British Boys having Penises Crushed

HEALTH - Falling toilet seats are injuring an alarming number of recently potty-trained toddlers in Britain, a British study reports. The medical term for the damage for it? Penis crush.

Ouch!

Heavy wooden, ceramic and ornamental toilet seats are the biggest source of injuries, says Dr. Joe Philip of Leighton Hospital who warns that parents and grandparents should be extra vigilant during the holidays.

"As Christmas approaches, many families will be visiting relatives and friends and their recently toilet-trained toddlers will be keen to show how grown up they are by going to the toilet on their own."

In the British Journal of Urology, Philip and his colleagues focus on four boys under the age of 4 who were admitted to hospital with injuries serious enough to require an overnight stay. All had been trained and were using the toilet on their own using the classic male standing up and pissing position. They had lifted the seats, which later fell back down and crushed their penises. Fortunately, the injuries did not cause lasting physical damage, although the child might become traumatized and prefer sitting down to piss for the rest of their lives.

"We are concerned that the growing trend of heavy toilet seats poses a risk not only to their health, but to their confidence," Philip says.

Because of the height of some toilets there's also devices (see image right) for toddlers too short to reach the toilet properly.

Apparently the boys aren't lifting the seat to its fully upright position and releasing it before its properly in place. Doctors and pediatricians believe boys should be warned about the dangers of crushed penises and taught to lift the seat up properly and holding the seat with one hand. Some doctors even recommend supervision, but this feels more like the parents are worrying too much and coddling the child.

For those parents worried about the issue they should really just teach their boys to piss while sitting down and when they're older they can practice standing up to piss.

The study's authors are calling for manufacturers to design more seats that fall slowly, and for heavier seats to be banished from households with young boys. Philip cites a recent market research report suggesting a "worldwide increase in the number of wooden and ceramic seats sold" will result in a similar increase in crushed penises.

I think this is a situation of survival of the fittest/smartest. These boys need to be taught, and those that don't figure it out on their own deserve to get their penises crushed. It weeds out the dumb ones from reproducing.

Brainy Sperm at Work

HEALTH/SEX - Watch out! Smart, well-endowed sperm are out there and they're looking to reproduce!

Rosalind Arden of King's College, London, and her colleagues have published a new study in the science journal Intelligence which concludes that brainy people (and their sperm) are intrinsically healthier and that intelligence is sexy.

The study is actually about the quality of men's sperm, and the correlation between intelligence, genetics and health. By intelligence they used quotient of linguistic facility, spatial awareness and several other factors measured by psychologists using a value called Spearman's "g".

G whiz.

Arden and team have discovered that an individual's g value is correlated with many aspects of his health, life-span, overall fitness.

There are two possible explanations:

1. Intelligent people make healthier choices.

2. Genetically healthy people become more intelligent.

We already know intelligence is often a deciding factor when choosing a mate, and that over millions of years mankind has evolved due to choosing mates that were healthier/smarter. Geoffrey Miller of the University of New Mexico, who is one of Arden's co-authors, believes this process of sexual selection is the reason people have become so brainy.

Arden sought to test this idea in a way that excluded intelligent choice and got directly at any physiological correlations between intelligence and health. She chose sperm quality because it is both easily measured and about as far from intelligent choice as it is possible to imagine.

The relevant data had already been collected from former American soldiers enrolled in what was known as the Vietnam Experience Study. In 1985, almost 4,500 of these veterans volunteered for extensive medical and mental examinations. Some of them gave semen samples that were analyzed for three types of sperm quality: the number of sperm per cubic centimetre, the total number of sperm in the ejaculate and sperm motility.

Arden found 425 cases suitable for testing her hypothesis, namely donors with high intelligence g values, and correlated them with all three measures of their sperm quality and thus determined that intelligent men have healthier sperm.

Thus in the Darwinian sense of fitness these men have the ability to survive (through a combination of intelligence and overall fitness), to attract mates and to produce offspring.

It is an important finding, according to Arden. Up til now, biologists looked at "fitness" as a series of adaptations that are more or less independent of each other. Arden's work adds to the idea of a general fitness factor, f, that is similar in concept to g. Now we know that intelligence and fitness can go hand in hand.

