Sexual Behaviour

TED: Carin Bondar presents The Birds And The Bees Are Just The Beginning.

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From TED:

Think you know a thing or two about sex? Think again. In this fascinating talk, biologist Carin Bondar lays out the surprising science behind how animals get it on. (This talk describes explicit and aggressive sexual content.)

Think you know a thing or two about sex? Think again. In this fascinating talk, biologist Carin Bondar lays out the surprising science behind how animals get it on. TEDTalks is a daily video podcast of the best talks and performances from the TED Conference, where the world's leading thinkers and doers give the talk of their lives in 18 minutes (or less).


Sex stimulates growth of neurons.

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This has been reported all over the web, in typical exaggerated fashion (e.g., from the Daily Mail, "How having more sex 'boosts your intelligence'")

From LiveScience:

Sex Boosts Brain Growth, Study Suggests by Charles Q. Choi

Sex apparently can help the brain grow, according to new findings in rats.

Sexually active rodents also seemed less anxious than virgins, Princeton scientists discovered.

Past findings had shown that stressful, unpleasant events could stiflebrain cell growth in adults. To see if pleasant albeit stressful experiences could have the opposite effect, researchers studied the effects of sex in rats.

Scientists played matchmaker by giving adult male rats access to sexually receptive females either once daily for two weeks or just once in two weeks. They also measured blood levels of stress hormones known as glucocorticoids, which researchers suspected might lie behind the detrimental effects that unpleasant experiences have on the brain.

When compared with male virgins, both groups of sexually active rats had cell proliferation, or an increase in the number of neurons, in the hippocampus, a part of the brain linked with memory whose cells are especially sensitive to unpleasant experiences. The rats that had more sex also had adult brain cells grow, as well as a rise in the number of connections between brain cells.

However, the rodents that only saw females once in two weeks had elevated levels of stress hormones, while the rats that had regular access showed no increase in the hormones. Sexually experienced rodents also proved less anxious than virgins, in that they were quicker to chomp down on food in unfamiliar environs.

These findings suggest that while stress hormones can be detrimental to the brain, these effects can be overridden if whatever experiences triggered them were pleasant.

The scientists detailed their findings online July 14 in the journal PLoS ONE.

Orgasm Wars.

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From the Huffington Post:

'Orgasm Wars' In Japan Features Gay Man Trying To Make Straight Man Climax (NSFW VIDEO) By Ron Dicker

Anyone remember the game show "Make Me Laugh," in which comedians tried to make contestants giggle within a time limit? Well, this is a "make me climax" variation: A gay man tries to bring a straight man to orgasm against his will.

The jokey segment was called "Orgasm Wars," and it aired on late-night Japanese TV.

Dramatically narrated, it featured straight Japanese porn star Ryou Sawai meeting his "opponent," Takuya, in a warehouse. They exchange boasts of who will win and then get down to business. Takuya performs oral sex on the porn star but all the graphic action takes place discreetly in a covered box. Takuya has 40 minutes to finish the job as university students cheer on the contestants. (Quite the field trip.)

Can Takuya succeed? Watch the 10-minute footage below to find out.

To see the clip, click here (NSFW!).

USA length of sex map.

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From Nerve:

This Map Shows Which States Have the Longest (and Shortest) Sex

By Kate Hakala

Whether you're clipping on a FitBit before a jog or turning on your Sleep Cycle app to log your eight hours, we're becoming increasingly obsessed with tracking our most human behaviors. It should be no shock to learn that now there's a way to quantify your sex life too. The Spreadsheets App, a mobile app that uses your phone's accelerometer and speakers to provide statistical feedback about your duration, thrusts, and decibel peak, is taking big data to the bedroom.

lengthofsex

"Spreadsheets was created to approach sex in a way that is both light-hearted and improvement oriented," says Danny Wax, Co-founder of the app. "We wanted to create an app that entices users to have some fun with their partner and share in that afterglow experience, while encouraging open dialog and feedback." Whereas some couples might have problems approaching topics like the frequency or quality of their sex lives, fun visual and logical feedback, including 30 earned "achievements" (like Seven in Heaven for a seven-minute rendezvous and Quick Spread for three-minute trysts), feels like a low-pressure way of checking in.

