In a study published in the Scientific Reports journal, scientists revealed that people across the globe, regardless of their religion, become a little more frisky during significant holidays such as Christmas.
The joint team of researchers, all hailing from the US, the Netherlands and Portugal, used both Google Trends and Twitter to analyze online searches from nearly 130 countries that included populations devoted to Christianity.
The Alphabet-owned site was used to zero in on word searches from 2004 to 2014, while Twitter was tapped for the years between 2010 and 2014, to look at sentiments expressed by users. To determine where the user’s feelings stood, officials used the Affective Norms for English Words, a “normative emotional rating” to determine arousal, dominance and pleasure, according to the University of Florida’s Center for the Study of Emotion and Attention.
“The rise of the web and social media provides the unprecedented power to analyze changes in people’s collective mood and behavior on a massive scale,” Luis Rocha, a researcher who co-led the study, said in a statement. “This study is the first ‘planetary-level’ look at human reproduction as it relates to people’s moods and interest in sex online.”
The analysis ultimately revealed to officials that interests in sex spiked during major cultural or religious celebrations based on the increased use of the word “sex” or similar sexual terms in web searches. Officials later indicated that the peak corresponded with an increase in births nine months after the holiday in countries that provided birth-rate data.However, the study did not find the same correlation when it came to holidays such as Easter and Thanksgiving.
“We observe that Christmas are characterized by distinct collective moods that correlate with increased fertility,” Rocha said. “Perhaps people feel a greater motivation to grow their families during holidays when the emphasis is on love and gift-giving to children.”
“The Christmas season is also associated with stories about the baby Jesus and holy family, which may put people in a loving, happy, ‘family mood,’” the researcher added.
Though previous studies suggested that an increase in sex is related to the changing of the seasons, researchers tossed out the notion that biological shifts caused by daylight, temperature and food availability played a role, since the study looked at countries across the world.
According to Rocha, the findings can help public health researchers pinpoint the best time of the year for launching public awareness campaigns to encourage safe sex.
The study was conducted by researchers from Indiana University, Wageningen University and the Instituto Gulbenkian de Ciência.
]]>That day, the beautiful women looking to be crowned Miss Costa Rica expressed their thoughts on political, social and environmental issues in Costa Rica and the world, answering questions sent on video.
Each of the aspiring beauty pageant responded separately to questions, focused on issues such as the employment of women, student exclusion, climate change, in vitro fertilization, domestic violence, gender equality and the US election campaign.
The beauty contest, sponosed by Teletica, will be held on August 19 at the Auditorio Nacional del Centro Costarricense de la Ciencia y la Cultura (Museo de los Niños), in San José, starting at 8:00pm.
Hosts for the event are Mexican actress Carmen Aub (El señor de los cielos) and Randall Vargas (Dancing with the Stars Costa Rica).
In the coming days, Costa Rica Confidential will feature photos of each of the ten contestants:
Andrea Castro
Carolina Rodríguez
Elena Correa
Fabiola Calvo
Hellen Mena
Hellen Morales
Karen Robles
MaríaAlejandraGonzález
María Amalia Matamoros
MaricrisRodríguez
The post Who Will Be The Miss Costa Rica 2016? appeared first on Costa Rica Confidential.
Article first appeared at COSTA RICA CONFIDENTIAL. Click here to go there!
]]>Most crimes involve a victim and a perpetrator. The perpetrator typically looks for his victim and the victim avoids the perpetrator as much as he can. The crime of prostitution, however, is quite different.There are two parties involved but it isn’t clear who the perpetrator is and who the victim is. Moreover, it is in the interest of both the prostitute and the client to do their best to find one another. As a result, prostitution operates just like a market: it is populated by buyers and sellers who mutually benefit when they come together to perform a transaction.
Interesting questions emerge when one thinks of prostitution as a market, but there is surprisingly little research on the economics of this particular profession. How do prostitutes and their customers, or “johns,” find one another? How much do prostitutes charge for a service, or “trick,” and how is that price negotiated? If a john prefers not to use a condom, how much more does he have to pay? How does a prostitute’s wage compare to what she earns for doing other jobs? What happens when there’s a sudden surge in demand for prostitutes, and how do prostitutes meet this demand? The difficulty of obtaining reliable data is partly to blame for the dearth of empirical analysis on the subject.
