There’s many different ways of learning more about the birds and bees, but a theme park?  That’s just way too bizarre for me. And it looks like I’m not the only one who thinks so.

Loveland, China’s first sex theme park, was scheduled to open in October but has instead come to a premature end.

It appears that while the developers thought it was a great way of opening up a topic that is seldom discussed in China, the idea of a park that featured naked human sculptures and giant replicas of genitals was just too much to cope with.

Based on the Jeju Loveland theme park in South Korea, China’s Loveland’s main entrance was to feature a signboard bearing the park’s name being straddled by a giant pair of women’s legs topped by a red thong.

Definitely not a child-friendly theme park….

(image from sxc.hu)

It’s starting to look like a injectable form of birth control for men might just be possible in the future. A new study by Chinese researchers at the National Research for Family Center in Beijing has been focusing on the effectiveness of a  monthly testosterone-based injection for men. And the results are promising with a 99 percent success rate..

For the study,  a 1000 healthy and fertile men between 20 and 45 were given monthly injections of  500mg of testosterone undecanoate in tea seed oil for 30 months. This testosterone-based product caused the disruption of sperm production and hence prevented reproduction.

Better yet, no serious adverse side effects occurred and once the monthly injects were stopped, the sperm count returns to healthy levels by six months.

Of course, further testing will be needed to ensure the injection’s safety, but it’s looking good. Maybe soon, women will be able to say goodbye to the pill.

(source and image)

Need some light reading for the weekend?

Well, ScientificAmerican.com has a couple of articles that might just do the trick. Focusing on a specific part of the human anatomy, they will either entertain, inform, or possibly simply irritate you.

The first, The Secret of the Phallus, starts out with a great hook  “…If you’ve ever had a good, long look at the human phallus, whether yours or someone else’s, you’ve probably scratched your head over such a peculiarly shaped device.”  and then continues on to discuss the research of evolutionary psychologists such as Gordon Gallup who studies the design and evolution of the human penis.

The second article, The Misunderstood Penis, was written in response to some of the comments the author received to his first article. Apparently some of his readers had quite diverse reactions to the ‘Secrets of the Phallus’ ranging from “…the incredulous (are you seriously suggesting that chimpanzees aren’t promiscuous?—“tomrees”), to the imaginative (penises! they’re so cute, you just want to pinch their cheeks and give them cookies—“montavilla”), to the rather irritable (stupid, biased thinking again from an ‘evolutionary psychologist’—“hcollins2009”)” So, to set the record straight, the author expanded on Gallup’s research, particularly his semen replacement therapy.

Check them out. They are definitely worth a read.

(image from sxc.hu)

Remember Healthbolt’s review ‘Seductive Delusions’, a book by Dr Jill Grimes about how ordinary people can easily and unknowingly get STD’s.

With April being the CDC’s  (Center for Disease Control) STD Awareness Month, Jill was looking for a way to promote risks of STDs to teenagers in particular. She came up with the idea of a video that could be posted on YouTube. After all, what better way of reaching teenagers these days than YouTube and social media networks.

The result - a quirky video about the ‘12 Days of STD’s’ in which Jill and a few teenagers sing about STD’s to a famous Christmas tune.

Check it out…

Here’s the facts behind the lyrics (reprinted with permission from Jill Grimes)

Day 1- “Anyone can catch an STD”

Fact: People of all races, ages, professions, and socio-economic groups catch sexually transmitted diseases. Don’t be fooled into thinking you can tell by looking whether or not someone has a disease!

Day 2- “Herpes crosses the belt”

Fact: Much of genital herpes is the result of oral sex. If one person has herpes in their mouth (aka. “cold sores” or “fever blisters”), they can transmit that infection to their partner’s genitals via oral sex- WHETHER OR NOT there are visible blisters present!

Day 3- “HPV is common”

Fact: 50-75% of people who have sex will become infected during their lifetime. There are over a million cases of genital warts per year in the United States.

Day 4- “Crabs are pubic lice”

Fact: Pubic lice are highly infectious! You can catch them from intimate behavior OR from sharing linens, towels or underwear with an infected person. This is why you should wear underwear when you are trying on swimsuits in stores!

