There is no shortage of pornographic material available to the average adult. Anyone with a computer has access to a plethora of naughty and not so nice images. Whether we’ve wanted to or not, most of us—whether through an error in a Google Search or the “witty” antics of a friend—have seen the skin on a few men, or women, or (God forbid) animals contorted into positions that would make the Pilobolus Dance Troupe jealous. However, not everyone wants to look. The good news is: you don’t have to watch strangers’ sexual exploits for a stimulating time; you can read about them. Welcome to the world of erotic novels, a girl’s right-hand man (or woman) in the bedroom.

New York Magazine reports a recent study shows alcohol consumption is up—way, way up—in women. Dr. Richard Grucza, an epidemiologist and professor at Washington University School of Medicine, compared studies conducted in 1991 to 1992 and in 2001 to 2002 to see how same-age groups responded to questions about alcohol consumption a decade later. He discovered that though “the American attraction to alcohol is growing more potent,” the increase in alcohol consumption is primarily in women, and among them there’s an increase in dependence, too. Grucza explains this increase in alcohol consumption began around the middle of the last century, coinciding with Second Wave feminism. “As women ‘immigrated’ into the culture that was once unique to men,” says Grucza, “they picked up a lot of the same mores and attitudes and behaviors and ideas about what is socially acceptable that men had previously held.” And the place where women are picking up these attitudes and behaviors the most? College.

Their uniform isn’t the only thing the Girl Scouts, or “Girl Guides,” as they’re called in the UK, are modernizing; their manifesto is getting updated, too. No longer so focused on sewing, cooking, and making Mother’s Day corsages out of pink tissue paper, modern-day scouts are more concerned with putting a ban on “the airbrushing of models in magazines and a crackdown on peer pressure to have sex too soon.” To create their new manifesto, Girlguiding UK, a publication devoted to all things Girl Guides/Girl Scouts, surveyed 1,000 members about the issues that concern them most. The top ten concerns of today’s Girl Scouts? Find out after the jump. [The Daily Mail]

A recent study found Britain to have more casual sex than any other Western nation. The study was conducted by asking more than 14,000 people in 48 countries to fill out anonymous questionnaires. Participants were asked about their number of partners and one-night stands, how many people they expected to sleep with in the next five years, and what their attitude towards casual sex was. The answers were given a numerical value, and while Britain scored 11th overall, the country was the highest of all western nations (the US was 6th).

If history is any indication, you may want to stock up on your favorite lipstick before every tube is sold out, and go ahead, splurge on that cupcake — curves are coming back in vogue. Since our recent economic crisis, people are once again talking about the Leading Lipstick Indicator, a surprisingly reliable theory that suggests consumers turn to inexpensive little treats, like lipstick, when they start freaking out about the future.  For example, after the 9/11 terrorist attacks, lipstick sales doubled. The term was coined by Leonard Lauder (chairman of Estee Lauder), “who consistently found that during tough economic times, his lipstick sales went up.” Hmm…Sephora has been unusually crowded lately (last time I was there, I couldn’t find an available mirror to save my look, I mean life).

Any female who’s survived the treacherous battleground of a junior high school slumber party knows that no one can bring a girl down harder and faster than another girl. Slumber parties from my past always included as many crying jags, jabbing insults, hurtful gossip, and broken friendships as they did romantic comedies and popcorn balls. So is it any surprise the people who are most aggressively pushing for the immediate downfall of Sarah Palin are other women? In recent interviews, Palin’s comes across like a nervous beauty pageant contestant, and many of us grownup women can’t throw her bra in the freezer fast enough—metaphorically speaking, of course. So what is it about Sarah Palin that brings out the Mean Girls in us? Why are women—smart, savvy, sophisticated women—the first to use sexist tactics to bring a woman down?

The boys are back in town! The guys of “Entourage,” that is. I’ve spent the last two Sundays demanding silence at ten o’clock.  What can I say? I love testosterone TV. So why does a girly girl like me, who watches “Gossip Girl” and “90210,” have so much love for “bros before hos” shows? Find out after the jump.

Vanity Fair has posted the latest version of its annual New Establishment list. But, hey! Where are all the women? Out of the 100 moguls, entertainers, and businessfolk who made the list as the top 100 “leaders of the information age,” just how many are women? A whopping nine. Who are they, you ask? Oprah Winfrey, Angelina Jolie, Arianna Huffington, Miuccia Prada,  Diane Sawyer, Anna Wintour, Annette de la Renta, Donatella Versace, and Diane Von Furstenberg. So, what have we learned? If you’re a woman who wants to be considered a player in the New Media era by the media, you better be an entertainer, work in fashion, or have really, really great hair.

As part of Nike Women’s new “Here I Am” ad campaign, British Olympic runner Nicola Sanders exposes what it’s like to be a world-class female athlete—on the inside. In the virtual reality video, her brain shouts directions while her heart pushes her to win. Other inspiring videos in the series feature Swiss triathlete Nicola Spirig, Russian tennis champ Maria Sharapova, and judoka star Delphine Delsalle. [Kottke]

“When you call us a bitch, we take it to mean strong, opinionated, and sassy. When you call us the c-word, you better cross the street.”—Debi Mazar [Esquire]

More and more of us are studying math in college, and not just Stats 101 to fulfill a requirement. According to research released in the journal Science, women earned 48 percent of undergrad degrees in math. Sadly, we still lag behind in physics and engineering. Maybe the Nerd Girls will change that. [AP via WSJ]

