sexandsensibilities.com

Knowledge is power (and sexy!). Share, download and re-tweet here!

        

This article was also published here.

By Ana P. Santos

MATERNAL HEALTH. Poor women end up having more children than they want or can afford. Photo by Rhoda Avila of the Democratic Socialist Women of the Philippines

MANILA, Philippines – The Philippines is making progress in maternal health but needs to accelerate improvements, said the executive director of the United Nations Population Fund (UNFPA) who is in the Philippines to meet with government officials, including President Benigno Aquino III.

“The Philippines is not the worst place for maternal health, but there is a need to accelerate the rate of progress,” said UNFPA executive director Dr Babatunde Osotimehin during his Philippine visit to tackle maternal health.

Osotimehin also noted President Benigno Aquino III’s seeming support for the Reproductive Health (RH) bill, which the influential Catholic Church has consistently urged Aquino not to sign.

“My impression from the meeting with the President is that he is committed to the RH bill. He is talking about country development on the basis of RH rights and the ability of people to make decisions for themselves,” said Osotimehin.

‘Unlikely’ MDG

The reduction of maternal deaths is one of the Millennium Development Goals (MDG), a set of 8 international development goals that 193 UN member states have agreed to meet by 2015.

In the Philippines, it is one of the MDGs least likely to be met, according to experts.

Based on the 2006 Family Planning Survey, the Philippines has a recorded maternal mortality ratio (MMR) of 162 deaths per 100,000 live births. The goal, on the other hand, is to lower the MMR to 52-55 deaths per 100,000 live births.

The main causes of maternal death are hemorrhage, sepsis, obstructed labor, hypertensive disorders in pregnancy, and complications of unsafe abortion – most of which are highly preventable with proper pre-natal care and the presence of a skilled birth attendant during delivery.

“The government is putting money into health and prioritizing it,” added Osotimehin. “There is an increase in the health care budget, an increase in health care practitioners, more health facilities, and a conditional cash transfer (CCT) that has been put into place to make health care more accessible.”

CCT program

The CCT program, or Pantawid Pamilyang Pilipino Program (4Ps), is a social assistance program that gives cash assistance to extremely poor households. Positioned as a conditional cash grant, recipients are given monthly cash grants that range from P500 to P1,400 per household, depending on the number of eligible children.

In exchange, the family is required to meet certain requisites like sending their children to school and availing of healthcare services. Expectant mothers, in particular, are expected to get regular pre- and post-natal check-ups, and professional health personnel must be present during the delivery.

An estimated 3 million people are enrolled in the CCT program. The number of beneficiaries is expected to go up to 5 million in 2016.

“Maganda ‘yung conditional cash transfer ngayon kasi mayroon na siyang kondisyon na pre-natal at saka mag-attend ng session ng family planning,” said Lina Bacalando, a community health worker at Likhaan Center for Women’s Health, a women’s NGO that provides RH care and services in the most depressed areas in Manila like Vitas, Baseco, and Tondo. (The conditional cash transfer program is better now because it comes with a condition to undergo a pre-natal check-up and to attend a family planning session.)

Addressing inequity

The CCT is seen as one concrete way to address the inequity between the rich and the poor, which has been shown to have a direct correlation to maternal health.

The National Demographic Health Survey of 2008 reported that 70% of births take place at home, and 94% of women in the richest quintile has a skilled birth attendant (SBA) during their delivery, while only 26% of women have SBA present.

According to a study published by the Guttmacher Institute, a US-based reproductive health think-tank, the poorest women (those whose households fall under the lowest wealth quintile) have about two more children than they want, while those in the richest quintile have only 0.3 more children than they want.

The report also said that only 41% of the poorest women use contraceptives, compared with 50% of the wealthiest.

“There are 3 things that we need to focus on to prevent maternal deaths: access to emergency obstetric care, availability of these services, and the affordability of these services. It is crucial that family planning services reach the poor,” said Ugochi Florence Daniels, the UNFPA country representative to the Philippines.