So why then are jocks so dumb and nerds so weak? You see there's a false assumption there, that strength equals health/fitness. Athletes frequently have health problems because they put their bodies under a lot of stress, so they're not really healthier or smarter.

Evidently more needs to be studied on this topic and studying healthy sperm from intelligent men is only the tip of the iceberg penis...

Begging the question, does this mean men really do think with their dicks? No seriously, if we're so gung ho about reproducing and healthy sperm/brains does co-exist, maybe there is a bit of truth to it.

The race for Women's Viagra

HEALTH/SEX - For years there's only be one way to turn a woman on... and it usually involves alcohol.

Ever since the little blue Viagra pill hit the market and got a rise out of men, men who had been searching for something to fix their erectile dysfunction and hopefully please their wives more. 31% of adult men suffer from erectile dysfunction.

In theory its just a matter of time before we figure out what chemicals make a woman's libido go from zero to Wonder Woman. Except it doesn't really work that way.

This Saturday at 7 PM a documentary called Pharma Sutra will air on CTV which takes a broad, almost clinical look at the issue: multinational pharmaceutical companies, the approval process, the sex doctors, the feminists and the women and their spouses (don't forget this pill could also be used by lesbians). The documentary focuses on three products in the trial phase: a pill, a testosterone patch and a nasal spray.

It all started with a statistic reported in the Journal of the American Medical Association in 1999, which said that 43% of women suffer from female sexual dysfunction.

After a little research it was quickly determined there is a percentage of women out there interested in seeing a Viagra for Women. And small surprise their partners took notice too. Some women have even been rooting around looking for such aphrodisiacs. Small surprise there are now pharmaceutical giants earnestly seeking the female equivalent of Viagra.

New York sex therapist Dr. Leonore Tiefer however worries about the "medicalization of sexuality" and is dubious about whether female sexual dysfunction even exists. She argues its just a myth, like the G-spot. Or if it does exist she argues it is mostly psychological.

Female sexual dysfunction is characterized by a lack of desire, arousal and orgasm. Lack of desire is the chief complaint among women, affecting about one-third of them at some point in their lives, says Cindy Meston, assistant professor of clinical psychology at the University of Texas at Austin.

There is potentially billions in profits at stake however for whichever company manages to patent the little Pink Pill and prove it works. Remember this pill doesn't make women horny or increase their libido, it just removes FSD.

So in theory wine, chocolate and R&B music is still a better way to get the wife in the mood. But a little Pink Pill wouldn't hurt either.

But how close are we to making such a pill? Best estimates are by 2011.

Viagra is designed to increase blood flow to the genitals. Viagra works well for many men who suffer with impotence — or erectile dysfunction — because it's considered a physical — rather than an emotional — problem. That's not to say that Viagra can't "restore function" for women, says Dr. Myron Murdoch, clinical instructor of urology at George Washington Medical School. It can help some women, but it's not for all women.

Viagra-like drugs may help the 20 percent of women reported to have difficulties with lubrication (blood flow to the female genitals increase lubrication), it's unknown to what degree such drugs would help the 43 percent of women with sexual dysfunction who either say they're uninterested in sex or that sex provides little pleasure.

Right now drug companies are focused on developing a drug that increases blood flow to the female genitals, resulting in vaginal lubrication and relaxing vaginal muscles.

So far, there are some promising drugs on the horizon. These include prostaglandin, already approved for men, apomorphine and phentolamine, both of which are being tested for arousal disorder in women.

Women also have other options. Research shows that exercise, counseling, vaginal lubrication products and sex videos all can help kickstart a woman's libido.

The three following options — still scientifically unproven — are readily available and also hold the promise for improving a woman's sex life.

L-arginine amino acid cream
The same amino acid that has been used by athletes to promote muscle development is purported to increase blood flow to the female genitals, thus sparking sexual urges. "Our informal studies on 500 patients showed that 70 percent of women who applied this cream to the clitoris and labia a half hour before sex reported more arousal and stronger orgasms," says Dr. Jed Kaminetsky, clinical assistant professor of urology at the New York School of Medicine.

