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A PhD gets you more sex – kind of…

February 21st, 2011 by svv2

I recently came across the observation that women with PhDs are twice as likely to be interested in a one-night stand than women with just Bachelor’s degrees. Granted, I have not done any rigorous fact-checking, but I was fascinated by the question and consider it a good thought experiment. Why would smarter women be more promiscuous?* This flies in the face of many stereotypes, such as the dry professor. Perhaps the new stereotype for female PhDs should be a cougar? Is Leslie Winkle ringing a bell?

The more I thought about this question, the more I stumbled upon the issue of experimental design. Did they ask women who had JUST gotten their degrees (thus comparing the actions/intentions of twenty-somethings vs thirty- or forty-somethings); or did they ask women of a certain age who had either a Bachelor’s or a PhD? Is there a steady increase in the likelihood to express interest in a one-night stand from Bachelor’s, to Master’s, to Doctorate? Did the data vary according to the area of study? Were the inquiries based on the ACT of having one-night stands, or on INTENTION? (This matters because anyone who has taken a psychology course can tell you that intentions are often far removed from actions.) Why didn’t they ask men, too?

Is the statement the result of a carefully thought-out experiment or an “interesting sex fact” from a cheap site online that has no incentive to offer tried-and-tested facts? An admittedly shallow internet search for papers or articles suggesting this did not yield anything. But this does not make our little thought experiment any less useful or interesting.

The toughest complication is the timing of the experiment in regards to the women’s ages. The results of an experiment analyzing women of the same age with a difference in education will very probably differ vastly from one based on women who had JUST received either degree and were thus of different ages.

Suppose the experiment was done on women of different ages who had JUST earned either degree. The first idea that comes to mind is that women with PhDs are more likely to have obtained them in a city. Having lived in an urban setting for the time necessary to earn a PhD, one would assume that the more liberal environment would, at least in theory, “loosen” up the “morals” of a more conservative woman, and “affirm” the “morals” of a less conservative one.

One could also reason that part of the differences stem from variations in priorities and differences in social structure. Women who have just gotten a Bachelor’s degree are probably either nurturing or recovering from the first love of their life (which would presumably make them less likely to have casual sex and more likely to want to settle down); a woman who has just received a PhD may be reaping the benefits of a divorce or coming to terms with the realization that she may be unable or reluctant to get married. (Not that PhDs are all incompetent in marriage.) Also, younger women are more likely to have circles of friends which are more tight-knit (regardless of whether they live the dorm life characteristic of Rice or not), whereas an older woman’s friends may be scattered across the globe and may not be indulging in such a rapid-paced social life. This also leads to the deduction that women with Bachelor’s degrees, should they want to have a one-night stand, fear the label of whore from their friends and their gossipy, Facebook-obsessed cronies; whereas women with PhDs may not have so many people around to judge them. It also helps to remember that younger people tend to define themselves more in terms of their friends.

Another possibility involves the commonly-noted observation that women’s sexual confidence  tends to grow with age, as a result, in part, of the likelihood that they have probably had more sex than their younger counterparts and therefore feel more comfortable with their bodies and with the idea of asking for sex. Quite simply, they could be wanting more sex because they are better at it.

A study at UT Austin, featured in a recent issue of Elle Magazine, found a correlation between fertility and sex drive in women: as the former decreases, the latter increases. This is thought to be the a hormonal sign to the woman’s body that menopause is coming and it is BABY-MAKING TIME, STAT! To oversimplify, PhDs are older women in the grips of their hormonal urges, which leads them to seek one-night-stands.

A much-touted statistic is that there are far fewer female PhDs than male, leading to the deduction that being surrounded by males at work makes a one-night stand more appealing. This is unlikely, however, as most workplaces (such as the average office) are dominated by men, anyway. Nevertheless, considering the high ratio of males to females leads to an interesting psychological point. If we make the safe assumption that the earning a PhD by a woman requires a significant degree of extra commitment (as compared to a man, and in terms of family-related choices, etc) one could deduce that women with PhDs are more liberal, sexually “emancipated”, less attached to more traditional societal roles – and perhaps more confident in themselves.

