It’s a common comment made in romantic comedies. The longer you are in a relationship, the less you have sex. Turns out, according to a new study by researches at the University of Guelph in Ontario, women’s decreasing sex drive is to blame.

Yes, over time women lose interest in having sex. Men, on the other hand, don’t. Sarah Murray and Robin Milhausen surveyed 170 undergraduates (men and women) that had been in heterosexual relationships for at least one month. They asked participants to rank their relationship satisfaction, sexual satisfaction and sexual desire at the present point in their relationship. The researchers created a Female Sexual Function Index to rank desire from 1.2 to 6.0.

While most of the participants were satisfied with both their relationships and their sex lives, research showed the longer a women had been in a relationship, the less interest she had in getting it on. Sexual desire on the Index drops by 0.02 points each month. Though it is incremental, for people in long term relationships it does add up. Male sexual desire alternatively, remains steady throughout a relationship.

Researchers haven’t yet nailed the cause for the general decrease in desire among women. Some theories are that women’s attention turns towards raising children, decreasing their interest in sex. As they looked at university students, another theory emerged that younger women lose interest once the “honeymoon phase” of a relationship over. Yes, once a guy stops trying to impress a gal, she’s going to stop putting out.

The researchers hope that this information could help couples from losing the spark. They also found that women with realistic expectations about sex did not face the same decrease in desire.

So there you have it boys! If you want us ladies to keep getting it on with you, you might want to drop the whole “I’m going to blow your mind,” act and be realistic. Also, presents help.

Leah is in her final semester of her Bachelor of Journalism at Ryerson University in Toronto. She’s rounding out her degree as the Senior Online Editor for the Ryerson Review of Journalism. In her limited spare time she’s honing her cupcake making skills so she can one-day fulfill her dream of competing on Cupcake Wars. Follow her (and drool over her tasty treats) @ElleandBee.

[Image via altafulla/Shutterstock]

Over the past few decades, the way people date has drastically changed. Instead of being limited to your social circle or areas that you frequent, now it seems like the whole world is your oyster to date. You could try creating an online profile and choosing someone based off their looks and common interests. Or you could try speed dating, judging someone based on a few minutes of conversation. But would you try dating someone based on their smell?

Yes, you read that right. Judith Prays, an Atlanta-based artist, held her first “Pheromone Party” in late 2010. Forty people were invited to the party. Twelve of those people “hooked up” (no definition included). Six of those (that “hooked up”) began relationships. The odds aren’t all that bad. So, how does sniff and date work?

1. Send picture of armpit with RSVP to the party.
2. Wear the same t-shirt to bed for three nights without wearing perfume or deodorant.
3. Bring shirt to party, put into numbered bags marked pink and blue (her parties stuck to heterosexual partner matching). Walk away.
4. Go through bags and sniff. Indicate your favorites by taking a picture with their bag, breaking the ice and launching an introduction.
5. Date. Fall in Love. Break up. Really just chose your own adventure at this point.

It’s not really that difficult a concept, but the results seemed pretty high. But are you really that surprised? Many animals sniff each other and although we mask our natural scents with cologne and perfume, science says that pheromones trigger a response within a certain species.

So, let’s have it. Would you sniff and date?

It’s late at night and you’ve just had sex. Assuming you’re not about to bolt from the room (or kick your partner to the curb) you’ve reached a cross road. Do I cuddle or do I roll over and go to sleep? Both have their own implications. Cuddling allows you to continue to stay close to your partner, but well, sometimes you just want to pass out.

Evolutionary psychologists from University of Michigan and Pennsylvania’s Albright College decided it was about time someone looked into post-coital behaviour. Apparently all scientific research has been focused on what happens before you get it on. A total of 456 people participated in an online survey assessing “experiences and desires with one’s partner after sex.” The questions were related to who falls asleep after sex and who falls asleep first.

Though there was no evidence that men simply roll over and fall asleep first, it is suggested that when a couple does not have sex, the woman is more apt to fall asleep first. Susan Hughes, one of the study’s co-authors, suggested that men stay awake longer either to convince their partner to have sex, or as part of an ancient practice of protecting their woman.

For the person that is stuck awake while their partner snores beside them, the study showed a desire for more partner bonding. While Snoozy wants to achieve REM, Wide-Eye just wants to chat and cuddle.

Leah is in the final semester of her Bachelor of Journalism at Ryerson University in Toronto, Canada. Her life is currently dedicated to the Ryerson Review of Journalism. She makes darn good cupcakes and rolls over to sleep right after hitting “save draft” on any post. Follow her @ElleandBee.

If you’ve ever had a job you’ve likely been in the situation where one of your coworkers gets reprimanded by a boss or supervisor over something. And even though it’s not you getting in trouble, it still kind makes you cringe, right? If they’re being treated unfairly, it probably also has you feeling not so great.