Of course, with all wearable and quantified tech comes a gamification component. Spreadsheets shared the stats of its 10,000 early adopters so we could investigate who has cross-country endurance and who's a one-minute wonder. Averaging the intercourse time of all users in the United States (the app doesn't cover foreplay), we've provided a ranking of duration in minutes for all 50 states and the District of Columbia as a little bonus. While finishing times of under three minutes may surprise you, remember that these are just the averages among two-pump chumps and Lotharios alike. Besides, previous research has shown that, despite the hubbub about hours-long tantric sessions, intercourse itself usually only lasts for about 3 to 13 minutes.

Now, sex isn't a race, but there's nothing like healthy American competition. Check out if your state can make it last. If this were the sexual Olympics, New Mexico's got the gold.

1. New Mexico - (7:01)

2. West Virginia - (5:38)

3. Idaho - (5:11)

4. South Carolina - (4:48)

5. Missouri - (4:22)

6. Michigan -(4:14)

7. Utah - (3:55)

8. Oregon - (3:51)

9. Nebraska - (3:47)

10. Alabama - (3:38)

11. Delaware - (3:33)

12. Hawaii - (3:28)

13. Wisconsin - (3:22)

14. North Dakota - (3:18)

15. Arizona - (3:17)

16. Maryland - (3:15)

17. Mississippi - (3:10)

18. Rhode Island - (3:09)

19. Connecticut - (3:07)

20. Texas - (3:06)

21. New Hampshire - (3:04)

22. Wyoming - (3:03)

23. New York - (3:01)

24. Pennsylvania - (2:58)

25. Maine - (2:58)

26. Washington - (2:51)

27. Iowa - (2:50)

28. Illinois - (2:49)

29. North Carolina - (2:47)

30. Tennessee - (2:46)

31. Kansas - (2:38)

32. California - (2:38)

33. Massachusetts - (2:31)

34. Florida - (2:29)

35. New Jersey - (2:28)

36. Indiana - (2:26)

37. Virginia - (2:23)

38. Oklahoma - (2:21)

39. Colorado - (2:21)

40. Minnesota - (2:19)

41. Ohio - (2:18)

42. Louisiana - (2:17)

43. Kentucky - (2:14)

44. Arkansas - (2:08)

45. District of Columbia - (2:08)

46. Nevada - (2:07)

47. Georgia - (2:07)

48. Montana - (2:03)

49. Vermont - (1:48)

50. South Dakota - (1:30)

51. Alaska - (1:21)

TED: Christopher Ryan presents Are We Designed To Be Sexual Omnivores?

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Here's a recent clip of Dr. Christopher Ryan discussing his theories on (non-)monogamy. Keep in mind that many in the academic community take issue with his data and his interpretation of that data, even though most agree with the overall message that non-monogamy may not be the boogeyman that it's made out to be. 

An idea permeates our modern view of relationships: that men and women have always paired off in sexually exclusive relationships. But before the dawn of agriculture, humans may actually have been quite promiscuous.

Mini-doc: The Economics of Sex.

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First, watch this mini-doc (and don't read the rest of the post):

Like the Austin Institute on Facebook: http://bit.ly/AtxInstitute Follow the Austin Institute on Twitter: http://bit.ly/AItweet The Research: http://www.austin-institute.org/ai-research-animates This Research Animate pulls together some of the key sexual economics arguments made by social scientists, including Roy Baumeister, Kathleen Vohs, Timothy Reichert, Mark Regnerus, and George Akerlof.

What is your first reaction? Give it a quick think and then scroll down.

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What if you then found out the makers of the doc, the Austin Institute for the Study of Family and Culture, is a far-right religious academic organization that is ostensibly advocating against families that aren't headed by a married heterosexual couple?

It isn't to say that some of the facts and ideas presented in this aren't correct (Roy Baumeister, one of the researchers they cite, is highly respected), but the conclusions drawn should lead to some red flags.

