to dread Suzy Godson's sex counselling column in The Times

[Mhoys]

Until recently I bought The Times faithfully on a Saturday, mainly for the Review section it must be said.

But as I'm perusing the paper on quiet Saturday morning I always come across Suzy Godson's Sex Advice column. Unfortunately. Usually it has some screaming headline about My Boyfriend Likes a certain sexual position, my girlfriend won't agree to group sex, I can't orgasm, blah blah (think Cosmopolitan around 1983).

A few weeks ago the headline was on a man wanting his girlfriend to wax her pubic hair. Suzy's charming byline was "Most studies have identified a positive relationship between hair removal and oral sex". What studies are these I am wondering? What kind of positive relationship? Is the byline encouraging women to do this? I read the article and yes, Suzy Godson is encouraging women to shave themselves. This is because, her reasoning goes, more oral sex means more orgasms. Simple eh.

In every article she is always encouraging sexual mores and boundaries to be pushed. But apart from finding these kind of counsellors really weird (their narrow hyperfocus on orgasms, sexual positions, and so forth) I really don't want to read about it over my morning cuppa. I really don't.

So, I've decided not to buy The Times anymore. It has become more and more downmarket and sensationalist. A few weeks ago was a woman writing about her daughter from a nice middle-class home becoming uncontrollable, running away from home and being "groomed". This could happen to you, was the headline. Actually, probably not, unless you have a daughter with severe ADHD (as is only very sketchily revealed right at the end of the article (blink and you'll miss it). But why ruin a terrifying proposition for 50% of parents, a shocking story, and get a great headline in the process.

Perhaps I should just read the Times Literary Supplement to get away from all this s*.

Or you could accept that if you buy a newspaper it is not compulsory to read everything within it.

Its not that ilovesooty, it just feels so inappropriate!

But obviously I am in a bad mood today and fed up with the media having no sense of decorum or boundaries.

I have nowhere to moan, so here it is!

I love her column, it makes me feel so normal and boring

It's not my favourite part of the Saturday edition of the Times. Sometimes I read it, sometimes I don't.

Is this serious? I hate the expression 'first world problems', but if it appeared in a dictionary they'd have a screenshot of your post next to it.

Decorum and respect are first world problems I would agree ...

It's probably all made up by staff members anyway so she can push her 'agenda of the week'.

Somebody fetch the china cups and the cucumber sandwiches...

probably ilkboo ...

you can take the piss tart, but I really think its creepy for national newspapers to push this stuff.

i meant tater honest!

Pubic hair removal is being pushed as the norm far too much.

It's a sign of the times, I think. A lot of people get their news digitally as it happens now, so newspapers need to offer something else to stay relevant. They add this type of thing - which generally seems popular - and presume anyone not interested will turn the page. It's the same for the sensationalist stories. That's what people want, so it's what the newspapers will deliver (in varying degrees!) to keep business.

I think the Times is generally one of the better papers for this type of thing. Not half as bad as the Mirror/Sun/Star.

""A few weeks ago was a woman writing about her daughter from a nice middle-class home becoming uncontrollable, running away from home and being "groomed". This could happen to you, was the headline. Actually, probably not, unless you have a daughter with severe ADHD""

So being MC or non disabled protects a child from being groomed?

Dh buys the times every Saturday.
He and I think it has gone to shit.
No idea what to get instead.
Used to be decent reading but now full of pseudoexperts peddling their wares be it crap nutritional advice, sex and relationship advice or flogging utterly unattainable lifestyles.

thanks hobsnobs, its not just me then. It really has gone to shit hasn't it.

I think Birdsgottafly, you missed the point of my paragraph, and maybe I didn't present what I was trying to say well. IT was sensationalist shit. She wasn't even flying the flag for ADHD-understanding IYKWIM. It was just out-and-out sensationalist-tabloid-manipulation - actually probably worse.

Many children are vulnerable to grooming, it doesn't matter whether they're adhd, shy, extrovert, odd, well behaved....groomers will zone in on any weakness and take advantage of it. The threat is the groomer. That is an issue that needs to be taken very seriously and parents need to be aware of it.

As for shaving, each to their own, I like a man to be shaved downstairs because I don't like hair in my mouth and the sex is better.... I also find being shaved improves oral massively. It's not to everyone's taste, each to their own.

Sex advice in newspapers is the worst thing in the world. The Guardian one makes me so ill I can't even enjoy the article above it as sentences jump out at me.

The letters are so clearly made up, and the advice given so toe curling liberal.

Ban it all, I say.

Come on - you must be able to see why I find this all a little bit precious. How much is The Times on a Saturday these days? £4? It's not vulnerable young girls buying it. You can't even read it online for free. A grown woman can decide whether to shave her own pubes or not.