In a recent study, “An Empirical Analysis of Street-Level Prostitution,” University of Chicago professor Steven D. Levitt and Sudhir Alladi Venkatesh of Columbia University uncover intriguing answers to these questions by using publicly available information from the Chicago Police Department and, more importantly, detailed and real-time transaction data for over 2,200 tricks performed by about 160 prostitutes in three Chicago neighborhoods that the authors collected with the help of pimps and prostitutes.
The bulk of this massive data undertaking was done by trackers who were hired to follow prostitutes for two years. The trackers are mostly former prostitutes. They stood on street corners and sat in brothels, recording valuable information on every trick performed immediately after a customer left. Embedding data trackers in the daily activities of prostitutes and collecting data in real time has the potential to generate more accurate information than standard survey methods. “The prostitutes know the data collectors, trust the data collectors, and hopefully will be honest with the data collectors,” Levitt says.
Location and Organization
Prostitutes want to be where their customers can easily find them, so they tend to cluster in areas well-known to their clients much like stores do in shopping malls. Traditional marketing channels, however, are not open to them. Thus, plying their trade along stretches of major roads is an easy way for customers to survey the market without appearing suspicious. Statistics on official arrests from the Chicago Police Department from August 19, 2005, to May 1, 2007, suggest that prostitution activity is highly concentrated. Nearly half of all prostitution arrests occur in a tiny one-third of one percent of all blocks in the entire city of Chicago.
Drug selling incidents–another market-based crime– likewise occur in far fewer blocks compared with other crimes such as assault, burglary, and theft. However, drug selling is not as concentrated as prostitution. Drug dealers have to be mobile because the law on illegal drugs is more heavily enforced. Moreover, a typical drug buyer will purchase drugs more frequently than a typical john will visit a prostitute. As a result, dealers tend to know their clients better and have other ways of communicating where they will be and how to make a transaction. Prostitutes, on the other hand, deal mostly with strangers.
Looking beyond official statistics, Levitt and Venkatesh gathered and analyzed their own data, beginning with the Roseland and Pullman neighborhoods on the far South Side of Chicago. Although these neighborhoods are adjacent to one another and share similar economic and demographic characteristics, prostitutes in Roseland work without pimps while all street prostitutes in Pullman work with one of four pimps in the area. After approximately 16 months, the authors decided to include the Washington Park neighborhood when a local police campaign drove prostitution in Roseland down by a third and two pimps in Pullman were forced to close shop. Some of the women who were part of the study moved their business to Washington Park.
Prostitutes who work for pimps appear to do better than those who do not, typically working fewer hours and performing fewer tricks but still earning more money. Levitt and Venkatesh found that clients pay about $16 more per trick for women working with pimps, although some of that extra revenue goes to the pimp in return for setting up clients and protecting them against abusive customers. But even after subtracting fees for these services, a prostitute managed by a pimp receives a much higher hourly wage than if she had to fend for herself. Comparing the earnings of a subset of Roseland and Pullman prostitutes, the authors estimated that women who work without pimps earn about $25 per hour while those working with pimps earn 50 percent more.
It isn’t clear why pimps would be willing to pay a rate that is above the minimum required, or what economists call an “efficiency wage.” One possible explanation is that it’s hard for pimps to always keep an eye on the women they manage. Pimps want repeat customers, so they have to make sure that the prostitutes are serving their clients the way the pimps would want them to. By paying more, pimps effectively raise the penalty associated with being fired, which will hopefully induce better behavior on the part of the prostitutes.
The Price of a Trick
The fee for a trick varies with the type of sex act, and prostitutes seem to discriminate across clients in order to maximize profit. White men pay $8 to $9 more per trick than black customers, with Hispanic clients paying some amount in between. When bargaining, prostitutes will usually offer a price to a black customer but will make a white man throw out a number first. Repeat customers pay slightly less than new customers.
The overall price of a trick goes up by $2 if a condom is not used. Although the price premium increases with the risk associated with a particular sex act, it is much smaller than the 24 percent premium that another study reports in a survey of Mexican prostitutes. One possible way to understand this disparity is to look at where the point of bargaining begins. Using a condom is the norm in Mexico, unless a client bargains away from it, which can potentially induce large price increases. In contrast, no condom is the default in Chicago unless the customer bargains toward it, which might make it harder for the prostitute to credibly argue for a higher price.
