People Have Sex Because It Feels Good - DUH!

August 02, 2007

Study: People have sex because it feels good

After exhaustively compiling a list of the 237 reasons why people have sex, researchers found that young men and women get intimate for mostly the same motivations. It's more about lust in the body than a love connection in the heart.

College-aged men and women agree on their top reasons for having sex: they were attracted to the person, they wanted to experience physical pleasure and ''it feels good,'' according to a peer-reviewed study in the August edition of Archives of Sexual Behavior. Twenty of the top 25 reasons given for having sex were the same for men and women.

Expressing love and showing affection were in the top 10 for both men and women, but they did take a back seat to the clear No. 1: ''I was attracted to the person.''

Researchers at the University of Texas spent five years and their own money to study the overlooked why behind sex while others were spending their time on the how.

''It's refuted a lot of gender stereotypes ... that men only want sex for the physical pleasure and women want love,'' said University of Texas clinical psychology professor Cindy Meston, the study's co-author. ''That's not what I came up with in my findings.''

Forget thinking that men are from Mars and women from Venus, ''the more we look, the more we find similarity,'' said Dr. Irwin Goldstein, director of sexual medicine at Alvarado Hospital in San Diego. Goldstein, who wasn't part of Meston's study, said the Texas research made a lot of sense and adds to growing evidence that the vaunted differences in the genders may only be among people with sexual problems.

Meston and colleague David Buss first questioned 444 men and women—ranging in age from 17 to 52—to come up with a list of 237 distinct reasons people have sex. They ranged from ''It's fun'' which men ranked fourth and women ranked eighth to ''I wanted to give someone else a sexually transmitted disease'' which ranked on the bottom by women.

Once they came up with that long list, Meston and Buss asked 1,549 college students taking psychology classes to rank the reasons on a one-to-five scale on how they applied to their experiences.

''None of the gender differences are all that great,'' Meston said. ''Men were more likely to be opportunistic towards having sex, so if sex were there and available they would jump on it, somewhat more so than women. Women were more likely to have sex because they felt they needed to please their partner.''

But this is among college students, when Meston conceded ''hormones run rampant.'' She predicted huge differences when older groups of people are studied.

Since her study came out Tuesday, people are coming up with new reasons to have sex.

''Originally, I thought that we exhaustively compiled the list, but now I found that there should be some added,'' Meston said.

(Seth Borenstein, AP)

Black and White - Religious Joke of the Day

Black and White

Attending a wedding for the first time, a little girl whispered to her mother, "Why is the bride dressed in white?"

"Because white is the color of happiness, and today is the happiest day of her life."

The child thought about this for a moment, then said, "So why is the groom wearing black?"

Family Guy's Peter Visits a Hindu Temple - Video of the Day

LOVE IT! :)

Introduction to Matzoh Ball Soup - Religious Joke of the Day

Introduction to Matzoh Ball Soup

A Jewish family invited their gentile neighbors over for holiday dinner. The first course was set in front of them and the Jewish couple announced, "This is matzoh ball soup."On seeing the two large matzoh balls floating in the broth, the Gentile man was hesitant to taste this strange looking brew. Gently the Jewish couple pressed the Gentile man. "Try it; if you don't like it, you don't have to finish it."

Finally he agreed. He dug his spoon in, first picking up a small piece of matzoh ball with some soup in his spoon, and tasting it gingerly. The usual "Mmmmmmmmm" sound could be heard coming from deep within his chest, and he quickly finished the whole bowl.

"That was good" the man said. "Can you eat any other parts of the matzoh?"

The True Meaning of Islam - by Queen Rania

Diplomacy

By Queen Rania

Let me start with the traditional greeting of Islam: peace be upon you.

I welcome the opportunity to engage in this conversation, and I am glad to think global readers are interested in Islam, a religion shared and cherished by millions of men and women around the world. I hope that this exercise challenges perceptions that Muslims are somehow different…strange…a breed apart. The other.

All faith, after all, is based on an intensely personal, private relationship with God. And I believe that if we are to build true understanding among and within our societies, we must approach each other as fellow human beings, not representatives of one religion or another.

