The World of the Future?

A Theory-Consistent Three-Way?

There are two sentences here I never thought I'd see in an academic paper.  "Genital salience" and "A theory-consistent three-way."  Academics is a lot fun, folks!

Sex-linked mating strategies diverge with a manipulation of genital salience 

Adam Fetterman, Nicole Kruger & Michael Robinson
 Motivation and Emotion, February 2015, Pages 99-103

Abstract: Trivers (Sexual selection and the descent of man, Aldine-Atherton, Chicago, pp 136–179, 1972) proposed that evolutionary factors should favor divergent mating strategies for males versus females. Such differences may be less pronounced among human beings than other animals and social norms and sex roles are also pertinent influences. The present experiment (N = 133 college undergraduates, 74 female) sought to bypass some of these other influences. Participants were randomly assigned to a condition designed to increase attention to the genital region (a downward pointing arrow) or not (an upward pointing arrow). They then reported on their interest in short-term (e.g., a one-night stand) and long-term (e.g., a potential marital partner) mating opportunities. A theory-consistent three-way interaction occurred such that the genital salience manipulation primed a shorter-term reproductive strategy among men and a longer-term reproductive strategy among women. The results provide unique support for evolution-linked ideas about sex differences in the form of a role for bodily attention.

So Proud of....CLEMSON!

When sex is outlawed, only outlaws will have sex.

And Clemson wants to outlaw sex. 

Why do states allow their universities to be taken over by these sorts of administrators?  Because most people don't want to go into administration.  Do you?

Then you had better get ready to fill out your survey.

Compensating for the BBQ

So, more sex means more intelligence?  At the margin, at least? 

On the other hand, grilled or fried foods make you dumb.

I think the conclusion is obvious:  if you are going to have a BBQ, make sure it is followed by an orgy in the hottub. 

(Nod to Susan L.  I always wondered what made her so smart.  Now, I think I know...)

Increasing the Liklihood of Connubial Noodling...

So, an article on what actually makes people, married people who have used up all the degrees of freedom in their years of marriage, more likely to interested in some vigorous cuddling.

TOP TEN 'TURN-ONS' FOR WOMEN
1. Losing weight
2. Fresh bed sheets
 3. Winning a sum of money
 4. Night out with the girls
5. Hot bath
6. Work night out or work Christmas party
7. A new hair do
8. Having makeup applied
9. Workout at the gym
10. Closing a deal or completing a major task at work

TOP TEN 'TURN-ONS' FOR MEN
1. Night out with the boys
2. Fresh bed sheets
3. Hot bath
4. Winning a sum of money
5. Sports team win
6. Losing weight
7. Work out at the gym
8. Driving a sports car
9. Closing a deal or completing a major task at work
10. Cleaning the house

As the NCM notes, interesting that "clean sheets" is high on both lists.  And, for what it is worth, I can say that if the guy needs to lose weight, and does, this can pay back with increased "interest" on the part of the lady.  As long as the sheets are clean.

The NCM suggest, in fact, that you guys should forget the etchings line.  Just tell the woman at the bar that your bathroom is clean, and you just changed your (very high thread count) sheets.  And then get lucky!

The Economics of Slut-Shaming

An interesting and provocative piece. Excerpt:


The economic way of thinking prompts us to consider the preferences, endowments, and trade-offs that shape our decisions in the face of our unlimited wants and limited means. Decisions about sex—in all of its pleasure, danger, and emotion—are no less subject to these constraints. Although rarely framed as such, in many ways, the euvoluntary exchange of semen and security for womb space and childcare constitutes one of humanity’s earliest, and perhaps most essential, economic spheres. 

Sex is a female resource. While both genders certainly enjoy and depend on the act, natural constraints on female sexuality create scarcity—and value. The high costs of female fertility—in terms of time, mental and physical health, and opportunities forgone—impel women to act as suppliers in the sexual market. Male sexuality, on the other hand, is ubiquitous and cheap. What’s more, men tend to place a higher value on sexual gratification than do women. Men, therefore, comprise the demand for sex. 

