The Sex Lives Of Single People

Sex outside of relationships can take many forms. There's just-dating-around sex, I-just-got-out-of-a-relationship sex, we-met-right-before-last-call sex, and so on. As women, we're often brought up on a sexuality-shaming rhetoric: Sex is tacitly accepted, but usually within the context of a relationship. But, what about all the times we're not in relationships? What then? We've all heard "Why would a man buy the cow, when you're giving him the milk for free?" — and it's a tired, old adage.

While there still exists a gendered double standard surrounding sexuality in the U.S., women's sexual autonomy is rapidly growing. We asked single women and men alike to reflect on their sex lives: how often they're having sex, whom they're having sex with, and (of course), how they feel about it. Ahead, 10 stories of sex and singlehood — the good, the bad, and the awkward.