Day 5- “Most STDs are SILENT!”

Fact: The majority of sexually transmitted infections are silent, which means you need to go to your doctor or other medical provider and specifically ask to be tested for these diseases to be certain that you or your partner are “clean”! They will draw your blood for HIV, syphilis, herpes and hepatitis. Urine samples and/or vaginal or urethral swabs will test for chlamydia, gonorrhea and trichomonas. A Pap test checks for HPV, the cause of cervical cancer. GET TESTED!

Day 6- “Oral Sex is RISKY!”

Fact: Many diseases are transmitted by oral sex. Herpes is very commonly transmitted this way, and HIV, chlamydia, gonorrhea, syphilis and hepatitis can be passed in this way as well. Condoms used with oral sex help decrease transmission. Oral sex does not cause pregnancy, but it is NOT “safe sex”!!

Day 7- “Toilet seats are SAFE”

Fact: Sexually transmitted infections are NOT passed via toilet seats, no matter what your mother taught you! If the seat is wet, wipe it off with toilet paper and don’t worry.

Day 8- “Gonorrhea is RESISTANT!”

Fact: We’re down to basically one drug to treat gonorrhea, because it has become resistant to one antibiotic after another- that’s scary!

Day 9- ” Chlamydia scars your tubes”

Fact: Chlamydia and gonorrhea are often silent, yet can lead to pelvic inflammatory disease and subsequent chronic pelvic pain and infertility! If we screened and treated every sexually active young woman in America for chlamydia, we’d prevent an estimated 8000 cases of infertility every year! It’s easy to treat when caught early, but you’ve to test for it to know it’s there!

Day 10- “AIDS has passed a million”

Fact: We have over a million people living in the United States with HIV infection, with over 56,000 new cases diagnosed each year. While survival rates are improving, HIV is a challenging disease with much drug resistance. [Note- there are not over a million people living with the actual diagnosis of "AIDS" (which is more advanced HIV infection), but we couldn't sing "HIV" fast enough to flow well, so we went with the single syllable "AIDS" for simplicity.]

Day 11- “Trich is not a treat”

Fact: Trichomonas is a difficult to diagnose but relatively easy to treat parasitic infection. The big deal is that when you are infected with “trich” (and 90% of men and many women have no symptoms) you are much more likely to catch other STDs, especially HIV. Trich infections make you more susceptible- no treat, indeed!

Day 12- “New partner? BOTH need testing!”

Fact: See all of the above! Make certain YOU are not going to transmit a silent infection to your new partner, and be fully aware of any disease that they can potentially transmit to you.

If you’re interested in the kissing habits of others, check out the recent  Big Snog Log , a survey of  4,000 people across the United Kingdom about their lip-locking habits. Commissioned by The Body Shop and MTV, it reveals that…

• Nearly a third perfect our kissing techniques using our hands, which is the highest in the country, while 10% admit they have kissed photographs and posters of sexy celebrities in a bid to up their game.
• A fifth of people have read up on techniques or used the web to improve their puckering up prowess
• Nearly a third of people (31%) admit that they are more likely to have a one night stand with a stranger if they’re a good kisser
• More than quarter of people say they kiss members of the same sex for fun - with a third of men admitting to snogging a male mate during nights out
• Most people experience their first good kiss between the age of 16 and 18. It’s downhill from then on with only 1% of men and women finding their lip nibbling nirvana after the age of 30
• Bad breath is a bigger turn off for women than for men and twice as many women as men cite an overeager “face eater” as the worst type of kisser.
• While only a third of men don’t like a sloppy smacker the number rises to nearly two thirds for women who say they’d rather be left high and dry than face a wet kisser
• A quarter of women prefer eyes shut while men don’t mind as much
  Tender and sensitive kissing is the most favourite type of snog while too much “tonsil tennis” is the least favoured bit of kissing for a fifth of Brits

Now, in case you think that this study was just a bit of light hearted fun, there is a serious side to it. The study was instigated to rasise money for HIV and AIDs awareness and prevention among young people.

The money is being raised through the sale of The Body Shop’s Tantalising Lip Butter. Almost 75% of the price of each sale will be donated to the MTV Staying Alive Foundation charity which is planning this year to award a grant for HIV/Aids awareness projects in the United Kingdom.

