photo by Nathan Csonka
A new study out from the CDC shows that herpes is twice as common in women than men, and three times as common in blacks than whites. A massive 48% of black women are infected. We called on Dr. Vanessa Cullins, an obstetrician/gynecologist and vice president for medical affairs at Planned Parenthood, to get the story behind these depressing statistics.
Em & Lo: Can you briefly explain the difference between HSV-1 and HSV-2, and how they are related to oral vs genital herpes?
Dr. Cullins: Herpes is a very common infection caused by two different but closely related viruses — herpes simplex virus type 1 (HSV-1) and herpes simplex virus type 2 (HSV-2). Both are easy to catch. They remain in the body for life, and can produce symptoms that come and go. Both forms of herpes can infect the oral area, the genital area, or both. When the infection is on or near the mouth, it is called oral herpes. Oral herpes is caused most often by HSV-1. When herpes infection is on or near the sex organs, it is called genital herpes. Genital herpes is caused most often by HSV-2.
The study shows that women are nearly twice as likely as men to be infected — why is this?
Herpes infections prefer moist environments and a woman’s sexual organs tend to be more continuously moist than a man’s.
The study also shows that the infection rate is three times higher amongst blacks, with 48% of black women being infected. Why the disparity?
Women of color are disproportionately affected by the current health care system that exists in this country. Women who face multiple barriers to accessing affordable health care, including being uninsured or under-insured, experience higher rates of sexually transmitted infections and other medical conditions.
Read the rest of this post on SUNfiltered
photo by je@n
Go ahead: try to answer that question. It’s tougher than you might think. Does it mean intercourse? Then how do gay people “have sex”? Does it involve penetration? Then what about those who only climax from external stimulation? Does it involve orgasm? Then what about all the women who’ve had sexual relations with a second party but never climaxed? Does oral sex count? Not since the Clinton days. Well, the Kinsey Institute at Indiana University recently studied this gray area and found no consensus. So what do you think? What does “having sex” mean to you?
Read more about this study on SUNfiltered
photo by Marina(im.back)
You might have seen the headlines this week that read “Rise in Teen Pregnancy Rates.” Of course what’s missing from that title is the fact that these are not real-time figures they’re talking about. The 3% rise in teen pregnancies among 15-to-19-year-olds increased between 2005 and 2006 — the first jump since 1990. We’re sure there are multiple causes for the jump, but you cannot discount the impact of 1.5 billion dollars worth of abstinence-only programs pushed over the past 10 years, especially during the two Bush terms — programs that have been proven time and again not to work. This should be a wake-up call to Americans to accept the fact that many post-pubescent teens are going to have sex…
Read the rest of this post on SUNfiltered
OkCupid.com is a free online dating site (with, btw, a weirdly all-male staff, save for the one woman on their about page whose title is, even more disturbingly, “office chick”). They cataloged over 7000 photographs (with average attraction ratings and aged 18 to 32) on their site, analyzing 1) facial attitude (Is the person smiling? Staring straight ahead? Doing that flirty lip-pursing thing?), 2) photo context (Is there alcohol? Is there a pet? Is the photo outdoors? Is it in a bedroom?) and 3) skin (How much skin is the person showing? How much face? How much breasts? How much ripped abs?) — and they found some interesting, myth-busting things. It’s actually a fascinating article with cool charts and graphs that’s worth a look, but here’s the quick gist of the data:
- Women with photos flirting directly at the camera get more messages than those smiling
- But flirting away from the camera is the worst thing a woman can do for generating responses (same goes for men)
- Men’s photos are most effective when they look away from the camera and don’t smile
- Surprisingly, self-shot pics (e.g. with phone or web cam) are more successful than average for both men and women (but especially women)
- If young guys have hot bodies they do well with responses if they show them off, i.e. go shirtless (they don’t do so well if they are dressed up in the photo)
- Women’s cleavage shots get a lot more responses than average, especially if they’re older (i.e. A 32 year-old woman showing her body gets only 1 less message a month than the equivalent 18 year-old; an older woman not showing off gets 4 messages less)
- But pictures that involve the subject engaged in something interesting result in many more “conversations” (back and forth exchanges)
- You don’t have to show your face, as long as you “substitute in something unusual, sexy, or mysterious enough to make people want to talk to you.”
• This post is a part of Sundance Channel’s Naked Love Blog
• Get the Naked Love RSS feed
photo via IMDB
A recent study by the Pew Research Center, comparing marriages in 2007 with those in 1970, found that husbands whose wives earn more than they do jumped from 4% to 22%. This is partly because, for the first time ever, in the under 44 age group, more women than men have college degrees. Make no mistake, women still earn 77c to the man’s dollar, so things aren’t exactly coming up roses. But still, plenty of women are bringing home the bacon while hubby contributes a few Bacos. So what does this mean for marriages? It depends who you ask. Vera Farmiga’s mid-30’s character in the movie Up in the Air tells a twenty-something woman that it’s “a recipe for disaster” if he earns more than she does. This is in the context of a speech about how you learn to settle as you get older — she says she doesn’t need the whole package anymore, just a good guy with a nice smile and, hopefully, a bit of hair. But definitely a big paycheck. Her character is clearly a high-flying (literally), big-earning career gal, and we are to assume that her sex (or love) life has suffered as a result.
Read the rest of this post on SUNfiltered
photo by MACSURAK
- Oh man, we love behind-the-scenes hotel dirt. Like this recent report from the Novotel chain, claiming that one of their employees was hit on the head by a sex toy thrown over a balcony by an angry husband. Also, apparently hotel guests have left behind items including a $16,000 necklace, fake limbs, sex toys, a snake, a nun’s habit, a riding crop, and a baby (?!).
- A study finds that some women may have lower sex drives because they experience guilty feelings about being sexually aroused. If you thought libido was a tough problem to fix, try guilt…
- Katy Perry says she loves her fiance Russell Brand because of his expansive, er, vocabulary.
Read the rest of this post on SUNfiltered
photo by liz_noise
If you believe the screaming headlines this week, it turns out that after all these years — drumroll please — the G-spot does not exist. That’s right, ladies and gentlemen, the hunt is off! According to the U.K. Daily Telegraph, “Researchers at King’s College London claim there is no evidence for the existence of the G-spot – supposedly a cluster of internal nerve endings – beyond a woman’s imagination.” In other words, please put down your G-spotters and go home.
Except. The so-called proof in this study is that they asked 1,800 women, all pairs of identical or non-identical twins, if they had a G-spot. Because identical twins share all their genes (while non-identical share only 50%), they figured that if one identical twin reported having a G-spot, then her sister was more likely to report having one two. But, um, what if one twin had a better G-spotting toy than the other? What if one twin had never tried out intercourse positions that stimulated the G-spot?
Read the rest of this post on SUNfiltered
March 18, 2010
1 Comment