The anti-FSD {Female Sexual Dysfunction] crowd is mostly women, many of them self-described feminists.

The most prominent is Leonore Tiefer, a psychotherapist and clinical associate professor at New York University, who has long decried what she calls "the medicalization of women's sexuality."

"Drug companies want to say to women, 'You don't need to know anything; you can have the satisfying sex life that you seek -- people dancing on TV, the whole bit -- without knowing anything. Just ask your doctor,' " she says.

"I resent that, because there are specific harms that come from being ignorant and dependent in the world we live in. There may be lots of people who aren't interested in sex, but is there a medical reason for that, and do we diagnose that?"   more »

The prime movers of both political parties have long tried to game the presidential nominating process—not only to choose their eventual winner, but also to pick their November opponent.

And in this landmark election without incumbents, the media wing of the Republican Party, in particular, has quite visibly been playing that game.

Right-leaning pundits for months now have very openly not just called for Hillary Clinton's head, but also coddled and promoted Barack Obama, salivating over the prospect of facing him in November.

Meanwhile, voters have been echoing that program: Barack Obama has been beating Hillary Clinton in part because Republicans are helping him.   more »

Most of this escort's clients are Republican married men, 45 to 60, who want "vanilla sex" -- though after talking with her awhile, I realized she uses that phrase differently than 45- to 60-year-old Republican wives.

She knows they're Republicans because she often talks politics with clients. If that's what men are paying $500 an hour for, they could probably save money and hire two Tucker Carlsons.

And the seven-diamond scale used to rate Emperors' Club women? That type of thing has become standard since the Internet completely changed the industry.

Clients call themselves "hobbyists" and post "fictional" reviews on websites. "It's like Epinions for escorts," my source said.   more »

Over the last few months, Barack Obama and Hillary Clinton have given countless stump speeches, held two dozen debates, made guest appearances on Saturday Night Live and spent vast amounts - a million dollars a day in January alone - on direct mailings and TV and radio ads.

But a growing body of research now suggests that their outreach efforts may not count for much: for many voters, it seems, a candidate's facial features matter more than their policy platform and campaign slogans.

Alexander Todorov, a psychologist at Princeton University, found that when given photographs of rival candidates in obscure local election races - and absolutely no other information - people correctly guessed the eventual winner about 70% of the time.

Todorov says his findings suggest that people unconsciously associate certain facial features with competence, and cast their vote accordingly. "You can't help but make these judgments," he says.   more »

In court papers, law enforcement officials describe the Emperors Club, the house of prostitution through which New York Gov. Eliot Spitzer booked his fateful night with "Kristen," as a classy outfit. This wasn't a place to find just any hooker.

No, at the Emperors Club you would meet a sophisticated female companion, someone with poise, grace and discernment, as well as a habit of traipsing around in next to nothing.

But to look at the ring's Web site, the Emperors Club seems only slightly classier than your run-of-the-mill corner operation.

The site, which is now offline but has been unearthed through the indispensable Internet Archive by the quick-thinking folks over at Digital Alchemy [see below], certainly sets out to look like a high-class affair.   more »