He: Where’s the butter?
She: In the fridge.
He: I’m looking exactly here and there’s no butter.
She: It IS there, I put it to the fridge only ten minutes ago!
He: No, you must have stuck it somewhere else. There’s NO butter in this fridge!
For many this dialog will appear familiar. After these words She strides to the kitchen, pulls the fridge door and like with a wave of a wand takes out the butter-dish. Inexperienced men find it a mean trick and blame women for hiding things from them. Keys, underwear, socks, shoes – this all is here, men just can’t find it! But why can’t they?
The answer is hidden in our history. Very long time ago, when our forefathers lived in caves and had a warm in the fire in the evenings, men had to leave every day and hunt for food for the family. In order to see and follow the goal far off, the hunter needed the ability to see for long distances, everything else was set aside and did not draw away. And Clever Nature took care of men already in those ancient times. The field of the vision of the vast majority of men was formed like a tunnel: a man can see a plenty tight space, but far – and exactly this provides him the ability of hunting a distanced object.
In her turn a woman of those days stayed at home, took care of children and household and needed to have in view everything around in case of danger or threat to her descendants. That’s why the Nature programmed her in such a way, that if she looks at one object, she can also see everything around it within a radius of almost 180 degree. This explains the fact that she can find a thing in the fridge or wardrobe much easier than a man, who has only about a 30 degree vision radius.
What he sees: “Tunnel-like” eyesight of men (30 degree radius)
What she sees: “Broad” eyesight of women (180 degree radius)
And this is why a man needs to turn his head right-left and up and down to find the “vanished” object. An average woman needs only to take a look at the open fridge to have the full sight of everything there and to find the object in seconds.
By the way, the men’s habit to gaze after beautiful women, which as often as not irritates and offends wives and girlfriends, is connected with these very particularities of men’s and women’s eyesight. In reality this doesn’t mean women don’t gaze after the nice men nearby – they also commit this sin, they just don’t need to turn head or focus the eyesight at the object.
For many of us, love begins with deep passion, romance, and hot steamy sex. This is what I call the first stage of love, the euphoric stage. You are together all the time, love everything about each other, see no faults in one another, and cannot seem to keep your hands off each other. As time goes by, you get to know one another. The party manners disappear, and you begin to see that your loved one is not so perfect, after all. This is the point where, if you are expecting perfection in another person, you will become disenchanted, and the relationship will end. You cannot expect perfection in anyone, including yourself. If you do, you are living your life in fantasy, and always will be disappointed.
Contemplate this for a moment: you have just met the person of your dreams. You are attracted to this person physically; he or she has a great sense of humor, is affectionate, romantic, and a fabulous lover. Your new partner does all the right things, pushes all the right buttons, and you have -- and I hate this phrase -- fallen head over heels in love. One day, your perfect, remarkable partner begins to irritate you. You may discover that this person is a slob. All of a sudden, you cannot stand being in his or her place because it's such a pig pen. One day you notice that your once-flawless love, who has run out of clean underwear, goes to the laundry hamper to retrieve a slightly less soiled pair. You go into the bathroom to find it flooded with water from the shower, his razor stubble, or her make-up and toothpaste, lining the sink. To top it all off, if it is a man in question, he left the lid up or did not flush the toilet. So do you dump this person? Based on my experiences in life, I do not think you should.
This is an extreme example, but it could happen. Love will reach a stage where you will begin to notice your partner's shortcomings -- things that you may have overlooked before. So what do you do? Do you give up? Relationships end for many at this point, because the fantasy has been shattered. He or she is not that perfect, after all. When you come to this point, you have graduated to the next stage of relationship. It's a challenge, an invitation, to achieve a new level of intimacy with your partner. Many of us choose, at this point, not to communicate our needs or feelings, but rather to detour into anger. Out of fear, some of us repress our feelings. In many cases, we just plain run as fast as we can. These are all just normal human reactions, when faced with this awakening. Should you choose to be angry, or if you choose to repress your feelings or to run, you are missing the opportunity to rise to the next level of intimacy.