According to a cost-benefit analysis presented by the UNFPA, the government stands to have $5 in health care and capital expenditure for every $1 spent on maternal health.

Maternal health a global concern

The report “Trends in maternal mortality: 1990 to 2010” shows that from 1990 to 2010, the annual number of maternal deaths dropped from more than 543,000 to 287,000 – a decline of 47%.

According to the report, while substantial progress has been achieved in almost all regions, many countries particularly in sub-Saharan Africa will fail to reach the MDG target of reducing maternal death by 75% from 1990 to 2015. –Rappler.com

UNFPA executive director Dr Babatunde Osotimehin met with pregnant and lactating women during a UNFPA medical mission.

        

This article was also published here.

By Ana P. Santos

Ana P. Santos

The simple innocuous question, “What do you do?” is a difficult one for me to answer.

I’ve found that the best way to answer is to “skew” my answer according to the one posing the question. To NGOs, women’s rights and school organizations, I’m a sexual health educator. To magazines, news agencies and research foundations, I am a public health journalist. The catch-all-answer-to-avoid-lengthy-explanations is simply, “the sex writer.”

On certain occasions, like when I have to give a talk, I usually start off with a bang (yep, pun so intended there) by saying that my job requires a fetish for oral sex—which, in my world, means talking about sex more than the average person.

Actually, I think the best way to answer that question is to describe what I do: I use various media to educate others about the concept of positive sexuality and create awareness for the sex-positive movement.

There are many theories behind the origins of the sex-positive movement and who exactly started it – Wilhelm Reich, Alfred Kinsey, they’re all up there in the annals of sex positivity. There are varying definitions and it is a concept that has evolved quite a bit, but let me pick out a definition by Carol Queen, sexologist and author of a number of books on human sexuality.

Queen describes the positive sex movement as “…the cultural philosophy that understands sexuality as a potentially positive force in one’s life. Sex-positivity allows for and in fact celebrates sexual diversity, differing desires and relationships structures, and individual choices based on consent.”

Divine right

In my work, I have contextualized that a bit for the local setting and have come up with another definition of sex positivity as “the divine right to show love, give love and make love.”

I use the word “divine” in that definition without hint of sarcasm, malice or irony.

And to substantiate this point, I will refer to the existence of my clitoris. Yes, that tiny bud of nerves—no bigger than the size of a pea—which is the epicenter of sexual pleasure; the steward of the female orgasm.

The clitoris exists for one reason: to be pleasured and in turn give pleasure. That is its raison d’être.

It has no other purpose.

Female human beings are not the only ones who possess a clitoris. There are other species in the animal kingdom who have their own pleasure nodes, but have them for different reasons.

The spotted hyena is known to have the largest clitoris in the animal kingdom; so large that it is sometimes referred to as a “pseudo penis.”

Female squirrel monkeys use their large clitoris to establish dominance in a group.

The subordinate females lick the clitoris of a higher-ranked female to signify obedience and subservience. Females also sometimes lick each other’s clitorises as a way of greeting one another.

Bringing life

Now, I’m not suggesting that our clitorises be used to signify dominance or that any mouth contact with it be made the new equivalent of “beso-beso” or its cultured counterpart, “air-kissing.”

But I do believe that the divinity who designed the woman’s body created it so that womanity could celebrate and relish her sexuality.

It is by no accident, but with great calculation and deliberation that the sexual organs meant for bringing life into this world are the same ones meant to give us pleasure.

Sexual organs have multiple purposes, but in one way or another exist to show and give love—in different forms.

Breasts are not meant to just be ogled at or fondled (or propel sales for push up bras); they are also a source of nourishment to a newborn baby. Nipples are designed for a newborn to latch on to and the areola serves as supplementary milk ducts for suckling of a baby. A woman’s bosom has been immortalized in literature and art as a symbol of comfort and security.