The above arguments more or less fall apart if we consider women of the same age. Ultimately, until I (or you) can find a paper discussing this, no one will know the truth.

One-night stands rarely have much to do with truth, anyway.

*NOTE: Yes, I know higher education has nothing to do with higher intelligence. But when I mentioned this to several people, their first reaction was always “Why would smarter women….”

What’s Sexy Online VII: Five Senses Edition

January 22nd, 2011 by kll3

Check out the Touch project at Fleshmap. The creators asked survey participants where on their own bodies they most like to be caressed and where they most like to touch their lovers’ bodies. Using this data (33,871 individual ratings!), the creators came up with two interactive maps of male and female bodies: Skin to Skin, a “heatmap,” and Sorting Out Desire, a collage of images of body parts whose relative size indicates their erotic allure.

Also check out the Look project, which graphically represents female breasts and male nipple hair.

Finally, check out the Listen project. One part of the project visually demonstrates how often various body parts are referenced in different musical genres, while the second deletes all of the text that doesn’t refer to body parts from various famous poems and songs, leaving only images of body parts separated by dots.

Zarb Champagne has bottles that will make your tongue (and maybe some other things) tingle. The website is pretty and interactive, but since it’s flash-based I can’t link you to the sexy Skin series of bottles. To reach the gallery, select the “Zarb” menu at the top of the main page, click on “Bottles” from the drop-down menu, and navigate to “Skin” on the sidebar.

Finally, educate yourself with this article about how scent influences sexual attraction.

What’s Sexy Online VI: Back to School Edition

January 17th, 2011 by kll3

I’ve found enough links that a backlog has begun to form. What that means to you is that this and future WSO posts will have fewer pictures, perhaps a bit less text, and significantly more links. Sounds good for everyone, am I right?

Take a moment with Kieran Vollard from Dinner for Schmucks and learn how to turn your lovemaking into artmaking.

Check out artist Olga Zavershinskaya‘s sexy photo work [above] at the Zeemp blog.

Esquire presents wisdom from Dr. Ruth Westheimer, a well-loved 82-year-old sex therapist who helped Americans open up about sex and sexuality (and who once  served as a sniper in the Israeli military). Here’s one of her tips:

The biggest concern among men is still penis size. I tell them the vagina accommodates penises of all sizes. Then I tell them to go home, and, in the privacy of their own room, stand in front of a full-length mirror, bring themselves to full erection, and admire. You will never worry about penis size again because you won’t be looking down upon it. You’ll be looking at it from straight ahead.

This article from Al-Jazeera discusses the disturbing prevalence of rape in the US military, including the surprising fact that more men than women have experienced sexual trauma while serving.

This article from the Huffington Post claims that Target has continued to donate funds to anti-gay politicians they had previously apologized for supporting.

Ever feel like something is missing from your vaginal-care regimen? Maybe a vaginal steam bath will help.

This article claims that a new contraceptive method called RISUG (reversible inhibition of sperm under guidance) is moving forward in development. RISUG is a one-time procedure that supposedly lasts for 10 years, is fully reversible, has few side effects, and takes fewer than five minutes to perform. Fingers crossed.

Finally, and most importantly, a new study indicates that heterosexual and homosexual love are identical in the brain. Awesome.

What’s Sexy Online V: Special Holiday Edition part 1

December 24th, 2010 by kll3

What’s Sexy Online is back to make your holidays a little bit sexier.

First up is an article that might help you with some of the familial issues you might run across this holiday season. It’s called Incest is Cancer and it argues that we should condemn incest and that the argument against incest doesn’t apply to  homosexual relationships. Here’s a quote:

Homosexuality is an orientation. Incest isn’t. If the law bans gay sex, a lesbian can’t have a sex life. But if you’re hot for your sister, and the law says you can’t sleep with her, you have billions of other options. Get out of your house, for God’s sake. You’ll find somebody to love without incinerating your family. And don’t tell me you’re just adding a second kind of love to your relationship. That’s like adding a second kind of life to your body. When a second kind of life grows in your body, we call it cancer. That’s what incest is: cancer of the family.