Euphoric love ends for a reason: it is a time when your brain starts having more input than your hormones. When euphoric love ends, you have come to a stage in the relationship where you are thinking seriously about a future with your partner. Questions come to mind, such as: "Can I live with this person, the way he/she is right now?"; "Would I want to have children with this person?"; "Do I want to share the rest of my life with this person?" These are big questions, and they tend to elicit fear. The fear is totally normal, but it catches many of us off guard. Many of us take this fear as a sign that the relationship is not meant to be. In reality, this fear is a reflection of how important your relationship is becoming. When we start to consider a future that includes our partner, we tend to look at them more critically. While this is natural, it's important not to forget the positives that brought you together in the first place. Celebrate this stage in your relationship: it's a sign of growth, a love relationship on the rise. Remember, the art of loving is a lifelong commitment. It is the further development of learning to love ourselves, our partner, and all those around us.
If you and your partner decide to commit to the further development of your relationship, you need to know that this is when the real work begins. Love cannot sustain itself. As Erich Fromm wrote in The Art of Loving, published in 1956, "The art of loving is like any craft. It requires patience, confidence, discipline, concentration, faith, and practice daily." These are words to remember. Relationships change continually. As relationships grow, the level of commitment increases and the love matures. Mature love does not occur overnight. It develops over time, and requires that you give of yourself. Examine your priorities: it all starts with loving yourself first, then loving your partner, and, finally, loving your family. Mature, committed love is the most powerful experience imaginable. It is the foundation of your relationship; without it, there really is no relationship.
A lawyer married a woman who had previously divorced ten husbands.
On their wedding night, she told her new husband, “Please be gentle, I’m still a virgin.”
“What?” said the puzzled groom.
“How can that be if you’ve been married ten times?”
“Well, Husband #1 was a sales representative: he kept telling me how great it was going to be.
Husband #2 was in software services: he was never really sure how it was supposed to function, but he said he’d look into it and get back to me.
Husband #3 was from field services: he said everything checked out diagnostically but he just couldn’t get the system up.
Husband #4 was in telemarketing: even though he knew he had the order, he didn’t know when he would be able to deliver.
Husband #5 was an engineer: he understood the basic process but wanted three years to research, implement, and design a new state-of-the-art method.
Husband #6 was from finance and administration: he thought he knew how, but he wasn’t sure whether it was his job or not.
Husband #7 was in marketing: although he had a nice product, he was never sure how to position it.
Husband #8 was a psychologist: all he ever did was talk about it.
Husband #9 was a gynecologist: all he did was look at it.
Husband #10 was a stamp collector: all he ever did was… God! I miss him! But now that I’ve married you, I’m really excited!”
“Good,” said the new husband, “but, why?”
“You’re a lawyer. This time I know I’m gonna get screwed!”
LUCKNOW: In a horrifying incident reported in the state capital, a one-and-a half-year-old girl was raped by her servant.
The incident was reported in Gomtinagar police circle on Thursday. According to the police the incident came to light when the victim's mother Anita Sharma, a resident of Vivek Khand in Gomtinagar area, lodged an FIR against her servant Narendra Mishra alleging that he raped her daughter.
The complainant owns a general store in the same area, where Mishra, a resident of Vishal Khand, worked as a servant.
Talking to TOI, circle officer of Gomtinagar police circle, Shubhas Chandra Dubey said "Narendra who is a neighbour of the victim was also working as a servant in the shop which was owned by the victim's family."
The police while talking to the media persons also said that on Thursday when the victim's parents were busy Mishra took advantage of the situation and on finding the girl alone Mishra took her with him in the park nearby and raped her.
Dubey also said that the incident would not have come to light had the victim's parents not noticed the girl crying in pain after the incident. Dubey while committing the crime pressed the mouth of the girl so that her cries could not be heard.
