paradise

  If you've heard this old lovers' tale, you might think it's B.S. — here's what experts (and science) have to say. Once upon a time, in a world before the global pandemic, I was dating a guy from Brazil while living in Barcelona. (That sentence alone makes me long for the days of travel and Brazilian men, but that's a whole piece unto itself.) This guy, Diego, was a professional skateboarder who looked quite a bit like Donald Glover, and despite our inability to communicate without Google Translate — he spoke Portuguese and neither of us had grasped Spanish well enough to converse properly — he was a lot of fun in bed. But there was one thing that sort of irked me: He always kept his sock on during sex. Always. When I asked him why, Google Translate informed me that what he was basically saying in Portuguese, was that "sex was better this way." I assumed this might have to do with the fact that it kept his toes warm and cozy in a room that I had set at 68