[Tip: Do not search for “incest” in Google Images while your family is in the room, particularly if you have safesearch off.]

Next is an anonymous article from imeveryone.com entitled  “This is a Story About What People Don’t Tell You About Anal Sex…”. You know you’re interested. If you’re short on time skip to the bottom (ha) for a one-sentence summary.

In this article from the Cleveland Open Relationships Examiner, the author discusses how sex became sin. It’s a short piece that follows changing views of sexuality from the ancient Greeks to Aquinas.

I found this article on the Yes Means Yes! blog. The author, a straight female college student, asks “…why is that my sexuality had to become this all-consuming entity linking me inextricably to my “duties to men”? Why can’t I be a sexual creature, but also a human being?”

The blog itself is a counterpart to the book Yes Means Yes!, an anthology dedicated finding a way to respect female sexuality without rape, violence, or shame. You can buy it here.

Ever wish there was somewhere you could learn about every influential sexual scene in cinema? There is. This database includes over 75 pages of entries that painstaking catalog every important nipple, thrust, and moan in movies from the 1800s to 2009. There are lots of (sadly, quite small) pictures, too.

[Tip: Look up movies here before watching them with your parents.]

Finally, here’s a color-coded pocket guide to vaginal euphemisms. Might come in handy. [Click to enlarge].

[Note: I tried very hard to make those last two sentences into a sexual pun, but failed. Maybe you can give it a try.]

The Faults of Penguins and What They (Might) Mean for Us

December 12th, 2010 by svv2

Being an infamous animal lover, I was very distressed to find out that penguins are whores.

It has been discovered (not very recently, I admit) that when stones (valuable currency for penguins) are in short supply for nest-building, some females turn to sex to obtain it. The saddest part is that their male partners often have no idea what they are doing behind their backs, because it is common for females to go off looking for stones on their own. The general pattern is that a female targets a single male (to avoid a fight with his partner), and then performs the courtship ritual, which leads to copulation. The female then steals a stone or two from the nest he is building for a potential partner and runs off. The strange thing is that they don’t seem to be doing it just for stones, either. It takes hundreds of stones to build a nest, but the penguin can’t run off with more than a couple at a time. Behaviorists don’t really know what the other reasons for copulation may be. They suggest that the females may be testing future mates in case theirs dies prematurely. The single males, on the other hand, seemed to have pleasure as their only motive (surprise, surprise).

So, what does that mean for us?

I don’t know.

The point of this new blog is to share interesting facts about sex. Honestly, I was gearing it more in the direction of humans. I was hoping to share interesting statistics from around the world in a more interesting way than “The US has the highest rate of teen pregnancies in the developed world. That sucks. Buy a condom, dammit.” But I can’t help feeling the need to share my disappointment with our fine penguin-y friends.

Somewhere, sometime, I read that it is a common thing for female animals to exchange favors in return for sex. What this means for us, perhaps, is that it is time for those who feel that prostitution is immoral and should be heavily punishable to reconsider. True, anyone would agree that it is devastating when a committed spouse has been cheating with a prostitute (or anyone, for that matter). I am not espousing that. I am merely suggesting that prostitution may not be such a terrible thing in all situations, most probably if you are not committed. It may just be a something natural that frequently has terrible consequences because we tie the usual mess of human emotions with sex, coupled with the fact that people often make very irrational decisions. What if you just find it thrilling to have sex with someone you don’t know, don’t want to know, and will never get to know?

I’d like to see Mrs. Penguin explain THAT to her husband when he catches her.

What’s Sexy On Hiatus

December 12th, 2010 by kll3

What’s Sexy Online will be on hiatus for the next few weeks. Expect a special holiday post soon after!

What’s Sexy Online IV

November 26th, 2010 by kll3

We’re very sorry that there wasn’t a sexy, sexy blog post waiting for you last weekend, but we’d like to make it up to you with… What’s Sexy Online IV: Sexgiving Edition!

