The Blowfish Blog

Caught in the Net: The Power of Science Compels You

One of humankind’s greatest tools for studying the world is the scientific method, and since humankind tends to be pretty interested in sex, it’s no surprise that the shining light of science is often turned on the delightful (if sometimes darkness-shrouded) subject of sex. Let’s see what science hath wrought:

Yes, you can walk gay. At least, one study published in the Journal of Personality and Social Psychology suggests that sexual orientation can be revealed by body type and movement. They put a group of straight and gay men and women on treadmills, recorded video of them from behind, and then showed the videos to 112 students, who were able to properly identify the sexual orientation of men with over 60% accuracy (though women are apparently more inscrutable; the guessers didn’t do any better guessing lesbians than they would have by flipping a coin).

Science is also providing more reasons to fuck! Studies reveal a wealth of health benefits to weekly shtupping: Preventing colds and flus, making you appear more youthful, preventing migraines, and more. Not getting enough nookie? Maybe you just need a doctor’s note! If you’re trying to have a baby, it turns out you should screw every day. Regular workouts increase your sperm’s health and repairs DNA damage. So tell the wife to put down the ovulation chart and pull up her skirts!

Of course, the reasons people should have sex aren’t necessarily the reasons they do, and science is interested in descriptive as well as prescriptive matters. Some social scientists did a nice big survey to find out why people have sex, and got 237 different reasons. (Me, I can come up with that many just on my own.) The reasons include to “help me fall asleep,” to “return a favor,” to “hurt an enemy,” because “I wanted to feel closer to god,” and because “someone dared me.” The top reasons across both genders were pretty unsurprising: “I was attracted to the person.” “I wanted to express my love for the person.” “I was sexually aroused and wanted the release.” “It’s fun.” Spoiler alert: men say “fun” more, while women say “love” more. Oh, well. Sometimes science just confirms what we already know.

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This entry was posted on Wednesday, 30 January 2008 at 12:00 am and is filed under Caught in the Net. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.