legally married in a state which outlaws it