The much eroticized vagina is not meant to just receive stimulation from a partner, but also to serve as a birth passage.

During a conversation I had with Dr Junice Melgar, the executive director ofLikhaan Center for Women’s Health, she pointed out that even the way that humans engage in sex is an indication of how we are meant to enact and enjoy the deepest of human connections. “Humans can (regardless of sexual orientation) engage in sex face-to-face, with arms wrapped one other for closeness and intimacy,” Dr Melgar told me.

Sans any drowsiness, aren’t we the only the only specie who wants to cuddle after sex, too?

It reminds me of the basic biology lesson that teaches us that there is nothing extraneous in the human body. There is nothing in the human body that does not have a purpose.

There is a divine reason why our bodies are created the way they are. Our heart is balanced by our mind and our character matched by our spirit; everything comes together to exult our capacity — our divine right — as humans to give love, show love and yes, make love.

There will be those who will beg to differ. But isn’t sexuality, like beauty, in the eye of the beholder?

There are monologues about vaginas. Now, it’s time to have conversations about clitorises. - Rappler.com

        

We’re SASsing up girl power and turning it into super girl power! 

Few years back, Sandra Bullock’s big screen character, Gracie Hart in the film Miss Congeniality taught girls to S.I.N.G — to go for the solar plexus, instep, nose and groin when attacked or assaulted.

According to Hart, targeting these body parts is crucial to defending one’s self. Hitting those high notes with S.I.N.G could easily be done by any woman, said the police-turned-beauty queen for an undercover assignment.

On May 22, Sex and Sensibilities.com shines the spotlight on a real life policewoman, Senior Police Officer 2 (SPO2) Helen dela Cruz of the Philippine National Police (PNP) Women and Children’s Protection Center for “Talk Safety to Me”, a talk on crime prevention.

SASsy and multi-awarded policewoman, SPO 2  dela Cruz will give the lowdown on her detective work and share her thoughts on what women need to be aware of when it comes to their protection and safety.

Merited with Metrobank Foundation’s Country’s Outstanding Policemen in Service (COPS) award in 2011, dela Cruz’ work has aided immensely in the solving of various high profile cases that involve drugs and sexual assaults, among others.

Her talk will include practical safety tips, intimate partner violence, and the laws that are meant to protect women, all the things a SASsy girl should have in her arsenal of protection tools along with her favorite pair of stilettos.

“Talk Safety to Me” is a FREE talk brought to you by Sex and Sensibilties.com together with co.Lab, and in partnership with the Philippine National Police. It will be on May 22 from 6:00 p.m. to 8:00 p.m. at co.lab located on the 4th Floor, Optima Building, Salcedo Street, Legaspi Village, Makati.

For more information, please call or SMS 0917.820.7277 (SASs)

“Talk SASsy to Me” is a series of girl power talks hosted by Sex and Sensibilities.com (SAS), the website founded by journalist and sexual health advocate Ana Santos.

        

This article was re-posted from Illustrado Life.

The flirtation of a charged text message or smile, the harmless cup of coffee after work, the feeling of desire and being desired brought by an attraction to the opposite sex.  Ana P. Santos talks to relationship and psychology experts to get the low down on emotional adultery, where betrayal does not necessitate taking off one’s clothes.

“Office husband” is a term Aileen Santos hears quite often. Santos, a certified relationship coach with a master’s degree in Psychology and Counseling hears a lot of her patients talking about their “office husbands.”

“This is the guy in the office that they hang out with, and with working hours being the way they are – long – this is also the guy they spend more time with compared to their real husbands.”

Long office hours, alternating work days due to the proliferation of the BPO industry and more people spending more time at the office just to avoid mind numbing traffic are just some of the factors adding to the emergence of such relationships.

“An office husband need not be an adulterous relationship and sometimes it is not,” said Santos, “but it does have the potential for turning into an emotional affair. Women, by nature, are more prone to emotional affairs than physical ones.”

