I can testify that there is something “different” about me during ovulation, and this is no individual quirk. Evolution has crafted women to desire intercourse more during this fertile period, and a new study suggests that women might even be able to detect which man is most likely to desire her as well.

They buy sexier clothing, are more likely to stare at attractive men and — if they are strippers — they get better tips.

And now science has identified yet another characteristic of the elusive ovulating woman: she is better at picking out straight men from the gays.

A new study led by researchers at the University of Toronto suggests that ovulation significantly improves a woman’s ability to judge a man’s sexual orientation.

[…]

A slew of strange ovulation phenomena have been uncovered in recent years as scientists track how the female cycle impacts mating practices. Other research has suggested that ovulating women emit a scent that is more attractive to men, get better tips as lap dancers andbuy sexier clothing in an unconscious attempt to outdo rivals.

[…]

“That suggests they’re not hyper attentive to everything, just men and sex essentially,” Rule says.

In terms of practical application of the findings, Rule says it may be useful for women to know that they appear to be better at picking partners — at least sexual partners — when they are ovulating.

FYI, if you’re on birth control, you can’t ovulate.

_____________________

Andrea adds: Splitting hairs, perhaps, and I know this wasn’t the point of this post, but if you are on birth control, you most likely don’t ovulate. (I believe the Pill first and foremost attempts to stop ovulation, but if that fails, it makes the womb inhospitable to a fertilized egg.)

I’ll be on Ezra Levant’s show tonight discussing Dominique Strauss-Kahn and the general decline of sexual mores in our society and Brian Lilley’s show to discuss gendercide.

Don’t know whether that makes me a sunshine girl, but I can assure you I remain appropriately attired in a business suit! You can watch online, here, if you feel so inclined.

…doesn’t mean it’s good for you, or society, or your unborn baby. I’ve written before about how a lack of remorse isn’t necessarily a sign that something is “healthy”. This is as true for abortion as it is for other acts of violence.

Now those who commit abortion don’t yet see it as a crime, and because it’s legal, the rest of us are told we ought not view it that way either. But I can only hope, for this woman’s sake, that one day she will better understand that a feeling of “euphoria” is not an indicator of whether or not something is inhumane:

Though I was raised in a Catholic family and apparently encouraged to participate in a “Right to Life” poster contest as a child, I can’t remember a time in my life when I wasn’t pro-choice.  I remember thinking and even saying aloud that I would abort if I got pregnant as a teenager.  Then, as a young twenty-something, I became eager to have children – and I welcomed two very wanted, well-loved babies into the world.  Once things began to deteriorate between their father and I, I knew without a doubt that any future pregnancy we faced would be terminated.

In October of last year, I made good on that promise to myself…

I felt momentarily guilty when one of the other patients in recovery asked me if I ever stopped smiling, but I quickly reminded myself that it was senseless guilt.  After all, smiling is a natural reaction to happiness, and I was happy sitting there.  When they released me to go home fifteen minutes later, I was gladder still.

Keep in mind this woman had an abortion “to do good on a promise to herself.” If the tone sounds calculating and cold, maybe that’s because what she did and how she experienced it is just that. We as a culture recognize the lack of remorse in other acts as “cold-blooded” and contradictory to humanity. Take for example this article,

“How long do I have to live in prison?”

45-year-old Kim Su-cheol, arrested for brutally sexually assaulting a second-grader, asked that question at the Yeongdeungpo Police Station in Seoul on the 10th. He spoke calmly without inquiry about the condition of his victim. It was a moment that showed he is truly an animal with a human face.

According to a member of the Yeongdeungpo Police Sation, he had spent three days in prison since being arrested on the 7th and had slept well and not missed a single meal.

Kim congratulated the investigators on a job well done and made a full confession but while confined he has shown no signs of a remorseful attitude, caring only about the punishment he is to receive.

An employee of the prison said, “Kim asked us how long he has to stay in prison, thinking only about himself, and doesn’t care at all about the victim or show any sense of guilt.”