Still, a $2 premium may seem paltry considering the enormous risk that comes with unprotected sex, not to mention that condom use is shockingly low. Levitt and Venkatesh found that condoms are used in only one of every four tricks, making the risk of contracting a sexually transmitted infection very high. These women face other perils as well. Prostitutes report that they are violently assaulted about once every month. Compared with jobs outside of prostitution, such as a daycare or babysitting job, prostitutes earn far more at about $25 to $30 per hour, or, roughly four times what they would take home otherwise. But because prostitution is such a dangerous, unpleasant, and stigmatizing job, are these women really earning enough to compensate them for the risks they bear?
From an outsider’s perspective, an $18 per hour wage premium doesn’t seem like a very generous enticement to do such a seemingly rotten job. However, Levitt says that from the prostitutes’ point of view and given the menu of options they have, they must believe that it is a fair compensation because they have chosen this profession. Many of them will do other work as well and prostitution is just part of a portfolio of ways that women get by in these communities. “Prostitution doesn’t seem to be a stark moral choice,” says Levitt. “It’s like a job. When it pays better, women will quit other jobs to do it.”
For example, Levitt and Venkatesh found that during the Fourth of July holiday, demand for prostitution in the Washington Park neighborhood shot up because of a large number of people who came to join the festivities in the park. As a result, the price for a trick increased by about 30 percent. To absorb this rise in demand, regular neighborhood prostitutes worked more hours while prostitutes from outside provided additional tricks. But there were other recruits, too. Women who were typically not prostitutes were willing to supply tricks at the higher price that accompanied the holiday spike in demand.
Crime and Punishment
In contrast to selling illegal drugs, there doesn’t seem to be much public will to punish prostitutes and even less to punish the men who frequent the prostitutes. “I think society has decided that prostitution is not a very grave offense, and it is treated accordingly,” says Levitt.
As a result, the risk of incarceration is low. Combining data on police arrests from the Chicago Police Department and the results of the authors’ own survey, the study estimates that prostitutes are arrested only once in every 450 tricks, but only one in ten of these arrests will lead to a prison sentence. Johns are arrested even less frequently, with only one john arrested for every 1,200 tricks.
But perhaps more striking is the rate at which a police officer can extort free sex from a prostitute. Levitt and Venkatesh found that about one in 30 tricks performed by a prostitute is a freebie to the police in return for avoiding arrest. In other words, a prostitute is more likely to have sex with an on-duty police officer than to be arrested by one.
“That is a statement about prostitution, and at its heart, it’s a statement about how confusing and topsy-turvy life in the inner city is when the police who are there to enforce the law end up being some of the lawbreakers,” Levitt says. The knowledge gained from the study on how the inner city works may be useful in understanding which avenues are available when forming public policy. “If the police are busier having sex with prostitutes than arresting them, then it gives more realism about what one can and cannot expect when designing policies for the inner city,” says Levitt.
A recent article in Pressroomvip.com listing the “5 Sex Tourism Destinations That Can Make Your Wildest Dreams Come True“, Costa Rica does not make the cut.
It wasn’t long ago that Costa Rica was at the top of its game (bottom, depends from your points of view) when it came to be tops for sex. Now, it can’t even make a top 5 list?
Just to play along, here is the Pressroomvip.com list, in reverse order:
5. Thailand
I’m sure you’re not surprised that Thailand is on the list. It’s actually the #1 legal sex tourism spot. Many Thai people believe that prostitution is a necessary part of their culture. And because of that, there are more than three million sex workers in Thailand. A vast majority of their sex workers are ‘ladyboys’, which I’m sure you’ve seen in Hangover 3 when the guys journeyed through Bangkok. And sadly, there are a lot of minor workers, too.
4. Brazil
Brazil is known for its gorgeous, exotic women, beautiful beaches and boisterous carnivals. But the women are the real ticket to the country’s thriving sex tourism and trafficking business. It’s legal, and the country supports it.
Back in 2014, the government provided free English, Spanish and German lessons to their native workers to help them chat with potential clients in town for the World Cup. They also launched the ‘I am happy being a prostitute’ campaign to promote safe sex and the brighter side to prostitution.
3. Colombia
Even though Colombia is known for its infamous drug lords, it’s also a hot spot for sex tourism. It’s been said that one of the reasons Colombia’s sex tourism became so widely known is because many Colombian sex workers will lower their prices if the customer is attractive.