The line that divides is so fine that it is easy to not even notice crossing it.

“It’s when you start confiding in your office husband more than your real life partner that it starts to become an emotional affair,” Santos cautioned.

By doing so, Santos says you deprive your partner the chance to get to know you, to share in the parts of your life that matter to you and be there for you.

Santos, who says that relationships with the opposite sex are not to be totally avoided, stressed the difference.

“When you tell someone about what happened or you need to bitch about what your boss said or did, that’s just recounting your day. But when you start talking about how this made you feel that’s different. The intimacy and insecurity in letting someone see your vulnerable side is the checkbox that makes it an emotional affair,” said Santos.

“Relationships with other members of the opposite sex enrich us.  Just as any other positive relationships do, but we need to be clear about what relationships are for what.  We need to be clear about boundaries,” she added.

The Office Affair and the Office Lover

When Jona, a 35-year-old sales executive, began moving up the corporate ladder faster than her husband who was her college sweetheart, she became more and more dissatisfied with the relationship.

“It wasn’t just about me making more money. It was also about me being more ambitious than him. I began to see him as someone weak because he didn’t have the same drive. The power that I was feeling in the office, out on the field, was easy to bring home,” Jona explained.

She began finding more and more excuses to work overtime with a colleague from another department. Their perceived similar interests attracted her to him even more.  For the first time in their eight year marriage, Jona began wondering about what it would be like to sleep with another man.

Eventually, a promotion and ambition saved the day for Jona.  “The new role came with more responsibilities and in my desire to do well, I poured myself into the new job. Our problem then became the amount of time I was spending at work compared to being at home.”

That was the problem on the outside. But Jona admitted that the bigger reason was that she didn’t find her husband interesting anymore. “He couldn’t relate to the decisions and the pressure of my position. I couldn’t talk to him anymore,” she said.

“Relationships are dynamic. That’s their very nature. Because the people in it grow and change, too,” said Santos in reaction to Jona’s case.

Santos has seen many patients thinking that happy even after will just happen, which is a wrong notion. “The journey that we all want to be on, the one where we grow old with someone is a product of the small decisions we make every day. When we find ourselves veering off that course, we need to go back and think why we chose our partner in the first place.”

Almost Lover or Too Close for Comfort

For many people, there is a meaningful distinction between emotional infidelity and sexual infidelity.

“The former is about involving feelings, self-disclosure, opening up of the self to the other, becoming close, falling in love. The latter is more about sexual encounter.” said Eric Manalastas, Assistant Professor of Psychology at the University of the Philippines, Diliman.

Manalastas also shared that women often find emotional infidelity highly distressing, compared to sexual infidelity. On the other hand, men seem to be particularly bothered by women’s sexual infidelity.

“The gender difference should not be interpreted to mean there’s an absolute difference between men vs women. Nor does it mean that emotional infidelity will not bother straight men or that sexual infidelity will not worry straight women,” Manalastas explained.

Rica, 40, has been dealing with chronic infidelity and has gotten to know quite a bit about both sides of the coin. In their 12 years of marriage, she has found her husband, Joggie cheating four times.  It was all the more infuriating for Rica when he would deny any physical involvement with the women.

“I would see the text messages calling him “baby”, the messages saying thank you for the lingerie that he bought while we — the two of us – were abroad. Once, I answered his phone without saying hello right away and a female voice came on the line asking: ‘Hon, can you talk?’ What do you call that?” Rica wailed.

With three kids and more than a decade of marriage, she says she doesn’t know what to do or why she continues to give him another chance. She can only conclude that the same thing that keeps her in the marriage is the same thing that angers her about Joggie’s “relationships” with these women.

“He hasn’t had sex with any of these women and I know this for sure because we own and manage our own business. We know each other’s hours and schedules. It’s not even to keep tabs on each other, it’s just as a matter of operating the business,” Rica disclosed.