Wonder what a similar study would reveal in the United States and New Zealand?

Great news for guys with erectile dysfunction, especially those who get little to no benefit from Viagra. There is new hope on the horizon  -  rotten eggs. Seems a new study by Italian researchers have determined that hydrogen sulphide, the gas arising from rotten eggs, encourages arousal in men. Apparently minute amounts of this gas released by key nerve cells during arousal helps control and sustain an erection.

According to researcher Professor Cirino, of the University of Naples Federico II in Italy, this discovery should make it possible “…in future to develop drugs that either deliver hydrogen sulphide or that control the hydrogen sulphide production.” In other words, create a new Viagra.

Given that this gas is emitted by hot springs and spas around the world, will this mean that places with hot springs will become a drawcard for those with sexual dysfunction? I know one of at least one New Zealand city that hopes it might.

Sex on the brain but the body’s not willing. Could be you need some healthy organics to help put the zing back into your sex life.

Find out what works and how with this article Orgasmic Organics: 20 Tasty Aphrodisiacs to Put Sizzle in Your Sex Life over at ecosalon.

Did you know that in the United States alone, there are 19 million new sexually transmitted disease (STD) cases diagnosed each year?

Scary numbers.

But most people will look at those numbers and say, ‘yeah, but that won’t happen to me. I’m safe. My behavior is not risky.”

Unfortunately, it could easily happen to you. All it really takes to get a sexually transmitted disease is one instance of unprotected sex.

Which is why I suggest that anyone who is sexually active or intending to become sexually active read Seductive Delusions: How Everyday People Catch STD’s by Jill Grimes MD.

It’s an easy to read book that focuses on real life stories of young adults as a way of educating and instructing everyone on how to recognize, treat, and prevent STD’s from infecting their lives. Dr. Grimes has chosen to write about the various STD’s in a narrative style that takes us into the examination room with the patient and doctor. As a result, you quickly start to realize that you cannot stereotype those who are suspectible and likely to get infected. It could just as easily be a family member or friend in that room with the doctor.

The ten chapters of Seductive Delusions cover the most prevalent STD’s, among them Herpes Simplex Virus, human papilloma virus, chlamydia, gonnorrhea, and HIV. Each chapter consists of two stories - one from a female point of view and one from a male - and also a factsheet that spells out all the facts about that particular STD.

Read the book from cover to cover and you will discover…

• Which STDs are asymptomatic or hard to diagnose in either women or men
• Why, if you are diagnosed with one STD, you should get tested for others
• Why it’s crucial to tell your past and current sexual partners about your diagnosis
• How to make decisions about the best course of treatment
• Why certain STDs are misdiagnosed and why it’s important to follow up when symptoms persist

STD’s are all around but talking about them is not something that people often do, especially within families. Hopefully, books like Seductive Delusions might just change that. After all, knowledge is power.

Find out how much you already know with this STD quiz.

Curious as to why people might be avoiding sex? Then check out this national survery that the Consumer Reports National Research Center just released. Turns out that over 80% of the sexually active people in their nationally representative survey of 1,000 adults indicated that they had sometimes avoided sex in the last year.

Here’s the top 6 reasons why…

• too tired or needed sleep more than sex
• not feeling well or health problems
• not in the mood
• taking care of pets or children
• work
• watching a TV or a movie

It’s interesting to note that money worries and the economy didn’t make the top 6 list. Seems that “…seventy-nine percent of the sexually active respondents said that the financial downturn hadn’t had the same effect on how often they had sex.”

By the way, Consumer Reports have put together a Sex Education Quiz so that you can find out whether you have your finger on the pulse of how Americans view sex. By taking this interactive quiz, you can see how your answers compare with our nationally representative survey of 1,000 adults.

Do you have an inquiring mind?

Want to know whether a ‘person can think herself to orgasm? Can a dead man get an erection? Is vaginal orgasm a myth? Why doesn’t Viagra help women–or, for that matter, pandas?’

Then meet Mary Roach. Considered one of the most entertaining science writers around, she might just have the answers to all your questions. Mary is the author of last year’s best seller Bonk: The Curious Coupling of Science and Sex.