It was around 8:30 in the evening on Thursday when Anita could actually figure out what had happened. After the incident, Anita rushed to the police station and lodged the report against Mishra.
Later Mishra was arrested. According to the police Mishra admitted to his crime and was sent to jail under Section 376. However, the medical report of the victim was awaited.
London, March 13 : Ever wondered what really makes the perfect woman? Well, according to a new poll, a man's ideal woman is blonde, beautiful, brilliant in bed, and one who loves sport.
More than 66,000 men voted in the poll for ukdating.com, which resulted in the creation of the perfect woman, who can be dubbed as a cross between the Bionic Woman and Mother Teresa.
The most important attribute for those polled was blue eyes, followed by blonde hair.
The third most attractive characteristic in a woman was her occasional appearance wearing spectacles.
The poll also showed that for men, the perfect mate would weigh nine-and-a-half stone, stand at around 5ft 8in and be a curvy size 12.
Most men voted for women earning between 10,000-25,000 pounds a year, working in either nursing or PR.
The poll also revealed that men preferred women who live on their own, have a wacky personality, and are 'good in bed.'
The ideal woman should also have her own car, the favoured makes being a Ford Ka or a Mazda MX5 and enjoy regular trips to nightclubs, pubs and restaurants.
It is also important that she loves pets, is a non-smoker, and only drinks alcohol occasionally, the poll showed.
"While the old adage 'Gentlemen prefer Blondes' still holds true today, it's interesting to note that in this world of size zeros and calorie counting, men are more interested in height than weight, and prefer a medium build girl to a skinny girl," The Sun quoted David Brown, managing director of www.ukdating.com, as saying.
"This research just goes to show that men are as selective with their choice of date as women are, and know exactly what they want," he added.
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Nice Video & No Extreme Porn, Funny.
In spite of real progress around the globe, the bedrock problems that have dogged women for centuries remain
Foreign Affairs Reporter
The image of the 21st century woman is confident, prosperous, glowing with health and beauty.
But for many of the 3.3 billion female occupants of our planet, the perks of the cyber age never arrived. As International Women's Day is celebrated today, they continue to feel the age-old lash of violence, repression, isolation, enforced ignorance and discrimination.
"These things are universal," says Taina Bien-Aime, executive director of New York-based Equality Now. "There is not one single country where women can feel absolutely safe."
In spite of real progress in women's rights around the globe – better laws, political participation, education and income – the bedrock problems that have dogged women for centuries remain. Even in wealthy countries, there are pockets of private pain where women are unprotected and under attack.
Some countries, often the poorest and most conflict-ridden, have a level of violence that makes life unbearable for women. Richer ones may burden them with repressive laws, or sweep the problems of the least advantaged under the carpet. In any country, refugee women are among the most vulnerable.
So widespread are the disadvantages that it's hard to pinpoint the worst places in the world for women. Some surveys rate their problems by quality of life, others by health indicators. Human rights groups point to countries where violations are so severe that even murder is routine.
Literacy is one of the best indicators of women's status in their countries. But Amnesty International Canada's women's rights campaigner Cheryl Hotchkiss says building schools alone doesn't solve the problem of equal education.
"There's a huge range of barriers women face to getting an education," she says. "It may be free and available, but parents won't send their daughters out to school if they can be kidnapped and raped."
Health is another key indicator, including the care of pregnant women, who are sometimes forced into disastrous early marriage and childbearing, as well as infection with HIV/AIDS. But again, statistics fail to show the whole, complex story.
"On a rural lake in Zambia, I met a woman who had not told her husband she was HIV-positive," says David Morley, CEO of Save the Children Canada. "She was already living on the edge because she had no children. If she told him, she would be kicked off the island and sent alone to the mainland. She felt she had no choice, because she had no power at all."