DHEA
Dehydroepiandrosterone is a male hormone produced by the adrenal gland and ovaries and converted to testosterone and estrogen. DHEA, which depletes with age, can be purchased over the counter in supplement form.In one small study published in the New England Journal of Medicine (Sept. 30, 1999), women who took 50 mg of DHEA daily noticed a significant increase in sexual interest. Other preliminary findings report encouraging results. However, most DHEA products lining the store shelves recommend taking only 25 mg per day. Because of its potential for heart attacks and breast cancer and masculating side-effects such as facial hair, DHEA is best used under a doctor's supervision.

Testosterone therapy
For women who have undergone oophorectomy (the removal of one or both ovaries) and hysterectomy, testosterone treatment has shown to improve sexual function and psychological well being, according to recent research from Boston's Massachusetts General Hospital.

However, women looking to boost testosterone levels should work with their physician closely so the hormone can be monitored. Too much of it can cause, among other things, facial hair and change a women's voice, which is irreversible. Meanwhile, a study looking at the combination of L-arginine glutamate and yohimbine — a natural extract from tree bark that excites part of the central nervous system — has shown that postmenopausal women were more than twice as aroused after taking the combination drug and viewing an erotic film than women who took a placebo.

SnoLift Shovel & How to BBQ a Turkey

CANADA - I am thinking of getting the shovel to the right for my parents this Christmas. They're getting up in years and it reduces bending over and painful back problems when shoveling snow.

I personally don't mind shoveling snow, but thats because I am young, fit and energetic... I sound like a viagra commercial. So to me any old snow shovel will do the trick, but I suppose when I am 50+ bending over to shovel snow could become an annoying task.

Which is why I fully intend to move to Spain (or maybe Cuba) in my old age. Or maybe we will have enough global warming there won't be that much snow anyway...

I realize this whole shoveling topic seems a rather OFF TOPIC, but I assure you it isn't. The stereotype is that its the men who shovel the snow out of the driveway, and its the women inside basking the Christmas turkey... but thats because most men don't have a clue how to cook a turkey...

Which is why I have found this video for how to BBQ a Turkey.

This way you can now BBQ the turkey while the wife or girlfriend goes out and shovels the driveway before all your guests arrive. Or not. Whichever.

Sex on the Beach in Dubai

SEX - If a man kisses a woman in public in Dubai its illegal and could lead to arrest. Public displays of affection are illegal in the United Arab Emirates.


As is public drunkenness and having sex out of wedlock.


British visitors Vince Acors and Michelle Palmer (who are not married) can testify to all of these, as they were arrested for getting drunk and having sex on a public beach in Dubai. They pleaded guilty to the charge of public drunkenness but denied having sex on the beach.


Now here's the dumb thing: The reason they were drunk is because they both attended an all-you-can-drink champagne brunch. So basically here's a scenario... a country that strictly forbids public drunkenness and the hotel they're staying at is giving away all-you-can-drink booze... that's just asking for trouble.


The pair were convicted and originally sentenced to 3 months in prison but today managed to get their sentence reduced to a fine of approx. US$272 each.


Word of advice for tourists... if you want to get drunk and have sex on the beach find a more liberal country that has topless beaches and that sort of thing.


Apparently Dubai is almost 50% American/British ex-patriots, which creates a huge social divide for what is socially acceptable.

Sarah Palin Vs the African Continent

POLITICS - We don't know how lucky we are John McCain/Sarah Palin wasn't elected...

And to cite an example of why: Sarah Palin didn't know Africa was a continent.

I am... flabbergasted.

I mean how mind numbingly dumb would you have to be to NOT know that Africa is a continent? And this is just the tip of the iceberg. According to McCain aides Sarah Palin also didn't know:

What countries were in North America.

What countries are members of NAFTA or what NAFTA is.

Where China is on a map. Or Iraq. Or Afghanistan. Or Europe.

She couldn't even find Washington D.C. on an unmarked map.

But I will point out none of this matters to Sarah Palin supporters. Incompetence? Stupidity? They don't care. They will support her until the proverbial cows come home, which implies that Sarah Palin isn't the only one who is a dumb as a brick.

