Scanner : date rape

Can't Get No Satisfaction? Try Oxytocin

Brian Fairbanks — Mon, 13 Apr 2009 21:25:00 GMT

A new study indicates that the hormone oxytocin, normally used to facilliate birth and breastfeeding, can help you get over the fact that you're not attracted to damn near everyone around you.

An ABC News report says that oxytocin, which is available for purchase in the form of a nasal spray or injection, helps people develop bonds with strangers and to become more attracted to people they might not otherwise have been attracted to. Are we sure this is a good thing? Won't every guy in the world spray his bottle into a club full of women and then start prowling around? Can relationships survive this medical miracle?

A new study shows that men and women who inhale a whiff of the hormone oxytocin rate strangers as more attractive.
This effect adds to the hormone's known role in human relationships. One study found that oxytocin levels spike after new mothers look at or touch their newborns and may help bonding.
No matter their sex or mood, volunteers who received oxytocin rated male and female strangers as both more attractive and trusting.
Theodoridou's study did not examine how oxytocin could affect social judgements, but she speculates that the hormone dampens brain activity in a region involved in processing fearful emotions, called the amygdala.

Emphasis added. Before you all call up your uncle the shady doctor for a prescription (if you even need one), consider this partial list of side effects:

Impaired uterine blood flow, pelvic hematoma, tetanic uterine contractions, uterine rupture, postpartum hemorrhage.

In other words, completely harmless. Via ABC News.

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Top 5 Sex Scenes Involving Lingerie

Spring Movies Full of Steamy Sex Scenes, Apparently

Brian Fairbanks — Tue, 07 Apr 2009 16:20:00 GMT

Today's Entertainment Weekly blogs are all about sex scenes in movies. Sex scenes in Lifetime movies, even.

If this is a true indicator of what to expect, then Spring 2009 is going to go down as having some of the hottest cinematic love scenes ever...

First EW's Popwatch has this trailer from the upcoming Cherrybomb, Rupert Grint's breakthrough-from-child-star movie:

That's bound to be saucy, even though we'll keep screaming silently, "Ron Weasley's snorting drugs!"

Meanwhile, Seth Rogan's new movie, Observe and Report, is like that Kevin James Mall Cop movie, except this actually attempts to be funny. Of course, seeing as how this is Seth Rogan, there is a good degree of envelope pushing, particularly when it comes to the sex scene. According to various sources, Rogan's character has a crush on Anna Faris's makeup counter girl character and gets her drunk on tequila one night. While she's passed out, he tries to make out with her and gets a mouth full of vomit... or something. Then, it gets all rape-y:

"I sort of thought that our 'tender lovemaking moment,' [director] Jody [Hill] was like, 'Okay, you guys are having sex and you're going to have some vomit come out of your mouth, you're passed out and your boobs are jiggling all over,'" Faris said. "I was comforted by the studio. I was like, there's no way [they'll let this pass]. There's no way. I'll do it, sure, because I don't want to be a stick in the mud but there's no way this is going to make it in the movie." [Starpulse]

Q: In that unusual sex scene, did you actually consent? Anna: I said, “Why are you stopping, mother fucker!,” and I meant it. Seth: The implication would be to keep going, yes. Anna: It was great to see that with an audience. One journalist told me that she was ready to walk away from the movie, and then, when I mumbled that line, it’s like, “Oh, my God!” It was great to see the reaction from the audience. Seth: You can literally feel people thinking, “What are they going to do to make this okay? How is this going to be acceptable?” And then, she says the one thing that makes it acceptable. It’s perfect! We did that in one take. We literally had one camera and one take. I think it took under a minute to film that scene. [Movies Online]
In retrospect, Faris is happy her love scene goes all the way. "I'm grateful, I'm grateful," she said. "I'm grateful that the movie is unapologetic." [Starpulse]

Observe and Protect is out on Friday in America. Cherrybomb is expected to be released by summer in the UK.

Related:

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Arousal Brings Out the Creep in Many Dudes

Brian Fairbanks — Tue, 30 Dec 2008 17:10:00 GMT

We all know that alcohol can make men do stupid things. Now science has proven that boners are even worse for our judgment...

According to Predictably Irrational: The Hidden Forces That Shape Our Decisions, a book by MIT professor Dan Ariely, in a new paperback edition, explores "Why Hot Is Much Hotter Than We Realize." We don't even know what that means, since we all but failed high school science classes. We'll let Professor Ariely explain, via a summation on The Book Outline Wiki page:

The author and his partner conducted a series of experiments on Berkeley students (no, not those sort of experiments, silly.) Asking them a series of questions-- first, straight; then, after the undergraduates had worked themselves into a state of arousal.

