Women more likely to be elected in male-dominated districts

FiveThirtyEight: Politics Done Right:

"Although women are still having a relatively tough time getting elected in general -- they represent just 17 percent of the members of the U.S. Congress -- Congresswomen, as opposed to Congressmen, are more plentiful in areas where the male-to-female ratio is higher."

This is a fascinating analysis of how females tend to have greater electoral success in states and districts where the male:female ratio is higher. It holds true across all partisan leanings, though the more Democratic the district, the higher the success rate for female candidates.

No underlying demographic was able to explain the discrepancy, though the author wonders if more women run for office in male-dominated areas than otherwise...

NYT Magazine piece on female arousal

A fascinating look into the world of sexologists, and a few of them who are particularly focused on how women are aroused.

A few sneak peaks:

• In a test, one of the sexologists measured arousal of subjects both by physical signs (e.g. genital blood flow) and by subject ratings (via a keypad).   Men universally said they were most aroused when all the data suggested they would be.  Women, on the other hand, would often indicate no arousal on their dial but display many of the physical signs.
• Viagra works for men because the desire for sex is almost always present and impotence is typically physical
• There's no Viagra equivalent for women, because desire is often unrelated to physical signs of arousal. 
  

As seen on TV: Teen sex

The Washington Post summary says it best:

Teenagers who watch a lot of television featuring flirting, necking, discussion of sex and sex scenes are much more likely than their peers to get pregnant or get a partner pregnant, according to the first study to directly link steamy programming to teen pregnancy...The researchers took into account other factors such as having only one parent, wanting to have a baby and engaging in other risky behaviors.

When most of pop culture is peddling sex, we need comprehensive sex education [it works] so teens at least have an idea of how to be safe.