When sent to buy "three suits and hire a stylist" Palin instead went on a shopping spree and spent between $150,000 to $200,000 on clothes for herself and her family, and FORCED low-level Republican staffers to buy some of her clothes on their private credit cards and the aides later sought reimbursement. Audits of the list of clothing has revealed some of the clothing, including lingerie purchases (why did Sarah Palin need lingerie for her campaign?), have been "misplaced".

And one time she answered the door to her hotel room wearing nothing but a towel.

I for one hope Sarah Palin DOES run for president in 2012. It will be a sure fire win for the Democrats.

Weddings Vows

RELATIONSHIPS - Have you noticed these bridezillas who force their husbands-to-be to write their own wedding vows?

What happened to the normal wedding vows, where you listen to the priest or reverend, repeat after them and then say "I Do"?

Yes, we understand its romantic for the man to write his own vows and basically make a little speech during the wedding... but not all men are comfortable doing that. Some men are shy, inarticulate, mumble, stutter, forget the words easily and have no skill at writing such things.

The demand for original wedding vows has resulted in companies like the Wedding Vow Tool Kit which writes the wedding vows for men who have been arm-twisted into making up their own.

But to me, this is all bogus. The man isn't writing those vows, his hired help is.

If the man WANTS to write his own vows, let him. If he doesn't, he should not be forced to do so, or forced to hire someone to write them for him. Some brides even write the vows for them and berate them about memorizing it... if they have issues marrying someone who trouble memorizing things (we can't all have the speech abilities of Barack Obama) then maybe she should find someone who likes speaking publicly.

Evidently bridezillas need to take a chill pill.

NOTE: Glossophobia or speech anxiety is the fear of public speaking and effects 75% of the adult population. Fear of making speeches is ranked even above the fear of death. As Jerry Seinfeld said, "The average person at a funeral would rather be in the casket than doing the eulogy."

See Also:

Relationship Double Standards

College Relationships

Tips on Kissing

The Disappearing Male and Petrochemicals

HEALTH/TECHNOLOGY - Sperm counts of males have decreased by half over the last 50 years.

85% of sperm is now abnormal and males are growing up with smaller penises, more genital birth defects, and testosterone levels so low its equal to females.

Low fertility is now effecting many young couples and its becoming an epidemic.

Less males are being born in industrialized countries. Even less male animals are being born.

Why? Petrochemicals in the water, food, the air are messing with our body's ability to produce healthy sperm. Everything from synthetic pesticides on our food, chemical additives in our drinks, particles from vinyl, plastics, acrylics, nylon and a variety of other sources are getting into the womb and effecting the development of babies.

In particular, the petrochemicals are blocking the hormones responsible for deciding sex and thus more women are being born and more men are being born with deformed penises, smaller penises and a variety of other birth defects.

Chemical exposure in the womb is also killing more babies while they are still in the womb.

One case in Canada is the native reserve Aamjiwnaang near Windsor/Detroit where the birth rate of boys in ratio to girls has dropped to 2 girls for every 1 boy born. The reason? A petrochemical plant nearby that frequently has toxic leaks into the nearby environment.

And Canada is not the only place. Other countries around the world are seeing similar drops in male populations, and not just in locations near petrochemical plants but everywhere you can find synthetic chemicals in our food and drink.

One of the key petrochemicals we use is particular dangerous: Polycarbonate, which is used in DVDs, baby bottles, toys, etc. and works a bit like synthetic estrogen when ingested into the body. Polycarbonate is causing the bulk of problems in lower male fertility rates, male birth rates and male birth defects.

Inverted testicles is another rising problem caused by polycarbonate. Boys born with them are 8 times more likely to develop testicular cancer and 7 times more likely to be infertile.

So why are we not banning the use of Polycarbonate and similar chemicals?

The chemical lobby in the United States is one of the most wealthy and powerful groups in the world and are using misinformation to tell the public that their chemicals are safe.

Canada however is taking steps as of April 2008 to ban such plastics in baby bottles. Its one small step to preserving the future of male babies, and the future of the human race.

Will the United States follow suit, or will they fall victim to the greed of the chemical industry?

