Wednesday, April 8

LIFESTYLE

Who Is SEXTing Anyway?
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SEX-CAPADES

Who Is SEXTing Anyway?

"SEXTing" is a term that gets thrown around a lot these days. With technology so readily available, it was only a matter of time until our sexuality made its way to our cell phones. SEXTing refers to anyone sending sexually explicit messages or racy photos to partners, peers, or the public; this trend originally referred to use of cell phone cameras and messaging, but now encompasses email and social media transmissions. This racy trend has gotten the attention of the public, including law makers, parents, teachers, bosses, and most people who are in relationships. Many people, ranging from teenagers to mature adults, are using SEXTing to attract the attention of a potential partner, spice up their sex life, and even engage in cyber-affairs. What seems to be an innocent flirtation might b...
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South Korean Women Are Refusing To Date, Marry Or Have Kids
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RELATIONSHIPS

South Korean Women Are Refusing To Date, Marry Or Have Kids

Why so many South Korean women are refusing to date, marry or have kids. South Korea finds itself embroiled in an all-out gender war – and it keeps getting worse. The animosity between Korean men and women has reached a point where some women are outright refusing to date, marry and have kids with men – a phenomenon known as the 4B movement. As a Korean feminist scholar living in the U.S., I’ve followed this gender war from afar as I conducted research on contemporary Korean gender politics. However, I also became embroiled in it myself after my research on Korean masculinity was published by CNN. The article described foreign women who traveled to Korea after becoming enamored of the idea of dating Korean men from watching Korean television dramas. I pointed out that since the tourists’ f...
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What To Know About These Ethical Non-Monogamy Often Misunderstood Relationships
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ATTRACTION

What To Know About These Ethical Non-Monogamy Often Misunderstood Relationships

Ethical non-monogamy: what to know about these often misunderstood relationships. Imagine Sarah and John have been in a monogamous relationship for five years. Although they love each other, Sarah, who is bisexual, has recently started feeling an attraction to her coworker, Andrea. This has led to several sexual encounters, leaving Sarah feeling guilty. However, she has not talked to John about her feelings or experiences with Andrea. No matter how much you love your partner, it’s common to feel attracted to someone outside of a relationship. Some couples may even want sexual encounters with other people. It can be difficult to navigate these feelings, especially when they conflict with the commitment and promises made in the relationship. While the sex between Sarah and Andrea was cons...
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Asexuals — How They Navigate Romantic Relationships
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RELATIONSHIPS

Asexuals — How They Navigate Romantic Relationships

How asexuals navigate romantic relationships. Though an estimated 1% of people identify as asexual – a sexual orientation most commonly defined as lacking sexual attraction – asexual people remain relatively invisible and are rarely researched. For these reasons, they’re frequently subjected to discrimination and stereotyping. For example, it’s often assumed that all people who are asexual are also “aromantic” – that they aren’t interested in being in romantic relationships or aren’t capable of doing so. However, that couldn’t be further from the truth. Asexuality exists on a spectrum, and there is a wide range in how the members of this group experience sexuality and romance. In a recently published study that I conducted with several Michigan State faculty members and other research asso...
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Do Smart Chatbots Such As ChatGPT Make Dating Online Better Or Worse?
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DATING

Do Smart Chatbots Such As ChatGPT Make Dating Online Better Or Worse?

ChatGPT and Tinder: do smart chatbots make dating online better or worse? Tinder and other dating apps have come to define modern dating, and notoriously so. Users download the Tinder app to their phones or other devices and can then view the profiles of potential dates nearby. If they think someone might be a match, they swipe to the right on their touchscreens to show interest. If the other person swipes right too, a chat can begin, which might lead to an in-person meeting. This initial introduction involves minimal information – a photo and some basic details about yourself. The result is that romance and trust are sometimes assumed to be missing from the dating process. Added to this are fears of harassment and scams as well as uninspirational (and often sexually aggressive) Tinder ope...
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Predators Online Target Children’s Webcams
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PARENTING, VIDEO REELS