2. Amsterdam
World famous for its legalization and well-regulation of prostitution, Amsterdam is one of the world’s sex tourism capitals. It’s notorious red-light district, De Wallen, is the largest and most famous red-light district in the city that caters to every kind of fetish and offers safe sexual relations.
And number 1, drum roll please…
1. Dominican Republic
There are anywhere between 60,000 to 100,000 women working in the DR sex trade. Prostitution isn’t illegal in the DR, but having intercourse with a minor is — and there are many minors who work as sex workers. One of the reasons sex tourism is so popular here is because of its near location to the U.S.
]]>Alyssa Ramos, 27, is behind the My Life’s a Movie blog and has currently travelled to 32 countries over six continents – all by herself.
But the Los Angeles resident has decided to come forward to explain her reasons for travelling alone after becoming tired of people assuming she was getting over a break-up or was a prostitute soliciting business.
Writing in the Huffington Post, she said: “Let me solve it for you: I travel alone because I can ; I don’t really like waiting around for other people to go with me.
“I certainly haven’t figured out how to use my face to purchase a plane ticket online, and although many random creepy men have offered plenty of free ones to me, I always decline, because I’d rather travel alone than be used for decoration.”
Just in case further clarification was necessary to inspire young female travellers to go it alone, Alyssa said she is often mistaken for a prostitute – which she most definitely is not.
first PAID travel writing assignment by @geochic_magazine to CUBA
where I was one of the 
“Not only is it beyond irritating and embarrassing, especially since it’s typically accompanied with snickers and whispers that I can hear , but it’s disappointing that people seriously don’t think that a young, “pretty girl” would be traveling alone, solely for the sake of traveling,” she added.
She also insists that she is not getting over a relationship ,while acknowledging that travelling the world to do so would be a ‘genius idea’.
She added: “I get it, a lot of people think a 27-year-old girl should be in a committed relationship. Well, it’s 20-f*cking-15, and the only commitment I have at the moment is traveling the world, and I think I’m doing a pretty damn good job at it by myself”.
A photo posted by Alyssa Ramos
MyLifesAMovie (@mylifesatravelmovie) on
Side note: this was my first “shower” of the 4 day hike and it was beyond freezing 
#chasingwaterfalls #Peru #Cusco #MachuPicchu #IncaTrail @valenciatravelcusco #MyLifesaMovie #travelblogger #besthikes #beautifuldestinations #travelstoke #timeoutsociety #dametraveler #goprogirl #goprotravel #huffposttravelPerhaps most condescendingly, Alyssa says she is often confronted with questions asking who pays for her worldwide excursions.
Dispelling the idea of a secret ‘sugar daddy’, she said: “There’s no secret sugar daddy, I’d never ask my parents for money and I didn’t start a crowdfunding campaign or win a contest. I paid for it.
“Just because I’m a “pretty girl” doesn’t mean I’m not capable of earning money and saving it instead of shopping. In fact, I have a motto: “I’d rather buy a plane ticket than a purse,” and I always do.”
#ELYUNQUE #elyunquerainforest #weouthere #travel #fearlessfemale #ChasingWaterfalls @casaflamboyantpr #PuertoRico #QueRico #MyLifesAMovie #travelblogger #travelstoke #travelawesome #gopro #GoProGirl #HuffPostTravelAnd, unfortunately, for Alyssa, her pretty looks don’t always seem to bring the kind of attention she would prefer.
“I have to be a big girl and also acknowledge that not everyone is toxic and evil… some people really do just think I’m “pretty,” and that’s very nice of them,” she added.
“They probably don’t think I’m smart, or hilarious or that I run my own charity, but hey, I guess that’s better than assuming I’m a prostitute!”
From Mirror.co.uk; Mylifesamovie.com/
]]>In his book, Dr. Lamm says: “All health issues have effects on your penis. A 50-year-old man who is healthy is probably performing as well sexually as an out-of-shape 30-year-old who smokes and drinks”.In his book, Dr. Lamm says: “All health issues have effects on your penis. A 50-year-old man who is healthy is probably performing as well sexually as an out-of-shape 30-year-old who smokes and drinks”.
Medical experts explain that healthy blood flow is essential to rock – hard erections, but many other physical and mental health factors play a role in good penis functionality.
For example, if you are under stress because of work or poor relationships, if you suffer from depression, if you are addicted to alcohol or drugs, or woefully overweight and out of shape, that miraculous mechanical wonder between your legs won’t work as well as it could.
