TR EMERITUS

By Sex Consultant Bae Jeong-won writing for Chosun Ilbo ◆ What Men Need It is often noted that men and women have different views about sex. In general, men think that love and sex have nothing to do with each other, while women need an emotional exchange before having a physical relationship. Of course this isn't true for every man and woman: some men say they can't have sex without love, and some women admit they can have sex just for pleasure. But on the whole, men tend to separate sex and love. Men and women also tend to have different views of what romantic behavior may lead to love. Several surveys find that men are more likely than women to think of physical contact as romantic. Women want to hear "I love you" from men, but men rarely mention this. While men say that expressing love during sex is one of the most romantic things they can think of, few women feel the same. Does that prove that men and women come from different worlds? Someone has said that the life-cycles of the genders are terminally out of sync. That's why they need to try harder to understand each other, to synchronize their life-cycles and live happily together. It is established that male sexual desire is excited mainly by visual stimuli, while women are sensitive to sound and touch. While men are often aroused by pornography, naked bodies, different sexual practices and provocative underwear, women are aroused by romance, communication, intimacy and tenderness. The Kinsey Report found that while 76 percent of the men surveyed wanted to have the lights on during sex, only 36 percent of the women did. Some say 50 percent of a man's brain is devoted to sex. Men tend to want sex more often with their partners, unless stress and fatigue upset the natural order. What women want in their bedroom is a scene from a romantic movie, while men want a scene from a porn flick. Read rest of article here.  Read More →

Chosun Ilbo, 18 March 2010 The government is moving to scrap Korea's singularly punitive adultery law. A special committee under the Justice Ministry tasked with reforming the country's criminal code in a recent meeting agreed to abolish the draconian law, a member said Wednesday. Consisting of 24 legal experts endorsed by the judiciary, prosecution and the Korean Bar Association, the special committee has been discussing the overhaul of the criminal code since September 2007. The Justice Ministry plans to prepare a reform bill in the first half of this year based on the committee's recommendations and submit it for ratification by the end of this year. The committee decided to abolish the Adultery Law after putting it to a vote. In October 2008, the Constitutional Court again upheld the law by default, with four of nine judges saying it is constitutional and five unconstitutional, falling short of the two-thirds majority or six out of nine needed for a law to be declared unconstitutional. The committee is also reportedly discussing permitting abortions, which remain illegal in Korea. "We have not reached any conclusions since it is a very controversial issue," a committee member said. "But discussions are under way allowing abortions if they are conducted before a certain period of pregnancy and clamping down on those that take place after that phase as seen in advanced countries." The committee is also seeking to scrap punitive measures such as doubling the sentence for repeat offenders and replace them with preventive measures like surveillance, protective custody and treatment. - Chosun Ilbo  Read More →