“I don’t know. To me, it is an affair because of the betrayal and the intense pain I feel with the discovery of each new dalliance. But is it really an affair? They’ve never consummated the relationship. It’s like my heart and my mind are telling me two different things!”

Manalastas, in reaction says that what constitutes an affair is actually dependent on the couple. “If a couple constructs a committed relationship between themselves, and promises to be monogamous, then engaging in behaviors like texting, kissing, spending time with, or even thinking about someone else counts as infidelity not based on one’s own construal of “infidelity” but rather based on the partner’s.”

“In a close relationship, it’s not just the self that gets to call the shots and label things as ‘ok’ or `not ok’.  The partner’s point of view is equally – some would argue, even more important, especially if you want to stay together and be happy.”       

In relationships, as in anything in life, the route to happy ever after is made up of small every day decisions.

        

If we truly love our mothers,  let us prevent their dying in pregnancy and childbirth 

Statement of the Reproductive Health Advocacy Network (RHAN) on Mothers’ Day 2012 

On Sunday, the whole world celebrates Mothers’ Day in appreciation of the myriad contributions of mothers to families and society. Sadly, some 4,000 families belonging to the poorest and most disadvantaged, will be motherless this year, as thousands like them were the previous years. This sad reality is a testament to the lack of serious attention – beyond the rhetoric – given to government programs and social arrangements that would assure mothers’  surviving the critical act of giving life.

There is no mystery about the fact that pregnancy and childbirth – while not diseases – pose peril to some women, roughly 15% of the annual 3 million or so pregnancies every year. The Filipino adage about a pregnant woman having “one foot in the grave” is intuitively true.

Medical studies confirm that life-threatening complications can come unbidden especially during childbirth; potentially fatal complications like hemorrhage, hypertension, severe infection and obstruction. These frightening complications, however, are mostly treatable by simple medical interventions like intravenous fluids and medicines, blood transfusion and surgery.

So how come Filipino mothers continue to die at worrisome levels?

A comparison between the Philippine approaches and successful approaches in neighboring Malaysia, Thailand and Indonesia reveal the following critical differences: the lack of adequate and adequately-trained midwives; the lack of adequate and adequately staffed and furnished emergency hospitals that function 24 hours for 7 days; the lack of a strong Family Planning program to reduce unintended pregnancy; and the lack of adequate public financing support for the poor.

All of these gaps require an orchestrated response, especially involving the DOH, local governments, PhilHealth, and private and public health professionals. It is a response that had been engendered in the Reproductive Health Bills which have been stalled in Congress for the past 11 years.

How do we love our mothers?

Indeed many, many ways. A first gift is the gift of life, programs to insure she has the means that will protect her before, during and after the delicate time of pregnancy and childbirth.

        

Three DOH-retained hospitals to get cryotherapy machines

Now on its fifth year, the free cervical cancer screening program of the Department of Health (DOH) in partnership with MSD and medical societies namely the Philippine Obstetrical and Gynecological Society (POGS), the Society of Gynecologic Oncologists of the Philippines (SGOP), and the Philippine Society for Cervical Pathology and Colposcopy (PSCPC) during Cervical Cancer Awareness Month will now enable patients to get screened, be diagnosed and get treated in the same hospital.

        

by Ana Santos

This article was originally published in the April 2012 edition of Playboy magazine.

When it comes right down to it; whether it’s about going down or getting it up, doctors conclude that smoking does take its toll on junior.

It is a common post-coital picture.

After the bump and grind, comes the rolling over to the side, reaching over the nightstand and lighting up a cigarette.

It is the nightcap to the good romp in the hay-catching your breath by inhaling some smoke and slowly blowing it out.

But before you light up for that gratifying puff, you might need to know how that stick up in your mouth affects your stick down there. The pack says cigarette smoking is hazardous to your health, but did you know that it’s also hazardous to your sex life?