The Slate published a piece on this:

Are Men Getting Away With Too Much Sex? A New Austin Think Tank Says Yes. By Amanda Marcotte

The latest "viral" video—does it count if it has fewer than 100,000 views?—causing eyes to roll at computer screens coast to coast is the "Economics of Sex." This gem of right-wing concern-trolling explains to ladies how contraception has destroyed their lives: No longer can they use accidental pregnancies to trick men into marriage. The theory, which we've all heard a thousand times, is that contraception lowered the "price" women can charge for sex (getting hitched)—so women are all sad now. Clearly the height of a woman's happiness is being saddled for life with a man who barely puts up with her because he fears he can't get sex anywhere else. But it's in a cutesy format, so let's just pretend it's hip.

Brandon Watson of the Austin Chronicle did a little reporting on who's behind this video. It turns out to be the Austin Institute for the Study of Family and Culture("family and culture," of course, being the uncomfortable conservative euphemism for sex). This new organization is run, in part, by Mark Regnerus, most famous for publishing a thoroughly debunked study arguing that gay parents are bad for kids. Watson has some fun describing how he imagines the staff: "On the veranda of a buttercream Victorian, the fellows sip lemonade while casting disappointed glances at University of Texas co-eds." Indeed, digging into their website reveals a bunch of half-baked studies that serve no real purpose but to cause jealous prigs to shake their heads ruefully at all the sexy people out there having too much fun.

Watson zeroes in on an article decrying the widespread practice of men taking "me time" in front of computer screens. The post—titled "Masturbation Nation?"—is an attempt to discredit the argument that masturbation is good for you. "Frequent masturbation is modestly associated with lower self-reported happiness as well as greater anxiety in relationships and difficulties navigating interpersonal relationships successfully, especially among men," it says. Of course, if you read the actual report, you'll find, buried deep inside, an admission that the masturbation is probably not causing the loneliness. Common sense would suggest that it's the other way around. But! We should nonetheless see masturbation as a challenge to "human flourishing," claims the report. The possibility that frequent masturbation could be a helpful coping mechanism for lonely people until they get a little less lonely is pointedly ignored.

Regnerus himself has been in the news again recently, after the blogger Jeremy Hooper highlighted a speech that Regnerus gave at the Franciscan University of Steubenville, Ohio. In it, he warns women that supporting gay marriage is going to backfire by persuading men that all kinds of dirty sex things are OK:

If gay marriage is perceived as legitimate by heterosexual women, it will eventually embolden boyfriends everywhere and not a few husbands to press for what men have always historically wanted but were rarely allowed – sexual novelty, in the form of permission to stray without jeopardizing their primary relationship. Discussion of openness in sexual partners in straight marriages will become more common, just as the practice of heterosexual anal sex got a big boost from the normalization of gay men’s sexual behavior in both contemporary porn and the American imagination. It may be spun as empowering women, but it sure won’t … sure doesn’t feel that way.

The theme here is that women were once an empowered class that used all their magnificent social power, which was so much greater than that of men's, to make sure men didn't have very much sex. And now, because of gays and porn and contraception—and for all I know, the 19th Amendment—women have lost their power and men are just having out-of-control sex and we ladies can't do anything to stop it. It's an interesting theory, though it does snag against the reality that women don't seem to be bothered by men orgasming without paying the supposedly heavy price of marrying us first. Indeed, we may even think that marriage is not a "price" at all, but something men do for love and companionship.

Sex strike in Japan.

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From the Daily Star:

'Sex strike' against leading Tokyo governor candidate

TOKYO: Women in Tokyo are threatening a sex boycott against any man who votes for the front-runner in this weekend's gubernatorial election, in protest at his claim that menstruation makes women unfit for government.

A Twitter campaign group based in the capital which bills itself as "The association of women who will not have sex with men who vote for (Yoichi) Masuzoe," has garnered almost 3,000 followers since it launched last week.

Although the founders have not identified themselves, in their profile they said: "We have stood up to prevent Mr. Masuzoe, who makes such insulting remarks against women...We won't have sex with men who will vote for Mr. Masuzoe."