ATSRTWT, with thanks to SL Wilson

Hook Up

A Cross-Cultural Content-Analytic Comparison of the Hookup Culture in U.S. and Dutch Teen Girl Magazines 

Suchi Pradyumn Joshi, Jochen Peter & Patti Valkenburg
Journal of Sex Research, forthcoming

Abstract: This quantitative content analysis investigated the hookup culture in U.S. and Dutch teen girl magazines. Using Hofstede's cultural dimension of masculinity/femininity, the hookup culture (i.e., the relational context of sex, emotional context of sex, specific sexual activities, and contraceptives) was examined in 2,496 stories from all 2006 through 2008 issues of the three most popular U.S. (i.e., Seventeen, CosmoGirl! U.S. edition, and Teen) and Dutch teen girl magazines (i.e., Fancy, CosmoGirl! Netherlands edition, and Girlz!). Regarding the relational context of sex, stories about casual sex occurred more often in U.S. magazines, and Dutch magazines focused more on committed sex. Dutch magazines also emphasized sex within the emotional context of love more often than did U.S. magazines. In terms of sexual activities, coital sex was mentioned more often in U.S. coverage, while petting was mentioned more frequently in Dutch coverage. Condoms were covered more positively in U.S. magazines than in Dutch magazines. Overall, the hookup culture seems to be more visible in U.S. magazines for the occurrence of casual sex and lack of love stories, whereas it does not emerge in Dutch magazines due to the presence of committed sex and love-related articles.

Nod to Kevin Lewis

There IS No Great Stagnation

How could there be a great stagnation?  We still have bacon.

And now, we have bacon-flavored condoms.  

As an added bonus - and salty safety precaution - each condom includes "J&D's baconlube™ ultra premium water based meat flavored personal lubricant."  For $9.99, a pack of three fulfills your need to taste and smell like real meat when you bang.

No nation with bacon-flavored (and colored, to look more bacon-like, and scented, to smell bacon-like) condoms could possibly stagnate.  We may go to hell in a pork basket, but we won't stagnate.

With thanks to Charlottean KL.

Pimps are Sex Offenders?

Holy simoly.  An amazing piece of legislation.  The NC General Assembly is considering a bill to make pimpin' an offense that would require registration as a (wait for it) Sex Offender!  People convicted of "sex trafficking" would be required to have their names added to the sex offender registry.  It appears that Dan Blue is the only guy in the legislature with any sense.


A state Senate committee Thursday approved a local senator's bill that would require those convicted of human trafficking, or pimps, to register as sex offenders. 

But approval came after considerable debate over the scope of the sex offender registry. Several senators expressed concern about adding the crime to the registry because it places offenders not convicted of sex crimes on the list. 

"Sex offenses are unique," said Sen. Dan Blue, D-Wake. "We need to keep them separate as much as possible.

 Sen. Thom Goolsby, R-New Hanover, filed his Sex Trafficking/Sex Offender Registration bill last week. Goolsby said he understood Blue's concern, and he was open to creating a separate registry but wasn't sure if that was possible. 

Sen. Dan Soucek, R-Watauga, was concerned that creating a separate registry might be more problematic. "We don't want to create a loophole that is an exception," Soucek said. Goolsby argued during Thursday's committee meeting said he'd rather err on the side of victims. 

"This is the only registry we have," Goolsby said. "If someone enslaves another human being, we still want those people registered."

More after the jump...

Why China Must Urbanize: Strange mushroom object found in China

Okay, it was buried 80 meters down.  And it has a strange, fleshy feel, and an "eye" on each end.  The video is okay, but the English captioning doesn't really work.  Still, you get an idea.  The reportrix is quite young, and (apparently) naive.  Not really a city lass. She plays it very, very, VERY straight.



Okay, but then you read the description of the video:

(Below the jump, and NSFW, or the easily offended)

"Sex is as good for your health as broccoli"!