Putting power in women's hands is the biggest challenge for improving their lives in every country, advocates agree. Whether in the poorest countries of Africa, or the most repressive of the Middle East or Asia, lack of control over their own destinies blights women's lives from early childhood.
Here are 10 of the worst countries in the world to be a woman today:
• Afghanistan: The average Afghan girl will live to only 45 – one year less than an Afghan male. After three decades of war and religion-based repression, an overwhelming number of women are illiterate. More than half of all brides are under 16, and one woman dies in childbirth every half hour. Domestic violence is so common that 87 per cent of women admit to experiencing it. But more than one million widows are on the streets, often forced into prostitution. Afghanistan is the only country in which the female suicide rate is higher than that of males.
• Democratic Republic of Congo: In the eastern DRC, a war that claimed more than 3 million lives has ignited again, with women on the front line. Rapes are so brutal and systematic that UN investigators have called them unprecedented. Many victims die; others are infected with HIV and left to look after children alone. Foraging for food and water exposes women to yet more violence. Without money, transport or connections, they have no way of escape.
• Iraq: The U.S.-led invasion to "liberate" Iraq from Saddam Hussein has imprisoned women in an inferno of sectarian violence that targets women and girls. The literacy rate, once the highest in the Arab world, is now among the lowest as families fear risking kidnapping and rape by sending girls to school. Women who once went out to work stay home. Meanwhile, more than 1 million women have been displaced from their homes, and millions more are unable to earn enough to eat.
• Nepal: Early marriage and childbirth exhaust the country's malnourished women, and one in 24 will die in pregnancy or childbirth. Daughters who aren't married off may be sold to traffickers before they reach their teens. Widows face extreme abuse and discrimination if they're labelled bokshi, meaning witches. A low-level civil war between government and Maoist rebels has forced rural women into guerrilla groups.
• Sudan: While Sudanese women have made strides under reformed laws, the plight of those in Darfur, in western Sudan, has worsened. Abduction, rape or forced displacement have destroyed more than 1 million women's lives since 2003. The janjaweed militias have used systematic rape as a demographic weapon, but access to justice is almost impossible for the female victims of violence.
• Other countries in which women's lives are significantly worse than men's include Guatemala, where an impoverished female underclass faces domestic violence, rape and the second-highest rate of HIV/AIDS after sub-Saharan Africa. An epidemic of gruesome unsolved murders has left hundreds of women dead, some of their bodies left with hate messages.
In Mali, one of the world's poorest countries, few women escape the torture of genital mutilation, many are forced into early marriages, and one in 10 dies in pregnancy or childbirth.
In the tribal border areas of Pakistan, women are gang-raped as punishment for men's crimes. But honour killing is more widespread, and a renewed wave of religious extremism is targeting female politicians, human rights workers and lawyers.
In oil-rich Saudi Arabia, women are treated as lifelong dependents, under the guardianship of a male relative. Deprived of the right to drive a car or mix with men publicly, they are confined to strictly segregated lives on pain of severe punishment.
In the Somali capital, Mogadishu, a vicious civil war has put women, who were the traditional mainstay of the family, under attack. In a society that has broken down, women are exposed daily to rape, dangerously poor health care for pregnancy, and attack by armed gangs.
"While the potential of women is recognized at the international level," says World Health Organization director-general Margaret Chan, "this potential will not be realized until conditions improve – often dramatically – in countries and communities. Too many complex factors, often rooted in social and cultural norms, continue to hinder the ability of women and girls to achieve their potential and benefit from social advances."
By Christ Pro Erotic
This is how messed up my understanding of faith and sexuality was as a believer in Jesus. In order to show myself worthy and approved, in order to make sure I can present myself pure before God, self-love was not an option for a believer because it was seen as a sin against God.
Masturbation means I see something (or someone) to cause my loins to stir and thus touch myself; this means I violated the "fornication" code of having sex outside of marriage and violating God’s plan for me.
