Women’s Opposite-Sex Friends Leads to More Sex in Relationships

Woman and Men At Work (via Black Enterprise)

Woman and Men At Work (via Black Enterprise)

Happy Friday! A recent study from the Journal of Comparative Psychology revealed something interesting: Attractive, heterosexual women who report more male friends also report more sex within their relationships.

The study surveyed 393 men in committed sexual relationships who described their partners as attractive. The more male friends their female partner had, the more sex they had in their own relationship. The men clearly were subconsciously reacting to competing with other (platonic) males.

As the abstract notes:

“This research is the first to empirically investigate the number of potential male rivals in the local environment as a cue to sperm competition risk in humans.”

Too bad the self-reporting didn’t extend to finding out who generally tended to initiate sex within the relationship.

Ivy League Sex Weeks: By The Numbers

Ivy League university crests

Ivy League university crests

“Russia Today” recently reported that Ivy League university Harvard would offer a class on anal sex during their upcoming annual Sex Week. This isn’t the first time the class has been offered; that back in Fall 2012. Harvard’s Sex Week focuses on providing comprehensive sex education to students with a sex-positive outlook and shedding light on aspects that might not be ordinarily covered.

Yale holds the most famous Sex Week, which began in 2002 and was coordinated at the time by students Eric Rubenstein and Jacqueline Farber. But the program has now spread to other schools.

As the program takes root at other schools, let’s take a look at other Ivy League Sex Weeks:

Brown University: 

Site: Sextion: ***Sex Week 2014 (related article)

Started: N/A

Coordinated by: Sexual Health Education and Empowerment Council (SHEEC)

Most Recent Sex Week: Mar. 31-Apr. 6, 2014

Notable Classes: “Dirty Talk,” “The Ultimate Guide to Prostate Pleasure” (2013)

Notable Guests: sex educator Charlie Glickman, activist Katee Stewart (2013)

Awards: N/A

 

Columbia University:

N/A

Columbia doesn’t have a Sex Week.

 

Cornell University:

Site: Cornell Sex Week Facebook page

Started: 2014

Coordinated by: Sex Week committee

Most Recent Sex Week: Mar. 7-19, 2014

Frequency: N/A

Notable Classes: “Combating Stigma: A Panel Discussion on HIV/AIDS,” “Introduction to Kink (with Pictures)” (2014)

Notable Guests: feminist sex writer Susie Bright, activist Urvashi Vaid (2014)

Awards: N/A

 

Dartmouth College:

N/A

Dartmouth doesn’t have a Sex Week.

 

Harvard University: 

Site: Sex Week at Harvard

Started: 2010

Coordinated by: Sexual Health Education & Advocacy throughout Harvard College (SHEATH)

Most Recent Sex Week: Nov. 2-8, 2014

Frequency: Held twice every school year, once during each fall and spring semester

Notable Classes: “Love, Sex and Faith,” “Sexing the Body in Art and Media,” “#FutureSex: How technology will change your sex life” (Fall 2013)

Notable Guests: filmmaker Therese Schechter (Spring 2013), sexologist Jill McDeavitt (Fall 2012)

Awards: N/A

 

Princeton University:

N/A

Awards: Despite the fact that the school doesn’t have its own Sex Week, Princeton took top honors in Trojan’s Sexual Health Report Card in 2013.

 

University of Pennsylvania:

Site: Upenn Sex Week | All about sex

Started: 2013

Coordinated by: N/A

Most Recent Sex Week: Apr. 2-6, 2013

Frequency: N/A

Notable Classes: Erotica writing, “Asexuality 101” (Spring 2013)

Notable Guests: Cindy Gallop, “Make Love Not Porn” (Spring 2013)

Awards: N/A

 

Yale University:

Site: N/A

Started: 2002

Coordinated by: Sex Week committee

Most Recent Sex Week: 2014

Frequency: Held every other year in February on the week running up to Valentine’s Day

Notable Classes: “Fornication 101 with Oh Megan!,” “BDSM and Alternative Sexualities”

Notable Guests: porn director Steven Hirsch, porn star Sasha Grey

Awards: 2004 Collegiate Network Campus Outrage Award, First Place; 2006 Trojan Sexual Health Report Card, First Place and only school with a perfect score

#ThrowbackThursday: Brown University’s Sex Week 2014

Brown Sex Week 2014 Poster

Brown Sex Week 2014 Poster

WOW! I was researching for this afternoon’s blog post (it’s live in a few hours!), and stumbled on this fantastic art for Brown University’s Sex Week 2014.