According to a new study published in Sex Roles, if your coworker is the same sex as you and being treated poorly, it’s likely to have an affect on you. For example, if you worked with other women and your boss treated them rudely, it would be apt to make you feel more anxious or upset than if you were a man. Now how’s that for female solidarity?

The study surveyed 453 workers from the restaurant industry. It also showed that when women are being bashed, their female coworkers tended to feel demoralized.

If you’re working somewhere and it’s only your female coworkers that get picked on, it’s likely you’ll feel empathetic towards them. If it continues, or only women are being treated poorly, it’s likely to really affect your attitude to work.

What do you think? Have you had a situation where only coworkers that are the same sex as you were treated poorly?

On Friday the U.S. Department of Justice scrapped their outdated definition of rape in favour of one that recognizes both men and women can be victims, and rape is not limited to forced vaginal sex.

The new definition of rape is, “the penetration, no matter how slight, of the vagina or anus with any body part or object, or oral penetration by a sex organ of another person, without consent of the victim.” The previous definition created by the FBI’s Uniform Report was made in 1927 and stated rape as “The carnal knowledge of a female, forcibly and against her will.”

So what does this change really mean? Well it means that physical resistance is not necessary to show the victim did not give consent. This means if consent is not given because of “temporary or permanent mental or physical incapacity,” which includes being intoxicated or underage, it can still be rape.

The new definition will however, not change the way local law enforcement responds to rape crimes. Most police departments already use an updated version of the FBI’s definition. What this definition will do is change how the FBI tracks sexual violence and rape in its reporting system. The hope is that with the new definition victims will feel more comfortable coming forward, in cases where they previously may have felt embarrassed.

Now let’s see if someone can come up with an effective non victim-shaming, teach people not to rape campaign.

Leah is in her last semester at Ryerson University in Toronto, Canada. Most of her life is currently dedicated to being a Senior Online Editor for the Ryerson Review of Journalism. However, she still finds time for her Storage Wars addiction. Follow her @ElleandBee

If you were in a Target on December 28, you might have seen a group of women breastfeeding openly in the store. Across the country women staged a “nurse-in” at Target locations in solidarity with a Texas mother who says employees harassed her while she was breastfeeding in the women’s clothing section.

Michelle Hickman organized the nurse-in through a Facebook group after the incident at the end of November. Public indecency laws vary state-to-state, but in 45 states there is a specific part that allows women to breastfeed in public. In others, including Michigan where a group of mother’s were prohibited by a mall to hold a nurse-in, public indecency and nudity laws look at breastfeeding as different than indecent exposure.

As a childless student, the options for breastfeeding are far from my mind. But it’s women such as Hickman, that are standing up for women’s rights everywhere. “Designated” nursing areas are not always the most comfortable (really Target, you’re suggesting changing rooms?) and women should be able to nurse as they please.

I started really thinking about the idea of public breastfeeding after going to the Andy Warhol museum in Pittsburgh. An artist at Carnegie Mellon University created the “Milk Truck,” a mobile breastfeeding unit. The idea is that if a woman is breastfeeding in public, let’s say a restaurant, and an owner asks her to move to the bathroom. She doesn’t want to breastfeed in the bathroom (essentially you’re asking a baby to eat in the bathroom) so she contacts the Milk Truck. The Milk Truck (which looks like a food truck with a 3D breast on the roof) pulls up outside, giving the woman a comfortable place to feed her baby. The owner of the restaurant gets a pink breast truck outside, leaving them to ponder whether women should be allowed to breastfeed in their restaurant.

Being asked to breastfeed elsewhere is something that only affects women. It’s a natural part of life for most people, so why is it still considered indecent?

When I started writing this column back in February the across the United States, many states were reevaluating their legislation around reproductive health. We’re nearing the end of the year and yet issues surrounding reproductive health are continuing to pop up. Access to abortion, distribution of Plan B, and issues around birth control are still coming up across they country.

In New Jersey, students at Ramapo College are petitioning around the access to Plan B on their campus. They believe there should be less restrictions on how it is accessed to ensure students are able to gain access to the pill within the recommended 72 hours. Our friends at Jezebel then took a look at how easy it is to access Plan B on different college campuses.

Access to Plan B is not limited to these New Jersey students. The Centre for Reproductive Rights is challenging a decision made by Health and Human Services secretary Kathleen Sebelius that forces people under 17 to gain a prescription to get Plan B over the counter.  The Food and Drug Administration had recommended the drug be made available over the counter to those even under 17. The FDA has provided evidence that girls as young as 12 could properly use Plan B.

While you might argue against the use of Plan B, for many women it is a way to prevent a pregnancy when they were being careful. It is an emergency contraceptive, not an abortion pill, meaning it doesn’t terminate a preexisting pregnancy, but prevents either fertilization; a fertilized egg from attaching to the uterus; or stops the egg from releasing.

