Let’s face it, midlife has never traditionally been seen as a sexy time – for women, anyway. Concerns about ageing, caring for kids or older parents, and perimenopause don’t exactly get you in the moo

Author and Guardian columnist Rhiannon Lucy Cosslett picks out the reads that will help get your pulse racing

The sound of a belt unbuckling. A quiet moan. A close-up of a thigh, a stomach or a nipple. The mechanics of the best sex scenes have a lot in common, but what sets our favourites apart is what they teach us about ourselves

A WOMAN SEEMS TO HAVE THE PERFECT LIFE. She looks like Robin Wright or Meghann Fahy or, remarkably often, Nicole Kidman. Her career, if she has one, is creative or philanthropic. Her blue-blooded husb

Do we still care about steam on screen? Enter: the definitive Cosmo report

Rachel Ward, with actor husband Bryan Brown, in 1983 (below) and on her cattle farm recently (inset) Why do we think it’s acceptable to comment on someone’s looks? Seriously, if I had a quid for every