Just look at global warming, climate change and the oil industry... it will take a long time to convince the chemical industry to change their methods.

See Also: Pollution: Where have all the boys gone?

Pinup Girls promoting Voting

Voting is Sexy.

Television Going Downhill

TECHNOLOGY/ENTERTAINMENT - Remember that stereotype of a guy flipping channels with the remote trying to find something fun or interesting to watch?

That happened to me just 5 minutes ago, and once I realized that there was nothing but crap on the CBC, that the other channels were all crap too, I decided to turn off the TV and go on the internet.

And in that moment my male brain said "Wait a sec... this is why the internet is becoming so popular and TV is going downhill. You can find whatever you want instantly."

What we have is a case of too much crap television these days. The cable networks have gone overboard with their idiotic shows like "So You Think You Can Dance Canada?", American Idol, The Amazing Race and a plethora of other reality TV crap... on top of that you have scant few shows that are worth watching (ie. The Simpsons, Seinfeld, Little Mosque on the Prairie, Sex and the City, CSI and a few others).

And as for drama or action? We have crap shows like The Border, based on a non-existent elite border security squad. There's no such thing.

Its no wonder they've revived the old Night Rider franchise. Television is becoming ridiculously boring and apparently the best we can do is regurgitate popular shows from the 1980s.

Oh, and lest we forget the movie industry, which is coming out with a new X-Files movie. Same idea basically. They're probably going to bring X-Files back in reruns.

It all boils down to one conclusion: Television is obsolete and the television industry hasn't figured it out yet that they've oversaturated the market with too many crappy shows, which incidentally are driving people towards more internet usage.

There is one show I absolutely recommend: Top Gear. Its a BBC show about cars, and its hysterical. Top Gear is now in the 12th season and its the most downloaded TV show on the internet (its also very easy to find and download on the file sharing networks). It wins awards every year for being one of the best shows in the world, but unfortunately few people in North America know about it. Watch the Rednecks in Alabama clip to get an idea of how hilarious the show is.

Congratulations President Barack Obama

Thank God Barack Obama has won the US Presidency (McCain and Palin were just plain scary and stupid). Congratulations President Obama!

Out with George W. Bush/Cheney and in with the new!

Trigger Happy Hunters

Are men trigger happy hunters that just like to blow their wad all the time?

Lets take shopping for example.

Men, typically, like to go straight for what they're looking for, find what they are looking for, and then immediately buy it. Sometimes without even looking at the price. I know this is true for myself because I almost never check the price when I buy food in the grocery store and I basically go down my mental list of things I need: Eggs, milk, bread, meat, etc. Occasionally I have the mental awareness to buy potatoes, rice, peppers or onions. We find what we want, and we blow our paycheque on it.

Women, in contrast, have a tendency to gather. They're taught from a young age to be frugal, look for sales and gather together what they need and want. Its long been assumed that it was a woman who invented agriculture, and thus ancient fertility/agricultural gods are usually female. There are female hunters in mythology, like Atalanta and Artemis, but they are scant and few in number.

In the modern context men don't usually hunt any more...

Instead we make war, and occasionally we shoot things by accident.

Take last night in South Carolina for example. Halloween night and a 12-year-old trick-or-treater T.J. Darrisaw knocked on the door of ex-convict/drug dealer Quentin Patrick. Patrick in response, thinking he was being robbed, took out his trusty AK-47 and shot a whole clip of 30 bullets through the door, the wall and the windows. Basically blowing his wad on his own home. Darrisaw was fatally shot in the head, and his 9-year-old brother and his father were also shot.

Quentin Patrick has been charged with murder, three counts of assault and battery with intent to kill, and one count of assault with intent to kill. He claims he's been paranoid ever since he was shot and robbed last year by rival drug dealers.

NOTE TO SELF: Paranoid stupid people should never own guns, let alone AK-47s.

Call it the male philosophy to doing anything: Whatever you do, blow your wad on it. I'm not saying its a good philosophy, its just the way men seem to think. It certainly explains why most men don't last longer than 5 minutes in bed.