Or should I say, ***Sex Week 2014. Est-ce tu aimes le sexe?

Beyoncé + sex education = Win. Every time.

Carry on.

 

The Pirelli Calendar Shoots Candice Huffine, Its First Plus-Size Model

Candice Huffine, 2015 Pirelli Calendar shoot

Candice Huffine, 2015 Pirelli Calendar shoot

Last month, Pirelli unveiled its long-awaited 2015 calendar, with a very notable first: Candice Huffine became the first plus-size model to grace the calendar’s legendary pages since it began in 1964. So what took so long? According to their website, the Pirelli calendar is devoted to “pioneering innovation to staying ahead of the game.” This remark was made by Pirelli Chairman and CEO Marco Tronchetti Provera, and is displayed prominently on the calendar’s history page. It’s not as if Pirelli has shied away from doing something out of the norm for its calendar before. In 1987, photographer Terence Donovan used only black models (including a young Naomi Campbell) within its pages. It’s very sad that only after approaching 500 models over the course of 52 years, we’re only beginning to see plus-size women represented in one of the most well-known calendars. Now if only she was represented on the 2015 Pirelli Calendar site itself…

Shia LaBoeuf “Dazed” Interview: Male Rape Stats

Shia LaBeouf (MoviePilot)

Shia LaBeouf (MoviePilot)

Actor Shia LaBoeuf recently gave an interview to “Dazed” magazine writer Aimee Cliff. Within the interview transcript, he alleges that he was raped by a female visitor during his performance art run earlier this year at Los Angeles’ Cohen Gallery.

Men getting raped isn’t discussed nearly as much as men instigating rape, so I was curious to see if there were any stats available on the subject.

According to the Rape Abuse & Incest National Network (RAINN) website, men comprise around 10% of sexual assault victims. (In this case, sexual assault refers to anything from “unwanted sexual touching to forced penetration”). Other stats on the site say that about 1 in every 33 American men (about 3% of total men) will go through “an experienced or attempted rape in their lifetime.” The page also notes that one out of every 10 rape victims were men in 2003.

But there are more recent stats to dig into. In 2013, the National Crime Victimization Survey found that 38% of sexual violence in households was directed towards men. (To put this in perspective, sexual violence and rape against men had accounted for 5-14% in past years.) Researcher Lara Stemple had wondered if the stats had previously been underreported, and it certainly seems they had.

Maybe LaBoeuf’s coming out as a victim will embolden other victims to come out and be counted. Culturally, it makes sense that these numbers have been traditionally underreported, as men wouldn’t want to look like they’re “less than” a full man. But hopefully this will make some progress.

Gallup’s 2013 Interracial Marriage Approval Rates

Gallup 2013 Interracial Marriage Results

Gallup 2013 Interracial Marriage Results

Within the past few years, there’s been a lot of talk about the changing face of America (as “National Geographic” called it last year), in terms of racial demographics. It’ll change a lot more in the coming generations. In 2013, Gallup conducted a poll to find how Americans felt about interracial marriage.

The 2013 Minority Rights and Relations poll found that 87% of American adults approve of interracial marriage, with 84% of whites and 96% of non-Hispanic blacks approving. (This latter distinction is important because Hispanics were counted 1968-2003.) The survey comprised 4K+ Americans, with 1K+ identifying as non-Hispanic blacks. Interracial marriage was defined as one between “whites and non-whites.”

Since the 2011 poll taken two years prior, whites’ approval crept up one percentage point to 84%, while non-Hispanic blacks’ approval held steady at 96%.

The study also examined how the approval broke down by age and geographic location. Unsurprisingly, the Millennials and Generation Z (18-29 age range) lead the charge, approving by 96%. The 30-49-year-olds approval rate tracks closely behind at 93%. For the older groups, there’s less approval (which makes sense as they reflect the times in which they grew up): Ages 50-64 approve at 84%, and ages 65+ approve at 70%.

In terms of geographic region, the West wins out with approval ratings of 93%. Next up, the East and Midwest tie with 86%. With the South, old habits die hard, and it brings up the rear with approval ratings of 83%.

I’m now interested to see how approval of other interracial relationships shake out, such Caucasian/Hispanic, Asian/Black, etc. I think Gallup needs to examine these next.