Perhaps that is why I have never been preoccupied with defining “the true meaning” of Islam. To me, Islam is an amalgam of virtues that guides my interactions with the world. I know deep down, as I have read and been taught by the Holy Qur’an, the teachings of the Prophet (PBUH), that it is good to give, to empathize, to be patient, to be compassionate. These virtues do not have ineffable meaning, but offer a sense of morality – a way to be, and a way to behave, as a member of the human family.

Looking back, I learned how to be a Muslim at an early age – not as something separate from daily life, but as something intrinsic to it. I think of my parents’ warmth and love; how they helped me, my brother and sister learn to share; and how they taught us to value honesty, humility, charity, and forgiveness. Now a mother myself, I know in my heart that meaning is being made when my children raise their arms for a hug; when we give of ourselves to those less fortunate; when we are reminded, during Ramadan, of the hunger and thirst of those in need.

I cherish these experiences not only because they make me a better Muslim, but because they make me a better person – more grateful, more connected, more aware. And yes, I offer my thanks to God on a prayer mat facing Mecca. But I hope that readers seeking to understand “the true meaning of Islam” will not only focus on how Muslims worship but also on who we are: mothers, fathers, spouses, students, neighbors, friends. People who smile with pride at their child’s first step; laugh with friends over the old times; worry about exam results; cry at the sight of our children in pain. People just like you.

Her Majesty Queen Rania Al Abdullah of the Hashemite Kingdom of Jordan is a global advocate of inter-cultural dialogue. She is on the Board of Directors of several international organizations such as the World Economic Forum (WEF); the United Nations Foundation; International Youth Foundation (IYF); and the Foundation for International Community Assistance (FINCA); and the GAVI Fund, a nonprofit organization that seeks to provide children in the poorest countries of the world with access to life-saving vaccines. She has also been appointed as WHO Patron for Violence Prevention in the Eastern Mediterranean Region and UNICEF's first Eminent Advocate for Children.

Shazia Mirza's Stand Up Comedy - Video of the Day

LOVE HER!

The Saudi 'Sex and the City'?

Nam Y. Huh / AP

Rajaa Alsanea

Sex, Shopping and Social Change in Saudi Arabia

Rajaa Alsanea knew she was in for trouble when she published her novel about affluent young Arab women - what she didn't foresee was how much support she would receive.

By Christina Gillham

Newsweek

July 20, 2007 - When Rajaa Alsanea’s “The Girls of Riyadh” hit bookstores in the Middle East in2005, it caused a furor. Referred to by some as a “Sex and the City” for Saudi Arabia, the book delved into the social, romantic—and sometimes sex—lives of its four female characters. Published first in Lebanon—and published in the United States this month—the book almost immediately made its way to Saudi Arabia, where it was denounced by religious conservatives as immoral and hailed by reformists as a much-needed condemnation of Saudi Arabia’s restrictive society. Alsanea, 24 years old at the time, was propelled to stardom, making appearances on TV, receiving supportive phone calls from the royal family and an endorsement from no less a figure than the king’s labor minister and close adviser, Ghazi al-Gosaibi.

“The Girls of Riyadh” explores the lives of four young women—Lamees, Sadeem, Gamrah and Michelle. Their stories are told by a narrator in a series of postings on an Internet chat room. The women, like their creator, are upper-class Sunni Muslims whose lives revolve around various romantic entanglements, shopping, school and struggling against their society’s strict moral code. Alsanea wrote the book while in college, where she studied dentistry. Now living in Chicago, she is doing her residency in endodontics (root canal) and studying for her master’s degree in oral sciences. She spoke to NEWSWEEK’s Christina Gillham.

Complete article and interview...

You can buy "The Girls of Riyadh" directly from Amazon.com below. A portion of all proceeds are donated to Al-Fatiha Foundation.



Summary of the Book (Warning: Plot and theme are revealed here).

Contact the author, Rajaa Alsanea.

Buy the Arabic version of the novel here.

Unitarian Service - Religious Joke of the Day

First Time at a Unitarian Service

A man goes to a Unitarian Universalist service for the first time, and later is asked what he thought of it. "Darndest church I ever went to," he replies, "the only time I heard the name of Jesus Christ was when the janitor fell down the stairs."