See Also:

Gun Control in Canada

Handguns in Canada

Counter-Strike Review - Review of the Popular Shooter

Killer Goth on the Rampage in Montreal

Laser Weapons in the Hands of Canadian Soldiers

Below: Artwork by Victoria Van Dyke:

The Straight Goods on Homosexuality

SEX - Do homosexuals have a choice?

1.

Some people think homosexuality is a disease, a mental illness, that they're born with it, social conditioning or whatever. I personally favour social conditioning, but it doesn't really matter. The topic at hand is whether gay people have a choice about being gay or not.

Which is completely false. Its not a choice. What they do have a choice about is whether they come out of the closet or not.

2.

Some people also like to compare homophobia to racism or sexism, and likewise the idea of choice comes into play. People don't have a choice about whether they are born female or male. People don't have a choice whether they are born European, African, Arab, Indian, Asian or whatever. So why do people think we have a choice about whether we're born straight, gay or bisexual?

The answer is we don't have a choice. We are the way we are, so why should we treat people differently based on their race, sex or sexuality?

3.

Some people think homosexuality is like a fetish, like people with a foot fetish or a fetish for cross-dressing. They also seem to think gays are "automatically" into things that are more feminine in nature, such as crossdressing, talking in a falsetto voice, art, painting, music, etc. "Oh, you're gay, so must be artsy." Or the reverse: "Oh, you're an artist so you must be gay."

Stereotypes. Utterly false stereotypes.

4.

People assume that lesbians likewise have a choice and will hop into bed with the first guy who manages to "straighten them out" sexually. That somehow a penis is the cure to a lesbianism. There's also a belief that bisexual women are sluts and more common than lesbians. That lesbians are somehow on a sliding scale along with bisexuals. That lesbianism is just a fad and they just need a "real man".

Stereotypes. Utterly false stereotypes.

5.

Will the United States ever have a gay or lesbian president? Its possible. In the next 50 years we could see a huge change in how homosexuality is treated in America. Homosexual marriages are becoming legal across the world (ie. South Africa, Canada), gay rights are growing and its in theory just a matter of time before homosexuality is considered at least accepted by the wide majority.

At which point people won't just have a choice, they'll have a vote.

---

NOTES:

1. As a straight man I couldn't give a hoot whether people are gay or not. Don't give a damn one way or another. If they want to come out of the closet, their choice. If they want to get married, their choice. If they want to adopt, their choice. If they want to get a divorce, their choice again. Whatever makes them happy.

2. Some people out there like to control what other people do sexually. Trying to prevent them from getting married by passing laws against gay marriages is just a matter of trying to control other people's love/sex lives. Could you imagine if we lived in a country where the Catholic Church monitored our sex/love lives?

3. When one country or region allows more freedom to homosexuals nearby regions try to follow suit. If they DO NOT what you see is an exodus of gays towards the place with more freedom. Take cities and countryside for example. Gay communities don't exist in the countryside, but instead congregate in cities. The cities that are more welcoming to gays (ie. San Francisco, New York, Toronto) see a stronger influx.

Breast Implants at Work

SEX/HEALTH - When it comes to breast implants we have to stop and ponder why women get them. Reasons women provide are things like:

1. To give their confidence a boost.

2. To look younger and perkier.

3. To have a larger, fuller, rounder breast (some women are "cursed" with lumpy, deformed or tuberous breasts which are considered by many to be unattractive).

4. To increase their chances of attracting a man.

5. To boost their career (frankly I think that's a false assumption unless you work in the porn industry or adult entertainment).

Indeed many of the reasons will likely go hand-in-hand with the same reasons people provide when getting liposuction or their stomach stapled.

The breast implant industry these days puts more emphasis on the words "breast augmentation", meaning they're not always doing implants but simply they're just augmenting them to look better. Depending on the type of breasts and its problems implants will likely be part of the "solution". Its also better Public Relations because breast implants have developed a bad reputation over the years.

Feminists have often been opposed to breast implants and the idea of women bowing down to a patriarchal sense of beauty. Here's a number of articles on that topic:

The Beauty Myth

Beauty and the Breast

The History of the Bra and Breasts

So thats the female perspective in a nutshell. Don't get breast implants because you're beautiful and you shouldn't need them because you're beautiful anyway.