The message against masturbation
I can’t remember if I became a believer first, masturbated first, or both, but I think after reading some Christian books and hearing teachers from the pulpit come heavy against sexual issues I got the message very clear. If you are to a believer of honor, then you are to keep yourself sexually pure till marriage.
I tried not to touch myself down there. Not to masturbate or think of pleasing myself because it’s evil, of course. My will power (unfortunately) was like one Cosmo Kramer who was the first to loose "the Contest" against Jerry, Elaine, and George on the Seinfield series.
Then again, that could be a good thing.
But is It really wrong?
You see after many tears, many times mentally and spiritually beating myself up, I soon realized maybe masturbation is not a bad thing after all. My human sexuality teacher recommended Betty Dodson’s book "Sex for One."
Man! Talk about an eye opening theory about the practice; she even had pictures and the whole nine yards.
But the thing that won me over to the "Touch Myself" club was a letter from a Pentecostal woman from Cincinnati, Ohio. She wrote how she felt guilty for years due to the church world she lives in, but because of the book it opened her eyes and mind. Now she knows God won’t shoot her down for touching herself.
"Well if she can do it and find inner peace, why not me?" I thought.
The truth about loving yourself
I realized a few things along the way to enjoy masturbation and keep things in perspective:
Many believers look at Onan as the reason why masturbation shouldn’t be part of a believer or non-believers life. If the passage in Genesis is looked at closely you can see it wasn’t masturbation in the sense of giving pleasure to ones self. God struck down Er because of his wickedness. After that happened, God asked Onan to fulfill the duty of his brother and continue the gene line by lying with his widow Tamar.
In what could be dubbed "the costliest money shot of all time" Onan "spilled his seed" so Er’s family line wouldn’t have an offspring. So Onan lost his life over the betrayal.
Tradition and retribution
Somehow tradition–or the fear of God’s retribution–latched on to this story as a way to keep many men (or women) from masturbation. So please, for the love of truth, stop blaming Onan as the one who messed up masturbation. Blame it all on tradition and for a wrong-headed approach to understanding to what self-love is all about.
The real truth
All the myths about masturbation–blindness, hairy palms, madness, neurotic disorder, etc.—are not true. Next!
We all masturbate throughout our lives. From the time we are babies till we are old and gray, masturbation is one of those things that makes us human. To deny it is both comical and tragic at the same time.
Frequency of self-love ranges from several times a day to every other day to a few weeks to none at all (unless one suffers from obsessive-compulsive disorder). But normally, you are fine if that’s all you do with yourself.
God will not condemn you for having a sexual thought let alone if you are touching yourself over a sexual thought. You might have problems if you are thinking about possessing someone you know doesn’t belong to you.
But if a person turns you on, or an image, or a sexual thought and you just have to express your normal desires you are feeling then enjoy the time with yourself.
Masturbation is good for you!
The health benefits are huge! You can find out what turns you on and causes orgasm to releasing some sexual tension by masturbation. Also, it helps with sexual dysfunction due to the inability to orgasm, prostate health for men, relieves menstrual cramps, eases headaches, causes one to sleep, and promotes well being with the chemicals released during orgasm. Hmm, the benefits outweigh the myths. Did I mention it’s the safest sexual practice of them all?
The last thing about masturbation we need to touch on as Christians is the guilt factor. Again, if you feel you have the freedom to enjoy this practice without any guilt whatsoever weighing on your mind then enjoy.
Too many times believe everything our preachers and teachers say instead of studying for ourselves–with scientific fact and research–whether a practice is beneficial or not.
The information we have today is very accurate as opposed to the myths we discussed earlier. I have come to realize I have more issues about dealing with the things coming from my heart than self-love. Let all the ravers and ranters from the pulpit scream all they want. Masturbation is as good of a time as one person can with themselves.
Not that there’s anything wrong with it.