Read on and find out how:

1. THE MORE YOU LIGHT UP, THE MORE LIKELY IT WILL GO DOWN, DOWN, DOWN

Credit: mack2happy via freedigitalphotos.net

“What’s bad for the heart is also bad for the penis.”

That’s The Golden Rule when it comes to caring for one’s appendage, says Dr. Jaime Songco, a urologist at the Makati Medical Center.

“And since smoking is bad for the heart, it is also bad for the penis.”

Explaining further, Songco says, “The penis a vascular organ; it is an organ filled with blood vessels and arteries and highly dependent on blood flow. To achieve an optimal erection, a sudden rush of blood to the penis is needed.”

Clogged blood vessels and arteries damaged from smoking are sure roadblocks to the sudden rush of blood flow to the penis.

“The tar content of cigarettes causes thickening and hardening of the blood vessels. And with the arteries supplying blood to the penis being only about one millimetre in diameter you can imagine how any sort of blockage will affect achieving and maintaining an erection.”

The problem only gets harder [pun not intended] from there. Using an Erection Hardness Scale (EHS) commonly used by urologists to diagnose Erectile Dysfunction (ED), Songco describes an optimal erection as one that is “of Grade 4 standard. It has to be as hard as a cucumber.”

Stressing that not all erections are created equal, Songco says that erections can go all the way down to a Grade 1 “which is like tofu, making penetration impossible.”

And while E.D. is commonly seen among older men, Songco says that the risk of impotence increases to 50% in male smokers aged 30 to 40.

Studies made by Dr. Irving Goldstein at the New England Male Reproductive Health Center of the Boston University Medical School hold up the link between smoking and erection problems.

In an impotency test among 1,011 men, 78% of those with erection problems were smokers; more than twice the number of men with erection problems found in the general population.

In another study, where they measured blood flow to the penis, the more cigarettes smoked, the higher the decrease in blood flow.

The absence of local studies on the sagging effect of smoking on ED is a stark one, says urologist from the St. Luke’s Medical Center, Dr. Joel Aldana. However, in his clinical experience, Aldana says “about 50% of my patients with ED are smokers.

2. YOU WON’T JUST GET BLUE BALLED BUT YOU’LL ALSO BE A BLUE BLOATER

Credit: dream designs via freedigitalphotos.net

Prolonged smoking and exposure to the toxic substances of nicotine can bring about chronic obstructive pulmonary disease or what is commonly known as COPD.

“The main indicator of COPD is shortness of breath and difficulty breathing because of long-term damage to the lungs,” says Dr. Maricar Limpin, a pulmonologist and member of Philippine College of Chest Physicians.

Limpin says that over 80% of her patients who suffer from COPD are smokers. “COPD is brought about by the chronic exposure to a toxic substance such as nicotine.” And most patients are men.

Most people who have chronic bronchitis and emphysema have COPD, and those with bronchitis are called “blue bloaters because” of their bluish palor due to their shortness of breath.

COPD makes a man blue bloater, but not necessarily a drooper.

“A man can still achieve an erection, but because airways are blocked or the lungs are full of phlegm, COPD makes breathing difficult for simple activities such as walking; what more for the energy expended for sexual activity?”

To further illustrate, Limpin says, “He may be able to start in the sexual act, but he will not be able to finish. The continued shortness of breath makes it extremely difficult.”

Thus, from a medical point of view, COPD hampers sexual activity, which may result to having none at all, as the condition progresses into severe stages.

THE TAR CONTENT OF CIGARETTES CAUSES THICKENING OF THE BLOOD VESSELS. AND WITH THE ARTERIES SUPPLYING BLOOD TO THE PENIS BEING ONLY ABOUT ONE MILLIMETER IN DIAMETER, YOU CAN IMAGINE HOW ANY SORT OF BLOCKAGE WILL AFFECT ACHIEVING AND MAINTAINING AN ERECTION.

Limpin shares that all of her patients with COPD have a certain degree of difficulty engaging in satisfying sex, although she declines to provide anecdotes, citing confidentiality between patients and doctors.