Kim, who had jus sexually assaulted an eight-year old-girl, told investigators “I feel good, I slept really well” and made other dumbfounding statements which show what a cold-blooded person he is.

On sex selection abortion, from one Mark Steyn:

Indeed, given the decline in sex ratios in Asia and elsewhere, if daughters had feathers or four legs, they’d be on the endangered species list.

His title is “Killing her softly,” which does nicely as a description of abortion in general. Abortion is a kind of quiet, soft killing, not quite a killing at all, really, or so we are told. When pressed those who actually believe this immediately become unsure as to when it does become a killing, it’s all so very confusing. But until they figure it out, they certainly aren’t working on the precautionary principle, are they.

(h/t)

To all the readers/supporters/antagonists of ProWomanProLife, enjoy the day. Happy Canada Day!

[youtube:http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vPwbVTj8syU”>http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vPwbVTj8syU]

Rachel Maddow lambasts anyone of a Republican (conservative) persuasion because generally, we are against more red tape. I say “we” because I am one such person who is against more red tape. I’m also pro-life. And apparently what Republicans in Kansas are doing is regulating the heck out of abortion clinics, so that they are forced to close.

Here’s the thing: I’m also very firmly in favour of the will of the people aka democracy. And what Roe v. Wade did was overrule every state on the matter of abortion and tell so many: Your vote doesn’t count. In the United States there are a great many states who would outlaw abortion, based on a free vote. Roe v. Wade doesn’t let them. It comes down from on high and dictates what will be.

My point then, is this: where the government through the legislative arm acts corruptly, it engenders corruption. People try to get around it in different ways. More red tape to outlaw abortion clinics would be one such tactic.

My second point is this: Oftentimes these regulations merely bring abortion clinics up to the existing standards for every other health-related clinic. In some states, so fearful were feminists of losing abortion rights, that they failed to regulate abortion clinics at all. The end result is what Mark Steyn calls Big Government’s Back Alley. From Philadelphia:

Furniture and blankets were stained with blood. Instruments were not properly sterilized. Disposable medical supplies were not disposed of; they were reused, over and over again. Medical equipment – such as the defibrillator, the EKG, the pulse oximeter, the blood pressure cuff – was generally broken; even when it worked, it wasn’t used. The emergency exit was padlocked shut. And scattered throughout, in cabinets, in the basement, in a freezer, in jars and bags and plastic jugs, were fetal remains. It was a baby charnel house.

Pretty gross, hey? Wait, there’s more. From New Jersey:

The Department of Health and Senior Services investigated the abortion facility and found dirty forceps, rusty crochet hooks used to remove IUDs, and a quarter-inch of dirt and debris under an examining table.

So long as those abortion clinics remain open…

But finally, it all comes down to what we think abortion is. And Rachel Maddow, let me take a wild and crazy guess, thinks it is an inoffensive procedure. Whereas, (I’m also guessing) the majority in the state of Kansas think it is murder. Roe v. Wade doesn’t let people think what they want to think, so we come to a strange place whereby Republicans act like Democrats, trying to place more red tape over abortion clinics, to put them out of business.

But Maddow: please spare me the pain of likening this to trying to put honest small businessmen out of work, or making it hard to do interstate trade. This isn’t about freedom. It’s about the injustice that is abortion, it’s about special state-sanctioned clinics where we try to make a despicable procedure normal and don’t even subject them to the same regulations as other outpatient procedures. And it’s about an unjust law (Roe v. Wade) that tells all Americans they have to like abortion, even where they don’t.

It’s summer. Good times. For me this means being outdoors as much as humanly possibly. The other day I biked from work to the swimming pool (outdoors) and did laps (did I mention the pool is outdoors? Love it.) After doing laps I went to play beach volleyball. Changing out of my swimsuit, I put on workout attire, applied no makeup, did precisely nothing to my wet hair (forgot my brush) and got back on my bike.

