Tag Archives: studies

I Hope Your First Time Was Fan-Freaking-Tastic

Virginity & Depression
Why do girls get depressed after losing their virginity? Read More »
Losing The V-Card
Losing my virginity was a laugh. Read More »

How was your first time? I’m going to go out on a limb here and guess it was quick/awkward/unmemorable/unfulfilling like it was for most of us. I’m not going to go into too much detail, but I will tell you that, in my case, there was a cat in the bed with us that I had a severe allergic reaction to, which in turn gave my boyfriend a panic attack. So, yeah. It was romantical. Too bad for me — and too bad for all of us, really. A new study published in the Journal of Sex and Marital Therapy found that the circumstances of losing your virginity may set the tone for the rest of your sexual life. Keep reading »

The One Good Thing About Bikini Waxing

First Wax
One writer shares about going completely bare. Read More »
Mirror Mirror: Body Hair
Why are women supposed to be hairless? Read More »

I’m taking a cue from Jodie Foster’s Golden Globes speech and outing myself: I’m a bikini waxer. I’ve been waxing regularly since 2001. But that doesn’t mean I’ve gotten used to it. I’m not going to pretend like it’s no biggie. After more than a decade, I still think it hurts like a motherfucker. I take Advil before I go and use numbing spray, but it’s still incredibly painful. And for the record, I will never stop praying for full bush to come back in style. The ’70s were the best! But there is some really, really good news about crotch waxing that makes all the pain worth it.

According to some new research, all of our effort (men and women both!) to remain hairless down there has put crabs on the endangered species list. That’s right! Pubic lice is on the verge of extinction. Keep reading »

New Study Shows Overweight Female Defendants Viewed As “Guiltier” Than Skinnier Counterparts

Fat Shaming Controversy
Erica Watson Love That Girl
TV show should be ashamed of their fat-shaming. Read More »
Weight Talk
One writer is sick of talking to women about weight. Read More »
Open Letter To The Fat Girl
Winona pens an open letter to the fat girl. Read More »

Discriminating against women because of their weight is a very real problem and it goes all the way to the jury box. A new study at Yale University observed 471 adults in mock court cases for four individuals, of whom they were presented pictures: a skinny man, a skinny woman, an obese man, and an obese women. As reported by Yale, “Male participants rated the obese female defendant guiltier than the lean female defendant, whereas female respondents judged the two female defendants equally regardless of weight.” Skinny male participants were more likely than their heftier brothers to negatively judge an obese female defendant. Yet there was absolutely no difference in how guilty the skinny and obese men were judged. Keep reading »

Diet Soda Linked To Depression

Yet another reason diet soda may not be as good a choice as you assumed: A new study links it to an increased risk of depression, LiveScience reports. More than 263,900 US adults answered questions about their beverage consumption between 1995 and 1996, and about 10 years later, they were asked if they had been diagnosed with depression since the year 2000. Those who regularly consumed four or more cans per day of any type of soda were 30 percent more likely to have been diagnosed with depression, but those who chose diet soda saw a 31% increased risk compared to just 22% for regular-soda-drinkers. Read more…

The Key To Keeping Your New Year’s Resolutions

50 Resolutions
Well, not resolutions exactly. But we're making changes in 2013! Read More »
5 Basic Resolutions
Amelia is aiming low this year. Read More »
Sex Resolutions
30 things we vow to do -- in bed! -- in 2012! Read More »

Happy New Year! I’ve stopped making resolutions all together in attempt to lessen my feelings of shame. And stress. Now, I just spend the end of the year assessing and setting new goals. Kind of the same thing, I guess. But should you be wanting to make some hardcore resolutions this year, some research done at the University of Hertfordshire found that different strategies are more useful for men and women. Find out the BIG secret after the jump. Keep reading »

What We Learned From Studies In 2012

Reproductive health, online dating, Republican sex — this year, studies brought us new information on everything from the onset of puberty to how “Sex and the City ”affects our real-life relationships. With insights on birth control, Generation Z, STDs, and more, here are our favorite informative and entertaining studies of 2012!