But from a male perspective I have TWO schools of thought on this situation.

ONE: I agree with the feminists. I don't think women should get breast implants just to satisfy outrageous male standards of beauty. The back pains alone from will cause you to want to get them removed in your later years anyway.

TWO: There will be exceptions and they are as follows: People who have had breast cancer and want to look normal again; People who are seriously depressed about their looks and want to do something about it (no amount of exercise will change the shape of your breasts); Males who have had sex changes (I've noticed the males tend to go for the DD size and take breast implants to the extreme in an effort to over compensate).

Thus women who look normal, and have good looking/normal/fine breasts already shouldn't be rushing out just to make them BIGGER. That to me is morally wrong.

I also have to wonder if we place too much emphasis on breasts period. Some guys are more into ass or legs and don't give a damn about breast size or shape. There are those of us like Russ Meyer who are obsessed with breast size, but Russ Meyer is the exception rather than the norm.

"Its not the size of the breast that matters to men, its how a woman uses them."

Female Athletes, who takes them seriously?

ENTERTAINMENT - Is anyone taking female athletes seriously?

As a guy, I admit, we do tend to spend a great deal of time looking at a woman's assets. Pun intended.

So when female athletes get out oiled up and pose for Sports Illustrated/etc we men do tend to pay a lot of attention to whats on display.

But what about the athletes themselves? Don't they deserve to be taken seriously as athletes regardless of their sex?

"How good does a female athlete have to be before we just call her an athlete?" - Feminist Quote.

The following is a list of the 50 Hottest Female Athletes according to a magazine... you will notice almost all of them are white and that they're mostly golfers, tennis players or swimmers. In other words they're usually scantily clad (and thus we guys pay attention).

50. Daniela Hantuchová tennis

49. Jennie Finch softball

48. Flavia Delaroli swimmer

47. Sabrina Ferilli soccer

46. Christine Arron sprinter

45. Natalie Gulbis golfer

44. Lauren Jackson basketball

43. Mia St. John boxer/Tae Kwon Do

42. Kari Traa skier

41. Victoria Vanucci tennis

40. Danica Patrick Nascar

39. Tanith Belbin figure skater

38. Francesca Piccinini volleyball

37. Dara Torres swimmer

36. Amy Acuff high jump

35. Natalie Coughlin swimmer

34. Lokelani McMichael triathlon

33. Mary Sauer pole vaulter

32. Jamie Sale figure skater

31. Gretchen Bleiler snowboarder

30. Gabrielle Reece volleyball

29. Michelle Wie golfer

28. Victoria Adams Beckham, married to soccer star David Beckham which apparently got her onto this list.

27. Heather Mitts soccer

26. Misty May volleyball

25. Milene Domingues soccer

24. Laure Manaudou swimmer

23. Stacy Keibler wrestler/cheerleader

22. Ana Ivanovic tennis

21. Ashley Tappin swimming

20. Amy Taylor soccer

19. Kristi Leskinen skier

18. Anna Rawson golfer

17. Kristina Lum swimmer

16. Tatiana Grigorieva pole vault

15. Logan Tom volleyball

14. Elisabetta Canalis soccer

13. Ana Paula Mancino volleyball

12. Niki Gudex mountain biker

11. Malia Jones surfer

10. Romi Bean cheerleader (since when is that a sport?)

9. Amanda Beard swimmer

8. Maria Kirilenko tennis

7. Jenny Adams track and field

6. Daniela Cicarelli soccer

5. Maria Sharapova tennis

4. Haley Cope swimmer

3. Alisson Stokke pole vaulter

2. Bia e Branca swimming

1. Ana Kournikova tennis

The mere existence of this list is a testament to what men are interested in when it comes to women in sports: Sex.

And admittedly I have to agree sex does play a role in sports period. Look at football and all the cheerleaders. Look at all the sexual innuendos that revolve around baseball. Look at all the gay men into ultimate fighting.

And judging by the photos of the women on the list (almost all of them have posed for men's magazines, including Playboy and Sports Illustrated) there seems to be a culture amongst female athletes that in order to get attention media wise you have to show some skin and cater to the male crowd.