An interesting report on a number of recent research projects on the health benefits of...ahem... cuddling passionately.

A flurry of small studies suggest that sex is as good for your health as vitamin D and broccoli. 

Now, THAT seems hopeful.  The LMM really, really enjoys good hot....broccoli.

Men Have No Clue

Women are surprisingly (or maybe not) good at telling whether a particular man is likely to be unfaithful, just by looking at his face, or a picture of his face.

Men (quoting the study) "have no clue."

Sounds right.

Harvard Students Wear Ties

Not sure if this is a prank goof, or an actual goof.

I mean....well, here is an excerpt:   It started last October with a meal in Currier dining hall with a handful of friends who shared something in common: an affinity for kinky sex.

More than a year after the group first began informally meeting over meals to discuss issues and topics relating to kinky sex, Harvard College Munch has grown from seven to about 30 members and is one of 15 student organization that will be approved by the Committee on Student Life this Friday.

Michael, who was granted anonymity by The Crimson to protect his privacy, is the founder of Munch, an informal lunch or dinner meeting for people across the kink community.  For him, the recognition will provide a sense of ease for current and future members, knowing they are receiving institutional support.

“It’s a little hyperbolic for me to get teary-eyed and paternal about sophomores, but it’s really a joy to see the experience they will have now,” Michael said.  Michael said there are many benefits to being officially recognized on campus such as being able to poster for events and promote Munch’s presence.

“If you come to campus and you have the sexual interests we represent, you may not even suspect that such a group exists,” Michael said.  Munch is also now allowed to apply for DAPA food grants, making it easier to find a convenient time and location to meet, instead of gathering in small dining halls.

Nod to Kevin Lewis

Looks Just Like Me!

Interesting.  Men fool themselves, because it's adaptive.  And it's not like the woman is going to say anything... "Yes, honey, he has your nose! And so did the mailman!"

Fathers See Stronger Family Resemblances than Non-Fathers in Unrelated Children’s Faces

Paola Bressan & Stefania Dal Pos
Archives of Sexual Behavior, December 2012, Pages 1423-1430

Abstract: Even after they have taken all reasonable measures to decrease the probability that their spouses cheat on them, men still face paternal uncertainty. Such uncertainty can lead to paternal disinvestment, which reduces the children’s probability to survive and reproduce, and thus the reproductive success of the fathers themselves. A theoretical model shows that, other things being equal, men who feel confident that they have fathered their spouses’ offspring tend to enjoy greater fitness (i.e., leave a larger number of surviving progeny) than men who do not. This implies that fathers should benefit from exaggerating paternal resemblance. We argue that the self-deceiving component of this bias could be concealed by generalizing this resemblance estimation boost to (1) family pairs other than father-child and (2) strangers. Here, we tested the prediction that fathers may see, in unrelated children’s faces, stronger family resemblances than non-fathers. In Study 1, 70 men and 70 women estimated facial resemblances between children paired, at three different ages (as infants, children, and adolescents), either to themselves or to their parents. In Study 2, 70 men and 70 women guessed the true parents of the same children among a set of adults. Men who were fathers reported stronger similarities between faces than non-fathers, mothers, and non-mothers did, but were no better at identifying childrens’ real parents. We suggest that, in fathers, processing of facial resemblances is biased in a manner that reflects their (adaptive) wishful thinking that fathers and children are related.

Nod to Kevin Lewis

Virginity Cream

Some products require explanation.  Others do not.

Presumably "virginity cream" is in the latter category.

But then there is the question of why anyone would think a cream would restore....that.  Or want it to.  Sounds like some folks need some "idiot cream," fast.

Got to admit, the video is straight up BOSS.

With thanks to Kindred W., who knows me too well, apparently.

Links

1.  The Dub-MOE runs away from giving money to pols

2.  Anonyman claims this may be why I am not Governor:  cute people win, tall people win.  Even in the AEA, of all things.  Ewwwwwww.

