Have Better Sex (and Earn Stuff, Too)

Ladies, do you need a reason to have better sex? If you’re feeling generous, you can do it for charity. If you’re feeling thrifty, you can do it for discounts. Or if you’re feeling like you need to spice things up a bit in the bedroom, you and your partner can do it all over the place.

Oh stop with your dirty minds. When I say “doing it,” I’m not talking about the deed itself (though yes, that’s part of it). I’m talking about a new incentive program launched last week by local startup Daily Feats and Bedsider.org, a website run by the The National Campaign to Prevent Teenage and Unplanned Pregnancy. I’m a big fan of incentive programs, and theirs is unique: It rewards you for actions like making your annual OB/GYN appointment or taking your birth control daily. Together, they hope to help reduce the 1.3 million unplanned pregnancies that occur in the U.S. every year.

Here’s how it works: Bedsider is a cheeky, smart website that promotes healthy sexuality among young women. Sign up, and you can get information on birth control methods and daily texts or emails reminding you to take your pill. Daily Feats is a clever Boston-based site that rewards people for taking positive actions. Sign up, then check in every time you eat your veggies or volunteer to earn points that can go toward discounts at local businesses, gift certificates at retailers like iTunes and Sephora, or charities like The American Heart Association or Save the Children.

Through the new partnership, you now can earn rewards for making the first move or getting it on with the lights on (though they suggest you wait until after you’re done to check in, or else you’ll ruin the mood). Participants can sign up through either site and use the Daily Feats mobile app as well. Through Bedsider, you just need to click on the incentives tab to see ways to earn rewards; through Daily Feats, just search for “Bedsider” to find the frisky feats. The point, of course, is to promote positive sexual health, not getting it on just to get a discount at Starbucks.

“To help people make positive change, you have to make it relevant,” says Daily Feats rep Maryellen McGowan. And while the program works on an honor system (they respect your privacy, so they don’t need verification that you did it with the lights on), it provides you with a bit of a nudge to make to better choices and it makes you feel better about yourself in the process. And having better sex? Well, that’s all part of the fun.