However, there are many things you can do in order to keep your member in good standing so you can still have sex well into your 80s and maybe even beyond.
All men should do favor to their private parts.
1. Do a Ball Check
According to statistics, testicular cancer strikes about 8,000 men per a year, mostly young men between the age of 15 and 40. In case you caught the testicular cancer early enough, it can be cured more than 95 % of the time. Otherwise, if is left undetected, it can spread to other parts of the body. So, it is important to check in with your boys once a month.
Larry Lipshultz, M.D. is chief of the division of male reproductive medicine at Baylor College of Medicine and urology advisor. Here’s the play-by-play:
Step 1. Take a hot bath or shower. Warm water relaxes the muscles that pull the testicles up into your scrotum, allowing you to handle them more easily.
Step 2. Cup your scrotum. Feel both testicles at once. They may not be identical, but there shouldn’t be any dramatic difference in size.
Step 3. Gently examine each testicle individually with both hands. Place your index and middle fingers underneath and your thumbs on top of a testicle. Roll the testicle between your fingers around the entire surface for about 30 seconds using light pressure. Feel for lumps or bumps. Each testicle should feel smooth like a peeled hard boiled egg.
In case if you think you felt something you should not panic. Many men mistake the epididymis, a soft tube located in the back of each testicle, for a bump. If you’re unsure or if you feel any other bumps, consult your doctor.
2. Lose the Belly
It is important to lead healthy lifestyle, eat a healthy diet and exercise regularly. On that way you will achieve ideal body weight and eliminate the fat around your gut. Abdominal fat blocks the testosterone that should be available to you, which in turn affects sexual functioning. Fat gut is very bad marker for overall health, including the sexual health.
Namely, the penis is a barometer for your heart and artery health or a “canary in the coal mine” that can warn you of impending trouble. That’s because a penile artery is quite a bit narrower than a coronary artery. If plaque and artery hardening is starting to occur, it’ll often show up first by affecting your erection.
For a complete diet and exercise program that will banish your belly fat, check out Lose Your Spare Tire.
3. Take a Walk Every Day
You should know that when you exercise, blood flow increases, the blood rushes through the endothelial cells (the lining of the blood vessels) and on that way stimulates them to make more nitric oxide, a key chemical involved in producing erections.
Dr. Lamm says: “The healthier a man is, the more nitric oxide he produces, and the harder his erection is”.
It is proven that exercise is effective as medication in reducing symptoms of mild depression, another downer for penis performance.
4. Go to Bed Earlier
Keep in mind that testosterone levels peak in the morning for men. So, irregular sleep patterns, or getting fewer than 7 hours of sleep, can affect the quality of your sleep and your sexual health.
Poor sleep is also associated with many health issues that contribute to sexual problems including high blood pressure, sleep apnea and diabetes.
5. Relax and Unwind
Stress can trigger the fight – or – flight response, especially in men. When that happens, your nervous system floods your body with stress hormones like adrenaline. Adrenaline spurs the heart to beat faster and your blood vessels to constrict so that blood is directed to where it’s needed most to deal with the crisis—your muscles, not your penis.
6. Drink Moderately
Although glass of red wine may fuel the libido, remember that full bottle may screw with your penis – brain circuitry and eliminate any chance of getting an erection.
Clinical studies have shown that alcohol acts as a depressant in the brain, dulling anxiety and inhibitions about sex, but larger amounts can have the opposite effect.
7. Quit Smoking
Dr. Lamm in his book says: “Smoking just clenches down on your blood vessels and prevents them from being reactive”.
Nicotine actually restricts penile blood flow and weakens erections. It contributes to plaque buildup in the arteries, making smokers twice as likely to experience erectile dysfunction.
8. Eat More Fish
It is important to mention that omega – 3 fatty acids DHA and EPA are good for heart and penis health. But toxins like PCBs and dioxins in some fish can hit you below the belt by reducing your sperm count and lowering testosterone.
You should try to avoid large bluefish, striped bass, and farmed salmon. PCBs and dioxins accumulate in the fatty tissues of those fish more so than in younger, smaller fish or species such as wild salmon, skipjack tuna, or sea bass.
9. Pop Supplementals
In case if you don’t like fish, and you don’t consume two to three servings of fatty fish per week, it is recommended to take two omega – 3 fatty – acid supplements per a day, totaling at least 300 milligrams (mg) of DHA and 400 mg of EPA as a kind of insurance policy.
