RECENT NEWS
Canadian snowbirds who flock to Florida’s sunny south to relieve their winter blues are being cautioned to practice safer sex while on vacation. Sandra Bullock, professor of health studies and gerontology at the University of Waterloo warns that those over the age of fifty face a heightened risk of HIV transmission.The Vancouver Sun reports that HIV rates are on the rise in older populations with Americans over the age of 40 making up the fasting growing group for new HIV diagnoses. Florida residents have the highest infection rates among those 50 and up, which puts sexually active snowbirds at particular risk. [Read more]
Today is the Eleventh International Transgender Day of Remembrance, which commemorates the deaths of the people who were killed because they were transgender or perceived as such.What do you say about a day devoted to remembering the people who have been murdered because they didn't accept their biological gender? I've been thinking that for the past couple of hours as I try to get this article started, and words keep failing me. There are 119 deaths being remembered this year. They include Andrea Waddell, who was strangled in a flat in Brighton, England; Jorge Steven Lopez Mercado, a 19-year-old who was decapitated and dismembered in Cayey, Puerto Rico; Taysia Elzy, who was shot to death along with her boyfriend, Michael Hunt, in their Indianapolis apartment; and many more, often unnamed. A full list is available on the Day of Rembrance website. Memorial events across the world are also listed on the home page. [Read more]
Scientific American columnist Jesse Bering focuses today on a new hypothesis about the design of male testicles. Evolutionary psychologists Gordon Gallup, Mary Finn and Becky Sammis have their "activation hypothesis" published in the most recent issue of the journal Evolutionary Psychology.
It has been assumed for a while now that the scrotum act as a sort of cold storage unit for sperm, which thrive at a temperature about 3 degrees lower than human body temperature. (Thin-skinned scrotum, which dangle away from the body, are slightly cooler than the rest of the human male.) [Read more]
When Time Out’s 2009 sex survey results came in, the editors of the British entertainment tabloid seemed astounded to discover their countrymen evidently are as randy as the most perverted American.Both women and men rated their kinkiness quotient at about 3.5 on a scale of 1 to 5, with 13 percent of men and 5 percent of women describing themselves as “practically perverted” (a 5 rating). The self-evaluations were born out by respondents’ fascination with fetishes. Many reported the now-mundane as turn-ons: handcuffs, feet, ears, necks, ankles and gentle spanking. Two replied “armpits,” and one mentioned “sweaty socks.” Less common but more titillating answers included “bubble-wrapping women,” “men in fishnets,” hermaphrodites and transsexuals, “being a pet,” sex with a lover and his father at the same time, feathers, pregnant women, “tacky girls” and “girls in Arsenal shirts.” [Read more]
HIV, the virus that causes AIDS, is probably the most feared sexually transmitted disease and with good reason. With infection rates in the U.S. on the rise, awareness and prevention programs are seeking new ways to reach those at risk. Some would argue that such messages need to get to their target audience by any means necessary, while others contend that campaigns need to be appropriate to the serious nature of the disease and its physical and social realities. This debate is not new in the history of the AIDS epidemic, but it has erupted again in Minnesota.The Minnesota AIDS Project (MAP) will launch its new ad campaign for its annual AIDS Walk on December 1, which is also World AIDS Day. However, the campaign seems to be raising eyebrows as much as funds because of the use of sexy, nearly naked models; provocative videos (after the jump); and suggestive ad copy. The central question of the debate is whether or not sex should be used to "sell" the prevention of a sexually transmitted disease. [Read more]
Representative Bart Stupak (D-Mich.) was only four years old when H.L. Mencken died in 1956, but since then, he seems to have taken Mencken's famous definition of puritanism as "the haunting fear that someone, somewhere might be happy" as a personal code to live by. After doing his level best to make sure that abortion would never again be paid for by health insurance, Stupak is moving on to censoring sexual websites. In the name of protecting the children, of course.Stupak recently introduced legislation called the Online Age Verification and Child Safety Act, which would make online age verification mandatory for "any pornographic website accessible by any computer located within the United States to display any pornographic material, including free content that may be available to the purchase of a subscription or product." The penalty for selling adult products or services to a minor under the bill would be a fine and imprisonment for up to ten years. [Read more]
A new spray, known as PSD502, may be the first pharmaceutical product to help men maintain erections for prolonged periods of time during sexual activity. A study of 256 men in the United States, Canada and Poland found that those who used the experimental spray lasted five times longer than those who were given a placebo treatment.The Press Association reports that users who applied PSD502 five minutes before sexual intercourse were able to maintain erections and delay ejaculations. They reported higher levels of sexual satisfaction and reduced stress associated with performance pressure. [Read more]
Everything you need for a hot night is in the palm of your hand. Your iPhone can find you a date, help you choose a restaurant, and let your friends know how the evening is going in various formats. With the launch of two new iPhone apps, you can now ensure that your date will live up to your standards even before you meet. PeopleFinders has created "Stud or Dud?" and "Are They Really Single?", which search through public records to find out the type of information you might want to know before that romantic dinner. Information like whether or not your date is married, if he or she has a criminal record, or if he or she is a registered sex offender. [Read more]
