Double X

well, since you mention "cantankerous old men," my grandpa and i were discussing politics one day and told me i had "sh*t for brains". he was serious but i thought it was funny.

These are all great! One of my mother's favorite threats when we were young was to claim we'd be "sold to the gypsies." Although incredibly insensitive and racist now, it worked wonders on my sister and me then!

You should look into behavior change theories that are used to develop public health interventions...they might inform your process. Also, when it comes to stopping whining, I'm a big fan of the "think before you speak and ask what is the point" method. It really helps me get through a particularly whiny moment.

HI Nicole, thanks for the tip! Are there any particular theories or experts that we should look up? -Jessica

Wow – the comment by deechan on that piece is horrific. Someone has some anger issues...

Bruce Buschel needs to work a couple of shifts as a waiter or a pizza driver. Then make a new list.

Rules look good, though stringent. Always best to err on the side of caution.

Creepy, creepy, creepy!

Cringe-worthy it was. At least, Gov. Sanford's emails was somewhat romantic; this just made me want to shower.

Robin, i think happiness is like the oft-quoted standard for obscenity: you know it when you see it (and for the purposes of this discussion, experience it). As I believe you are saying, the circumstances that bring happiness about are different for everyone. It's just that the emotion we experience is alike. And perhaps, generally speaking, people are alike enough in some ways that what makes some of us happy could make others happy as well?

Call me 'Captain Obvious', but wouldn't the people who wanted more children be the people who had more children in the first place ?

I always thought that notion that women want or need more security in a relationship is pretty much hogwash based on outdated evolutionary ideas. Olivia Judson and her book, Dr. Tatiana's Sex Guide to all of creation make a compelling case that females of a species are just as likely to be unfaithful and "cheat" on their monogamous pairs as males.

Human desire itself is hard to explain at all, so trying to find a difference between men and women can become nearly impossible if we don't understand the base human component.

Any explanation shouldn't try to base themselves on notions of gender difference, but rather on sex differences. If there is a difference in desire, it is likely a function of how hormones of desire work in men and women. Testetorone has been seen as a major player, and there may be something to how it might interact differently with other hormones in the female body. ... Read More

Personal experience has been that libido only decreases when the relationship itself is no longer working or when external pressures, stress et cetera interfere.

I think that decreased desire due to lack of emotional connection and/or stress is accurate for both genders. If we look at a disproportionate loss of desire on the part of women in long-term heterosexual relationships in the context of modern American culture, however, what I have observed/experienced is that American women, esp. Gen X and ... Read Moremillenials, expect that their marriage/relationship is going to be an egalitarian, peer-based experience, whereas men of these generations (by and large, though there are exceptions) continue to have very traditional expectations of marriage -- but this discrepancy usually only becomes apparent once the relationship has moved into long-term/marital circumstances.

Could be an intresting aside though, that other recent studies indicate that men who ARE more egalitarian in child-rearing and spend more time with their families have a decline in testosterone. And that women, while ovulating, prefer high-testosterone "bad boys" but at all other times prefer more sensitive models?. Biologically, could this make some of their female counterparts in long-term relationships unconsciously seek out a more "manly man"?

"The Nazis, who eventually amassed 50 million pages detailing their crimes, were also thorough record keepers."

Really? Polygamy = Holocaust, Jeffs = Hitler, FLDS = Nazis?

I don't think the article was saying that FLDS = Nazis. The only clear equivalency the article makes is that both documented their crimes (it didn't necessarily say their crimes were equally bad). I think it's an interesting observation.

If it's just that both were "thorough records keepers," it's a pretty random observation that doesn't tie well into the rest of the article, the point of which seems to be that given the unwillingness of the victims of the crime in question (statutory rape) to testify against the defendant, these thorough records provide the evidence prosecutors ... Read Moreneed to prove their case. It would make more sense and come off as less Godwin-esque if there were some mention of how the Nazis' records were ultimately used against them (e.g. at the Nuremberg trials).

I always loved Teeny Little Super Guy zipping around that kitchen in a plastic cup.

@SH: Thanks for sharing liking for Ernie's "I Don't Want to Live on the Moon." I always find that song very simple and moving at the same time - like the best children's books. Thanks also for posting a Sesame Street shout out. :-) It seems thoroughly worth celebrating on a bunch of levels.

This is a fantastic article. It really hits home and raises important questions about the rights of pregnant women.

There's a link between what these judges are doing and the paternalism in Justice Kennedy's opinion in Gonzales v. Carhart, the Supreme Court's decision allowing a ban on late-term (so-called partial birth) abortion to stand. Father Knows Best. --Emily