Scanner : brains

We Repeat: Smart Women Have Better Sex

Emily Farris — Mon, 11 May 2009 19:06:00 GMT

We seem to recall a study like this popping up about a year ago, but we're happy to repeat it: intelligent women have better sex.

Apparently, women who have high levels of "emotional intelligence," or the ability to express their own feelings and read others', have more fulfilling sex lives.

[Researcher Tim Spector, of King's College London] quizzed more than 2,000 female twins, aged between 18 and 83, about their sex lives.

The women were asked to rate their ability to reach orgasm on a seven-point scale, ranging from 'never' to always'.

They also filled in a questionnaire designed to gauge their emotional intelligence and covering traits like self-expression, empathy and contentment.

Those most in touch with their feelings also had the most orgasms, the Journal of Sexual Medicine reports.

Lead author, psychologist Andrea Burri, also of King's College, said: 'Emotional intelligence seems to have a direct impact on women's sexual functioning by influencing her ability to communicate her sexual expectations and desires to her partner.'

Perhaps this is also because we know that it is not hellfire that makes us burn in between our legs?

[Daily Mail: Bad luck bimbos: Intelligent women have better sex, study reveals]

Related:

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Male Australian Writer Believes Most Women Are Socially Inept, Crass, Not Bangable

Sloppy Seconds: Women Know When Men Are Turned On

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Sloppy Seconds: Pete Wentz and His Penis (and His Wife!) Win the Weird Baby Name Game

Emily Farris — Fri, 21 Nov 2008 22:04:00 GMT

It was. Then it wasn't. Now the Arrested Development movie might actually be happening. Maybe. Hopefully. [Vulture]

One thing we do know for sure is that Hillary Clinton will be Secretary of State. If the New York Times says it's true, it must be. Right? [NYT]

Good news or bad news? Doctors go into your head to remove a brain tumor and find a worm. [SNAFU-ed]

Ashlee Simpson and Pete Wentz (and his penis!) named their baby Bronx Mowgli. What? The? Fuck? Is that supposed to be punk rock or something? Also, this begs the question: what do they call his penis? [Yahoo!]

Feet Magazine So Gross, Even Foot Fetishists Will Puke

Brian Fairbanks — Tue, 11 Nov 2008 20:32:00 GMT

(No) thanks to the reader who alerted us to the gross/amusing oddity that is Feet Magazine.

The blog, which features unseemly extreme close-ups of toes and cuts on the feet of Hollywood stars (including this one of Denise Richards.)

The pictures on Feet Magazine are about 20 times larger than this one, of Scarlett Johansson's toes, ankles, and a very blue carpet. If you want to see what we're talking about, just start browsing here.

Why do people even want to see extreme close ups of feet? An ex-girlfriend who worked in brain mapping in DC explained one general theory: that in the map of your brain, the feet are right next to your sex organs on your sensory map. Some people, if we remember the argument correctly, have the feet part overlapping the genitals part and so they are extra-excited by feet. (It doesn't, to our mind explain why someone else's feet would be so thrilling, versus having your own feet caressed.) Perhaps we'd better let an expert explain this phenomenon:

From a review of the book Phantoms in the Brain, about research conducted on people who could "feel" their lost limbs and even experienced iches in nonexistent nooks that drove them crazy.

[O]ne of the more memorable examples was the woman who developed sexual feelings in her phantom foot. It turns out the parts of the brain that process sensory information for the feet are adjacent to those for the sexual organs (according to the Penfield map). Assuming that the latter brain area expands thanks to the sensory vacuum created by the missing leg, it seems reasonable to think that the feeling in the phantom limb might be a mixture between the two. This may also account for foot fetishes. Interesting.

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Why We Like Shoes, And Boys

Emily Farris — Tue, 24 Jun 2008 16:01:00 GMT

New research suggests that there's a reason gay men share more than just a love of cock with straight women.

Apparently our brains are similar.

Using MRI technology, researchers at the Stockholm Brain Institute in Sweden learned that:

[T]he right-hand brain hemisphere was larger in heterosexual men and homosexual women, while homosexual men's and heterosexual women's brain hemispheres were symmetrical.
Homosexual men showed another brain similarity with heterosexual women in their amygdala connections, which process certain emotions, as did homosexual women and straight men.
"The amygdala has a key role in emotional reactions to external stimuli, including stress," the authors of the study said, hypothesizing that the amygdala of straight men and gay women could be "wired for a greater fight-or-flight response," reportedly more common in men.

See, Mom? I like boys because my brain made me that way, not MTV. Same for Uncle Bob.

[AFP: Homosexual brain resembles that of opposite sex: study]

Related:

"Nerve O" Will Rock Your Sex Life, Nose

How to be Gay, Not 101

"It's always the gays spooking you."

Scanner Highs and Lows: A Whole Lotta Love

Emily Farris — Fri, 29 Feb 2008 21:48:00 GMT

We were full of love at Scanner this week. And, really, how could we not be?

Highs:

We fell in love with Oscar winner and hottie Marion Cotillard.

We declared our love for Javier Bordem, who did not win the Oscar.

Do Scanner readers love brains more than boobs?

Whether we have reason to be freaked out by birth control pills that make our periods go away for long periods of time, we're holding onto our right to be freaked out by them. Even if a few readers disagree. Also, we're highly amused by SNL skits starring Tina Fey, especially if they concern said birth control pills.

We started a campaign to recruit Tina Fey for Oscars' host in 2009... because we love her.

Lows:

We admitted, yet again, to loving "Sex and the City," and probably lost some friends for it, yet again.

A seven-year-old took crack to school. And no, he wasn't related to us.

Ginnifer Flowers came back into our lives.

Zubas. Back. Nuff said.

We learned that trying to create the perfect woman ends in disaster. Freaky, scary disaster.

We may be shuffling Prince off to the retirement home soon.

[Image via]

Who Would You Rather, Boleyn Girls Edition: Scarlett Johansson or Natalie Portman?

Emily Farris — Tue, 26 Feb 2008 17:38:00 GMT

This is the moment of truth, ladies and gentlemen: boobs or brains?

Scarlett Johansson and Natalie Portman star alongside each other as sisters vying for the affections of King Henry VIII in "The Other Boleyn Girl." And we know one of the actresses is known for her boobs, among her many talents, and the other is known for her brains, among her many talents. So, which Boleyn Girl would you rather? Scarlett Johansson or Natalie Portman?