Masuzoe, 65, a former political scientist who became a celebrity through TV talk shows before getting involved in politics in 2001, is widely seen as an establishment figure in a country where gender roles remain very distinct.

In 1989, he told a men's magazine that it would not be proper to have women at the highest level of government because their menstrual cycle makes them irrational.

"Women are not normal when they are having a period... You can't possibly let them make critical decisions about the country (during their period) such as whether or not to go to war," he said.

Masuzoe has the backing of the conservative ruling party of hawkish Prime Minister Shinzo Abe and is seen as likely to pip his nearest rival, former prime minister Moriyoshi Hosokawa who is standing on an anti-nuclear platform.

All 16 candidates in the poll are men, with many of them aged in their 60s or older.

But Masuzoe's comments about women, as well as other controversial remarks on taxing the elderly, have triggered a backlash.

Another website was launched on Wednesday by a group of women also seeking to prevent Masuzoe from becoming Tokyo governor -- that site has drawn 75,000 hits per day and 2,800 people have signed its petition.

"Masuzoe is an enemy of women...He doesn't love Japan. He loves only himself," said one comment on the site, by a woman who identified herself as Etsuko Sato.

On the Twitter campaign feed, a post by manatowar3 said: "I'm an old man. But I cannot tolerate him (Masuzoe) from a man's point of view."

Despite high levels of education, many women in Japan leave career jobs when they have children, and social pressures to play the homemaker remain strong.

There are very few women in senior political positions -- Abe's 19-member cabinet has only two -- and company boards are overwhelmingly male.

Speaking in Davos last month, Abe pledged that by 2020, 30 percent of leading positions would be occupied by women. However, most independent observers suggest this target is unlikely to be met.

American Pie 2: The rule of three.

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I don't think it's much of a surprise, but research has demonstrated that men over-report number of sexual partners and women under-report. This is directly related to the double standard: men are praised for their sexual conquests, and women are judged negatively. The following clip from American Pie 2 plays on this theme. NSFW language:

American Pie 2 movie clips: http://j.mp/1JctIaJ BUY THE MOVIE: http://amzn.to/tIP7Rw Don't miss the HOTTEST NEW TRAILERS: http://bit.ly/1u2y6pr CLIP DESCRIPTION: The men and women separately talk about the rule of three and how you can figure out how many people someone has slept with.


Documentary: The Purity Myth.

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From the Media Education Foundation:

Produced & Distributed by the Media Education Foundation Featuring Jessica Valenti

In this video adaptation of her bestselling book, pioneering feminist blogger Jessica Valenti trains her sights on "the virginity movement" -- an unholy alliance of evangelical Christians, right-wing politicians, and conservative policy intellectuals who have been exploiting irrational fears about women's sexuality to roll back women's rights. From dad-and-daughter "purity balls," taxpayer-funded abstinence-only curricula, and political attacks on Planned Parenthood, to recent attempts by legislators to de-fund women's reproductive health care and narrow the legal definition of rape, Valenti identifies a single, unifying assumption: the myth that the worth of a woman depends on what she does -- or does not do -- sexually. In the end, Valenti argues that the health and well-being of women are too important to be left to ideologues bent on vilifying feminism and undermining women's autonomy.

The trailer:

Produced & Distributed by the Media Education Foundation Featuring Jessica Valenti In this video adaptation of her bestselling book, pioneering feminist blogger Jessica Valenti trains her sights on "the virginity movement" -- an unholy alliance of evangelical Christians, right-wing politicians, and conservative policy intellectuals who have been exploiting irrational fears about women's sexuality to roll back women's rights. From dad-and-daughter "purity balls," taxpayer-funded abstinence-only curricula, and political attacks on Planned Parenthood, to recent attempts by legislators to de-fund women's reproductive health care and narrow the legal definition of rape, Valenti identifies a single, unifying assumption: the myth that the worth of a woman depends on what she does -- or does not do -- sexually. In the end, Valenti argues that the health and well-being of women are too important to be left to ideologues bent on vilifying feminism and undermining women's autonomy.

