While doing some research, I noticed an overwhelming bias in favor of researching dysfunctional sexual activities in men as opposed to women.  There's Viagra to help with erectile dysfunctions but there is nothing out there in the market of Viagra effectiveness for women.  It's probably because for women to really enjoy sex, so many more pieces need to be in place.  Anyhow, since I merely deliver the research, here are some facts about men and sex. 

1. I never understood why people are willing to disclose details of their drug use and sex lives to random people on the other end of the phone line who call in as researchers. That's probably beside the point, but it does bring me to one of this week's sex factoids. Researchers at the La Trobe University in Australia, in a telephone survey of 16 to 64-year olds, found that men who smoke marijuana daily are four times more likely to have trouble reaching orgasm than men who don't (interestingly, 11.2% of male respondents said that they had used cannabis in the last year). Additionally, men who smoked on a daily basis experienced premature ejaculation three times more men who didn't. I wonder if these results are because men who smoke marijuana are just more honest about their sex lives?? (I mean, if you are willing to admit that you smoke marijuana to a random person, then what's to stop you from admitting you have erectile issues). Also, it would be interesting to know if the men who smoke cannabis had more enjoyable sex? (This is something that I've heard through the grapevine). That said, just remember the next time you take a deep drag of that joint, you may be having issues in the bedroom! One more point, how many people actually smoke marijuana daily? Oh, you Aussies.
2. A touchy topic for men is how quickly they ummm... ejaculate. Ask any male friend and they are likely to say that can go on forever and forever (after all, it's a big issue of pride). So what does the research say? A recent study by researchers who recruited 500 couples from the UK, Spain, Turkey, the Netherlands and the U.S. found that median time between the start of vaginal intromission and ejaculation was 5.4minutes! So much for going on forever huh guys?? The median time decreased as men got older (from 6.5 minutes for 18-30 year olds to 4.3 minutes for 51+ year olds). I think this is a reminder to you boys that you should focus more of your time on foreplay if you want to please your woman.
3. As the last factoid for the week, did you know that random things like what a mother eats right before pregnancy and even while being pregnant can impact the baby's sex? No I'm not making this up and it's not some mystical legend. We all know that it's those X and Y's in the sperm that determines the sex of the baby, but researchers from Universities of Oxford and Exeter found that woman who consumed more calories were likely to have boys (increasing the odds from 10 in 20 to 11 in 20). Come to think about it, people who put on the pounds in Hollywood while pregnant (Britney Spears, Kate Hudson) gave birth to boys while the ones who remain thin (Jessica Alba, Katie Holmes) gave birth to girls. Although this may all just be spurious correlation, but it is pretty interesting to know nevertheless because I know that in a lot of Asian cultures, it is very important to have a male child first (to carry the family name, blood line and other random things like that) and maybe we will see a lot more of woman packing it on. For now though, correlation or not, I am keeping this piece of research in my back pocket for when I use this excuse to down that bucket of ice cream before pregnancy!

If you missed previous version of The Science Of Sex:  The Science of Sex 4 , The Science of Sex 3 , The Science Of Sex 2 , The Science Of Sex 1