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Use heat and vibration to treat your aches with this $60 wearable
Use heat and vibration to treat your aches with this $60 wearable
TL;DR: As of July 15, get the Electrothermal Vibration Massage Shoulder Support Belt for just
2023-07-15 17:48
New Zealand Seeks Trade Diversity With China as Hipkins Meets Xi
New Zealand Seeks Trade Diversity With China as Hipkins Meets Xi
Having struggled to reduce its trade reliance on China, New Zealand is now trying to diversify within it.
2023-06-26 01:20
The best noise-cancelling headphones for flying
The best noise-cancelling headphones for flying
This content originally appeared on Mashable for a US audience and has been adapted for
2023-10-26 20:23
5 crucial tips for 'Zelda: Tears of the Kingdom' beginners
5 crucial tips for 'Zelda: Tears of the Kingdom' beginners
So, you've given in to the hype and picked up The Legend of Zelda: Tears
2023-05-27 01:18
The best gaming chairs for serious sessions
The best gaming chairs for serious sessions
Gaming isn’t inactive. While manoeuvring your mouse or controller, watching out for enemies, and focusing
2023-08-30 18:23
Russia halts wartime deal allowing Ukraine to ship grain. It's a blow to global food security
Russia halts wartime deal allowing Ukraine to ship grain. It's a blow to global food security
Russia has halted an unprecedented wartime deal that allows grain to flow from Ukraine to countries in Africa, the Middle East and Asia where hunger is a growing threat and high food prices have pushed people into poverty
2023-07-17 17:57
A group promoting healthy food choices asked a Georgia baseball team to change its name. Here's how the Macon Bacon responded
A group promoting healthy food choices asked a Georgia baseball team to change its name. Here's how the Macon Bacon responded
A group of plant-based activists urged the Macon Bacon baseball team in Georgia to change their name to promote healthier food choices.
2023-06-25 02:18
Megan Fox says she’s raising her sons so they are ‘not like men that I’ve been with’
Megan Fox says she’s raising her sons so they are ‘not like men that I’ve been with’
Megan Fox has opened up about some of the values that she wants to instil in her three sons. The 37-year-old actor spoke candidly about her parenting habits and hopes during an interview with Women’s Wear Daily (WWD), published on 29 November. During her 10 years of marriage with now ex-husband Brian Austin Green, Fox welcomed three sons: Noah, 11, Bodhi, nine, and Journey, seven. Speaking to WWD, she acknowledged that there will come a day when her children read her latest collection of poems, Pretty Boys Are Poisonous, in which she reflects on some of the difficult experiences she’s had throughout her previous relationships. However, according to Fox, most of what she’s written in her book are lessons that she’s tried to teach her sons. She then acknowledged that she doesn’t want her sons to be similar to the men she’s dated, before describing some of the qualities she hopes they have as they grow up. “I think because I have sons, it’s very important to me to raise boys who are not like these men that I’ve been with,” she said. “It’s very important for me to raise boys who are able to have a very deep emotional intimacy with their partner.” The Jennifer’s Body star also described the attitudes that she doesn’t want her children to have. “It’s very important to me that they are not liars, that they are able to be fully transparent and honest and respectful and experienced at some point in their life,” she added. Fox – who’s engaged to Machine Gun Kelly – then reiterated how important it is to her that her sons are respectful towards women when they develop their own relationships. She also emphasised that the way she raises her sons will impact how they treat women. “I don’t expect them when they’re 16 to have a sacred love, but I do expect them at some point to get to that place, because I am their first introduction into women and the way that I love them is going to influence the way they are allowed