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

China takes wrecking ball to erotic theme park

This investment turned out to be as risky as it was risque.

Queen of broken hearts

How many ways are there to deal with a painful break-up? There's bagging up or burning an errant partner's belongings. Perhaps a few evenings of weepy movies and a bottle or three of Pinot Noir. You can cry it out, exercise it out, diet it out. Or just go-out-it out, hurling yourself around the nightclubs in search of deliciously meaningless rebound sex.

A brief guide to erotic fiction

From the tender to the grotesque, throughout history, erotic literature has offered us a private space in which to celebrate and contemplate the intricate workings of human sexuality. Here, we explore some of the key works of this genre. Click the image on the right to launch.

Sex addict: Confessions of a toxic bachelor

In his youth, Caspar Walsh seduced countless women – then rejected them. He describes the heady thrill of conquest, and the self-loathing that led him to uncover the real reasons for his sex addiction

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.

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

Wealthy guests sipped champagne, but at midnight everything suddenly changed

What does young love mean today? Five couples kiss and tell...

Desire: What ignites our lust?

A new generation of sexologists is trying to discover what really ignites our lust. On the most passionate date in the calendar, John Walsh and Catherine Townsend uncover the truth about what turns us on

Meet the polyamorists – do more lovers equal more love?

It's the age-old story: boy meets girl, boy marries girl, boy meets another girl and they all live together happily ever after.

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

Why was the Swiss gigolo so successful?

How did this man pull some of Europe's smartest women with the world's cheesiest pick-up lines? Sophie Morris explains what the case really reveals

Bernie Ecclestone syndrome

In the search for a perfect partner, bigger is definitely better for the male of the species