- The results show that people simply don't realize how different their decision-making is during a state of arousal. A few representative results
  - Can you imagine having sex with a 60-year-old woman
    - Sober: 7%
    - Aroused: 23%
  - Could you enjoy having sex with someone you hated?
    - Sober: 53%
    - Aroused: 77%
  - Is just kissing frustrating?
    - Sober: 41%
    - Aroused: 69%
  - Would you slip a woman a drug to increase the chance she'd have sex with you?
    - Sober: 5%
    - Aroused: 26%
  - Would you use a condom even if you were afraid that a woman might change her mind while you went to get it?
    - Sober: 86%
    - Aroused: 60%
- Implications
  - Someone may promise to just say no, but that promise is less likely to hold up during a state of arousal

Via Book Outline Wiki.

Today in WTF? Flirting Women Blamed for Rape

Emily Farris — Tue, 30 Sep 2008 13:20:00 GMT

Looks like we can cross Northern Ireland off of the list for that six-week tour de Europe we plan to take when we have both time and money—unless of course we're wearing turtlenecks and sullen looks while we visit. According to a new study, nearly half of students in the country believe that women who flirt are to blame for their own rapes.

The research, conducted by Amnesty International, found that 46 percent of young people interviewed believe that women who flirted with their attacker were partially or fully to blame for the rape, while 30 percent said that women who wear revealing clothes are "inviting" rapists to target them.

In effect, doesn't this just mean that all these kids* think rape is okay? According to Amnesty, it's evidence of a "blame culture," which, uh, seems to be a roundabout way of saying rape is okay, no?

To make matters worse, one in 10 local students believes that violence is acceptable against a girlfriend who "nags, flirts with other men or refuses to have sex."

Very rightfully so, Amnesty International Northern Ireland programme director Patrick Corrigan is worried. “This survey shows that there are some extremely disturbing attitudes swirling around our campuses," he said. "It’s shocking that so many students lay the blame for being raped or assaulted at the feet of women themselves. If we are going to break a cycle of violence against women in Northern Ireland, we need to start by challenging attitudes amongst students and the population at large."

*The article didn't state whether male and female students were surveyed, but we're led to believe both were.

Related:

News Flash: Date Rape Still Isn't Funny, And Neither is Your T-Shirt

We Need to Come Up with a New Word for "Rape Fantasy"

Was Jesus a Child of Rape?

Men's Magazines All About Getting You Laid (File Under: Date Rape)

[Irish Times: Flirting women blamed for rape in North survey]

[Image]

Men's Magazines All About Getting You Laid (File Under: Date Rape)

Emily Farris — Tue, 09 Sep 2008 17:48:00 GMT

We're on to you, men's healthy lifestyle magazines. Whether you bury your information in your editorial content, or allow it in the advertising section, you're really just a cover for getting dudes laid, right?

This month, the back pages of Men's Fitness bring us a disturbing ad for Sexactivator, a "magical wonder liquid" that "can be taken orally, or put in any drink." And, "some women say that they love when their man puts a few drops in their favorite drink without them knowing. They say that it turns them on even more."

We have two questions. 1) What the fuck? 2) Does it work on dudes?

Full ad after the jump.

We have to ask one more time: what the fuck?

[Jezebel: Baby, I Spiked Your Drink With Sexactivator: Scary Ads From The New Men's Fitness]

Previously:

"Men's Health" is All About Getting Dudes Laid, Safely

Dame Helen Mirren As A Teen: Loved Coke, Date Rape Not So Much

Brian Fairbanks — Tue, 02 Sep 2008 18:10:00 GMT

Now that Helen Mirren has been ordained (or whatever it is) as an Order(ly) of the British Empire and has met the Queen that made her super famous, she has really let herself go in interviews...

On date rape:

“I was, yes. A couple of times,” the Oscar-winning Queen actress says in the October issue, recalling her experiences being raped as a youth in London. “Not with excessive violence, or being hit, but rather being locked in a room and made to have sex against my will.”

And while Mirren defended a woman’s right to say “no” at any point, she’s not always in favor of reporting such attacks.

“I don’t think [a woman] can have that man into court under those circumstances,” she continued, “It’s such a tricky area, isn’t it? Especially if there is no violence. I mean, look at Mike Tyson. I don’t think he was a rapist.”

IMDB adds:

she didn't have the courage to stand up to men who wanted to have sex with her. [IMDB]

On her drug use:

Mirren, 63, also admits she took illegal drugs – including marijuana and LSD – as a teen. “I loved coke,” she continues. “I never did a lot, just a little bit at parties.” (She also says she hasn’t touched the drug in more than 20 years.)

“Dope always made me feel miserable and paranoid and unhappy,” she adds. “And I woke up one day and thought, ‘No more of that, thank you.’ ”

On shoplifting: she did it in her "very poor" days and still practices some of that same down-and-out lifestyle: she buys the cheapest sunglasses and cuts her own hair. Wow, can you cut ours-- yours always looks fabulous, Your Royalness.