Another suggestion is to take the antioxidants pycnogenol (80 mg) and L – arginine (3 grams) daily. They will shield your endothelium from harm and facilitate the use of nitric oxide.
Source: /www.menshealth.com
]]>Every issue has a model on the cover, big disappointment when you open it. Turn on the Internet.
And, over the years, there have been some surprising celebrities that have posed for the front of the publication. Number 14 will suprise you!
1. Drew Barrymore
2. Cindy Crawford
3. Mariah Carey
4. Dolly Parton
5. Denise Richards
And from all the evidence I’ve found, I’m far from alone. “Too slimy and soft/mushy,” one of my friends declared. “I hate it,” another texted me, not deigning to elaborate. “Too slobbery, too intense, too much gratitude expected,” said one commenter under an anti-pussy-eating confessional. One anti-oral crusader emailed me to complain: “Instead of learning useful hand techniques, most men smush their faces into my pussy and think I’ll be impressed with the effort.” Amen, sister. I’ve lamented the epidemic of fingering-phobia with more friends than I can count, as we wondered what should be done about the many men who’d love to use their mouths for 30 minutes but not their hands for five. And these are the same complaints echoed again and again when women write about why they’re not as enthusiastic about being eaten out as pop culture tells them they should be. One pro-head propagandist asserts it’s only done well about a third of the time. (A pretty generous estimate, in my, and others’, opinions.)
And bad oral is really, really bad. Like, not even worth the considerable risk of complete libido shut down if all does not go well. Where do I begin? There’s the exaggerated head movements. The humming. The saliva application so excessive I start worrying I’m experiencing anal leakage. Not only is it often performative and clueless—all show, no technique—but, for me anyway, stimulation that doesn’t actually feel good ruins me for stimulation that does. Under normal circumstances I might be really hot for that D, but if it’s delivered after ten minutes of bad head? Forget it.
There’s a reason for this recent proliferation of anti-oral screeds, mine included: Modern men are relentless in insisting they do it to us.
It didn’t always used to be this way. In the (very recent) bad old days, not only was women’s sexual pleasure emphatically not a priority, but the only acceptable way for her to derive any was supposed to be penis-in-vagina intercourse. But gradually, thanks to the sexual revolution and pro-clit feminism, men began to adopt a different attitude. Today, books like She Comes First are seminal sex manuals and sites like Bro Bible and Men’s Health share tips about how to better go down on a woman without making it out to be a big deal. American Pie, the movie that (ugh) defined a generation featured one man passing down the crucial skill to another, and getting him properly laid—i.e. “real” sex—as a direct result of his skill. And the rough, crying girl, Max Hardcore-lite gonzo porn of the early aughts has given way to the Kink.com trend of performers trembling through numerous orgasmic seizures, sometimes forced out of them by the infamous Hitachi magic wand.
There’s no doubt that some straight guys still deride women’s genitals as gross or dirty, and refuse to reciprocate the oral sex they inevitably receive, but we’re at the point where even hugely popular rappers brag about doing it. Straight masculinity has been reframed as establishing dominance through “giving” a woman orgasms, even if those orgasms are not—contrary to previous priorities—strictly penis-induced.
So in 2016, pussy eaters are far from rarities. There’s a good chance that by now, men who like doing it vastly outnumber those who refuse. Take the word of women who hate receiving; we pretty much have to physically fight guys off to stop them from latching onto us with their mouths. If you don’t respond positively to the basic experience of being eaten out, even competent oral is pretty icky.
But certain men aren’t willing to hear this. They often won’t listen to our clear statements that we’re not into it, because they’re going to be the special slobbery snowflakes who finally convince us how wrong we are about our own bodies. For men who appear to be in it only for their own ego—like Cosmo Frank—eating a woman out is far from proof positive of respecting her as an equal human being. It’s all about establishing how sexually accomplished and maybe even how feminist (!) they are.
If you believe the smear campaign against women who don’t like receiving oral, the reason for any distaste is elementary: The chick is just too insecure to enjoy it.
Certainly, this is an improvement from a time when the entire Western world seemed to have agreed to pretend the clitoris didn’t exist. But patriarchy and the cis-het norms inherent to it have a nasty way of reasserting themselves inside new, ostensibly progressive forms. Dan Savage’s widely embraced “GGG” (good, giving, game) mantra is today’s shorthand for being sexy, which means a wide variety of physical intimacy “within reason” should be on the table no matter what an individual’s own tastes. (Savage bestows a Get Out of Jail Free Card to partners with “fetish-too-far” requests like puke, excrement, and “extreme” bondage.)