(Note: Thanks to Betty Dodson.com for their info and pick up a copy of her landmark book Sex for One: the Joy of Self-Loving)
Men are from sex-crazed Mars while women are from soft and romantic Venus, it is often said. But a new study in France has debunked the myth.
Researchers have found that French women are becoming increasingly assertive in their sexual habits and they've more than twice as many partners now as they did in the 1970s while one in five younger men "manifests no interest in sex".
"Are women just like men?" asked the French Aids research agency, Le Nouvel Observateur, which has carried out the Study on Sexuality in France.
In fact, the researchers came to the conclusion after carrying out in-depth interviews with over 12,000 people of all ages during 2005-06, leading British newspaper The Daily Telegraph reported on Friday.
According to the study, one of the biggest changes in recent years was that male and female sexual behaviour had become increasingly similar.
The proportion of French women who had only one partner has dropped from 68 per cent in 1970 to 43 per cent in 1992 and 34 per cent in 2006 — while a woman's average number of partners has risen from under two in the 1970s to over five today, a man's has remained the same for 40 years, almost 13.
The researchers have also found that French women's first experience of sex is now almost as early as that of the opposite sex — in 1950 there was a two-year difference, but the gap has narrowed to four months, to around 17-and-a-half.
Meanwhile, more women are found to remain sexually active for longer than earlier — nine out of ten women over 50 are sexually active today, compared to just 50 per cent of that age group in the 1970s.
According to the study, young women are still educated to consider their entrance into sexuality as a sentimental relationship experience.
However, one of the more surprising findings was that one-in-five French men aged between 18 and 24 "has no interest in sex", while abstinence rates for men under 35 was twice as high as for women.
"The good old dichotomy is in big trouble," said Le Nouvel Observateur.
KOLKATA: The way Seema Sai murdered her two children is a chilling pointer to the rising crimes against women and girls in the state, say experts.
The latest report of the National Crime Records Bureau paints a grim picture of the state as far as crimes against women and girls are concerned.
In 2006, West Bengal recorded the highest number of cases of 'procuration of minor girls', which means seducing or forcing a girl into intercourse, under Section 366A of the Indian Penal Code (IPC).
The state has reported 77 such cases — a share of 33.3% at the national level — and is followed by Andhra Pradesh and Kerala. Among the cities Kolkata takes the top slot with 11 cases, comprising 68.8% of the countrywide city break-up of such cases.
Bengal accounts for an alarming 92.7% of the recorded cases of girls being bought or sold for sex trade. OF the 123 cases reported across the country in 2006, 114 were in the state. Kolkata is definitely not an 'oasis of peace' for the girl child. The city recorded six cases of girls sold into the sex trade.
This constituted 66.7% of the national average. No other city in India comes even close to Kolkata.
The figures indicate that Bengal has emerged as the major centre for trafficking. Despite several intervention programmes across the state, trafficking remains the biggest menace not only in the rural Bengal but even in Kolkata.
There was a silver lining in the report though. Bengal accounted for just 7.7% of the total number of crime against children in the country.
Social scientist Pradip Chattopadhyay said, "The strict enforcement of anti-sex determination laws has ensured that there are fewer cases of female foeticide in the state. Even then, giving birth to a girl child is still seen as a matter of shame, for which the mother suffers life-long trauma. Just imagine what goes on in the mind of the girl child when she starts understanding these things. The Belur incident is just an indication of the devastating fallout of such stigma."
A Girl Who LAUGHS Like a Witch! When you’ve got your hair standing on end, it’s not easy to think of anything below the neck.
GYMMING along with Arnold Schwarzenegger. We need a physique, not an ego meltd own.
Getting LAUGHED at by a bunch of girls while you’re trying to make eye contact.
Meeting a GIRL Who is Gorgeous looking, when you’re in slacks and a frayed tee at Barista to pick a coffee.
Men are Afraid of Women with Super Bodies. SCARLETT JOHANSSON tops that list in several polls.