Yes there are concerns that Plan B would encourage people to have unprotected sex. But a Journal of the American Medical Association study showed that women who had access to Plan B over-the-counter were no more likely to have unprotected sex.

Having an outsider perspective on the issue has me wondering one thing. If so many Americans are against government intervention in so many ways, why are they so keen to have someone else make a decision about women’s bodies?

Leah is in the last semester of her Bachelor of Journalism at Ryerson University in Toronto, Canada. She spent her summer interning at a radio station in Ghana and researching the state of maternal health on her days off. You can follow her on Twitter @ElleandBee. 

The women’s rights movement has been great, right?

In many ways, yes. In many ways women are much closer to equal income and in some college programs there are more women that men. All in all, women have been making strides over the years. But this isn’t the case for all women. While rich and middle-class women have been climbing all sorts of ladders, less fortunate women have the same amount of equality as back in the 1970s.

Economic Professor Nancy Folbre wrote for the New York Times’ blog, Economix, that 18 percent of women with only a high school diploma are granted paid maternity leave. This is in contrast to the 66 percent of women with a college degree, and just up from the 1970s when 16 per cent of high school grads received paid mat leave.

You probably haven’t given it much thought yet, but having children is especially expensive for women. What I’m talking about is childcare. If you don’t have the luxury of paid maternity leave and need to go back to work to pay rent, there’s a high cost associated with someone else watching your kids.

Folbre points out that in most other developed countries, paid family leave (often for either parent) is a universal entitlement. Childcare and early childhood education is also more heavily subsidized elsewhere. While in my own country (Canada) things are more funded by the government, there is still progress that needs to be made when it comes to affordable childcare.

So when you’re watching the Republican primaries and heading to the ballot box in 2012 it’s something to think about. Yeah, you might be okay with your higher education, but what about all the other women who have been left behind?

Leah is on the final lap of her Bachelor of Journalism at Ryerson University in Toronto. She spent the summer interning at a radio station in Ghana. Follow her @ElleandBee! 

Teen sex is all up in my Google Reader this week and not because the characters in Glee were getting it on.

The Centre for Disease Control and Prevention released new statistics that the U.S. teen birth rate is declining. Between 2009 and 2010 the rate dropped nine percent to a record low. It’s dropping not because less teens are having sex (it’s staying about the same), but because — surprise, surprise — because teens that are having sex have started using contraceptives.

And for all you pro-lifers out there, relax, because teens are not only having less babies, but they’re also having less abortions. Being able to prevent pregnancies means teens are less apt to put themselves in a situation where they would want an abortion.

While cross-country the teen birth rate average is dropping, the University of Georgia released a study showing the correlation to higher birth rates and abstinence-only education. Fact: when people know how to use contraceptives (and have access to them) they are no more likely to have sex, they’re just less likely to get pregnant. So can we all just agree that abstinence-only isn’t work. Please.

Sticking to the topic of teen sex, concerned parents of American can stop fretting that popular culture is hurting their children. The Associated Press and MTV combined forces to do a study on teen sexting. Survey says only one percent of kids 10 to 17 are sending racy photos of themselves (either online or via text). A similar survey done in August showed that five percent of 14 to 17 year olds had sent nude photos of themselves.

While it does get higher for older youth, it still isn’t representative of the ALL TEENS ARE SEXTING message which is often painted. Parents, what you might want to be asking yourself, is why your 10 year old needs a cellphone with a camera. Or have their own laptop. Seriously.

So the economy sucks. Graduating with a university degree no longer means you’re a catch when it comes to job hunting, meaning more grads are moving in with their parents. Moving in with your parents and not having money means you’re taking longer to settle into relationships and therefore get married. For a lot of people this will also mean you’re taking longer to have kids, if at all. And everyone seems to be holding this against women.

A study done by Australian researchers shows women who do not have children are at a greater risk for poor health than mothers. Some women with pre-existing health conditions that would discourage them from having children were included in this survey, therefore increasing the number of childless women with poor health. However, overall, women who have not popped out children may have trouble with social functioning and mental health as a result of societal pressures to have children. I’m sure you could relate if you sat next to your old aunt at Thanksgiving that measures accomplishments by the presence of a ring on your finger and a stroller in front of you.

So women in Australia are feeling the pressure when they’re not having kids. Jump continents to China and unmarried women are the ones feeling the strain. The Chinese government is telling women if they are not married by 30 they’ll be spinsters. Shen Ru, meaning “leftover women,” is being used as a derogatory phrase to describe unmarried women over 27 that are urban and career focused. Yes, future grads you too can be last week’s cold turkey even if you’re accomplished in other ways.

Even though there is a surplus of single men in China, they aren’t receiving any of the heat. As a result, many young women are not acting in their best personal interest out of fear they will not be able to find a partner, thus becoming undesirable as they age.

With all the leaps women have made over the last hundred years it still seems we’ve got a long way to go. One jump forward, one step back.