Dr. Ray Blanchard on biological theories of homosexuality.

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Dr. Blanchard is one of the heavy hitters in the world of sexual orientation research and theory. In this video, he briefly explains some of the biological correlates of sexual orientation, and goes into detail discussing his fraternal birth order theory.

Ray Blanchard is a researcher at the University of Toronto's School of Psychiatry. He is known for conducting studies that proved the more older brothers a boy has, the more likely he will be gay. Blanchard received his Ph.D. from the University of Illinois in 1973.


Cheating: What's worse, emotional or sexual?

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From Science Daily:

Research on jealousy: Impact of sexual vs. emotional infidelity

In the largest study to date on infidelity, Chapman University has learned men and women are different when it comes to feeling jealous. In a poll of nearly 64,000 Americans this study provides the first large-scale examination of gender and sexual orientation differences in response to potential sexual versus emotional infidelity in U.S. adults.

According to the findings, heterosexual men were more likely than heterosexual women to be most upset by sexual infidelity (54 percent of men vs. 35 percent of women) and less likely than heterosexual women to be most upset by emotional infidelity (46 percent of men vs. 65 percent of women).

Participants imagined what would upset them more: their partners having sex with someone else (but not falling in love with them) or their partners falling in love with someone else (but not having sex with them). Consistent with the evolutionary perspective, heterosexual men were more likely than heterosexual women to be upset by sexual infidelity and less likely than heterosexual women to be upset by emotional infidelity. Bisexual men and women did not differ significantly. Gay men and lesbian women also did not differ.

"Heterosexual men really stand out from all other groups: they were the only ones who were much more likely to be most upset by sexual infidelity rather than emotional infidelity," said David Frederick, Ph.D., and lead author on the study. He went on to note: "The attitudes of gay, lesbian, and bisexual men and women have been historically understudied and under theorized in psychology, particularly in regards to tests of evolutionary perspectives."

Read the rest here.

Research: Physical attractiveness and desirability.

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From the New York Times:

So You’re Not Desirable ... By Paul W. Eastwick and Lucy L. Hunt

It is one of the hard truths of romance: Desirable people attract other desirable people, while the rest of us — lacking in attractiveness, charisma or success — settle for the best partner who is willing to consider our overtures. In the scientific literature, this idea is enshrined in the concept of mate value, which determines who gets to mate with whom. In popular culture, it is reflected in the choice of comely contestants to vie for the equally comely spouse-to-be on TV shows like “The Bachelor.” Pairing off, it seems, is just one more example that life isn’t fair.

But is this cynicism justified? In a paper that we published this month in the Journal of Personality and Social Psychology, we offer evidence for the seemingly naïve notion that in most romantic contexts your unique appeal is more important than your mate value.

Mate value is predicated on people’s ability to reach some degree of consensus about one another’s desirable qualities. (Rarely do people achieve perfect consensus on anything, but they reach some degree of consensus, for example, that ice cream is tastier than cottage cheese.) If women agree that David has high amounts of attractiveness (or charisma or success), that Neil has moderate amounts and that Barry has low amounts, then David, Neil and Barry have high, medium and low mate value, respectively.

Psychological research on first impressions has shown that men and women do in fact reach some degree of consensus about each other in precisely this way. During an initial encounter, some people generally inspire swooning, others polite indifference and others avoidance. Desirable qualities like attractiveness, charisma and success — the features that differentiate the haves from the have-nots — are readily apparent.

Yet alongside this consensus is an equally important concept: uniqueness. Uniqueness can also be measured. It is the degree to which someone rates a specific person as lower or higher than the person’s consensus value. For example, even if Neil is a 6 on average, certain women may vary in their impressions of him. Amanda fails to be charmed by his obscure literary references and thinks he is a 3. Yet Eileen thinks he is a 9; she finds his allusions captivating.

In initial encounters, consensus and uniqueness are in tension. Which ultimately prevails?

Read the rest here.

Birds-of-Paradise.

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Humans aren't alone in their desire to be physically attractive, in hopes of securing mates. For many other species, physical attractiveness is a key part of the mating ritual. A great example are the Birds-of-Paradise. From a documentary by the BBC Natural History Unit: 

Extraordinary Courtship displays from these weird and wonderful creatures. From episode 1 "Pole to Pole".

