The Science of Sex Appeal

Last night, I spent a good chunk of my evening sucked into watch the Discovery Channel’s “The Science of Sex Appeal.”  If you haven’t seen it and have two hours to spare, I highly recommend it.  It is a very scientific look into such a common experience.  They go from determining the most appeal body shape in the eyes of the opposite sex, to the effect of a person’s voice, to what makes us fall in love, and eventually what keeps humans in love.  Essentially, it seemed like everything boiled down to finding someone to mate with.  When asking men about their preferred body type, the researchers found that the ratio of 7 (wasit) to 10 (hips) was the most preferred because it was the healthiest for carrying children.  They had women smell men’s sweat at different periods in their cycle to show that women were most attracted to males when they were ovulating.  They also found that dopamine is the drug released when we are in love that keeps us connected to our significant other.  It was certainly interesting enough to keep me glued to the tv during finals week, but it makes me a little nervous that love and attraction can be boiled down to hormones and such a primative drive as the desire to produce offspring.

Feel free to watch clips of it here to see if you are fascinated by the science of sex appeal or if it makes you a little nervous too

Whoredom

“But Whoredom is a massive part of our history and power as women. When fully instructe din the art of sacred sexual power, Whores are the people who can teach us all the stuff we grow up not learning about sexuality, our bodies and our innate sexual power. Our cultural ignorance and intolerance of Whores keeps Whores from realizing the full potential of Whoredom. It likewise robs women and men of Teachers who can help us understand women’s sexual power.”

- Inga Muscio in her book cunt: a declaration of independence

getting to know me

“Our society does not really approve of sexually proficient and independent women. Which gets us to the double standard – the concept that men have the social approval to be aggressive (independent) and sexually polygamous, but that women should be nonaggressive (dependent) and sexually monogamous. We become fixed in nonsexuality and a supportive role that induces us to seek security, rather than independence, new experiences, and sexual gratification.”

-Betty Dodson, “Getting to Know Me” from Ms., August, 1974, from Sexual Revolution edited by Jeffrey Escoffier

what are you?

After thinking about the Jonas Brothers and other assorted teen stars and their promise rings, I wanted to learn more about the concept of virginity and losing it. So, I started reading Virginity Lost: An intimate Portrait of First Sexual Experiences by Laura M. Carpenter. In Carpenter’s research for the book, she found that the people she interviewed almost always defined or described their virginity in one of three categories: a gift, a stigma, or a step in the process.

So how would you define it for yourself?

Don’t worry, there’ll certainly be more about this book, but I just wanted to get started thinking broadly about it.