Getting DUMPED before New Year’s! Who wants to listen to “I’m all out of love” and cry when the clock strikes twelve? Brutal!
KISSING your girlfriend’s best friend only to get caught later. Who could possibly have such bad luck? But hey, Murphy’s Law kicks ass at times, doesn’t it?
REALIZING that you aren’t able to keep it up while making love. Could there be anything worse, especially when you’re making out with a new girl, with a really big mouth?
REALIZING that you are not able to keep it up while doing the deed yourself! Stress could hold him down when you’re with her. But alone?! That’s just creepy. You need to coax the lil’ guy.
Getting CAUGHT in the ACT. You’re coaxing him, But when there’s your prick, your mom, your granny, your girl, or any combination of characters along with the first one, things can’t get worse than that.
I have a feeling Marion Cotillard is not so happy with her newly-found worldwide fame right about now, and for good reason, too. It's always interesting to note how once an actor or an actress becomes famous, all their past and previously expressed opinions become a strange kind of public property. And yes, we have to admit it – we all enjoy a good celebrity scandal, particularly when it comes to silly, controversial or downright stupid statements made by the said celebrity in more or less any circumstances involving their personal or professional life.
Charlize Theron was convinced Budapest is the capital of Turkey, remember? Well, that did not spark an international controversy, but it still helps illustrate the kind of things I'm talking about. If only Marion Cotillard had stuck to confusing European capitals, misspelling or mispronouncing names! The French Oscar winner was interviewed by a French website about a year ago, and at the moment no one really cared about her views on American history. But since now she's all famous and everything, her statements were dug up and presented as new by a French magazine, which brought them to the attention of the international press.
In short, Marion seems to believe the September 11th attacks were a cover-up and there were no plane-hijacking terrorists to begin with. Her words echo a conspiracy theory that has been circulating over the Internet for a long time now – but they are also taken out of context and made to sound much worse than they were originally. Here's a sample. "I think we're lied to about a number of things. We see other towers of the same kind being hit by planes. Are they burned? There [sic] was a tower, I believe it was in Spain, which burnt for 24 hours. It never collapsed. None of these towers collapsed. And there [in New York], in a few minutes, the whole thing collapsed", she is quoted as saying.
The fact is, Marion was talking about watching an Internet documentary in which those exact claims are made. I tend to believe she was just sharing a personal opinion in an informal context, but you must see how appealing this sounds - "French Oscar winner has anti-American views". If Marion has made these statements in good faith, they would make the ultimate scoop, but as things are, I personally believe we're dealing with some (admittedly reckless) statements taken out of context. As I was saying, fame comes at a price – and Marion is slowly starting to pay it. So, my suggestion for her would be to clear up this controversy by releasing a statement explaining what she really meant when she made those statements, and then... well, less "on record" talk and she'll be just fine.
Sydney, March 4: Unlike popular belief, not only the youth, but also older men with lower sex drives are likely to feel morose and depressed, according to a new study.
Depression affects between two and five percent of the population at any given time, the study said. Women are more likely to be depressed until the age of 65, when physical differences between the stronger and the weaker sex all but disappear. Studies suggest sex hormones might be responsible for this phenomenon.
Osvaldo P. Almeida of the University of Western Australia and his colleagues based their study on a survey of 3,987 men aged 71 to 89. Between 2001 and 2004, the men completed reported on their demographics and health history.
They underwent testing for depression and thinking, learning and memory difficulties. Information about physical health conditions was obtained from a short survey and an Australian health database.
Researchers also collected blood samples from the participants and recorded levels of total testosterone and free testosterone, which are not bound to proteins.
A total of 203 of the participants (5.1 per cent) met the criteria for depression. They had significantly lower total and free testosterone levels then men who were not depressed.
After controlling for other factors - education level, body mass index and cognitive scores - men in the lowest quintile (20 per cent) of free testosterone concentration had three times the odds of having depression compared to men in the highest quintile.