A school trustee addresses some of the myths about the new sex ed program in Ontario

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From Jake Skinner's site:

The 2015 Sex-ed Curriculum

On Monday 23 February 2015 the new sex-ed curriculum for Ontario was released. The physical documents are available at www.edu.gov.on.ca/eng/curriculum. This post includes a myth/fact document provided to school trustees which I am passing on to you. I will continue to add to this blog post as more resources become available for parents concerned about how the new curriculum will address the question of health. I appreciate that this is a sensitive topic and there are some strong views but let's keep the comment section civil.

Myth vs. Fact

Release of the revised curriculum for Health and Physical Education, Grades 1 to 12

Myth: Students will be learning about having sex in Grade 1.

Fact: In Grade 1, students will be learning about anatomy, personal hygiene (e.g. hand washing), and how to interact respectfully with their peers. Young children need to be able to identify the correct names for their body parts in order to communicate clearly and get help if they need to in cases of abuse, illness or injury. They start to learn about expressing their romantic feelings in Grade 5, and only start to learn about sexual activity in Grade 7.

Myth: Students will be learning about masturbation in Grade 6.

Fact: While the concept of masturbation is included in Grade 6 curriculum, it is mentioned in an optional prompt. It is there to support teachers in responding to student questions that may arise. Teachers have repeatedly stated that students often ask questions on this topic, and they need guidance on how to answer in a factual and consistent manner. This is not a mandatory learning expectation. Experts have also pointed out that many children in fact start masturbating before puberty begins.[1]

Myth: Students will be learning about anal and oral sex in Grade 7.

Fact: In Grade 7, the curriculum expects students identify ways of preventing STIs (including HIV) and/or unintended pregnancy. It talks about delaying intercourse and other sexual activities until a person is older, and using condoms consistently if and when they become sexually active. Oral and anal sex are included as topics for discussion to ensure all students are aware of the risks associated with any form of sexual behaviour. Many students believe oral and anal sex are safer alternatives as they cannot get pregnant, but Public Health Agency of Canada data tells us the rate of chlamydia and gonorrhea has been increasing since the late 90s and mostly affects teenagers and young adults. From 2002 to 2011, Ontario’s reported chlamydia rate has increased by 81% while the reported gonorrhea rate has increased by more than 20%.[2]

Read the rest here. The comments are worth reading, too, if you want to get an idea of how polarizing the debate is.

End of legal ban on adultery in Korea; condom sales explode.

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From NBC News:

Korean Court Scraps Adultery Ban, Condom Stock Soars
Here's one way to get a rise out of a stock price. South Korea's highest court on Thursday struck down as unconstitutional a decades-old law banning adultery, triggering a surge in shares of condom makers and morning-after pills.
The 1953 law aimed to protect women in a male-dominated society where divorce was rare, by making marital infidelity punishable with jail. "The law is unconstitutional as it infringes people's right to make their own decisions on sex and secrecy and freedom of their private life, violating the principle banning excessive enforcement," said Seo Ki-seok, a Constitutional Court judge, reading an opinion on behalf of five judges.
Seven members of the nine-judge panel deemed the law to be unconstitutional. After the ruling, shares in Unidus Corp, which makes latex products, including condoms, soared to the 15 percent daily limit gain. Hyundai Pharmaceutical Co Ltd, a maker of morning-after birth control pills and pregnancy tests, ended up 9.7 percent.

Updated HPV vaccine.

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From IFL Science:

