Poly article, mono genes, libido enhancer
These items aren't really related to each other in any way, but if I were Harper's Index, I would juxtapose them to give a vaguely unsettling impression that they were.
- Procter & Gamble is working on a testosterone patch intended to increase "women's sexual desire and performance"; they've been testing it on women "who had their ovaries removed and who suffer from Hypoactive Sexual Desire Disorder" (note that it's only considered a disorder "if it causes distress for the patient or problems in the patient's relationships," though it sounds like if the person's partner considers it a problem, that counts as problems in the relationship). As the Motley Fool article about the patch notes, "[T]reatment for sexual dysfunction is controversial. As P&G's own researchers acknowledge, the causes are complex, and many therapists maintain that they're largely psychological." P&G hopes to make the patch available next year. WebMD has a little more.
- There's a gene related to vasopressin receptors. Transferring that gene from male prairie voles ("who are known to form lifelong bonds with a single mate") to male meadow voles ("who mate with multiple partners and lack vasopressin receptors") increases the meadow voles' vasopressin receptor levels, and results in the meadow voles exhibiting monogamous behavior, according to a new study published in Nature. According to the WebMD article on the study, "Researchers say previous research has shown that these vasopressin receptors may play a role in social disorders, such as autism, that make it difficult to form social bonds. . . . Studies in humans have also suggested that the same brain pathways involved in forming romantic relationships may also be involved in drug addiction. . . . 'The brain process of bonding with one's partner may be similar to becoming addicted to drugs: both activate reward circuits in the brain," says researcher Miranda Lim, a postdoctoral fellow at Emory University." Anthropologist Melvin Konner writes, in a related piece in Nature, "We are a long way from a commitment pill, but perhaps closer to a neurology of romance." I am, of course, dubious about the spectre of commitmentphobia being labeled a disease, to be treated chemically or genetically, but I'm intrigued by the story possibilities in the thought that someone who found themselves unable to stop sleeping around despite a desire to do so could take a treatment that would stop the undesired behavior.
- "Southern Baptists called for a constitutional amendment banning gay marriage." In unrelated news, the attendees of the Southern Baptist Convention "declined to vote on a resolution that called public education 'officially godless.'"
- Naomi Darvell of Clean Sheets has an article about polyamory that quotes (with my permission) my journal entry about the Elle article about polyamory. Good article, Naomi! Unfortunately, as Naomi notes in a sidebar, Elle's editors weren't exactly enthusiastic about their article; one of them even said, ". . . I'm not advocating an open marriage movement—I think jealousy and possessiveness are actually hardwired into us for a reason, and even if they aren't, they're pretty powerful emotions to overcome."
I feel like this entry needs a reference to Brave New World somewhere, but I'm not quite sure where or how. Imagine I said something clever about it.
