Jacqueline Gets Her Geek On

I have the "man-loving" gene

Interesting Psychology Today article about theories of how homosexuality could be genetic, despite the counter-intuitiveness of it: Finding the Switch

Liveblogging legal gay marriage in California

My brother is on the scene at City Hall in San Francisco and updating every few minutes with pictures and reports.

LAWYERS ASSEMBLE!

My brother is chortling over the impending legal "clusterfuck" in other states once California starts marrying gays on June 16.  California does not require residency to get married there (whereas Massachusetts does), so this is a much bigger deal than when Massachusetts legalized gay marriage.

I think this comment sums the situation up nicely:

People forget that the constitution built so many two-way streets.

"You forget that we allow gay marriages!"
"You forget that we banned them!"
"Hey, fuck you."
"NO, fuck you!"
"LAWYERS ASSEMBLE!"

And then two nice ladies who live in a bungalow have to watch as their love is basically slapped around by supporters and enemies.

In related news, George Takei (Sulu) is planning a fabulous gay wedding for September, to be attended by many of the Star Trek cast.

Men have a reproductive shelf life too

Telegraph.co.uk: Scientists reveal dangers of older fathers:

"A mass study found that deaths of children fathered by over-45s occurred at almost twice the rate of those fathered by men aged between 25 and 30.

"Scientists believe that children of older fathers are more likely to suffer particular congenital defects as well as autism, schizophrenia and epilepsy.

...

"Most research into older parents has, until now, focused on the risks passed on by older mothers. But the new study, published in the European Journal of Epidemiology, was adjusted to take account of maternal age and socio-economic differences."

Via Drudge.

Of course, it could also mean that men carrying genes for congenital defects, autism, schizophrenia, and epilepsy have a more difficult time finding a mate and thus are more likely to marry and have children later than men who don't carry these genes.  See a previous discussion on Marginal Revolution about this.

Samantha of the now

Samantha of the now, originally uploaded by Jacqueline1776.

This 40-something blonde is hitting on three 20-something guys. You go, girl!

If I were a single heterosexual male...

... I would plan to spend this Friday evening/night hanging out at a trendy bar near a movie theater.

Sex and the City: The Movie premieres this weekend and it is going to be attended by GAGGLES of women.  Many will be single.  And you know if they're fans of the show that they don't disapprove of casual hookups.

Congratulations, California gays

Your state Supreme Court is fabulous.  I hope that many of you will soon be enjoying your honeymoons!

I think widespread use of a male birth control pill would actually DECREASE the quantity of sex

Tyler posted about "The economics of the male pill" on Marginal Revolution.  He thinks if/when a male birth control pill is introduced, the quantity of intercourse should remain the same, and that it probably won't be widely used. 

Just about everybody seems to disagree with Tyler about how many men would use it, and I also disagree about the lack of effect on the quantity of intercourse.  Although I think that a male birth control pill would be a great thing, I think it will actually reduce the overall amount of sex in the world.  In the comments there, I wrote:

I think the quantity of sex will decrease because women's chances of trapping a man or securing 18 years of child support payments with an unwanted-by-him pregnancy will decrease, thus lowering the expected value of sex for many women.

Lynn Gazis-Sax asks,  "You seriously think that most women find getting court orders for child support from unwilling men a more rewarding activity than having orgasms? Those are some really strange women you know."

To which I replied:

Many women don't have orgasms, or enjoy sex much at all -- IIRC, various surveys have reported that around 10-30% of women never have orgasms and/or don't enjoy sex. Most of these women still want children and financial support to raise these children.

There are also many women who, regardless of whether they enjoy sex or not, want children but can't find a man willing to have children with them when the women want to start having them. Many of these women thus "forget" to take their birth control pills because they decide that they want a baby now whether their men want one or not. Or they think that getting pregnant will get an ambivalent man to marry or otherwise commit to them.

"Deadbeat dad" laws in the US have really been strengthened in recent years, so unless you work in the underground economy, you will eventually have to pay child support for any children you father (or, sometimes, for any children born to a woman you had a sexual relationship with, even if the children are not actually genetically yours!).

My warning to all my young male friends has been that the average woman's drive to have babies seems to be as strong as the average man's drive to have sex, and that women will lie to and otherwise manipulate men to get pregnant as much as men will lie to and manipulate women to get laid. Hopefully this has scared a few of them into always wearing condoms until they're ready to become fathers.

Unfortunately, though, as a contraceptive, condoms have a very high failure rate (10-18% with "typical use" -- very few people achieve the "perfect use" 2-3% failure rate), so I think the availability of a more reliable, male-controlled contraception option like a male birth control pill would be a great thing.