Broadly: This Man Got a PhD in Threesomes

Still, fewer women than men have had threesomes. According to one Canadian study published earlier this year, eight percent of women and 24 percent of men reported having had a mixed-gender threesome. This research also shows that participants were also kind of lazy about arranging threesomes—unless they were men. "It is likely," authors Ashley E. Thompson and E. Sandra Byers note, "that any increase in [mixed-gender threesome] experience among heterosexuals will be driven by men rather than by women." [...]

One reason for the difference between female and male interest in threesomes is that pop culture has traditionally pitched threesomes toward a male gaze. Researchers including Breanne Fahs and activists including Shiri Eisner have written of how TV and porn cultivate an expectation of women's "performative bisexuality," involving men as spectators and participants. And while the idea of being with two women is often exciting for a man, Scoats' research with women suggests that many are initially intimidated by the idea of a threesome with two men—but this is only if the expectation is that the two men won't touch. If all three are interacting sexually, women are more turned on. [...]

Admittedly, Scoats' findings have been limited in scope to middle-class white college students. "We have predominantly found it among younger white British guys," he says of the greater open-mindedness when it comes to straight men's sexual boundaries, "but... there's also some research from the UK [of this happening with] of people from lower socioeconomic classes; there is some research starting to come out with people of color." [...]

In fact, much of the increasing male tolerance of mixed-gender threesomes seems to be limited to the MFM variety, where the two men don't touch each other, rather than MMF, where it's all hands on deck. (The letter in the center corresponds to the person in the middle of the sex sandwich, so to speak.) As one Reddit user on a thread about threesomes notes: "I don't want this dude touching me even if it's by accident."

read the article

Haaretz: Israel's Jewish Religious Fanaticism Is Infiltrating America

Israelis have long suffered from the lies and distortions of the ultra-Orthodox politicians of the Shas and United Torah Judaism parties. But American Jews are now suffering as well, as the extremism of Israel’s religious establishment has made its way to America’s shores.  [...]

The result, according to recent figures from Israel’s finance ministry: Today in Israel, nearly 60,000 yeshiva students engage in full-time study. Only 51% of Haredim participate in the labor force, a number that has been falling, as compared with 89% for the rest of the Jewish population. Among those aged 25-34, when young men usually join the workforce, the rate is a pathetically low 41%. [...]

Since the boys’ education will mainly consist of Yiddish language religious studies, most will speak little English and have no math skills or knowledge of history or science. The result will be that they will possess few if any marketable skills and will depend heavily on various forms of public assistance. The report noted that this assistance has increased dramatically in the last decade, and 43% of Hasidic families are poor.

read the article

Al Jazeera: What price have Iraqi Kurds paid for secession vote?

On September 25, Iraqi Kurds voted in a controversial secession referendum, amid rising regional tensions and international opposition. The referendum set off a chain of events, culminating this week in a military confrontation between Erbil and Baghdad.

read the article

Politico: Germany and France push harder line on Brexit talks

Even as EU leaders plan to extend an olive branch to London by starting internal discussions about a future trade relationship, France and Germany have pushed to include a reference to the jurisdiction of the European Court of Justice (ECJ) in draft conclusions prepared for next week’s European Council summit, according to three EU diplomats. [...]

The push by Germany and France, the EU’s biggest and most powerful members, to include such language in the first paragraph of the draft conclusions (before any other Brexit issues are mentioned) is a reminder to London that the first phase of Brexit negotiations is nowhere near completed and that the divorce terms are not settled. [...]

EU leaders seem prepared to authorize the start of internal discussions despite a lack of sufficient progress on the main divorce issues. The Council has said such progress is required before it will allow negotiators to move on to the second phase of talks. At the end of the fifth formal round of negotiations last week, the EU’s chief negotiator, Michel Barnier, said the two sides were in “deadlock” over the financial settlement.

read the article

Broadly: Dogs Will Lie to Get What They Want, New Study Says

Next, the dogs were taught how to lead a person to food. They watched as sausages (their favorite treat) and dog biscuits were placed in two identical boxes, which were then set on the ground with a third, empty box. During the test, the dogs was asked to "Show me the food," during which they lead their human partner to one of the boxes on the ground. They were tested twice with the cooperative partner and twice with the competitive partner. While the cooperative partners rewarded the dogs with whatever was in the box, if it wasn't empty, the competitive partners kept their findings. [...]

In other words, more than half of the dogs realized taking the competitive person to the box of sausages would not benefit them in the least, so they lied when asked to show her the food. In fact, two dogs named Arwen and Nelson were so smart, they always led the cooperative person, never the competitive person, to the sausages. Baxter, Cicca, Barni, and Caju also never led the competitive partner to the sausages, although they were less consistent with the cooperative partner. [...]

The question is: Should dog owners start to side eye their pets a little more? Marianne Heberlein, the lead author on the study, suggests maybe so. "A dog still is a loyal, lovely companion," she tells Broadly. "However, the study shows that dogs, like other animals, try to optimize [their] own profit. They seem to know what they want and also can manipulate humans to reach their goal." She recommends owners "be careful and precise in rewarding your dog" as it may have faked a behavior just to get a reward.

read the article