I always regarded it as sort of personal quirk without need of a “fixing” but I found it very “deflating”, shall we say, to have one of the kids knock on the door while my wife and I are engaged in certain intimate activities let along for them to actually be in the room. That personal quirk aside, I never understood why some people would regard it as child abuse or endangering of a child’s welfare for them to see such activity. After all, animals engage in that sort of activity in front of their young without apparent harm. And what about very primitive human societies without doors that can be locked? Do those children, or animals, that see those sort of activities suffer some sort of harm? I think we can safely predict the results of those studies before someone spends X million dollars of government grant money on the topic.

However such a study might help out this couple who I believe should be convicted of committing an act of stupidity not neglect:

PROVIDENCE, R.I. — A Woonsocket mother and her boyfriend are headed to trial on charges they had intercourse in front of the woman’s 9-year-old daughter as a way to teach the girl about sex.

Rebecca Arnold, of Woonsocket, and her boyfriend, David Prata, have pleaded not guilty to felony child-neglect charges. A pre-trial conference is scheduled for next month.

When questioned by an investigator from the state Department of Children, Youth and Families, Prata, 33, said he and Arnold, 36, had sex “all the time” in front of the child and that “we don’t believe in hiding anything.”

He said the girl would often be on the bed watching as the couple had sex. Though they did not ask her to leave, they also did not force her to remain on the bed, Prata said.

I have to admit I have a rather small sample compared to theirs but from my research this study is way off the mark:

On average, most women say they would have no problem abandoning sex for over a year if it meant they could get their hands on a new wardrobe. Two percent of the 1,000 women in 10 cities surveyed were ready to abstain from sex for three years in exchange for new duds.

When asked whether giving up sex for a month would be worse than losing a loved piece of clothing, 61 percent said they’d rather give up getting down and dirty. 48 percent, taking part in the survey by consumer products giant Unilever said their favorite article of clothing was more reliable than their man in giving them confidence and making them feel sexy.

“Some people say clothes make the man, but the right clothes can even replace him,” fashion designer, stylist and TV personality Carson Kressley from the reality TV show “Queer Eye for the Straight Guy” said in a statement accompanying the poll.

And these are women who deliberately seek out this mutilation:

WEALTHY Australian women are jetting to Los Angeles for the hot new trend in plastic surgery — genital “rejuvenation”.

…

The doctor said surgery on the female genitals, which can include reshaping the outer genitals (labiaplasty), became the hottest trend in plastic surgery in 2006 in response to the popularity of Brazilian-style waxing.

“The extra skin women could hide before is now totally visible,” he said.

Dr. Joe’s cure for everything, more sex, works for a lot of things but I have my doubts about this:

WHO?
All Men and Women, you and everyone you know.

WHERE?
Everywhere in the world, but especially in countries with weapons of mass destruction.

WHEN?
Solstice Day — Friday, December 22nd, at the time of your choosing, in the place of your choosing and with as much privacy as you chose.

WHY?
To effect positive change in the energy field of the Earth through the input of the largest possible surge of human energy, a Synchronized Global Orgasm.

I’m fine with most of it but I think someone needs to take some physics classes because their understanding of energy and fields is more than a little wacked.

I’ll particpate and encourage Barb to help out because it can’t do any harm and it was on my list of things to do anyway but these people are nuts.

Now they are taxing sex. It’s an extension of the “pleasure tax”:

The sex levy is part of the “pleasure tax,” which originally placed a duty on casinos and arcades and was later extended to include brothels, massage parlors and table-dancing clubs.

Okay. So it’s only on the business sex. But they also pay other taxes:

The city’s finance department was not able to say how many prostitutes worked in the city as individual tax numbers could be registered to entire brothels. Prostitution is legal in Germany, where sex workers also have to pay income and value-added taxes.

Value-added tax? I”m going to have to think about that one for a while…

I’ve been saying it for over 30 years and now celebrities are endorsing it:

Hollywood beauty Cameron Diaz thinks that sex is the remedy for all the world’s ills.

The actress, who is dating pop singer Justin Timberlake finds lovemaking so therapeutic she believes it could be used as a cure for practically everything.

“Sex is the most amazing stress reliever. I actually think it’s the best thing for everything! I think it should be 100 per cent part of everyone’s life on a day-to-day basis. We’d all be a lot happier!” she was quoted by Hollywood Ragaas as saying.

I’ve heard New Zealand was a great place to visit and live. I was told it was because how beautiful it is. Now I find out they were holding back on me:

NEW Zealand’s prowess may lag that of Australia in most sporting pursuits but condom-maker Durex says it chose Kiwis to test its products because they are sexual champs.

Durex said New Zealanders were chosen to test-pilot their wares because they were among the most sexually active and adventurous in the world.

“Kiwis have proven they’re a sexually energetic bunch, and therefore it makes sense that a select few will have the chance to try our latest condom innovation, all in the name of research,” Durex NZ manager Victoria Potter said.

This may also explain why Mr. Completely married Kiwi.

This “male pill” works by preventing ejaculation without inhibiting orgasm. For some people that would eliminate a lot of the fun but for others it would be most welcome.

Also “useful” is that it can be taken as a “one of” a short time before its effects are needed and normal function returns a few hours later:

A male contraceptive pill, which can be taken as a one-off dose just before a date without any side effects, is being developed by British scientists.

The tablet would prevent a man from being able to impregnate a woman by creating a “dry orgasm”. But the user’s fertility would return to normal within a few hours of taking the drug.

The pill, which was derived from drugs used to treat schizophrenia, prevents ejaculation but does not affect the intensity of the orgasm.

Very interesting.

As I suggested the other day Phil now has some tunage for your gPod. He doesn’t keep these files up for very long because of the disk space requirements and potential for using up a lot more bandwidth. If you read his post late you can still enjoy his selection by buying a copy of the CD here — tracks six and nine.

I should ask our Chinese friend if this is some sort of cultural thing. Maybe something was lost in the translation because this makes no sense to me:

China has a totally different attitude towards sex from many countries. We should not only promote a bold, open attitude, as in Western countries, but also preserve healthy, traditional views on sex,” said Duan.

This appears to be a direct contradiction unless he is saying both (and I would presume all) behaviors are acceptable. But don’t doesn’t quite fit with the rest of the context:

BEIJING, Nov. 6 — Once regarded as “bold and open,” Li Yinhe’s views on sex, particularly topics such as “wife-swapping,” got a frosty reception from experts at the fourth Guangzhou Sex Culture Expo.

Addressing last year’s festival, Li, widely acclaimed as China’s foremost female sociologist on sex issues, said wife swapping was a normal kind of entertainment and all couples should have the right to do it if they wanted to.

However, this year scholars and experts at a forum held in conjunction with the ongoing expo rejected her easy-going views.

“Wife swapping should not be promoted to the public as it will lead to the spread of HIV/AIDS and other sexually transmitted diseases,” said Zhang Feng, director of the Guangdong Provincial Population and Family Planning Committee.

Zhang added that neither the sex forum nor the expo should provide a platform for advertising bold and “unacceptable” views to the public.