Access to Birth Control Lowers Abortion Rates: Here’s something you might expect: providing women free contraception leads to fewer unexpected pregnancies and, thus, a lower abortion rate. But in a study published this year, researchers were actually surprised by how much the abortion rate dropped among women who were offered access to a range of free birth control methods. Read more…

Want To Protect Your Liver This New Year’s Eve? Eat Some Asparagus

How To: Hide A Hangover
An indispensable lesson. Read More »
Best NYE Ever
...hopefully it'll be the one to come. Read More »

If you’re planning to party like a rock star this New Year’s Eve, you might want to take a break from pounding Jagerbombs to pounding a plate of sauteed asparagus. According to a study in the Journal of Food Science, certain amino acids and minerals found in asparagus have the power to flush out “cellular toxicities.” As the lead researcher explains, ”These results provide evidence of how the biological functions of asparagus can help alleviate alcohol hangover and protect liver cells.” This study doesn’t guarantee that asparagus will cure your hangover, but hey, weird-smelling pee is a small price to pay for the possibility of a headache-free morning on the first day of 2013. Now that we’re on the topic of hangovers, do you have any of your own hangover remedies you’d like to share? Have you ever tried the asparagus cure? Did it work? [Pop Sci]

6 Things We Didn’t Know We Should Be Doing To Our Boobs

You knew you should be examining them every month and plucking your nipple hair, but a new study found that squeezing your breasts regularly may prevent cancer. The study done at University of California at Berkeley concluded that compressing breast tissue may prevent malignant cells triggering cancer. “Here we show that physical force can play a role in the growth — and reversion — of cancer cells … Malignant cells have not completely forgotten how to be healthy; they just need the right cues to guide them back to a healthy growth pattern,” said Gautham Venugopalan, a leading member of the research team. Got that ladies? We need to squeeze our boobs to remind them to stay healthy. No problem, we’ve got that covered. And we’re sure the men in our lives will be happy to help.

This study made me curious about what other ways I might be unintentionally neglecting the well-being of my boobs. Click through to see what I discovered. [MSN]

Small Boobs Rule!
10 reasons to love small boobies. Read More »

This Cheese Is Made From Human Noses, Feet And Armpits

What We Missed
Cheese sex and hairy legs. Watch »
I'm Dating A Cheeseman
The pros and cons of dating a cheesemonger. Read More »
Rainbow Poop?
The future of our poop. Watch »

I feel like I’ve been writing/talking about cheese a lot lately. I have no idea why. I barely even eat cheese. I need to explore this new cheese obsession more thoroughly. But that can wait.

First this: the cheese you see here is made by a woman named Christina Agapakis as part of collaborative study being conducted at the University of Edinburgh and Stanford University on Synthetic Aesthetics. Agapakis grew this cheese with bacteria from the human body. She describes her human cheesemonging process is as follows:

“Swabs from hands, feet, noses, and armpits were inoculated into fresh, pasteurized, organic whole milk and incubated overnight at 37° Celsius. The milk curds were then strained and pressed, yielding unique smelling fresh cheeses.”

Keep reading »

Women With Endometriosis Are Seen As More Attractive, Study Claims

I Have Endo
Carli suffers from painful endometriosis. Read More »
BC For Health
Why this woman uses birth control for health reasons. Read More »
Angry Vagina
This writer had a falling out with her vagina. Read More »

Women with the most severe forms of endometriosis are seen as more attractive than those with mild forms or no form of the disease, according to a new study conducted by Dr. Paolo Vercellini, an obstetrician and gynecologist at Universita degli Studi in Milan.

Endometriosis is problem with a woman’s uterus in which the tissue that grows on the inside of her uterine lining also grows on the outside, sometimes covering the ovaries, intestines or other organs within the body. It causes abnormal bleeding and can make it difficult for some women to conceive.

What does endo have to do with attractiveness, though? Keep reading »