Our current social standard for savvy young men and women is the sort of judgment-free fluidity—often called “open-mindedness”—that precludes people of all genders from expressing distaste for any sexual activity, lest they seem prudish and inexperienced. We’ve made oral sex de rigueur for progressive, or simply “standard,” sex—Dan Savage’s decree that you should dump someone who won’t do it to you, for instance, presumes universality of enjoyment.
We’ve gone so far that we’re back in a place where many women are pressured into pretending they enjoy something that doesn’t feel that good to them or else be shamed when they turn it down. It looks a lot like the same situation we were in before when vaginal, PIV-induced orgasms reigned supreme, right down to the outspokenly progressive, allegedly enlightened dudes accusing any woman resistant to a certain type of sex (oral, casual, or simply with them) as standing in the way of revolution.
If you believe the smear campaign against women who don’t like receiving oral, the reason for any distaste is elementary: The chick is just too insecure to enjoy it. Pop psychology says that if a woman doesn’t like a guy tonguing her, it’s because she’s neurotic and hates her own body. “A lot of women don’t like getting eaten out because they’re insecure about how their pussies look,” one site confidently states. “A lot of women have hangups about oral sex,” says another, which goes on enumerate these as “genital shame” and “trust issues.” One doctor’s advice column characterized a typical internal monologue as “good girls don’t have sex just for their own pleasure…”
No man, and dare I say no human, deserves a gold star just because they’re willing to put lips to labia.
In other words, uptight, fretful broads can’t relax enough to enjoy this premium sex thing—which obviously always feels amazing just by virtue of it involving her junk—and so the lack of enjoyment is almost entirely on her and not her partner. This rhetoric is not progress.
Many straight women are sexually experienced, sexually voracious, self-assured people who know what they like in bed. Some of them know that they don’t like laying back and taking a licking. Yet there’s a micro-industry that equates self-confidence with enjoying oral, while tacitly admitting that enjoying it may not be the norm. Articles purporting to help women learn to love being eaten out often suggest recipients are self-conscious of how long it takes them to come, worried that the man administering the oh-so-progressive mouth love is getting bored.
Folks, we aren’t worried about the guy. We know he’s loving it. We’re the ones who are bored. Because in spite of all the hype, some sex educators have found that only about 14% of women report that receiving oral sex is the easiest way for them to get off. And if we do take a long time to come (whatever that means, by whoever’s arbitrary standards) it’s likely because the stimulation isn’t that successful. Women’s orgasms don’t take any longer than men’s—if they’re masturbating. Look it up.
Ultimately, the reason why some women don’t like oral sex is irrelevant. So what if someone is too self-conscious to enjoy it? She should endure an unspecified number of uncomfortable and unsexy sessions in the hope of forcefully changing her own mind? Since when does it show more confidence to allow a man to do whatever he want to your body than it does to speak up about what you actually enjoy? Or to suffer through something sexually unsatisfying to prove some larger point?
And for the record, the number one impediment to men being any good at crooning to the conch is their conviction that showing up is the only effort required. Going down on a woman is like any skill; it takes intelligence, attention, and practice. Putting your face in the general vicinity of someone else’s genitals is simply not sufficient. Combine baseless, wrongful self-congratulation with the already inflated yet desperate male ego, and it’s a recipe for very bad sex indeed. If you’re a guy reading this, and you’re feeling exasperated, please don’t. There’s a very simple rule: Be as effusive about going down on a girl as you want to be, but don’t let your own excitement for it manifest as ignoring her disinterest.
The big secret about eating pussy is that it’s really fun to do. As someone who has tongue-tickled the pearly boat—people call it that, right?—on more than one occasion, I can report that it’s extremely sexy. No man, and dare I say no human, deserves a gold star just because they’re willing to put lips to labia. Such a notion is just another part of the patriarchal conspiracy to keep women’s sexual standards low.
So go forth with your hatred of being dined upon, my fellow harlots. A sexual revolution that requires we endure head when we don’t want it is a revolution that comes at too high a price.