Predators Online Target Children’s Webcams

Online predators target children’s webcams, study finds. There has been a tenfold increase in sexual abuse imagery created with webcams and other recording devices worldwide since 2019, according to the the Internet Watch Foundation. Social media sites and chatrooms are the most common methods used to facilitate contact with kids, and abuse occurs both online and offline. Increasingly, predators are using advances in technology to engage in technology-facilitated sexual abuse. Once having gained access to a child’s webcam, a predator can use it to record, produce and distribute child pornography. We are criminologists who study cybercrime and cybersecurity. Our current research examines the methods online predators use to compromise children’s webcams. To do this, we posed online as chi...
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“Which Dinosaur Will Never Be Discovered? The Clitaurus.”
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SEX-CAPADES

“Which Dinosaur Will Never Be Discovered? The Clitaurus.”

The clitoris – a brief history. “What’s the difference between a bar and clitoris? Most men have no trouble finding a bar.” In the world of humour, the clitoris remains a mystery: supposedly small, and so inevitably difficult to locate. “Which dinosaur will never be discovered? The Clitaurus.” It sometimes seems medical science has been far more interested in the penis than the clitoris. Indeed, up until very recently the number of nerve endings thought to be on a woman’s clitoris was only an estimate and this was based upon research on cows. But recent research on the actual human clitoris has found it has more than 10,000 nerve fibres – 20% more than previously thought. The new research studied tissue donated by trans men during female to male gender affirming surgery. Tissues were dyed ...
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Defriending In Our Broader, Offline Social Lives
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DATING

Defriending In Our Broader, Offline Social Lives

Ditching a friend who is not like you can deepen social inequality. Since the 2016 presidential election, news accounts and scientific research have illustrated how defriending, a term originally associated with dropping Facebook friends, echoes in our broader, offline social lives. And what may seem like a simple decision to cut off a difficult relationship may actually deepen divisions in society. As social scientists who study social networks, we were keen to take a closer look at defriending beyond social media and the internet, particularly as the U.S. approaches what is likely to be another contentious presidential election. Some relationships are difficult to keep going because of conflicts, disagreements, life changes or busy schedules. Those things make defriending practical and r...
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Which Is More Satisfying Spontaneous Or Planned Sex
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SEX-CAPADES

Which Is More Satisfying Spontaneous Or Planned Sex

Should you schedule sex? We looked at whether spontaneous or unplanned sex is more satisfying. Portrayals of sex in TV and movies often involve passionate, spur-of-the-moment encounters that seem to have little forethought or planning. Media depictions of sex might then send the message that a feature of hot, fulfilling sex is spontaneity. In fact, in our studies, when we asked partnered people in the United States and Canada about their sexual preferences, most believe that sex is more satisfying when it happens spontaneously compared to when it is planned ahead of time. Myths of spontaneity But is spur-of-the moment sex actually more satisfying? Although spontaneity might signal passion to some, valuing spontaneity can have its drawbacks. Although desire for sex can be intense in the...
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Female Airbnb Hosts Earn Thousands Less Per Year Than Male Hosts
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WANDERLUST

Female Airbnb Hosts Earn Thousands Less Per Year Than Male Hosts

Female Airbnb hosts in the United States earn on average about 25% less per year than their male counterparts for their rentals, according to our new study. That’s slightly higher than the annual gender wage gap reported by the U.S. Census Bureau and adds up to more than US$4,000 in lower earnings per year. Our analysis revealed that the average nightly rate of a female host’s listing was $30 cheaper than those of male hosts. You can listen to more articles from The Conversation, narrated by Noa, here. For this research, we analyzed data taken from the public profiles of 8,000 hosts across several U.S. cities. We focused on listings with only one host and just one active listing. The name each host posted on their public profile was coded as female or male, and gender-ambiguous na...
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