The mechanism by which low hormone levels might affect depression risk has not been identified, but might involve changes in the levels of neurotransmitters or hormones in the brain, the authors note.
Findings of the study have been published in the latest issue of the Archives of General Psychiatry.
London, March 4: Some Asian women in Britain are going to great lengths to fake their virginity, driven to desperation by concepts of 'honour' in a community where myths about their first sexual experience is still widely held, an Asian radio station reported.
If found to have sex before marriage, the lives of some young Asian women can be at risk and they can be driven away from their homes, experts and community workers told the BBC Asian Network documentary 'Like a Virgin', broadcast Monday.
As a result, desperate young women are using fake blood and even going in for reconstructive surgery to fake their virginity, the investigative radio documentary reported.
In an echo of social attitudes held in many parts of the Indian subcontinent, the programme found that most of the 17 to 21 year old men interviewed in the region of West Midlands - home to a large number of Asians - preferred women to be virgins at marriage.
Concepts of 'izzat' - or honour - are strongly held among some conservative Asian communities in Britain and have been linked not only to the practice of forced marriage but also, in some cases, the murder of young women.
An adviser formerly with the national sexual health charity Brook said she personally received requests for information on faking virginity on a daily basis from young Asian women - and that she provided the information because she feared for the safety of these women.
She said: 'They would sometimes come in to the centre because they were concerned about the fact that maybe they had had unprotected sex with a boyfriend and they were concerned about whether other men would know they had had sex before and were not a virgin.
'The discussions would then go around some of the myths around virginity... that girls bleed on the first time of having sexual intercourse. So we were able to say, 'lots of girls don't'.
'The problem is that lots of men and lots of people within the (Asian) community believe that that is true, and therefore they (young women) are very concerned that they will get married and they won't bleed and their husband will believe they weren't a virgin at marriage and all the problems that that would cause them in life.'
She said women were using red dye and mock blood that can be bought from novelty shops that they inserted into their vaginas or spread on the bed sheet after having sex. One Pakistani woman said she knew someone who had used a bottle of red ink - and got away with it. 'Her mother-in-law was very happy,' said the woman.
Underlining the seriousness of the issue, the adviser said she agreed to provide information on how to fake virginity because 'for some young women the risks to them and their personal safety were so great that if they were not able to fake it then the consequences could have been dire.''
A community worker who works with young Asians in west London said some girls have had to flee their homes and go into shelter 'because their life is on the line. Somebody may have found out'.
Linda Cardozo, a gynaecologist at Kings College Hospital in London, said some desperate Asian women were seeking reconstructive hymen-repair surgery, but that it was 'quite difficult to achieve' the repair because there may not always be enough tissues to bring together.
In any case, there was no guarantee that the woman would bleed.
'The main aim of hymen repair is to bleed on wedding night, but of course there are many women who don't bleed on their wedding night, whether they are virgins or not.
'This is because the hymen may be very stretchy, they may have used tampons for menstruation, they may have had lot of exercise and subtle tissues and therefore there are many women who have their first intercourse without bleeding at all.
'So there's no guarantee these women will achieve the aim they set out to achieve,' the doctor added.
Although some 24 such repairs had been performed in the state health sector, the vast majority of such surgeries are thought to take place in the private sector, which each surgery costs between 1,500 and 2,000 pounds. ($3,000-4,000)
Jessica Alba was bullied and branded a "slut" at school after developing her ample bosom at a young age.
The actress claims the main perpetrators were classmates' mothers and her elementary school principal, who made her life misery.
Writing in If I'd Known Then - a forthcoming book of essays by female celebrities - Alba writes, "The accusation still ricochets. 'They think I'm a slut?'"
The pregnant star also hands out advice to troubled teens, urging them to practice safe sex: "Boys are awful. They are made of nothing but hormones until they are about 20 or 21. But it's fun to have a crush, but don't think it's forever. And use birth control and condoms, please."