Trial Shows New Vaccine Safe And Effective Against 9 Strains Of HPV by Justine Alford
Despite being effective and invaluable weapons against several different types of cancer, the vaccines for HPV have received a lot of undeserved negative attention. Perhaps that’s because there’s a stigma attached to HPV, given that it’s the most common STI. Alternatively, it could be due to misinformation spread about vaccines in general, but in particular about one of the HPV vaccines, Gardasil, which was wrongly attributed to numerous deaths during its trial (the real causes were things like drowning and malaria).
Regardless, as ars technica points out, uptake has been disappointedly low in some countries—particularly the United States—and it’s time that changed, especially since we now have an even more powerful weapon on our side: Gardasil 9. This new vaccine protects against five more strains of HPV than its predecessor and seven more than the first HPV vaccine Cervarix. It’s just been put through its paces in a huge trial, and the positive results showcase its effectiveness.
According to the study, this vaccine has the potential to prevent around 90% of cervical cancers and might even be suitable for use in boys, which could further reduce the incidence of cancers associated with HPV. The results of the trial have been published inNEJM.
Human papillomavirus (HPV) is not one virus, but a group of more than 150 related viruses. It’s the most common viral infection of the reproductive tract and most sexually active people will be infected at some stage in their lives. Although many types of HPV don’t cause problems, a small percentage of infections with certain types can persist and lead to cancer. At least 13 are known to be able to cause cancer, which are the so-called high risk, or oncogenic, types.
Almost all cases of cervical cancer are attributable to HPV and two types in particular, HPV-16 and 18, cause 70% of cervical cancers. But it’s not just women that are affected. HPV-6 and 11, for example, cause genital warts in men and women, and some types have been associated with other cancers, such as mouth, anus and penile cancer.
The first HPV vaccine to be invented, Cervarix, addressed 16 and 18, but it was followed shortly by an improved version, Gardasil, which bestowed added protection against 6 and 11. Now, scientists have added five more oncogenic HPV types to the vaccine, producing the most effective agent yet.
This new vaccine, Gardasil 9, was tested on more than 14,000 women between the ages of 16 to 26. Because an effective vaccine already exists against HPV, it was considered unethical to compare the new vaccine against a placebo, so the study used the earlier Gardasil instead.
Participants given Gardasil 9 were found to have the same amount of protection against the strains that Gardasil defends against alongside additional protection against other genital cancers. Overall, Gardasil 9 has the potential to protect against 90% of cervical cancers, a 20% improvement on Gardasil. Given that the new virus contains more bits of virus, side-effects were more common in those given Gardasil 9, but these were generally minor, such as pain at the injection site.
Taken together, Gardasil 9 seems to be a promising addition to our ever-growing vaccine arsenal, and further studies will shed light on whether it would also be useful in boys.

Meet a very successful cam model.

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Watch the clip first and see what comes up for you. I've added some commentary below.

"My job is... not for everyone." (Some content is NSFW) Check out more awesome BuzzFeedYellow videos! http://bit.ly/YTbuzzfeedyellow MUSIC https://soundcloud.com/cma-music/youre-not-alone-original-mix FEATURING Ashe Maree Instagram: https://instagram.com/kittenisodd Twitter: https://twitter.com/ashemareexoxo Tumblr: http://ixnay-on-the-oddk.tumblr.com GET MORE BUZZFEED: www.buzzfeed.com www.buzzfeed.com/video www.youtube.com/buzzfeedvideo www.youtube.com/buzzfeedyellow www.youtube.com/buzzfeedblue www.youtube.com/buzzfeedviolet www.youtube.com/buzzfeed BUZZFEED YELLOW Tasty short, fun, inspiring, funny, interesting videos from BuzzFeed.


So, thoughts?

Three things stuck out to me:

1. She notes that there is a subgroup of men who troll and harass her, and presumably say some nasty stuff. Why is this the case? What is going on culturally that there are men who feel entitled to demean, belittle, and harass female strangers on the web, especially those who do this type of work? I suspect it's because there's a group of sexually/romantically disenfranchised men who have been hurt or rejected by women, or who feel powerless and unattractive, and as a defense mechanism or to communicate their upset have become callous, mysogynistic, nasty, and abusive. You see this in the Pick Up Artistry scene, and in places like the RedPill on Reddit. They externalize their pain and suffering, and then create an entire ideology to support it.

2. She talks about body image and her struggles with her weight (in her case, being thin because of an illness). In some types of work, body appearance is a critical part of success (e.g., modeling, being a server in a restaurant, being a fitness/personal trainer, being in the media, etc.) - this has been an issue of much debate and concern. In camming, body appearance is also very central to success. So there is likely increased risk of body image dissatisfaction doing camming, which is tied to lowered self-esteem. It sounds like it is a real struggle for her, which might be worrisome. But, it's not for us to say, I suppose.

