The XX Factor

Welcome to the Desire Lab

Welcome to the “Desire Lab.” The blog is designed to be one part confession, one part research, and we need your help. It will be moderated by Daniel Bergner, who wrote this fabulous New York Times Magazine story, “What Do Women Want?” Learning from the experiences of individual women and the experiments of scientists, he is now turning the article into a book.

Daniel, the author of three award-winning books of journalism, will regularly ask a question inspired by the current explorations of sex researchers and by your contributions. We invite you to send him candid, thorough answers to desirelab@slate.com . It may feel strange to type out things you’ve never shared with anyone. But try it. This is an ambitious project. Consider the blog a place to safely explore passions and lusts, longings and ideas. Our hope is to create a community moderated by Daniel, who will continue to pose questions and move the conversation along.

The identities of everyone who writes in will be kept secret. We will publish many of the answers on the blog, and Daniel may e-mail you back to learn more for his book.