3.  The Vatican is fighting with the nuns.  The nuns are being led by Mick Jagger in a wig.  Check it out.

4.  UNC-CH decides to go along with idiotic "Dear Colleague" thugs.  The threat is that the feds will sue or hold up money if schools don't go along with the "new policy."  But the new policy makes criminal charges follow from the civil standard of evidence, "preponderance of evidence."  Here is why that is a bad idea.

Romance is Costly?

Does the number of sex partners affect educational attainment? Evidence from female respondents to the Add Health (older version, ungated)

Joseph Sabia & Daniel Rees, Journal of Population Economics, December 2011, Pages 89-118

Abstract: We use data on young women from the National Longitudinal Study of Adolescent Health to explore the relationship between number of sex partners and educational attainment. Using the average physical development of male schoolmates to generate plausibly exogenous variation in number of sex partners, instrumental variables estimates suggest that number of sex partners is negatively related to educational attainment. This result is consistent with the argument that romantic involvements are time consuming and can impose substantial emotional costs on young women.

Not sure this is right. Not directly a "cost," as much a correlate. Wasting time on promiscuity is dangerous and a sign of poor judgment, maybe also an artificially short time horizon. People with good decision making skills and a longer time horizon just aren't tempted to be promiscuous. This isn't sex, this is NUMBER of sex partners.

So, it's not, "Ya know, I could go to a bar, pick up a guy I've never met, and then do the bouncy-bouncy until daylight. But that would cost me too much time that I should spend studying for my PhD in physical chemistry. I would prefer to go out, of course, but I'll stay home." Rather, someone with ambition would just never consider doing those things. It's not appealing.

What I am trying to say is that the level of appeal of random hook-ups is the same for every woman, not that great. What differs is access to something else, an ambition for a career, which may come from having role models or parental encouragement from a young age. The hook-ups thing is just not that much fun.

Faking It

The Economics of Faking Ecstasy, Hugo Mialon, Economic Inquiry, January 2012, Pages 277–285

Abstract: In this paper, we develop a signaling model of rational lovemaking. In the
act of lovemaking, a man and a woman send each other possibly deceptive signals about their true state of ecstasy. For example, if one of the partners is not in ecstasy, then he or she may decide to fake it. The model predicts that (1) a higher cost of faking lowers the probability of faking; (2) middle-aged and old men are more likely to fake than young men; (3) young and old women are more likely to fake than middle-aged women; and (4) love, formally defined as a mixture of altruism and demand for togetherness, increases the likelihood of faking. The predictions are tested with data from the 2000 Orgasm Survey. Besides supporting the model's predictions, the data also reveal an interesting positive relationship between education and the tendency to fake in both men and women.

So, I wondered a couple of things.
1. This would not apply just to het couples. Is it different for gay men or for lesbian women?
2. It took me a minute to realize that the "2000 Orgasm Survey" was referring to a year, not a benchmark.
3. I asked the LMM, "You never fake, do you!" She said, "Of course not! Then she went upstairs and closed the door, but I could still hear her laughing.

Lagniappe: Here is a video of the author presenting the above paper...


(Nod to Kevin Lewis, who never fakes)

Can Men and Women Be Just Friends

On the Utah State U campus, a team of crack investigators ask the question, "Can men and women 'just' be friends?"

Women say "yes." Men laugh at the very idea. Men are not good people.



Now, the Bishop and I know that married men can be just friends with women.

First, we fear our wives enough to know we had better not even think about anyone else.

Second, if we piss off our wives, we are going to be "just friends" even in our houses for several nights. "Honey?" "Don't touch me..."

(Nod to the Blonde, who is not surprised by any of this.)

Roll over and see what you can do!

Recently saw this ad, on a site.

Not easy to read, but it says, "Menopause made intercourse dry and painful? Roll over to see what you can do!" And then, I shudder to think why, the picture of a doorknob.

However, to be fair, it made me look twice. Perhaps that is the real function of advertising, yes?