3. She mentions that she has lots of young followers, in particular female followers. I'd be a little worried about how these followers see her, and if they understand what camming and fantasy is about. Hopefully in her interactions with them, parts of her other than her sexuality become apparent. In other words, hopefully her followers can celebrate her sexuality, but also recognize that she is much more than simply a physically attractive object of desire (which actually increases her attractiveness to her fans - personality and interactions with fans play huge roles in cam models' success).

Everything is hot when you're aroused.

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From Dr. Justin Lehmiller (check out his great blog here):

Almost Everything And Everyone Seems More Attractive When You’re Sexually Aroused

How attractive do you find the prospect of sex with animals? Do you think it would be fun to watch another person urinate? Do you find shoes erotic? If you’re like most people, you probably said that these things aren’t exactly up your alley. However, if you were asked these same questions while you were in a heightened state of sexual arousal, research suggests that you might perceive them at least a little differently. Scientists have found that when we’re feeling very sexually aroused, things that we might otherwise perceive as gross or disgusting don’t seem quite as bad.

As some evidence of this, consider a classic study by Ariely and Lowenstein published in the Journal of Behavioral Decision Making. In this research, 35 heterosexual male college undergraduates were asked to evaluate the attractiveness of various sexual activities under two very different circumstances: once while in their normal, unaroused state, and once while masturbating. All of the sexual stimuli were presented on a laptop computer while subjects were in a private room. In the masturbatory condition, the men were instructed to pleasure themselves to a “sub-orgasmic level of arousal.” They were explicitly told not to ejaculate, but if they accidentally did, they should hit the tab key in order to end the study (on a side note, ever since I read this paper, I’ve never been able to look at a tab key without snickering).

Subjects were presented with 20 different sexual stimuli and asked to rate how attractive each one was on a scale of 0 to 100. These included:

“Are women’s shoes erotic?”

“Can you imagine being attracted to a 12-year-old girl?”

“Can you imagine having sex with a 40-year-old/50-year-old/60-year-old woman?”

“Can you imagine having sex with a man?”

“Could it be fun to have sex with someone who is extremely fat?”

“Could you enjoy having sex with someone you hated?”

“If you were attracted to a woman and she proposed a threesome with a man, would you do it?”

“Is a woman sexy when she’s sweating?”

“Is the smell of cigarette smoke arousing?”

“Would it be fun to tie up/get tied up by your sexual partner?”

“Would it be fun to watch an attractive woman urinating?”

“Would you find it exciting to spank your sexual partner?”

“Would you find it exciting to get spanked by an attractive woman?”

“Would you find it exciting to have anal sex?”

“Can you imagine getting sexually excited by contact with an animal?”

“Do you prefer to have sex with the light on?” “

“Is just kissing frustrating?”

The researchers found that out of all 20 sexual stimuli presented, only one of them (sex with the lights on) was rated as less attractive in the masturbation condition; the other 19 were rated as more desirable when the subjects were masturbating compared to when they weren't aroused, including sex with animals, finding a 12-year-old girl attractive, and watching a woman urinate. I should note that of the 19 stimuli that increased in attractiveness, all of the differences were statistically significant except one: sex with another man. What this means is that perceptions of same-sex contact did not really become substantially more arousing, but everything else did.

These findings are consistent with a more recent study of sexual arousal in women that was conducted by a different set of scientists. In that study, participants were either shown “female friendly erotica” or not prior to being asked to engage in a series of disgusting tasks, such as putting one’s hand in a bowl full of (seemingly) used condoms. The researchers found that women who were sexually aroused from having watched porn were more willing to attempt the disgusting tasks and rated those tasks as less gross than women who had watched something else (you can read more about the details of that study here).

These findings tell us that sexual arousal changes our perceptions of the world around us. And we are not necessarily cognizant of these changes either—in other words, we may not consciously recognize that our perceptions have shifted when we enter a heightened state of sexual arousal.

There are huge implications of this for the development of our sexual interests. If this high state of sexual arousal leads to actual changes in our sexual behavior or if we start to create a psychological association between arousal and the presence of a disgusting stimulus, this could plant the seed for developing a fetish. I guess the take-home message from all of this is simple: be careful where you masturbate!

