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7 in 10 Brits say online flirting is not cheating
» posted by fzbernie on Jun. 26, 2009 at 8:10 pm
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BeNaughty.com reveals a growing trend in the use of online flirting websites as an acceptable leisure activity amongst people with full time partners or spouses.
Over 71% of women who visit websites like BeNaughty.com for a bit of fun do not see online flirting as cheating and more than 72% of men share the same opinion.
A recent survey carried out by flirting dating site, www.benaughty.com, collected more than 2,600 responses from men and women who currently have a spouse or a full time partner. The fact that over 70% of both males and females answered ‘No’ to the question ‘Would you consider flirting online as cheating?’ would suggest a shift in public perception.
With the rise in popularity of introduction agencies and online dating websites came the inevitable birth of casual dating for people looking to flirt and have fun on the net, people whose aim was not to find a soulmate with a view to getting married but only to make new friends and have fun along the way. A more relaxed approach to relationships is now growing stronger.
Views on online dating have changed over the past decade and casual dating websites are now popular amongst the British. Just as many dedicate time to watching TV, playing console games and browsing the web, a great number of people in the UK are now spending time on online flirting websites. Be Naughty’s Online Marketing Manager, Sean Wood, commented: “We launched our flirting service in 2007 and membership numbers have well exceeded our initial forecasts.
BeNaughty.com is now in the UK’s top 5 most visited dating sites. It is very clear from this survey and others we’ve conducted that perceptions have changed a lot and that dating sites need to change also to meet people’s expectations if they are going to attract members.” The future of online flirting is yet to be decided but it is safe to say that an increasing number of British men and women, currently in a relationship, regard their online chats and flirting sessions as a fun and harmless way to spend their spare time.
GP Training Programme is Another ‘National First’ for Bradford
» posted by fzbernie on Jun. 24, 2009 at 10:40 pm
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BRADFORD is set to share its expertise in women’s healthcare with the wider NHS as part of a ground-breaking training programme.
The city is hosting the first national training course for GPs to learn outpatient hysteroscopy – the safest and most accurate way to diagnose abnormal bleeding problems.
GPs from as far away as Scotland and London will be taking part in the course, which is a joint venture between Bradford Teaching Hospitals NHS Foundation Trust; the University of Bradford; and the British Society for Gynaecological Endoscopy.
As well as helping doctors to diagnose abnormal uterine bleeding, a hysteroscopy – which involves a tiny telescope thinner than a pencil being placed into the womb - may also be performed on women who have had recurrent miscarriages.
The new course will enable the procedure to be carried out closer to people’s homes in a GP setting. It mirrors a similar training programme launched in Bradford eight years ago to equip hospital nurses with the skills to carry out the procedure.
About 800 women from Bradford benefit from the outpatient hysteroscopy service each year, helping to make the city a centre of excellence nationally for this specialist work.
Miss Sian Jones national coordinator of Nurse and GP Hysteroscopy training, and immediate past president of BSGE, a consultant obstetrician and gynaecologist based at Bradford Royal Infirmary, said: “This new course is a first for GPs and builds on the successful training programmes we have run for nurses.
“There has been a lot of interest in the course from across the NHS and we hope to repeat it later in the year.
“It also feeds into the recommendations by Lord Darzi for the provision of more care closer to home when clinically appropriate and cost effective.”
The NHS in Bradford already provides outpatient hysteroscopies in a GP setting, as an alternative to hospital, through the treatment centre at Westwood Park. Dr Anne Connolly, a GP with a special interest in gynaecology, will be sharing her experiences to students on the course.
The inaugural course takes place between June 29 to July 1 in the Field House postgraduate teaching centre at Bradford Royal Infirmary. It is being supported by Ethicon Women’s Health and Urology.
Government urged to introduce sunbed controls
» posted by fzbernie on Jun. 22, 2009 at 6:10 pm
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The government has been advised to introduce regulations on the use of sunbeds to protect young people against harmful ultraviolet (UV) radiation.
The Committee on Medical Aspects of Radiation in the Environment (COMARE) was established in 1985 to advise the government on the health effects of natural and manmade radiation.
A review of scientific evidence by the committee has now confirmed that UV radiation from sunbeds is capable of causing all types of skin cancer, as well as skin ageing and cataracts.
 We are delighted that our call for legislation on sunbeds is being backed by this influential radiation committee. - Sarah Woolnough, head of policy, Cancer Research UK
There are an estimated 8,000 sunbed outlets in the UK, many of which are thought to be used by children and young adults.
Experts concluded that sunbeds provide far greater doses of UV radiation than the midday Mediterranean sun and that the devices do not provide protection against future sun exposure. Nor do the perceived benefits associated with the body's production of vitamin D outweigh the harmful consequences, which include a significantly elevated risk of skin cancer.
