Zimbardo: The Demise Of Guys?

I told you that boys were doomed. Now Almighty Zimbardo can too. It's all about porn and video games. Sorry ladies...


Psychologist Philip Zimbardo asks, "Why are boys struggling?" He shares some stats (lower graduation rates, greater worries about intimacy and relationships) and suggests a few reasons -- and challenges the TED community to think about solutions.

Rihanna Does Whatever She Wants With Her Vagina and for Some Reason That’s a Problem

Sluts. They're the worst, right? Always having sex for pleasure and walking around with visible ankles. Thank god we came up with this foolproof slut eradication technique, where we treat women like garbage for doing totally normal (but gross!) stuff that everyone on earth does all the time! Remember how we used to slut-shame Madonna? That totally worked out. Nobody ever had sex ever again. UNTIL RIHANNA.

jezebel.com

http://jezebel.com/5911023/rihanna-does-whatever-she-wants-with-her-vagina-and-for-some-reason-thats-a-problem?utm_source=Jezebel+Newsletter&utm_campaign=b778e7c0d9-UA-142218-20&utm_medium=email

A Precursor to Playboy: Graphic Images in Rock

Researchers have discovered illustrations of female anatomy in a rock shelter in France that date back 37,000 years.

It is “the oldest evidence of any kind of graphic imagery,” said Randall White, an anthropologist at New York University and one of the researchers working on the project.

New York Times.

http://www.nytimes.com/2012/05/15/science/oldest-cave-art-includes-drawings-of-female-anatomy.html

Regimens: IUD May Be Best Emergency Contraception

In a review of previous studies, researchers have concluded that the insertion of an intrauterine device after unprotected sex is the most effective and safest method of emergency contraception.

New York Times.

http://www.nytimes.com/2012/05/15/health/iud-may-be-best-emergency-contraception-analysis-shows.html?_r=1

Right-wing sexual pathos

Attempts to ban talk of birth control and homosexuality from classrooms reveal conservatives' deepest sexual fears

(Credit: Everett Collection via Shutterstock)

Imagine a high school teacher having to separate a smooching pair outside the classroom door to protect herself from being sued for condoning “gateway sexual activity.” Envision a sex education class where the mention of homosexuality is forbidden by law and discussion of contraception, or even puberty, is deemed unnecessary.

That’s the world that would be created by a recent raft of abstinence education bills in Tennessee, Utah and Wisconsin. These initiatives are frightening — but, viewed the right way, they shine light on extreme conservatives’ deepest, darkest fears about sex. They’re veritable inkblot tests for right-wing sexual pathos.

Georgia: Study Finds Teenage Girls Are Using Better Birth Control

More teenage girls now use the best kinds of birth control, a new government study says. About 60 percent of teenage girls who have sex use the most effective kinds of contraception, including the pill and the patch. That is an increase from the mid-90s, when less than half were using such kinds of contraception, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention found in a study released Thursday. The study is based on a national survey of 2,300 girls ages 15 to 19, conducted between 2006 and 2010. The trend toward better contraception is helping to drive down the teenage birthrate, health officials said. Crystal Tyler, a C.D.C. epidemiologist who was a writer of the new report, said that doctors seemed to be increasingly comfortable prescribing hormonal birth control methods to teenagers.

New York Times.

http://www.nytimes.com/2012/05/04/us/georgia-study-finds-teenage-girls-are-using-better-birth-control.html?smid=fb-share

Teen Girls Just Aren’t Slutting It Up Like They Used To

This is going to come as very upsetting news to Republicans fighting tooth and nail to take sex education back into the stone ages, but a new survey has found that teenage girls these days are waiting longer to have sex, and when they do finally go for it, more of them are using the most effective kinds of contraception.

Homophobic? Maybe You’re Gay

WHY are political and religious figures who campaign against gay rights so often implicated in sexual encounters with same-sex partners?

In recent years, Ted Haggard, an evangelical leader who preached that homosexuality was a sin, resigned after a scandal involving a former male prostitute; Larry Craig, a United States senator who opposed including sexual orientation in hate-crime legislation, was arrested on suspicion of lewd conduct in a men’s bathroom; and Glenn Murphy Jr., a leader of the Young Republican National Convention and an opponent of same-sex marriage, pleaded guilty to a lesser charge after being accused of sexually assaulting another man.