Tuesday, April 24, 2007

light, heavy, regular, skipping ... (hint: it's not about cavalry)

My friend Howard once said, "Any time a woman mentions her period, the conversation is over."

I took great mirth in this. Afterwards, whenever I wanted to wrap up an IM conversation with him, I'd bring up "medium flow days" and watch how quickly he logged out.

Anyhow, today Google building 46 switched to stocking a new type of maxi pad.

[... sound of countless male readers closing their browser window in horror ...]

The b46 women's bathroom now supplies maxi pads with wings, as opposed to ones without wings.

There is another name for maxis without wings. That name is: "useless". I don't understand why this product is still in existence.

Google has some good perks, the gourmet free food and 20% time and founder's awards. But now that we have free maxi pads with wings, truly we deserve to win 2007 Fortune magazine's "Best Place to Work".

...

While I'm on the topic of monthly cycles, my friend "Jimbo" was describing an encounter with a girl, and how he inexplicably goes through monthly variances in libido. Sometimes during the month he's hot to trot, and other times he's in a cold-fish mood.

"Yeah," I said, "Trent talked about it too. Supposedly this happens in all males."

Jimbo replied in shock:

All males, seriously? Nobody *ever* talks about it. The standard view is that men are sex-crazed fiends. Occasionally there's a discussion about how sad it is when a husband loses interest in his wife sexually, but then it's assumed to be a permanent thing. Seriously, the only page I can find discussing any kind of variation is this.

This is compared to dozens and dozens of scientific studies about the "always on", "triggered by anything", "penetration at all costs" male libido.


Perhaps some male readers can chime in, if there are any left who didn't storm away in disgust.

9 comments:

Step said...

huh. Well, that explains a lot.

Yep, I can confirm - guys are NOT always on. I think this becomes more apparent as they get older, though, and it may also be dependent on getting regular "action" when they are "hot to trot".

Wonder why there's not more out there about this?

I will add that I'm always "up to the job" if so needed. :)

Step said...

I should have been more clear - guys do experience regular, monthly cycles in magnitude of sexual desire - though I haven't actually tracked this by calendar or anything, I've been observing it long enough to be sure.

Anonymous said...

(shudder) *ignores first part*

I'm decidedly non-cyclic. Linear is as linear does?

(squirms expectantly, tracking a shiny object moving through his field of view)

Brain: Not curvy like beer...
Brain: Not curvy like woman...
Brain: SetMode($boredom)
Brain: MoveHand(Grope($remote)) else TightLoop()

Anonymous said...

I definitely agree that guys' libidos fluctuate, though I bet it's more easily influenced by circumstances than for women.

Last weekend a friend called me because his girlfriend's roommate was "hot to trot," if you will. You might say she was looking for someone to "trot" with. I checked out her MySpace page - She was a pretty attractive, athletic, potentially interesting girl. I wasn't interested.

Had I been out with her in person, I seriously doubt I would (could?) have been so absolute. Some of that effect is how personality factors in to the equation, but some of that is our "fluctuations" just plain turn upward easily.

Anonymous said...

guys are always on with the
right girl. it may be a different right girl.

it can be cyclical with the same girl

Anonymous said...

Perhaps there is a correlation between the period that a male loses interest in sex, and his girlfriend's period...?

Anonymous said...

Glad to read GOOG kept the SGI building numbers. They'll always be SGI to me :-)

I have to agree with Anon @ 4/24/2007 9:15 PM.

Anonymous said...

With a specialization in reproductive endocrinology I couldn't resist leaving a comment. However, the scientific explanation about hormone feedback systems is too long to post here. But hypothetically yes, it’s physiologically possible that certain, continuous environmental situations, like scents(pheromones), could produce an effect that ultimately mimics monthly cycles in males. I'll put the explanation on my blog some time later but for now you might find these links interesting.

For olfactory: http://www.cf.ac.uk/biosi/staff/jacob/teaching/sensory/pherom.html

For the Coolidge Effect:
http://www.reuniting.info/science/coolidge_effect

Anonymous said...

As a man, I can confirm that some of us have cycles. Generally on Saturday and Sunday mornings I am tired and irritable, and I don't make my best decisions during this time. I call it my beeriod.