Limpin emphasizes that COPD is a disease, which only becomes worse over time. “Once a patient reaches the severe to very severe case of COPD, even the simple act of breathing becomes extremely difficult. It [COPD] is debilitating and the most we can do is find ways to ease the burden on the patient.”

Part of the rehabilitation for COPD patients includes exercises on how to cope with shortness of breath and muscle capacity for endurance. And in terms of still getting some horizontal mambo, a change in position is needed. Patients are asked to try alternative sex positions which are not too strenuous. “The man [with COPD] will have to take on the passive role during sex. We advise side by side or positions where the partner does most of the work,” explains Limpin, emphasizing the need for the minimum expenditure of energy for the COPD patient.

And if it’s not the shortness of breath that will get in the way of your sex life, it’s the coughing caused by lungs filled will phlegm that may be the deal breaker or blue ball marker.

3. YOU’LL GET THE SHORTER END OF THE DEAL, OR SPERM

Credit: jscreationzs via freedigitalphotos.net

First off, there are some sperm terms you need to get acquainted with: density (sperm count), motility (percentage of moving sperm in a semen sample) and morphology (shape).

In a study published by the Singapore Medical Journal on the effect of cigarette smoking on semen quality of infertile men, it was found that smoking decreases sperm count, affects motility and alters sperm shape.

The end result is an impact on fertility. An excerpt of the study states that: “In 30% of infertile couples, the male factor, in the form of defective sperm quality, is major cause. As a large number of men smoke worldwide, and the fact that cigarette smoke contains known mutagens and carcinogens, there has been much concern that smoking may have unfavourable effects on male reproduction. Several studies from different parts of the world have observed that cigarette smoking has an effect on the semen quality, especially in those who are heavy smokers.”

Action on Smoking and Health in the UK has found “cigarette smoking affects male fertility. Men who smoke have a lower sperm count than non-smokers, and their semen contains a higher proportion of malformed sperm. By-products of nicotine present in semen of smokers have been found to reduce the motility of sperm.”

“Smoking affects actually the cilia or the tail of the sperm; this is the part that becomes deformed.” says Limpin, adding that it is the cilia that gives sperm its motion. “It can not swim as fast enough to fertilize the egg and consequently causes fertility problems.”

4. SMOKING MAKES IT HARD FOR HER TO SWALLOW

Credit: Wikinoticia.com

We’ve all heard the urban legend that drinking pineapple juice or eating pineapple chunks can make sperm taste sweeter. However, the jury – composed of urologists and medical journals – is still debating on this.

When asked about the impact of nicotine smoking on the taste of semen, neither Songco, Aldana nor Limpin could give an answer based on medical studies.

Michael Castleman, author of various sexuality books like Great Sex: The Man’s Guide To Whole-Body Sensuality (nominated as best sexuality book of the year by the American Association of Sex Educators, Counselors, And Therapists) writes that everyone has an opinion on spitting or swallowing and it seems that empirical and experimental data are taking up where scientific study has left off.

Castleman posits that if the availability of sperm flavor enhancers are any indication, taken together with the testimony of porn stars who “have tasted hundreds of samples of semen,” it seems that what one puts in one’s mouth also affects the taste of what comes out of one’s well, penis.

STUDIES HAVE LONG BEEN ESTABLISHED THAT SMOKING CAN LEAD TO THE EARLY ONSET OF MENOPAUSE AMONG WOMEN. THE SAME HAS BEEN FOUND TO BE TRUE FOR THE MALE COUNTERPART, KNOWN AS ANDROPAUSE.

ANDROPAUSE IS KNOWN BY ITS VARIOUS NAMES LIKE TESTOSTERONE DEFICIENCY AND MALE MENOPAUSE. IT IS CAUSED BY DECLINING LEVELS OF THE HORMONE TESTOSTERONE IN MEN AS THEY AGE.