By Ray Ang [email protected] This week, TR’s top 8 takes a step away from football and looks at some of the queerest sports there are around the world at the moment. Given our sports council’s incessant desire to get Singapore on the international sporting front, perhaps it might be worth considering encouraging some Singaporeans to take up these sports and aim to be a world champion? Clash of the titans 8 ) Elephant Polo Invented in India in the early 1900s due to the brilliance of the British (India was part of the British Empire then), who combined their need for polo with the abundance of elephants in India. One wonders at times if they would have done the same thing if they had colonized Galapagos Island in Ecuador and inherited all the giant tortoises there.  Elephant polo is essentially the same as normal polo except that it is played on a smaller pitch than horse polo due to the speed of the elephants. There are also strict rules to abide to including elephants are not allowed to lie down in front of the goals (not surprising perhaps?) or pick up the ball with their trunk. The initial ball used was a football but it was changed to a normal polo ball after the players found out that the elephants liked to stand on the footballs.   Bubble-boy learnt it the hard way 7) Zorbing A twist to the conventional way to racing, the “zorb” was invented in New Zealand in the early 1990s. The zorb, which is an inflatable ball made of clear plastic with a space in the middle that’s big enough for a person to fit inside, was initially invented by Andrew Akers and Dwayne van der Sluis who were looking for a fun way to walk on water. Participants taking part in the race are known as zorbonauts and zorbing is generally performed on a gentle slope.   Bonding? 6)  Octopush The name may remind you of an old James Bond film, but Octopush (aka underwater hockey) is actually a non-contact sport in which two teams compete to manoeuvre a puck across the bottom of a swimming pool into goals. The game was invited by the British in Portsmouth in 1954 and has actually become quite popular in countries like UK, Australia, Canada, New Zealand and South Africa. Though the game might not be hard to fathom, the biggest drawback for the game has to be the fact that it is not at all spectator friendly!   More Jacks then Jills  5) Cheese rolling Yet another brilliant invention by the British (we have to love them for constantly coming up with new ways of taking a dig at themselves), cheese-rolling is an annual event held at Cooper’s Hill near Gloucester, England. In theory, competitors are supposed to roll down a hill to chase after a round of Double Gloucester cheese in a bid to catch and win the cheese. In reality, given that the cheese has a one second head start and can reach speeds up to 110km/h, this rarely occurs so the winner of the cheese is then given to the first person to cross the finish line at the bottom of the hill.  The tradition has been at least 200 years old and each year it has attracted more and more participants all over the world to take part or to view the spectacle.   4 legs good, 2 legs bad 4)      The Man versus Horse Marathon The Man versus Horse marathon is an annual race over 22 miles, where runners compete against riders on horseback. One will think that the proposition is preposterous as there is no way a man can outrun a horse over long distance. This is precisely what prompted the race in 1980 when local landlord Gordon Green in the Welsh town of Llanwrtyd Wells overheard a discussion between two men in his pub. One man suggested that over a significant distance across country, man was equal to any horse and Green decided that the challenge should be tested in full public view, and organized the first event.  Over the last 20 years, not suprisingly, the winner of the race has been mostly horse riders, but two men had managed to out run the horses in 2004 and 2007 respectively to win some respect back for mankind!   Everbody loves an ass-kisser 3) Wife Carrying The Europeans take the significance of taking on your spouse’s burden to a whole new level with this sport. Wife carrying which was first introduced at Sonkajarvi in Finland originated as a satire of a past in which men courted women by running to their village, picking them up and carrying them off. The sport involves male competitors racing while carrying a female teammate through a special obstacle course in the fastest time. Several types of carry can be practiced including the piggyback, fireman’s lift and the Estonian-style (in which the wife hangs upside-down with her legs around the husband’s shoulders, holding onto his waist). The best part of the game is that the prize of winning is the amount of beer awarded based on the weight of the female teammate! Talk about tough love!   Brains .... AND Brawl 2) Chess Boxing What has Chess and boxing got in common? Both are poles apart as most will say, unless you are involved in chess boxing! This hybrid sport was envisioned in 1992 by cartoonist Enki Bilal and involves participants to play alternating rounds of chess and boxing. Competitors may win by a knockout, achieving a checkmate, by the judge’s decision, or if the opponents’ allocated chess time is exceeded.  Proponents of this sport say that this sport allows participants to check not only their physical strength but also the mental dexterity of players at the same level. The first world Chess Boxing Championship was held in Amsterdam in 2003 and was won by Lepe Rubingh, the man credited as the first person to bring the chess boxing concept to life. Since then, it has been steadily gaining popularity with separate European championships held since 2005.   No Athlete's Foot Please 1) Toe Wrestling Just when you thought that mankind has thought of every way possible of exerting violence on one another and calling it a sport - up pops toe wrestling. Surprisingly, the not-so-scent-inspiring sport has its origin back in the mid 1970s. Rather unsurprisingly, however, was the fact that the idea for the sport came about when a bunch of Brits went to a pub in Wetton (UK) and started brainstorming about finding a game that the British could actually win over a couple of pints. The inaugural World Toe Wrestling Championships was born and won by a visiting Canadian, which saw the competition shelved for 2 decades. It was then picked up by current world champion Alan “Nasty” Nash in 1994. 16 years, 5 championship titles, 9 broken toes and countless hospital visits on, Nash still remains a firm addict of the sport. Current arch rivals of Nash for the championship title include Paul “Toeminator” Beech and new entry the Itatoelion Stallion from Milan. PS - The Brits have still yet to produce a world champion here. Do you have any other queer sports to share? Do you think that Singaporeans should aim at excelling in these sports? Please share your ideas with TR. ___________________________________________________________________________________ About the author - Ray is a proud product of a local university (the one furthest westwards) and is based in London after having completed his Masters there. He currently plies his trade in a research based function for a financial institution and lists sports and current affairs amongst his many interests. Ray's other contributions: Should Bridge have built the bridge? Top 8 Flop Signings of the season  Read More →