But it’s very interesting to see how things have changed over almost 60 years: When the study was first produced in 1958, only 4% of Americans approved of interracial marriage. Now, the percentage is heading that way for those who disapprove. The trends are positive for Team Love!

Sweet Peach’s Vaginal Probiotics: Could They Work?

Sexy Peach

Sexy Peach

Last week, probiotic supplement Sweet Peach was introduced at the DEMO Conference in San Jose, California. Unveiled by Cambrian Genomics founders (and men) Austen Heinz and Gilad Gome, the supplement was initially pitched as an artificial fragrance (like, say, a peach) for the vagina, replacing the organ’s natural scent.

Understandably, people were outraged. But this turned out to be incorrect. Audrey Hutchinson, the actual founder of Sweet Peach Probiotics (and a woman), described how Sweet Peach would work thusly:

“A user will take a sample of her vaginal microbiome and send it in for analysis. After determining the makeup of her microbiome–in effect, taking a census of the microorganisms that reside in her vagina–the company will supply a personalized regimen of probiotic supplements designed to promote optimal health.”

The ultimate goal is that using Sweet Peach would help women avoid health issues caused by microorganisms, such as yeast infections.

Sweet Peach’s goals parallels recent news and studies done about replacing “bad” gut with “good” bacteria in the digestive tract to ease gastrointestinal issues.

But could it work for the vagina as well?

It’s too early to tell. Right now, the National Center for Complementary and Alternative Medicine (NCCAM) Oral Probiotics page says that probiotics have mainly been used for oral and the aforementioned gastrointestinal issues. These probiotics are mostly taken in the form of oral pills or live cultures (such as yogurt).

The NCCAM notes that some probiotics studied have the potential to aid in healing, as a 2013 UCLA study shows. The study found that women who ingested probiotics through yogurt had more beneficial brain function during rest states and emotion-recognition tests.

But this study worked off the previously established gut-mind connection, which can responsible for stress and fight-or-flight responses.

As of now, there’s no known gut-vagina connection.

A recent op-ed by microbe expert Ed Yong in “The New York Times” recently alluded to the difficulty using microbes to boost vaginal health:

“The results would be hard to interpret and might be outdated by the time they arrived.”

In short, the NCCAM reminds us that we’re still pretty far from answering certain existing questions:

“The rapid growth in marketing and consumer interest and use has outpaced scientific research on the safety and efficacy of probiotics for specific health applications.”

 

 

Lingerie Company Using A/B Testing to Maximize Revenue

Adore Me model (Image via Adore Me/Facebook)

Adore Me model (Image via Adore Me/Facebook)

This is pretty awesome: Lingerie company Adore Me A/B-tests photos of their models wearing their products to ensure maximum audience engagement that translates into maximum revenue.

For those not in the know, A/B testing is an experiment with two variants, noted as A and B. (Typically, A is the control and B is the variable.) Users are split into randomized groups, so that one will see version  A and the other will see version B. (Who sees what version can sometimes change day-to-day due to the randomization.) Those who run the A/B testing are then able to see how users react to each option, and which one would be more impact for consumers over time.

(Companies can use A/B testing for basically any variable they have. For example, I used an A/B test in my last job to determine how email newsletter headlines affected click-thru rates. Control version A was the normal staid headline, while version B was more creative.)

In this “Fast Company” article that details Adore Me’s A/B testing process, writer Rebecca Greenfield details what variables the company tends to change:

“The distinctions between the pictures might include different models wearing the same set in the exact same position, or the same model in the same set in a different position, for example.”

If anything, this news reveals that analytics tools and approaches have crossed over into non-tech fields, and may soon take over more traditional processes of gathering consumer data.

It’ll also be interesting to see how sexuality stats cross over into Big Data. I feel we’re on the cusp of it right now.

How Female Orgasms Influence Mate Choice

Orgasm

Orgasm

Happy Friday! Here’s something to fun to keep mind as you head out for the weekend:

A new study claims that female orgasms influence beneficial mate choice: The more orgasms a woman has was directly correlated to her partner’s income, confidence and attractiveness. But it’s not all about quantity. Orgasm intensity was related to sexual satisfaction in terms of intercourse frequency and “how attracted they were to their partners.” Makes sense, right? (“Salon” breaks it down into less-scientific terms.)

The study analyzed “heterosexual female college students in committee relationships,” but doesn’t go into detail about these subjects. What was their average age? How long had the couples been together, on average? How times a week were the couples having sex on average?

Sounds like an excellent way to make a positive mate choice to me.