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We Need to Come Up with a New Word for "Rape Fantasy"

Emily Farris — Tue, 03 Jun 2008 20:57:00 GMT

Rape is not funny. Or sexy. Yet many women entertain rape fantasies.

It's not something we've ever wanted to talk about publicly...because any discussion of rape can get uncomfortable, fast. But one man bravely explores this topic in Psychology Today.

Matthew Hutson notes that, "a recent analysis of 20 studies over the last 30 years indicates that between 31% and 57% of women have rape fantasies, and these fantasies are frequent or preferred in 9% to 17% of women. Considering that many people are ashamed to report rape fantasies, these stats are most likely lowball figures."

Based on the conversations we've had with friends, we imagine the figures are quite low.

But is it really rape women are fantasizing about or is it just the desire to be dominated by someone we actually want to dominate us? Probably (and hopefully) generally the latter. Because no one wants to be raped by the homeless guy who hangs out by the subway station. Women fantasize about being "raped" by their boyfriends, their husbands, their objects of desire, or at the very least, a good-looking, nameless, faceless person without a criminal record or an STD. But why?

Apparently, there are many possibilities:

Masochism - The idea that women desire suffering. Women who engage in masochistic sex are more likely to have rape fantasies, but the great majority of women with rape fantasies do not want real rape. According, masochism may only apply to a small group of women.

Sexual Blame Avoidance - Women are socialized to not seek out sex lest they be considered tramps, but if they're having sex against their will they can avoid guilt. Studies comparing sexual repression to rape fantasies are mixed and overall don't support the explanation, but they may have been using wrong metrics; sexually repressed women have fewer fantasies overall but they might have a higher ratio of rape fantasies. In any case, this theory would only apply to some women.

Openness to Sexual Experience - In some ways this is the opposite of the last one, and it doesn't explain rape fantasies so much as it describes the type of person to have them. If you're sexually open, you entertain a greater variety of fantasies. As one study described rape fantasy among these women, it's "just one more expression of a generally open, positive, unrestrictive, and relatively guilt-free expression of one's sexuality."

Desirabilty - Many women like to believe that they're so attractive that men cannot resist the urge to overtake them. The evidence for this theory is suggestive but not yet conclusive. I did cover a study in Psychology Today last year indicating that women with attachment anxiety (neediness) have more sexual fantasies featuring submission.

Male Rape Culture - Some have argued that women have been conditioned to buy into men's fantasies of domination. But the prevalence of rape fantasies has not changed much in recent decades, even as gender roles have.

Biological Predisposition to Surrender - In many mammalian species, the male must pursue and subdue the female in order to mate. Women may be programmed to surrender to the successful dominant male. Just like many other theories in evolutionary psychology, this one makes sense but has not been tested empirically. (Writer Tracie Egan hints at this explanation in her essay entitled "One Rape Please (To Go)" about hiring a male prostitute to play-rape her (which I recently saw her read live): "...as a girl, my equipment can be trickier to manage, therefore I need to be a boss in the bedroom to ensure I get worked the right way. [But] it gets really tiresome always being the one in charge...")

Sympathetic Activation - The sympathetic nervous system becomes engaged in times of stress or danger, activating a fight or flight response marked by increased heart rate, respiration, pupil dilation, and genital arousal. Just like on a roller coaster, fear and excitement go hand in hand.

Adversary Transformation - In one survey of romance novels (which tend to be written by and for women), the lead female character was raped in 54%. The male heroes are usually rugged warrior types and these books may illustrate a desire to "conquer the heart of the rapist" and tame him for marriage.

Reaction to Trauma - This one is not mentioned in the paper, but Brett Kahr, a psychoanalyst who has conducted the largest survey of sexual fantasies ever, argues that most masturbatory fantasies are attempts to transform early difficult experiences into pleasure. So those who have been sexually abused may try to master their trauma by taming those experiences.

Oy. We're not even going to try and address these, considering this is a blog and not a psychology research paper, but all of makes this think: can we just come up with a new word or phrase to describe a "rape fantasy?" Please??

[Psychology Today: Why Do Women Have Erotic Rape Fantasies?]

[Previously: News Flash: Date Rape Still Isn't Funny, And Neither is Your T-Shirt]

[Image which has nothing to do with rape—but would you really want to see a picture of that?—via]

News Flash: Date Rape Still Isn't Funny, And Neither is Your T-Shirt

Emily Farris — Mon, 03 Mar 2008 15:37:00 GMT

We're not sure which is more infuriating: this t-shirt or the fact that there's a smiling girl wearing it.

The "NO MEANS NO...well maybe if I'm drunk" t-shirt from the David and Goliath t-shirt company was pulled from their website after a bunch of people, including the bloggers over at Feministing, rightfully threw a fit about it. But if you visit the link where the shirt was originally for sale, you now get this.

Haha. Funny.

UPDATE: We're not sure how we missed this the first time, but David and Goliath is offering a special discount for their "friends" at Feministing.

[Shakesville: Stay Classy]