Battle over comprehensive sex ed in Ontario.

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The provincial government of Ontario has announced that it is going ahead with a beefed up new comprehensive sex ed curriculum, starting next fall. Children will learn the proper names for their genitals and sexual orientations in elementary school, among other things. In middle school, they'll learn about masturbation as a means to explore their bodies. And by high school, they will get a complete package of comprehensive sex ed. There has been fierce opposition to the new program. From the CBC, in its entirety (read the comment section for good examples of opposition):

New Ontario sex ed curriculum ready for September Children to be taught dangers of sexting

The Ontario government says its new sex education curriculum, which will start in Grade 1 and later involve discussions on the dangers of sexting, will be taught starting in September.

Education Minister Liz Sandals unveiled the new curriculum at a news conference Monday, saying the government won't back down in the face of criticism as it did in 2010 when religious groups complained about proposed revisions.

Sandals said she anticipates some criticism, but the new lessons are key to keeping children safe.

"This will be the curriculum that is taught in Ontario schools in September 2015," Sandals said, noting training for teachers has already been scheduled.

Sandals said many aspects of the curriculum, like telling children they have the right to say no to unwanted touching, remains the same. However, due to public health data that shows children are experiencing puberty earlier, some topics are being introduced at earlier ages.

"We need to deal with the fact that our kids are starting to go through puberty much younger than they used to," said Sandals.

The new curriculum, which marks the first time sex education courses in Ontario have been updated since 1998, also includes more information about the role technology plays in youth sexuality.

Sandals said she hopes frank discussions about the risks of sharing explicit content online will cut down on the inappropriate material children are sharing online.

Children have questions about sex: experts

Many people who work in the sexual education field praised the changes on Monday.

Lyba Spring, who has worked as a sex educator with Toronto Public Health for some 30 years, said Ontario’s curriculum is the oldest in Canada and 16 years out of date.

Spring said the number 1 issue the curriculum needs to address is consent.

Currently, she said, "there’s no encouragement to really think through what one is willing to do."

Spring said classes should also discuss pornography and sexting, and that there should be a section about sexual abuse in the puberty section.

And, Spring said, teachers should be ready to answer questions.

"They're exposed to everything on the internet … but they want to hear it from a teacher," Spring said.

Dr. Miriam Kaufman, the head of adolescent medicine at SickKids Hospital, said it's natural for children and youth to have questions about sex.

"Kids start asking about things very, very early in terms of their own sexuality," said Kaufman.

Those questions shouldn’t be left for parents to answer, she said.

"The parent role is essential … but as parents we're not all that good," Kaufman said, noting that while she's written books on the topic and taught classes, she wasn't good at speaking with her own children about sex.

Parents will get resources, too

The Canadian Press obtained a copy of a "quick facts" guide for parents that outlines some of the changes, including many that relate to technology.

The guide says students in Grades 1, 2 and 3 will learn initial searching skills and strategies for safe internet use, including "how to get help for themselves or others if harassment or abuse happens either face-to-face or online."

The primary grade students will also learn the difference between real and fictional violence, in the media or with online games, and "respectful communications" in the gym, classroom and school yard.

Even some elementary school students have sent sexually explicit pictures of themselves to someone online, while 11 per cent of Grade 10 students and about 14 per cent of those in Grade 11 say they have sent a sext, according to a 2015 study, Young Canadians in a Wired World.

"As students get older, they are more likely to sext," the guide warns parents. "Many students are unaware of the potential effects and consequences of sexting."

For the accompanying video, click here.

Masturbating animals.

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Historically, one of the many arguments used to demonize masturbation was that it's unnatural (i.e., it doesn't occur in nature). If only they'd had the internet, they'd have figured out that they were dead wrong. NSFW - and feel free to add to the collection in the comments section (for a bunch more, follow the link at the bottom):

[as a side note: animals in cages make me sad]

Mochi the masturbating dog

Dirty little dog masturbating. I must say this little fellah got a quite big dick for his size haha.

it was my favorite part of the zoo that day. Like this little guy, I also prefer to have an audience.