Where are the serious female athletes? The ones that take sports and athleticism seriously and aren't flashing their skin every chance someone waves some cash at them to do an ad for a sports bra or perfume.

Are male athletes showing off in women's magazines? No. So why is it "acceptable" for women?

Instead the focus is on the women who are the hottest, sexiest, etc. How about the highest paid female athletes? How about the strongest? Or the fastest? Or the gold medal winners?

I know there's a lot of people out there who think that if women weightlift or just plain exercise that they'll start looking masculine and ugly. That is bullshit nonsense. Women bodybuilders take steroids to look like that. Women's weightlifting is not going to make you look like a man.

Here's a prediction for the future: Female Mud Wrestling on public television. Its probably already here and I've missed it. Could sports get any more sexist?

Its no wonder most women don't watch sports or are interested in sports. Sports are so male dominated that even the female athletes are treated like sex objects.

Who's Nailin' Paylin?

SEX - "Who's Nailin' Paylin?" is a spoof on United States vice-presidential nominee Sarah Palin... the trick is that its a spoof by Hustler, which means its going to be a lot of sexual puns, and of course sex scenes.

And its evident Hustler is concerned their spoof could spark lawsuits, and thus the deliberate misspelling of "Serra Paylin". Even the script misspells things as you can see below:





This script is actually a lot of fun to read aloud to a friend, using your best Sarah Palin accent. And even if you can't do a Palin accent, try a southern accent, its just as fun.

I am going to take this moment to openly question: Is anyone actually taking Sarah Palin seriously? I mean, asides from her religious "I believe in God, Adam and Eve, Earth was created 10,000 years ago and dinosaurs/evolution and anything scientific is a hoax" mentality (which no doubt is going to win her lots of votes from the religious right)... but for the rest of us who actually have some common sense, is there anyone who actually takes her seriously as a candidate?

Sarah Palin has been reduced to a joke. Pamela Anderson or Paris Hilton would make a better candidate.

Hillary Clinton, despite some of the mockery concerning her husband, at least had people's respect. She was intelligent and a seasoned veteran of the political scene... Obama had better live up to everyone's expectations.

Sarah Palin in contrast? She's twice as dumb as George W. Bush and just as likely to lead America into a deep recession.

High Heels and High Expectations

FASHION - Society expects women to wear makeup on a date. We men don't notice but women do it anyway.

But what about high heels? Do men want women to wear high heels? It is really an expectation on our part? Or do women wear high heels in an effort to look professional and get respect?

Does Hillary Clinton have to wear high heels all the time? I've never seen her feet without her ever-present-high-heels. So evidently she wants to make herself look taller and professional. The same can be said for men wearing ties. There's no rule saying businessmen have to wear ties, but many do in an effort to look professional. Its a societal expectation that politicians and business people try to look professional.

You will notice guys aren't hopping up and down to go shoe shopping. Very boring to us. We're not going out and buying high heels for women as gifts. Possibly because we have an inkling of how painful they must be to walk in, but also because we admittedly know crap-all about women's shoes, foot sizes and what will feel comfortable.

The price of high heels is also a deterrent. Men aren't about to spend $599 on a pair of high heels in an effort to get in bed with you. For that kind of money we could pay for an expensive hotel or even a short plane ride to Mexico with you.

For women high heels opens up some interesting feminist questions, like "Are High Heels a Detriment or a Benefit?"

But do men really notice if you're wearing high heels? I think it depends more on the dress. If you're showing a lot of leg, the high heels will help accentuate the leg and make it look longer. If you're wearing Levis we probably won't notice your feet because we will be checking out your ass instead.

To me wearing high heels is a choice. A choice women make in an effort to look taller, more professional... the same way men make a choice to wear a tie when they go to a job interview.

The tie isn't a necessity and neither is the high heels. Its a societal expectation.

A high expectation.

For myself, I could care less if women ever wore high heels again. They could all suddenly stop wearing them and I wouldn't care at all. Men are much more interested in lingerie, bras, corsets, etc. anyway.

For many men high heels are a bit of a joke. We don't understand how women even manage to walk in those things.