Slow sex is the best

For a culture enamoured by fast cars, drive-thrus, instant messaging and work productivity, it's no surprise that "wham-bam-thank-you- ma'am" is part of our pop-lexicon.

Typically, men shoulder the burden of blame for fast-tracking foreplay, treating sex like a race to the finish line and being champions of the three- minute orgasm.

However, there's a scene in the new Sex and the City movie in which an exhausted, overworked Miranda blurts out to her partner Steve, during their first sex in six months, "can't we get this over with?"

To destination-oriented lovers, in this age of speed, erotic deceleration may seem counterintuitive, but more and more people today are starting to wonder "what's the big rush anyway?"

Slowly, but surely, every facet of life - work, travel, communication, food and even sex - is being touched by the emerging desire to do less and enjoy more.

Slow, it seems, is the new fast.

In his book In Praise of Slow, Carl Honore examines how the slow movement is challenging how we do everything from raise kids, build cities and treat disease to eat, sleep and make love.

"Even lads' magazines have started urging readers to seduce their partners with long, laid-back erotic encounters, complete with candles, music, wine and massage," he writes.

In major North American cities, couples can now enrol in tantric sex workshops that teach a mix of meditation, yoga, breathing and unhurried foreplay to magnify the intimacy and pleasures of lovemaking. Read on >>