Report authors note that there were over 10,400 cases of malignant melanoma and 81,500 of non-melanoma skin cancer in 2006, and that these figures are rising.In light of its findings, the committee has recommended a ban on the use of commercial sunbeds by under-18s, as well as a ban on the sale or hire of sunbeds to this age group.
COMARE also wants to see a registration process for all sunbed operators and strict regulations governing the standard of equipment.
Tanning salons ought to be staffed at all times and local authorities should be required to inspect them on a regular basis and be given the powers to take action against operators which break the law, they say.Crucially, the committee calls for salons to be required to provide detailed written information to all clients on the health risks associated with sunbeds, and to ensure that all clients are given protective eyewear. It also wants to see a ban on the promotion of unproven claims on the overall health benefits of using sunbeds by retailers and operators.
Finally, COMARE believes that public health campaigns should be stepped up to highlight the risks associated with UV radiation, particularly targeting children, and that further research should be carried out into the link between sunbeds and skin cancer and into the psychology behind tanning behaviour.
Sarah Woolnough, Cancer Research UK's head of policy, said: "We are delighted that our call for legislation on sunbeds is being backed by this influential radiation committee. The Committee on Medical Aspects of Radiation in the Environment (COMARE) is supporting our bid to ban under-18s from using sunbeds, close salons that aren't supervised by trained staff and ensure information about the risks of using sunbeds is given to all customers. Now we want the government to act. "The COMARE report clearly shows there are no health benefits from using sunbeds recreationally and we hope sunbed retailers who do advertise sunbeds as 'healthy' will take note of the recommendations and stop immediately. The rates of malignant melanoma - the most serious form of skin cancer - are rapidly rising in the UK and experts believe that, along with binge tanning on foreign holidays, using sunbeds is one of the main reasons. Introducing legislation would be a huge step in the right direction to help prevent so many people developing the disease."
In response to the report's publication, Gillian Merron, minister for public health, said: "Sunbeds can be dangerous - we must ensure that people who use them do so safely. If necessary we will look at new laws to protect young people. "We commissioned this report to give us a better understanding of the issues around sunbeds and we will now consider the recommendations in full."
The Power of TV: Television’s Impact on the Status of Women
» posted by fzbernie on Jun. 22, 2009 at 5:21 pm
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New research shows how turning on the television can be a simple yet influential way of improving a woman’s standing in rural India
In their paper, “The Power of TV: Cable Television and Women’s Status in India,” University of Chicago Department of Economics professor Emily Oster and Robert Jensen of the University of California, Los Angeles, explore the effect of the introduction of cable television in rural areas of India on a particular set of values and behaviors, namely attitudes toward and discrimination against women.
Measuring the power of television
The authors’ analysis is based on a survey of 2,500 women in 180 villages in India; they were interviewed once a year for three years in 2001, 2002, and 2003. These years represent a time of rapid growth in rural cable access. During the three years of the study, cable television was newly introduced in 21 of the 180 participating villages. The analysis in the paper relies on comparing changes in gender attitudes and behaviors between years across villages based on whether (and when) they added cable television. The authors used several measures of the status of women. They began with two measures of attitudes: attitudes toward beating and son preference. Attitudes toward spousal abuse were measured by asking women whether beating is acceptable in six possible situations (if a woman neglects children, is unfaithful, etc.), and counting the total number of situations in which she reports beating is acceptable. Son preference was measured by asking women who want more children whether they want their next child to be a boy.
Jensen and Oster found large effects of cable on both of these variables. Women who live in villages that introduce cable see large declines in both the number of acceptable beating situations and son preference; villages that do not introduce cable see no change. This change happens between 2001 and 2002 for villages that introduce cable in 2002, and between 2002 and 2003 for villages that introduce cable in 2003. In other words, the timing of the change in attitudes lines up with the timing of the change in cable access.
How cable television affects status
Soap operas are among the most popular shows on cable: the most popular show in both 2000 and 2007 (based on Indian Nielsen ratings) is “Kyunki Saas Bhi Kabhi Bahu Thi,” (Because a Mother-in-Law was Once a Daughter-in-Law, Also), a show based around the life of a wealthy industrial family in the large city of Mumbai. Many characters on popular soap operas have more education, marry later, and have smaller families – all things rarely found in rural areas; and many female characters work outside the home, sometimes as professionals, running businesses, or in other positions of authority. By exposing rural households to urban attitudes and values, cable and satellite television may lead to improvements in status for rural women. It is this possibility that Jensen and Oster explore in their paper. In particular, they evaluate the effect of the introduction of cable and satellite television on a variety of measures of women’s status: autonomy, attitudes toward spousal abuse, son preference, and fertility. In addition, they explore the effects on education for children, which some authors have argued will increase when the status of women is higher.