First, the heavier stuff.

According to this article and the International Gay and Lesbian Human Rights Commission, the UN recently removed a reference to “sexual orientation” from a resolution concerning extrajudicial, summary, or arbitrary executions. Human rights activists are concerned that this might leave LGBT individuals vulnerable to hate-based execution in many countries. The vote was carried by a majority of African, Middle East, and Caribbean nations. Peter Tatchell said:

“This is a shameful day in United Nations history. It gives a de facto green light to the on-going murder of LGBT people by homophobic regimes, death squads and vigilantes. They will take comfort from the fact that the UN does not endorse the protection of LGBT people against hate-motivated murder.”

Ok, now for the happier stuff.

Australian comedian Steve Hughes on the manliness of gay men. NSFW.

Not much to say about this, but it’s cute as hell.

What’s Sexy Online III

November 14th, 2010 by kll3

Time for What’s Sexy Online III: Teen Sex Edition!

You might remember the slideshow from last week’s edition that discussed the different views toward teenage sex in Europe and the US. Now Time and Salon have caught on to how Dutch parent’s permissive views toward “romantic sleepovers” have led to dramatically fewer teen pregnancies and STDs in the Netherlands compared to the US. Both articles cite a study by Amy Schalet called Sex, Love, and Autonomy in the Teenage Sleepover. Not only is the Dutch approach safer than the typical American one because it doesn’t force teens to come up with furtive and possibly dangerous ways to bust their nuts,  it’s much more sex-positive and promotes healthy sexual relationships with dedicated partners. We approve.

CNN also reported on a study that indicates that girls are more less likely than boys to engage in unprotected first sex– in the US, at least– and that African-Americans are much less likely to protect themselves during their first times than whites. The girls might not be entirely at fault:

[The presenter] said teenage girls are less likely than boys to want to have sex when it happens for the first time and may not do as good a job advocating for birth control.

Depressing. American parents might want to look to the Netherlands for advice.

PS: Don’t forget to register! There are lot of great SWGS classes available this year. I (Kieran) personally recommend SWGS/HART 346: Seminar on Love with the brilliant Marcia Brennan.

What’s Sexy Online II

November 8th, 2010 by kll3

We apologize for the delay — one of your Editors-in-Chief was in Austin for the weekend. Now for What’s Sexy Online II: Fun Fun Fun Edition!

Everyone is Gay offers love, sex, and sexuality advice from two “girls who like girls.” They both answer each question separately and both have unique writing styles (“exuberant” comes to mind, but “spastic” might work if you’re feeling uncharitable). Fun and illuminating to read if you aren’t LGBT, fun and helpful if you are. A few questions from “gay bois,” parents of LGBT people, and straight folks sneak in occasionally too.

Thought-provoking slideshow on Slate with some commentary about the differing views toward teenage sex in the US and Europe with particular focus on condom advertisements. An interesting statistic: “The majority of U.S. teens—63 percent of boys and 69 percent of girls—wish they had waited longer to have sex, compared with only 5 percent of boys and 12 percent of girls in the Netherlands.”

Sexy illustrations from a Brazilian artist who goes by the name “Derbyblue.” Mildly NSFW.

smoking is not sexy. from Brandon Aviram on Vimeo.

Remember, smoking kills. Eye candy for boys and girls and everyone else with a sex drive.

What’s Sexy Online I

October 30th, 2010 by kll3

Straight male stereotypes edition!

Greta Christina writes about 5 Stupid, Unfair and Sexist Things Expected of Men on Alternet. (She means straight men.)

Esquire answers 12 Mysterious Sex Questions you (straight men) may have had. This article was also written by a woman. One of the questions begins with “Not that I have a huge penis…”

Taking a break from the explicitly manly manly stuff, Sex at Dawn is a book about sexuality that argues that monogamy is not the natural way of things and that many of our romantic and sexual problems come from a lack of understanding of this. I haven’t read it, but the premise is interesting.

Oh, and at-least-a-little-straight guys (and not-so-straight girls) — if I have my stereotypes right, you should enjoy this.