| Wednesday, January 30, 2008 | ||
| Goodbye, Columbus (and don’t forget the gifts) | ||
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There is one episode of Euro-American history that keeps getting left out of the history books. Its funny how that happens, considering this affair seems to have changed medical and social history for the last five centuries and is still undefeatedly present. The year was 1494 and it’s the first time Syphilis showed up in documented history. Some say it was around before that and at this time mutated into its cruel form; others say that it has such a wide range of expressions that it wasn’t before recognized as one disease. The leading theory held that Syphilis was a grand gift from Christopher Columbus to the Old World. ¿Cómo?  The idea is that Columbus rocked up in “the New World” where he and his crew plundered the innocent and rich Americas before returning to Europe with the great news that the world wasn’t flat and the natives on the other end were sweet. So much sweetness was discovered there, that the sailors brought it home, incubated in their loins. It was in Naples, one of Europe’s great ports, that this outbreak of Syphilis occurred, just around the time that Columbus’ fleet returned and said “ahoy”, sharing the prizes of their expedition with the local girls and boys. This is a very old story, so why is it of relevance now? New research from Emory University has added support to the old theory. By using genetic tools, evolutionary biologists (Harper et al.) were able to study the syphilis family tree and match this to its cousins from the Americas. A bacteria that causes a tropical disease, yaws, seems to be the one that made the trans-Atlantic trip and learned to pass over through sexual transmission. If you’re questioning how and where such a story could be included in a history book, perhaps it would go well in the section on the wonders of globalization. More on The Most Legendary Disease - Syphilis |
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| Wednesday, January 23, 2008 | ||
| Going Both Ways and Staying That Way | ||
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Bisexuals tend to get a bad rap in the queer community, where they are often seen as gays who aren’t fully out. This is one of the oddities of the gay world; instead of being open-minded to sexual orientation, there is a lot of absolutism. And bi’s sometimes land up being left on the fence. On the spikes. |
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| Tuesday, January 15, 2008 | ||
| Look Whose Doing the Sex Education Now | ||
Las Vegas was the scene this week of an even higher than usual concentration of augmented breasts, lips and other more hidden body parts. The AVN (Adult Video News) held its annual Adult Entertainment Expo. It wasn’t quite the Oscars, but there were still cameras clicking everywhere. It may have had something to do with the scantily-clad porn actresses abounding.  Putting aside any arguments on the pros and cons of porn, the industry that has been trying so hard to upgrade its reputation, including using a nice, sterile name like “Adult Entertainment”, has kicked itself in the proverbial big balls. The porn industry, if you don’t mind me calling them that, has spent a lot of money and effort over the past few years implementing and publicizing “safe sex” practices, mostly in the form of monthly STD testing. Yet, when the cameras turned to the actors in Vegas, there were very few who had something constructive to say about playing it safe. By their own admission, actors tend to count on routine testing and dismiss condoms altogether. In fact, an ABC news team interviewed a stream of female actors and male directors who used their dubious celebrity to inform all those who would listen, that condoms are uncomfortable, uncool and simply ruin the fantasy. So here’s a thought for those folks who believe it’s unthinkable that condom use be included in school sex education curricula: if you don’t give teens a better understanding of condoms, then this is the information that they are going to be weighing up when considering what kind of sex they’ll be having. One last word to the artists: I realize that your co-stars are an exceptional lot who couldn’t possible be susceptible to STDs, but just in case someone were to pick up something, y’all should know that not every infection shows up on tests and even those that do, take time to register. If I were you I’d run along and check what health insurance policy the Adult Industry provides. |
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| Monday, January 07, 2008 | ||
| Go Broncos! | ||
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When you think of the sexiest cities in the US, what comes to mind? Most likely, it's not Denver. There are a thousand ways that people have tried to measure where and how sex is happening. A recent study by ACNielson Marketing used the sales of contraceptives as their measure of sexual activity. They came up with some surprising results.  Of all the cities in the US, it was the Denverites who took the cup. This doesn't necessarily mean that they are having the most sex, but it seems to indicate they're having the most safe sex, or perhaps, they are planning for the most safe sex. Whatever the case, they're doing it more than anywhere else, including New York, LA, San Francisco, Las Vegas and other supposed sex capitals. Other cities that excelled in condom and contraceptive sales were Cincinnati, San Antonio, Seattle, Washington DC and - brace yourselves - Salt Lake City. Perhaps we shouldn't be surprised; its always the quiet ones, isnt it? It would seem that there is something to be said for disregarding the stereotypes, not to mention visiting some of the hickier parts of America. |
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| Friday, January 04, 2008 | ||
| Flying in the Face of it | ||
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Although I’m not always sure what value animal studies bring to our understanding of human sexual behaviour, here is one study that I just can’t resist mentioning. A bunch of neuroscientists at Penn State (Kyung-An Han, et al.) have been getting fruit flies drunk and watching how they go about their business.  First we learn from the research that this team of scientists is not the first to get fruit flies drunk; they simply found a method to induce a state of constant inebriation using ethanol over many days, rather than the accepted method of a one-time smash-up. Considering that fruit flies typically live a little over 2 weeks in total, spending a week or so pissed would easily make them into alcoholics. This raises a whole new level of debate on the question of the cruelty of animal experimentation. But this is not even the strangest part of the story. As it turns out, drunken male flies will start picking up other boy flies when they’ve gone over their limit. (I believe the term that the research team uses is “ethanol-induced inter-male courtship”). Now just think about this. With six legs and a couple of wings, an uninvited, drunken come-on can be quite a frightful thing, especially if it’s not the way you swing. Or fly. But something about this level of drunkenness affects the male flies’ sexual arousal and it decreases their inhibition and next thing you know, it’s a frat party with a difference. The researchers, of course, are thrilled with their findings. According to them, this demonstrates how sexual tendencies, which are believed to be determined during the developmental stage of life, can be powerfully influenced by the environment. Just think of the interesting coalitions that can come out of this. |
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