By the time I was almost there, I realized I was hungry and so pulled over at a concession stand to purchase dinner, which was a hotdog.

Because I was late, I started walking my bike and eating the hotdog as quickly as I possibly could.

Just as I hit the beach area, I scarfed down the last (big) bite of the hotdog. I just want you to have the complete picture as I saw myself: wet from the pool, sweaty from the bikeride, possibly with mustard dripping down my chin and unable to speak because I had just taken too large a bite. Classy!

At the point at which I could not speak for chewing the hotdog, two guys approached me. Here I thought, oh great, they are going to want directions somewhere and they will have to watch me chew for five minutes before I can answer.

But no, they approached so that one could say, “You are the prettiest girl I have seen all day.”

My actual thought was: He must be drunk.

I recount this on this blog for the following reasons. A) It’s nice when men pay women random compliments that are not lecherous and well meant. B) It’s nice in particular when they pay me random compliments, I’m not gonna lie. C) I can’t stress enough to you how modest my attire was, and these fellows were leaving a beach filled with less-than-modest ladies. D) The immediate female thought is I can’t possibly look good, so they must be visually impaired, or they must be drunk where apparently the male thought is more simple: she looks pretty, and I’m going to tell her.

Some random thoughts after a random moment.

This interview with Robert P. George is about marriage in response to New York legalizing same sex marriage. But it more than touches on sexuality and I find it aptly describes the culture we are currently living in. Here in Ottawa, a conservative talk radio station recently asked listeners to respond to the New York decision. When one listener called in to express a view in support of traditional marriage, the host steamrolled him with his own view in support of same sex marriage.

Now Robert P. George is no dummie and I don’t think he’s a homophobe, either. I do buy into his arguments; they make sense to me, though they didn’t always. But even as I read this piece, I realize I probably couldn’t convey the depth of what he is saying to the average person on the street. “Sexual liberation” no matter the fact that it was initially championed by the likes of Hugh Hefner, sounds like freedom to people, and freedom, we rightly think, is good. So explaining that “sexual liberation” is actually the opposite of freedom, that it binds and constrains and takes human beings further from their potential, is a tough sell.

What I’m saying here, in a convoluted way, is that I agree with Robert P. George. He’s smart and he knows what he is talking about. But I don’t think we’re going to win this particular battle over same sex marriage because we are poorly educated, it’s a sound bite culture, and arguments in favour of traditional marriage fit better into academic journals, rather than on the nightly news.

From Ohio:

Across the country, Republicans and Democrats are wrangling over proposed changes to state abortion laws. On Tuesday, the Ohio House of Representatives voted on a measure that has the power to transform the state’s — and the nation’s — abortion dialogue. In a landmark move, the House voted 54 to 43 to ban abortions after a fetal heartbeat becomes detectable to doctors.

The measure, known as the “Heartbeat Bill,” has been touted by Republicans in the state, with the majority of them voting affirmatively for its passage. There has been no shortage of controversy surrounding the proposal, as a heartbeat can be detected as early as six weeks (by some accounts, it can be found even earlier). Also, the measure does not include exemptions for rape or incest, but it does include one for the health of the mother.

I could have written this, so wholeheartedly do I agree with it. The one section I might add is the physical repercussions for many women of taking said pill every day, effects which are not liberating by a long shot. This section on how the Pill increased abortions is something we have yet to fully grasp hold of. It’s very counter-intuitive:

Originally, the Pill was expected to reduce abortion by reducing unwanted pregnancies. However, this “iron curtain” between sex and the possibility of babies had the unintended consequence of dramatically boosting the rate of abortion, which spiked dramatically around 1968-70, well before 1973’s Roe v Wade. This was because of the growing sense of having a “right not to be pregnant” if a sexually active woman didn’t want to be. She could also face pressure toward abortion from her partner who didn’t want his sexual partner hampered by pregnancy.

Things to think about and talk about, to be sure, since every woman gets on the Pill at one point or another.