Satisfaction Guarantee...

monkey jacking off

self pleasure life in the Australian Wildlife sanctuary. Enjoyment

Pornhub's 2014 year in review.

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Another post on data from Pornhub. At the end of the year, Pornhub publishes an annual review of searches and user information. The 2014 review is long so I've selected out some of the things I thought might be most interesting. But, there's piles more interesting data so go check it out here.

From Pornhub Insights:

2014 Year In Review
2014 was a huge year for us here at Pornhub HQ. We put our team of statisticians to work time and time again to deliver the data and bring you the most fascinating facts having to do with the world’s #1 porn site. Focusing largely on search trends and how user interactions react to major events around the world, we’ve covered everything from the traffic changes during the recent Scottish referendum to America’s obsession with anal sexand everything in between. Be it sports, politics, climate or demographicrelated, we found a way to relate it to porn trends and offer up some awesome insights. Today, we’re going to relive the magic one more time and take a long and hard look at how Pornhub’s user habits have evolved over the course of the past year, when compared to our 2013 review, as well as introduce some exclusive new and updated data. Let’s get started!
[…]
THE BARE BASICS Overall, Pornhub saw a whopping 78.9 billion video views through 2014, which considerably surpasses last year’s 63.2 billion. Specifically, this breaks down to 18.35 individual visits to the site over the course of the year, translating to about 5800 visits per second. However you look at it, that’s a lot of people getting busy on Pornhub!
[…]
WHAT ARE YOU LOOKING FOR? If Pornhub users all over the world are thirsty for one thing in particular, it’s teen-themed porn, as ‘teen’ was the most searched term in the world both this year and last. Coming in at number 2 with an impressive 7 place gain is ‘lesbian,’ with ‘MILF” taking a slight hit, falling into 3rd place and down from last year’s 2nd. Some interesting gainers here are the step-family themed searches, with ‘step mom’ climbing up 14 slots to land in at 4th place, and ‘step sister’ reaching up 53 spots to land in at this year’s 13th place. Group themed porn searches like ‘threesome’ and ‘gangbang’  also made some impressive leaps, having climbed 31 and 14 positions respectively. The world witnessed some interesting get-togethers on Pornhub this year!
[...]
[…]
A QUESTION OF GENDER AND SEX Our gender demographics collaborative with Buzzfeed was one of our favorite and arguably most interesting posts of the year. In What Women Want we took a look at how the porn viewing habits of men and women differ, according to our anonymized data, segmented by gender.
We’ve since collected some new, specified data which breaks down the Pornhub viewership proportions by gender in our top 20 countries. Topping off this list is Brazil, which has an impressive 29% female viewership base, a solid 6% above the 23% world average. Of particular note are the Philippines and Finland, both of which are home to populations featuring over a quarter of female Pornhub viewers. This is interestingly juxtaposed to the most recent Global Gender Gap Report compiled by the World Economic Forum, which reports Finland in 2nd place and the Philippines in 5th of all countries in the world as having most successfully closed the gender gaps. It looks like these countries are getting closer to sealing the same gap here too as far as porn is concerned!

Japanese sex dolls.

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From SoBadSoGood:

Japanese Sex Dolls Are Now Being Mistaken For Real Women

We're not entirely sure if this is good or bad news to be honest. Japanese manufacturer of 'Dutch Wives' (which is the term the Japanese use for 'sex doll') Orient Industry, says that business is booming.

That increase can be attributed to two things, firstly they're able to customise every aspect of the doll to suit their customers needs and secondly, because the dolls themselves are now so realistic, its easy to mistake them for genuine women.

"The two areas we identified as really needing improvement were the skin and the eyes. We feel we have finally got something that is arguably not distinguishable from the real thing."

Apparently, their skin feels soft and authentic as its made using a combination of flexible silicon, rather than the hard brittle rubber of former models.

Today, they even have fully movable joints, so you can contort and position your rubber girlfriend in all manner of positions and poses.

But just how much are people prepared to pay? Upwards of $1,000 and that's the starting price for some of the most basic model but they can go as high as $10K depending on the level of 'customisation'.

All of which is slightly more expensive than a dinner date with a REAL girl.

See the rest of the photos here.