to love others when they go out into a relationship,” she explained. Fox concluded by detailing what she wants her children to gain from how she communicates with them, adding: “And so I hope that just through my transparency in the way that I engage with them, in the way that I am demonstrative and affectionate with them, that allows them to love in a really healthy way.” This isn’t the first time that Fox has opened up about her family. Earlier this year, she hit back at criticism about letting her son wear a dress when she fiercely rebuked a claim made by Republican politician Robby Starbuck, who alleged that she had “forced” her sons to “wear girls clothes” while playing in a park. “Hey @robbystarbuck I really don’t want to give you this attention because clearly you’re a clout chaser. But let me teach you something…” she wrote on Instagram in June. “Irregardless [sic] of how desperate you may have become at any given time to acquire wealth, power, success or fame – never use children as leverage or social currency. Especially under malevolent and erroneous pretense.” The mother-of-three continued: “Exploiting my child’s gender identity to gain attention in your political campaign has put you on the wrong side of the universe.” “I have been burned at the stake by insecure, narcissistic, impotent little men like you many times and yet I’m still here. You f***ed with the wrong witch.” Elsewhere in the WWD interview, Fox also revealed that she had an ectopic pregnancy, years before she experienced a miscarriage while pregnant with her fiancé Machine Gun Kelly’s baby. “[The miscarriage] was so much harder than I would’ve anticipated it being, and I’ve really analysed ‘Why was that? Why was that so difficult for me?’” Fox said. “Because when I was younger, I had an ectopic pregnancy, I’ve had other things that I’m not going to say because God forbid the world will be in an uproar.” “But I’ve been through other similar issues, but not with someone who I was so in love with,” she added, referring to Kelly, whose real name is Colson Baker. The Transformers star went on to describe the pain she felt due to the miscarriage, years after having an ectopic pregnancy. She also acknowledged how those feelings ultimately encouraged her poems. “And so that love element really made this miscarriage really tragic for me and left me with a lot of grief and a lot of suffering. So I put it into a lot of writing,” she said. Read More Megan Fox reveals she had an ectopic pregnancy years before experiencing miscarriage Keke Palmer opens up about ‘abusive relationships’ after Darius Jackson breakup Rosalynn Carter remembered for her mental health advocacy at poignant tribute service Keke Palmer opens up about ‘abusive relationships’ after Darius Jackson breakup Rosalynn Carter remembered for her mental health advocacy at poignant tribute service Paris Hiltons says ‘mama bear instincts’ came out after comments about son’s head
2023-11-30 02:48
Psst, This Super-Exclusive 25% Off Deal On Casper’s Bestselling Mattress Is Yours
Psst, This Super-Exclusive 25% Off Deal On Casper’s Bestselling Mattress Is Yours
Super Sale Alert: Get 25% off the Original Foam Mattress at Casper using our promo code R29-OGF-25, now through September 21.
2023-09-16 01:25
Swedish town wants inhabitants to 'say hi' to each other
Swedish town wants inhabitants to 'say hi' to each other
The Swedish town of Lulea, home to some 80,000 inhabitants, has launched a campaign encouraging residents, who are reputed to be introverts, to...
2023-11-09 01:21
XO, Kitty Has All The Charm Of To All The Boys — But It Digs Deeper
XO, Kitty Has All The Charm Of To All The Boys — But It Digs Deeper
Mild spoilers ahead. Netflix’s famous To All The Boys trilogy is a hard act to follow, but Anna Cathcart wants fans to give its spin-off show, XO, Kitty a solid chance. “You definitely can still feel the magic of To All The Boys in the spirit of Kitty that she had in the movies. But I think it’s exciting because we get to see a new world within the universe that we know,” Cathcart tells Refinery29 Australia.