Castleman lists a diet of ample amounts of fruit and vegetables to produce a smooth, sweet taste. Caffeine, alcohol and tobacco will make your semen taste bitter. Red meats, greasy foods and dairy products will give off a sharp, salty taste.

So in this case, it might be good to follow your Mom’s advice about eating your fruits and vegetables it will make your semen delectable, if not easy and sweet to swallow.

If you don’t want to listen to your mother take it from former porn star Annie Sprinkle who Castleman says, attests that “vegetarians taste the best.”

5. PRE-MATURE AGING IS NOT JUST A WOMAN’S CONCERN

Studies have long been established that smoking can lead to the early onset of menopause among women. The same has been found to be true for the male counterpart, known as andropause.

Credit: David Castillo Dominici via freedigitalphotos.net

Andropause is known by its various names like testosterone deficiency and male menopause. It is caused by declining levels of the hormone testosterone in men as they age.

The World Health Organization (WHO) estimates that testosterone, drops about 10 percent every decade starting around age 30. It is estimated that by the age of 50, 30 percent of men have testosterone levels low enough to cause symptoms and put them at risk.

The Andropause Society, a UK-based organization that promotes the study of andropause, says that testosterone falls progressively from the mid to late 20’s and continues across the rest of one’s life. Broadly speaking, testosterone will halve over the period of your life.

IT MIGHT ME BE GOOD TO FOLLOW YOUR MOM’S ADVICE ABOUT EATING YOUR FRUITS AND VEGETABLES, IT WILL MAKE YOUR SEMEN DELECTABLE, IF NOT EASY AND SWEET TO SWALLOW.

IF YOU DON’T WANT TO LISTEN TO YOUR MOTHER, TAKE IT FROM FORMER PORN STAR ANNIE SPRINKLE, WHO CASTLEMAN SAYS, ATTESTS THAT “VEGETARIANS TASTE THE BEST.”

Much like menopause, the onset of andropause is characterized by lethargy, decreased libido, and moodiness.

Dr. Tom Trinick, a member of the Andropause Society, says that there are a range of health factors, apart from age, that contribute to andropause, but he recommends cutting down on smoking and testosterone replacement therapy.

When it comes right down to it; whether it’s about going down or getting it up, doctors conclude that smoking does take its toll on Junior.

“With the exception of COPD, erectile dysfunction, infertility, and andropause are multi-factorial. They are caused by a combination elements like lifestyle and genetics. However, smoking, because of how it affects the blood vessels. Compounds the effect,” says Aldana.

Hhhmm…bitter truth? Perhaps, but nonetheless, information that’s worth chewing on – without spitting out.

This special report was produced under a grant from the Journalists for Nation Building Foundation.

Images: mack2happy, dream designs, jscreationzs, wikinoticia and David Castillo Dominici

        

We, the undersigned, comprised of individuals, various people’s and civil society organizations with membership all over the country, wish to express our support and solidarity with the Leadership Conference of Women Religious (LCWR), the umbrella group representing most of the United States’ 57,000 nuns, as they find themselves under attack by the Vatican for not taking a stronger stand against sexual and reproductive health and rights in line with their overall ministry to serve the poor. The LCWR has also been taken to task by the Vatican for not taking explicit positions against homosexuality, euthanasia and women’s ordination.

The Vatican’s Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith (CDF) last week ordered a new mandate that the LCWR be overseen by a specially appointed archbishop due to the nuns’ statements, which “disagree with or challenge positions taken by the bishops, who are the church’s authentic teachers of faith and morals.”

We believe this crackdown is a result of the Roman Catholic Church hierarchy’s wider campaign to silence the public voice of women both within their church and outside of it — locally reflected in the actions of the Catholic Bishops Conference of the Philippines (CBCP). We value the LCWR’s commitment to social justice and their right to take a conscientious position against a religious leadership that has shown to be both out of touch and outright hostile to the very idea of women taking a greater role in society.