Search Results for: "clark-flory"

Tracy Clark-Flory interviewed Roy Baumeister of Florida State University about his new study "Sexual Economics: A Research-Based Theory of Sexual Interactions, or Why the Man Buys Dinner":

The point of sexual economics is that sex is a resource that women have. Men trade women other resources for sex. Historically, women have restricted each other's sexuality in order to make the price of sex high, so that men pretty much have to make serious commitments of marriage in order to [have sex]. When women have more access to educational and financial opportunities, they don't need to hold sex hostage as much, so they relaxed the controls they've put on sexuality.

Amanda Marcotte joins Tracy in critiquing Baumeister's theory:

Tracy Clark-Flory has trouble finding it: By the time they turn 19, 70 percent of teens will have had sex. More than half of American teens 15 to 19 years old have had oral sex. As Pam B. Cole, author of "Young Adult Literature in the 21st Century," has written, "Sexuality is a huge part … Continue reading Searching For Sex In The Young Adult Section

Amanda Fairbanks investigates SeekingArrangement.com, one of many sites to connect college students in debt to "sugar daddies" that offer financial aid in exchange for sex or companionship:

Debt-strapped college graduates weren't included in [founder Brandon Wade's] original business plan. But once the recession hit and more and more students were among the growing list of new site users, Wade began to target them. The company, which is headquartered in Las Vegas, now places strategic pop-up ads that appear whenever someone types "tuition help" or "financial aid" into a search engine. And over the past five years, Wade says he's seen a 350 percent increase in college sugar baby membership — from 38,303 college sugar babies in 2007 to 179,906 college sugar babies by July of this year.

Walter Russell Mead says the education bubble has to pop soon. Kay Steiger has mixed feelings about how the transactions are portrayed:

As told to Tracy Clark-Flory: I once did a magazine interview where they asked me for tips on how to have sex like a porn star and one of my biggest pieces of advice was, don't. The key to sex is that you need to communicate with your partner about what they're into and what … Continue reading Advice From A Male Porn Star

While Marcotte and Dweck debate the market demand for male contraception, Tracy Clark-Flory talks to a variety of experts about its potential cultural impact: Carol Queen, a Good Vibrations staff sexologist, told me that it might allow men to "aspire" to have more sex, perhaps with more partners. She says this "may free up women … Continue reading The Male Pill And Monogamy

In her series on monogamy, Tracy Clark-Flory had trouble finding a social scientist able to offer empirical evidence supporting the practice:

Eventually, I found a willing defender: Justin Garcia, an evolutionary biologist at Binghamton University. It's no accident that he's a scientific advisor to Match.com, which needs all the romantic optimism it can get. There's just one small technicality: His evidence supports social monogamy, which is not always, or even often, accompanied by sexual monogamy (more on that later).

From the interview:

Should we shift our focus to social, as opposed to sexual, monogamy?

by Chris Bodenner

Tracy Clark-Flory spots a trend of articles claiming a backlash against sex:

What all three pieces have in common is that they link this alleged sexual malaise to technology. The Observer piece claims that young New Yorkers are more enamored with the smooth body of their iPhones than actual human flesh, more invested in upping their number of Twitter followers than notches on their bedposts. These caricatured young professionals get off on onanistic maintenance of their Facebook profiles, not on real-life human interaction. It strikes me that this is really just a way of expressing the depth of despair over the fact that, as I've written in the past, we feel "more connected, and yet more isolated, than ever."

Susannah Breslin exposes our cultural hypocrisy: Americans are fascinated by political sex scandals because the politician is doing what Americans are doing but won’t admit, or what they wish they were doing but won’t say, and Americans, rather than confess their natural tendencies or sexual fantasies, would rather criticize those political figures who there, but … Continue reading Decoding Desire

Tracy Clark-Flory explores why people do it: Sex is one of the most powerful ways that we seek pleasure, connection and acceptance — and the disclosure of an STD can feel like a threat to all that. This cuts straight to the heart of our insecurities about sex: the worry that we are undesirable. Dan … Continue reading Lying About STDs

Tracy Clark-Flory distrusts them: Are you a prude or a slut? You know what, I'm neither. I understand the concept of re-appropriating slurs, and that many people find it freeing and empowering. Also, political discourse doesn't exactly lend itself to nuance and subtlety, so shocking slogans can be tremendously effective. On a personal level, though, … Continue reading Sexual Labels