“That simply turning on the television can improve a woman’s life as well as that of her children is particularly intriguing in light of the traditional and somewhat more complex approaches to promoting education and enhancing women’s standing in society,” said Oster. “For instance, calls to “empower women” are often vague. Reducing poverty, building schools, and improving teacher quality in order to boost enrollment may be as difficult to accomplish as the problems they are attempting to solve.”
“The Power of TV: Cable Television and Women’s Status in India.” Robert Jensen and Emily Oster. Forthcoming in the Quarterly Journal of Economics.
Full paper available in PDF format upon request.
Press contact: Neil Atherton at Noir sur Blanc
About the University of Chicago Booth School of Business
The University of Chicago Booth School of Business is one of the leading business schools in the world, consistently ranking in the top ten and frequently in the top five. The school’s faculty includes many renowned scholars and its graduates occupy key positions in the US and worldwide. The Chicago Approach to Management Education is distinguished by how it leverages fundamental knowledge, its rigor, and its practical application to business challenges.
The school offers full- and part-time MBA programmes, a PhD programme, open enrolment executive education and custom corporate education, with campuses in London, Chicago and Singapore. Current enrolment includes 1,100 full-time MBA students, 1,900 part-time MBA students of whom 90 are studying in London, and 110 PhD students. Six current or former faculty members are Nobel Prize winners in economics. Among the school’s many successful alumni are Bart Becht, CEO, Reckitt Benckiser plc, Kateryna Chumchenko Yuschenko, First Lady of Ukraine, Paul Deneve, President of Lanvin, France and David Booth, founder and chief executive of Dimensional Fund Advisors, for whom the school was renamed in 2008. http://www.chicagobooth.edu/
One in four straight men would like a gay best friend
» posted by fzbernie on Jun. 19, 2009 at 6:10 pm
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Over one in four straight men would like a gay best friend they could call on in times of crisis - just like Gordon Brown with Peter Mandelson!
A new study by the online dating service gay-PARSHIP has revealed that no longer do straight women have a monopoly on the gay best friend -- as portrayed in Will & Grace, Sex and the City and Brothers and Sisters. Apparently straight men want one too! Famous straight/gay pairings include David Walliams and Matt Lucas, and Justin Lee Collins and Alan Carr - but now it looks like there now aren't enough gay men to go round!
The average Briton counts 4.6 people as good friends - in other words, people they wouldn't hesitate to call in a moment of crisis. Two thirds (67%) say they would like to expand their network of friends in the near future, but they do not limit their options to people of the same sex or sexual persuasion.
According to the survey of 1,300 British singles by gay-PARSHIP - the gay arm of Europe's largest premium online matchmaker, a pioneer in the use of a scientific compatibility test to match potential couples - nearly a third of straight men (29%) said they'd like to expand their social network to include a platonic gay best friend: 25% would like a friendship with a gay man and 32% with a lesbian. At present just one in ten straight men can count a gay man or woman as a good friend, with less than one in 100 claiming more than two close gay friends. Straight women, with an average of 4.7 good friends, are twice more likely to have a gay best friend than men; one in five women (22%) include a gay man in their in! ner circle while 12% have friends who are lesbians.
Dr Nafsika Thalassis, psychologist PARSHIP's dating expert, commented: "With so many gay and straight friendships now portrayed in the media the majority of straight men don't feel threatened in the company of gay men and can see that genuine friendships are possible as well as rewarding. Although this survey shows a positive shift in the attitudes of straight men, there is still a large proportion, 88%, who do not count a gay man among their close friends, with 35% of single men preferring to stick with a heterosexual framework."
Whether you're looking for friendship or love, gay-PARSHIP.co.uk has been created to take the pot luck out of first dates. It matches its members by means of a scientific compatibility test, rather than leaving them to judge each other purely on self-descriptions and photographs. This ensures that PARSHIP members who meet on a first date are more likely to feel at ease which each other, which is a pre-requisite for a successful long-term friendship or relationship.
Even in this age of the internet and social networking sites, for many gay men and women meeting other gay people for lasting friendships and relationships is proving difficult. Gay men and women are just as likely to have close friendships with heterosexuals as they are with other gay people. Therefore it's hardly surprising that for most the emphasis is on meeting other gay not straight people. Overall 52% gay men would especially like to meet other gay men, compared to just 2% who want to make friendships with other straight men and! 9% with women. Likewise, 55% of lesbians would prefer to make friendships with other lesbians, 8% men and 4% straight women.
Among their close friends, gay men count on average 1.7 gay men, 1.2 straight men and 2.4 gay and straight women. For gay women, the figures are 2.7 straight women, 1.3 lesbians and just 1.2 gay or straight men.
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