Is The C-Word Still Jarring?

Kathleen Deveny wonders if the word is starting to lose it’s acerbic effect.

The C word has been in use since at least 1230, according to the Oxford English Dictionary online, when it referred to a street name, Gropecuntelane (bet I can guess what went on there). It has gradually been finding its way into mainstream American culture since the 1970s. Think of Travis Bickle’s rant in Taxi Driver, Hannibal Lector’s delightful salutation to Agent Starling, or the last words Adriana heard before being shot to death on The Sopranos. And don’t forget Citizens United Not Timid, best known by its acronym, a Hillary-bashing group that got media attention during the last campaign.

For decades, such feminists as Germaine Greer have advocated reclaiming the C word, in a take-back-the-night kind of way. While I’m all for this, efforts to redeem loaded words can be problematic, as we’ve learned from the N word. Besides, most women just don’t seem to have the stomach for it.

Why Do Animals Masturbate?

Besides the obvious reason, the seldom studied question may relate to the evolution of human physiology:

The recent finding that masturbation improves the quality of human sperm supports the notion that it’s an evolved trait and not merely a byproduct of our physiology. According to a branch of evolutionary theory called “sperm competition” that developed in the late-1960s, natural selection can produce just such a change in reproductive behavior. The theory focuses on polyandrous species—i.e., those in which a single female takes multiple partners and the sperm from several potential fathers might end up competing to fertilize the same egg. Under those conditions, the relative quality of male ejaculate very clearly determines whose genes are passed on to the next generation.

Erotic Dance Inflicting Harm To Penises

It’s called “Daggering” and the dance is being appropriated into the bedroom by couples.  It seems often without pleasant results.  It’s become such a problem that the Jamaican Broadcasting Commission has inplemented a ban on songs and videos with brazen sexual conduct:

“Daggering”, a lewd dance style where couples simulate dry sex in various positions to the beat of the music, is characterised by over-the-top gyrating, heavy pelvis-thrusting and daredevil leaps.

Jamaican doctors were prompted to issue a warning on the dangers of daggering when presented with a range of fractured penises caused by rough intercourse.

A Wank A Day Keeps Infertility Away?

It seems a rigorous masturbation itinerary may increase your chances of getting that special someone knocked-up.

In a paper presented to the European Society of Human Reproduction and Embryology, Dr. David Greening, an Australian infertility expert, reports that 81 percent of the men in his study significantly improved their sperm quality, as measured by DNA fragmentation, through a simple one-week program.

Simply, participants were instructed to masturbate daily. And how might increased masturbation affect sperm quality?

Greening’s theory is that it shortens the period during which sperm are exposed to harmful molecules in tubes emerging from the testicles. He concludes that to improve their odds of achieving pregnancy, “[c]ouples with relatively normal semen parameters should have sex daily for up to a week before the ovulation date.” But if the exposure theory is correct, he notes, the key isn’t sex. It’s “ejaculatory frequency.”

10 Things You Didn’t Know About Orgasm

Mary Roach discusses orgasmic eccentricities.  The segment starts with in vitro masturbation, and then later discusses a woman who orgasms while brushing her teeth.  Interesting stuff.