Do you like wearing dark suits? Can you keep a secret? Does a tear well up in your eye when you hear the Mission Impossible theme song? Well, the British spy network M16 is looking for some tough bitches. Since the London subway bombing in 2005, the secret service has been trailing 21,000 people and 200 plans, so they need all the girls they can get to nab the bad guys! In their want ad, they promise not to use the women purely as “honey pots” or sexy bait. The 007-style secret agency says no probs if you’re a mom, bonus points if you speak languages like Arabic and like your martinis shaken, not stirred.  While traditionally the M16 has been a boys club, they’re trying to diversify and it looks like the next real life Bond could be a woman!  [Boston Globe]

We’ve all taken risks—tried things and people we weren’t sure of and chalked it up to experimentation.  It’s all part of being a liberated woman. But sadly we’re are missing out on some of the most important testing that is actually guaranteed to give us what we need: clinical trials.  Research has shown that gender can truly affect a medication’s ability to work on such widespread health issues as depression and lung cancer.  Despite the growing need for a pool of available and even in some cases, healthy women, a mere 9% of test subjects are female. So, many drugs are being prescribed without ever being tested on a lady. To alleviate this dilemma, the rules for clinical tests changed in 1993 to always include women who still intended to bear children.  However, a decade and a half later, not much more has changed.  Scientists blame everything from lack of time to lack of awareness; 93% of women surveyed said they had never even been asked to participate in a clinical trial.

We’ve all wondered: What if women ruled the world?  While it may seem far fetched, we’ve already got a town—McLean, Texas. It’s got one stoplight and a whole lot of unstoppable women. Since 2007, the mayor, her five aldermen, the post office master, the justice of the peace, school principal, the bank, nursing home, and grocery store managers, are all large and in charge ladies. Even their staunchest of critics, aka their husbands, can’t help but notice the positive changes around their town. Now, with Hillary Clinton in the presidential race, they’re even thinking nationally. While Bill Reeves, local and spouse of Alderman Lynn Reeves, wouldn’t vote for one lady alone, he said if Clinton picked an all female cabinet like they have in McLean, he’d vote for her. “They’d do no worse, and there’s a chance of it being much better.” Now that’s girl power! [Salon]

Bad news, guys. For the first time since the early 1900s when the Spanish Flu was killing people off, the life expectancy of American women is falling. In nearly 1,000 counties—most evident in the Deep South, Appalachia, and the lower Midwest—women’s life expectancy is now shorter than it was in the 1980s. The driving force behind this trend appears to be increases in deaths from diabetes, lung cancer, emphysema, and kidney failure. Smoking like fiends, eating poorly and skipping out on exercise hasn’t helped, either. [Washington Post]

We’ve heard some dumb things said on Dr. Phil, but his recent guest Dick Masterson takes the cake. Trust us, his name is no misnomer. He’s the chauvinist who runs MenAreBettertThanWomen.com and he goes around spouting gems like, “How is prostitution illegal but alimony isn’t? They’re basically the same thing.  You’re paying for the whore to leave.” Honestly, how much would it cost to get rid of him? We’ll start chipping in immediately. [YouTube]

This election is special, and not just because a woman and a black man are serious contenders. Us girls are donating more than we have in past elections! So far, women have given nearly half of the $100 million that Hillary Clinton has raised from individuals who have given large-dollar contributions, according to the Center for Responsive Politics. Barack Obama has gotten $43 million from women giving more than $200. In the past, women’s contributions have been less than 30 percent of most candidate’s campaign accounts—both Democratic candidates have received more than 40 percent from women. On the Republican side, John McCain has received only $13 million from large-dollar female donors, maybe because that race hasn’t been as cutthroat. Speaking of women and elections, we already vote in higher numbers than men, and we’re also more active campaign volunteers. Now, if we could only get politicians to listen to us. [Women’s ENews]

The 670,000 women in the British service industry won’t let you call them sweetheart—or baby, or darling, or sweet cheeks, or even honey. Just like the women in 9 to 5 sans the ball-gagged boss, Women and Equalities Minister Harriet Harman is putting an end to womanizing in overlooked workplaces. Minister Harman has used her new position to create a statute that will require bar, restaurant, hotel, and even gym managers to be responsible for protecting their female employees from sexual harassment. Since service industry jobs are known for their client lip service, the change is expected to cost British companies 10 million pounds to enforce, according to the government office. So while sexist comments might make the employees feel cheap, the repercussions certainly aren’t.

If your boyfriend’s a bad driver—hell, even if your cabbie seems to think he’s auditioning for future installment of The Fast and the Furious—just start talking about your glorious Cover Girl Continuous Color Lipstick in Mauvelicious. Or the new chairs Design Within Reach Chairs you’re lusting over. A study by German and Swedish researchers showed that men drove slower when they heard neutral or feminine words, rather than manly stuff like “beard” and “muscles.” Just don’t start talking to him about really girly stuff, like the black lace bra you’re wearing, because then he might drive right off the road. [Sydney Morning Herald]

Hold up! Scientists have recently discovered that the cells that are shed from the womb lining during a woman’s period contain a new type of stem cell that may be used in the treatment of damaged and/or old tissue. The company, Cryo-Cell, has sponsored a blood bank for women to store their own menstrual blood for future use in the treatment of cancer and other diseases. Um, yeah. So while it’s cool that such a huge advancement in science has been made, especially given all the controversy over stem cell research and fetal tissue, some doctors think a blood bank like this preys on womens’ fears. On the other hand, being so in charge of your future health is empowering. But can we please pay a gofer to collect our period blood for us, thanks? It’s kind of icky. [Science Daily, BBC News]