2023-05-20 02:51
The curious status of the vasectomy in the UK in 2023: ‘Young, none and done’
The curious status of the vasectomy in the UK in 2023: ‘Young, none and done’
In the fallout from last year’s overturning of Roe v Wade, the legislation that secured abortion rights in the US, a great many young American men simultaneously did a quite radical thing. They took to social media to intimately document themselves getting a vasectomy, to prove it was a simple and painless act. One was vegan bodybuilder and influencer Brian Turner, who was certain from around the age of 22 that he’d never want children. He acted on his stance, aged 30, and made some genuinely great content in the process. “The reaction was positive,” he tells me. “A few people commented in disbelief, calling me crazy names or saying, ‘You’re no longer a man – you chopped your balls off.’ But they don’t bother me. I have a thick skin.” It started a global discussion on vasectomies, chiefly around how men can step up and take the burden of contraception away from their female partners forever. Adam, a 35-year-old father of two from Brighton, had the same desire around the same time: “I had a growing guilt about never really fully taking responsibility for contraception. Apart from condoms, all the solutions are for women, and they all seem to have pretty gnarly side effects. It seemed like the decent thing to do, to try to take on the responsibility.” But what of younger British men, who absolutely, definitely don’t want children, who know they want to be what I call “none and done”? For them, although the hurdles are curiously higher and their reasoning more diverse, the same desire to make an informed decision about their body exists. Britain has never had a big national conversation about the vasectomy, the way America – a place where some states even offered them for free in the wake of the Supreme Court’s historic verdict – clearly has in recent years. “The vasectomy was thought to be illegal here until around the Sixties, and only came on the NHS in the early Seventies,” explains Dr Georgia Grainger, a historian of vasectomy. Before this, the concept of men choosing to sterilise themselves was – in her words – “murky”, owing to many of the key doctors and campaigners evangelising the process also being supporters of eugenics. It was actually the beloved broadcaster Michael Parkinson who, in Grainger’s eyes, did the most to burst bubbles on the subject. “He was open about having a vasectomy back in 1972 when it was still very uncommon. He did an interview about it that was on the front page of the first issue of Cosmopolitan magazine. It definitely brought awareness and also dispelled some myths – that it would affect a man’s masculinity or even cause things like a higher-pitched voice”. While the procedure has undoubtedly become more common, I’m not sure that we as a society know a huge amount more about it than in the Seventies. The good news for men is that the procedure is more successful than ever. Doctors reported in March this year that, after surveying 94,000 patients, only 0.2 per cent of men get what’s known as “chronic scrotal pain”. It is generally seen as being more than 99 per cent effective as a form of birth control. The bad news is that there’s still a lot of misinformation around it – from daft macho ideas that it decreases your testosterone levels or sex drive (it doesn’t) to the more assimilated notion you hear a lot: that, similar to an intrauterine device (IUD) with women, it’s easy to undo (it isn’t sadly, not all reversals work, they get less successful over time plus they’re significantly more expensive too). In reality, a vasectomy is quick, carried out under local anaesthetic and takes around 15 minutes. Today, most are what’s known as “scalpel-free”, meaning the incision is so tiny (only 2-4mm) that it doesn’t require stitches. The two tubes that carry sperm from your testicles are severed (hence the colloquial term “the snip”) and closed. Post-surgery, men are encouraged to rest for a couple of days, to apply ice packs to their scrotum and – if possible – wear a jock strap that’s slightly too small to ease any swelling. And that’s it. “The most common question I get asked is, “Do you still cum?’”, says Gregory, who had a vasectomy in January. “It’s funny how so many people think you’ll never ejaculate again after a vasectomy. The truth is: the difference isn’t noticeable.” In fact, sperm is still produced, but it’s discharged internally and absorbed by the membrane around the epididymis (the coiled tube behind each testicle) in a totally natural process. The body still produces semen, which is ejaculated but it no longer contains sperm – although it’s said that a man needs to ejaculate on his own a good number of times before the presence of sperm totally vanishes. “I did hear rumours about ‘40 w***s’,” confirms Gregory, “but I just stuck with the doctor’s deadlines and the sperm test came back clear four months later.” Yet, while the procedure has some fringe areas of conjecture, one important aspect is dramatically less well known: men – especially young men – won’t automatically be granted a vasectomy if they choose to have one. There’s huge variation in the UK, based on regional NHS procedures and resources, plus, “a lot depends on the individual doctor, unfortunately” according to Grainger. Some areas don’t offer them, meaning having to go private and pay an often prohibitively expensive £600. But even simply having the autonomy to choose is also a grey area. “A lot of younger men, especially if they’re unmarried or don’t have children, really have to push to get a doctor to take them seriously,” says Grainger. “We often think of that kind of pushback as being something women get within their reproductive healthcare, but I’ve heard a lot