 

And an interview on Anderson Cooper:

Subscribe to our channel: http://www.youtube.com/subscription_center?add_user=anderson Randy Wilson explains the ball was started in 1998 as a fatherhood event. http://www.andersoncooper.com http://www.twitter.com/anderson http://www.facebook.com/anderson http://anderson.tumblr.com http://www.youtube.com/anderson To find out when "Anderson" airs in your town, go to AndersonCooper.com.


Short: Why Blowjobs Are More Intimate Than Sex.

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From College Humor: 

For as long as we've been comparing sex to baseball, blowjobs have been third base and sex a home run. Here's a compelling argument for why it should be the other way around. See more http://www.collegehumor.com LIKE us on: http://www.facebook.com/collegehumor FOLLOW us on: http://www.twitter.com/collegehumor FOLLOW us on: http://www.collegehumor.tumblr.com

The Sexplainer.

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Marnie Goldenberg is a sex educator from Vancouver (check out her Facebook page here and her blog here). Her work is brilliant and ties in nicely with the themes discussed during the section on Sex Ed that we're covering this week.

The Vancouver Sun recently published an in-depth article about here work:

Sexplain that!: Raising sexually intelligent kids is a job for parents By Denise Ryan

When I told my son that I was going to a get-together of parents to talk with an expert about how to talk to our kids about sex, he flashed me the kind of look you would expect from a 12-year-old boy.

A mix of horror, revulsion, and something else I couldn’t quite identify. Curiosity, maybe?

“Why are you looking at me like that?” I asked.

He struggled to find the words, finally settling on these: “It’s just that I think you moms are a little bit naive.”

Armed with that assessment, he was dispatched to spend the evening with a friend and I set off to find out just how naive I was.

Marnie Goldenberg launched her Vancouver “Sexplainer” salons after making a career switch from lawyer to sexual- health educator. Now she’s offering sexual-health education for parents, aimed at helping them raise “sexually intelligent kids.” In the casual atmosphere of private homes, parents get together, split the cost — about $300 for an evening — and have a facilitated discussion focused on how to communicate effectively about sexuality with kids of all ages.

“Educated kids are safer kids,” says Goldenberg. “I want to give people skills, and empower them to be proactive.”

Goldenberg is tapping into a growing need. Parents want, and need help navigating conversations with kids that are growing up in a culture of sexuality that is changing at warp speed.

Read the rest of the article here.

Insect homosexual behaviour.

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From The Dish: 

Uploaded by Homosexuality in Singapore on 2011-07-08.

The Buggery Of Bugs

Up to 85 percent of many insects have same-sex sex. Scientists trying to figure out if this is due to the same evolutionary reasons for widespread homosexual behavior across many species have decided it’s just about confusion. The dudes think other dudes are chicks – yes, all ants look alike even to ants – and they fuck anything that moves and looks fuckable:

“Insects and spiders mate quick and dirty,” Dr. Scharf observes. “The cost of taking the time to identify the gender of mates or the cost of hesitation appears to be greater than the cost of making some mistakes.” … Almost 80 percent of the cases of homosexual behavior appeared to be the result of misidentification or belated identification of gender. In some cases, males carry around the scents of females they have just mated with, sending confusing signals to other males. In other cases, males and females look so similar to one another that males cannot tell if potential mates are female until after they have mounted them.

So many Justin Biebers, so little time. But species with high rates of homosexual sex also tend to be more generally horny, with a penchant for humping beer bottles and … well, basically anything. So you can put it down to bonobo-levels of sex. Or we may not understand it fully yet:

It is also possible, however, that sexual enthusiasm in bugs is related to other evolutionarily beneficial traits, the researchers say.” Homosexual behavior may be genomically linked to being more active, a better forager, or a better competitor,” says Dr. Schart. “So even though misidentifying mates isn’t a desirable trait, it’s part of a package of traits that leaves the insect better adapted overall.” To confirm their theory, the researchers plan to study the conditions that make homosexual behavior more or less likely in bugs. They also want to look more deeply into male resistance to homosexual mating.

Yeah: what about bug homophobia? At what point does the buggered bug turn around and say, “Hey, wait a minute …”?