*This article primarily addresses het sex because the vast amount of pro-head propaganda out there presumes the women it addresses are straight, and I’ve not come across forums of queer women speculating that their female partners aren’t wild about being eaten out because they hate their bodies. But if you’re a queer woman pressuring your partner to submit to oral sex when you know they don’t like it, you should feel bad, too!
Read more at Fusion.net
]]>The researchers hope that the device can be used as a training device for medical students to become skilled in breast examinations among other exams that require feeling body parts. Yeah, and we like ask women to spread their legs for us so we can study gynaecology.
The device makes use of haptic feedback that can simulate realistic tactile sensations in each individual fingertip and hence why the researchers, from Gifu University in Japan, have dubbed their invention a “multi-fingered haptic interface robot.”
Getting enough volunteers for examination practice is simply not possible, especially when the student needs to be able to detect lumps in various areas of the body. The haptic device means that one device could replicate limitless situations of lump size and location without the need for hundreds of different silicone models or volunteers who are suffering cancer.
The device constrains the motion of your fingers and hands to replicate various softness and although there is no physical model to look at while performing the hands on examination, the students would watch a 3-D model on screen or even make use of virtual reality glasses.
Fingertips are incredibly sensitive and detect the slightest of nuances so the team certainly had a challenge when it came to simulating touch and softness.
The researchers showed off their invention at IEEE International Conference on Robotics and Automation (ICRA) in Hong Kong. The IEEE website explains:
To simulate softness, the sheet of gel is stretched by two tiny rollers with a gap between them, so that a strip of gel is suspended in the air. Your finger rests on this strip. By using a motor and a set of gears to move the rollers, the tension on the strip of gel can be increased or decreased. Increasing the tension (pulling the strip tighter) makes it feel harder under your finger, while decreasing the tension (letting the strip get looser) makes it feel softer [see diagram below].
via: [IEEE]
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In their report from Fusion.net we get a glimpse of the leaked cellphone video of incarcerated gangsters cheering on three naked women during a prison yard porno party in one of El Salvador’s maximum-security penitentiaries.
The video has sent shockwaves across social media and led to an embarrassing government probe into what—in the name of goodness—is happening behind the country’s prison walls.
The video, apparently shot by an inmate back in September 2012, during the heyday of the former gang truce, shows three women strip and engage in sexually explicit acts in front of a crowd of dozens—if not hundreds—of tattooed gangbangers in the Izalco prison in Sonsonate. The party was allegedly part of the prisoners’ annual celebration of Virgin of Mercy, the patron saint of inmates.
The porno party, which included lap dances and other forms of audience participation, is thought to have been a perquisite of the gang truce, a controversial 15-month negotiated ceasefire that helped quiet the guns for period back in 2012-2013.
Here’s a censored clip of the video. The original is nearly 5 minutes long.
Though the video is several years old, it’s leak to the media this week has been cause for mild scandal in a country with more than it’s fair share of scandals. Authorities this week launched an official investigation, as Salvadorans sounded off on social media.
The implication is that the porno party had the imprimatur of prison officials—or possibly even the central government—as a way to keep prisoners’ spirits up during the negotiations of the gang truce, which came unhinged by July 2013. But those involved with the former gang talks suspect that the video’s release is part of a dirty politics campaign by rightwing elements who are trying to further discredit the former truce and justify a continued military crackdown on gangs.
“This is an attempt to attack the gang truce for the purpose of undermining any idea of dialogue. This type of thing (prison porno party) was NEVER part of the gang truce,” former FMLN guerrilla and gang mediator Paolo Luers told me this week by email. “This was not part of the deal that mediators negotiated with the government to create a more favorable climate for the truce.”
The gang truce between the Barrio 18 and MS-13 was mostly negotiated among the ranfla, or top gang leadership, who are all incarcerated in maximum security prisons but still run the streets from behind bars.
Luers says the only things mediators ever negotiated with incarcerated gangsters in exchange for the truce was increased access to family visits, access to books and newspapers, better health care, and more conjugal visits, “but not with prostitutes.”
“We never coordinated parties like the one in this video,” Luers insists. “On the contrary, we tried to reduce the levels of corruption that have always existed in prison, before, during, and after the gang truce.”
Luers says he suspects the the release of the video could also be part of a political play to removal of the country’s defense minister and other high members of the government’s security apparatus.
Since the gang truce was left for dead, violence in El Salvador has spiked to new horrifying levels, making this Central American nation one of the most dangerous countries in the hemisphere.
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