of men share their experiences of having to go to multiple doctors to find one to agree to refer them for a vasectomy, just because they ‘might change their mind’.” This seems like quite a significant flashpoint, given that all the urologists we spoke to confirmed a definite movement of younger people wanting the snip. “Traditionally, the typical age of a man seeking a vasectomy would be 35-40 years old,” states Dr Peter Quinn who performs the procedure for Vasectomy NI. “However we are finding more and more younger men in their twenties are looking for a permanent method of contraception.” Luckily, I didn’t encounter a single man who had any regrets or who had “changed their mind”. What I found instead were more men making an informed choice around their own reproductive health, from a variety of backgrounds, viewpoints and life situations. Some for example, like Simon, are single and dating. He had his tubes snipped aged 28, while in a long-term relationship that subsequently ended. Does he have any regrets? “Absolutely not – I really want to make that clear.” Despite being from a big family with plenty of cousins whom he loves, he’s felt like he’s known he never wanted children himself “from as far back as my teens”. Now aged 30, he’s starting to date again. He doesn’t declare his snipped status on the dating app he uses, but does bring it up quickly, in case there’s any awkward confusion. “Not wanting to have kids is a pretty big part of who I am, I feel like I talk about it all the time anyway without needing to advertise it.” Ray, who is also young, single and snipped feels “it’s a flex” when it comes to being on the dating scene. Aside from being a talking point and a sign of emotional maturity, crucially it “finalises that aspect of ‘maybe he’ll change his mind’. which I have experienced in relationships in the past. I’ve been very clear I don’t want children previously, but nobody fully believes that when you tell them. They might put it to one side and say ‘let’s think about that later’.” Ray also has no regrets. Dr Nick Demediuk has performed more than 50,000 vasectomies in his career. The name of his clinic in Australia says it all: Dr Snip. His perspective over 34 years of performing a life-changing operation is thus pretty unique and his recommendation is unequivocal: “It’s the simplest and easiest form of permanent contraception that responsible men can use to contribute to their relationships and the planet.” For him, one of the key reasons behind the growth in younger men taking up vasectomies has been “issues related to climate change”, with a significant subgroup of “hard-line vegans”. There’s not enough resources for people alive on earth today – it feels almost a bit selfish for us to contribute to that scenario Nat and Charlie* This chimes with Nat and Charlie*, a male/female couple who moved from a big city to the English countryside this year, in part motivated by a desire to give their beloved trio of cats more space. Having been on the fringes of eco-activism since university, their decision – raised initially by Nat and enthusiastically supported by Charlie – to have the procedure when Nat was 29 was very much informed by the climate emergency. “We both feel like we’re loving people and capable of lots of love,” says Charlie “but we both felt inside of ourselves that we never wanted to have children, especially in the world as it is today.” Citing the extreme weather events all over Europe this summer as just one example, they fundamentally worry about the world being safe enough to bring kids into, as well as the feeling that “there are not enough resources for people alive on earth today – it feels almost a bit selfish for us to contribute to that scenario.” They stop short of endorsing the emerging philosophy of anti-natalism, a controversial belief first advanced by South African philosopher David Benatar that sees all human reproduction as immoral, in part due to the climate emergency but also because life is inevitably tinged with suffering and pain. But, in choosing not to have children out of concern for the environment, they find themselves at one end of an extreme and widening political spectrum. The same week I speak to them, Hungary’s leader Viktor Orban was holding the fourth of his biannual Demographic Summits, which – with Italy’s leader Georgia Meloni, religious leaders and right-wing thinkers in tow – aimed to solve what’s seen as a crisis in underpopulation in Europe. Encouraging more babies via defence of traditional family values feels a world away from the outlooks of Nat, Charlie and the many others taking up the vasectomy as a way of definitely not having kids on principle. As if we didn’t have enough 50-50 splits in society today, an increasing number of people believe we need fewer children while an equal number believe we need more. Britain in 2023 therefore seems conflicted between two worlds – the privatised freedom of America where a young, non-parent like Brian Turner is waved through (“I talked to my GP and she said, ‘All good’ and referred me straight away”) and a more prohibitive or simply untrusting mindset that looks at a young man and says, “Hmm, go away and think about it a while.” Perhaps if we want young men in society to play a more positive, active role, maybe they need to be trusted with their own bodily autonomy first? *Names have been changed Read More No music, no ball games, no fun: society is wiping out play ‘I was really struggling to get it up’: Why younger men are turning to Viagra I couldn’t climax, so I let ‘big testosterone’ take me for a ride Woman prepares hamper basket as her husband’s vasectomy gift Why taking a mental health day could be bad… for your mental health What the world’s happiest children tell us about where Britain is going wrong
2023-10-02 15:56