Al, you may be onto something at least with regard to math skills. Men have, as a population, higher scores on math-related skills than women and there are more "math geniuses" that are male than are female. The difference in average is not that great, though. (This comes from Doreen Kimura's book on sex differences, BTW, but is well documented elsewhere). However, males are more likely to be mentally retarded than females. According to the standard reference book (the Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders, published by the American Psychiatric Association), the ratio is about 1.5: 1.0 for males. This suggests a somewhat wider bell curve for males. Females score higher on some tasks but it's my impression that these tasks tend not to impact IQ scores a great deal.

This is based on IQ scores, the usefulness of which is debated in psychology and elsewhere.

There are two problems with the idea that "psycprof could have his braduate students study this".

Sadly, I do not have graduate students as I work at an undergraduate-only institution. I am also female. But Al, didn't you say you were going back to school...? :)

I thought it was pretty funny but my 7-year-old daughter will watch it five or six times in a row. Now she walks around saying "I'm going to sit in a chair!"

I found this site to be profoundly disturbing. I agree that it is legal, and not everything upsetting or objectionable can be made illegal. But the parents who consent to this must be taking advice from those nitwits who let their sons sleep with Micheal Jackson.

In keeping with others' comments, it's not so much the clothing as the sexual mien and the provocative poses that are disturbing. Some of the girls are very young. Even if no pedophile saw the pix, would you want your daughter learning how to be so sexually provocative before she's even started menstruating? How does a photographer get an 11-year-old girl to look like that, anyway? Obviously these are professional photographers taking the pictures...I wonder what their deal is.

I imagine Xylu is well intentioned but it seems to me far more likely that a proto-pedophile would find these pix to be a stepping stone to harder stuff rather than an alternative to harder stuff.

I'm thinking that that lobotomization may already be underway.

He kept old love letters? She sent a postcard and a CD? He may be less than sensitive but he's not contacting her, calling her, seeing her. If the man wanted to fool around, he'd be fooling around and there's not much the wife could do to keep that from happening.

Who even knows if he went on this trip with the old GF?

This seems to me the sort of thing that a long talk and an expression of "I feel hurt when you keep all this stuff from her within arm's reach" could solve. I can't agree with shredding the letters. They are his property. But "it would mean a lot to me if you would put them in the attic" sounds feasible.

Those long talks are par for the course for the first couple of years of marriage anyway. After a few more years, they get a lot shorter.

I've had a baby both routes. Both methods bring their own pains and indignities. I agree that an INFORMED woman (like the woman with the 9+ lb baby)should have the right to a C-section, but if anyone thinks a section is the easy way out, they are not informed. After the vaginal delivery (OK, my baby was sort of little) I was pretty tender but was up doing normal things after two or three days. I took me a few weeks to get that far after the C-section, and I'm a fast healer. As for women like Britney Spears who are terrified of the pain of labor, an epidural works very wonderfully.

I think that a partner shows commitment to a serious relationship by being there physically and emotionally for the other person, and being financially and logistically a partner Is he paying part of the electric bill? Does he cook dinner sometimes and clean up sometimes? Does he take you out to dinner when he senses you've had a rough day? Can you count on him to pick you up if you get a flat tire 60 miles away? If so, then he's probably pretty serious. Sure, a verbal commitment is wonderful but talk is cheap. If he is there for you and is a true partner, then maybe the "talk about the relationship" is just talk, and a discussion which some men (and women) find excruciating.

I am using "he" because of the LW's situation, but a man should be able to ask the same of a woman.

On the other hand, if the man is clearly sponging off you and is not helpful or supportive, then kick his butt out. You deserve better. And suppose the perfect man came along while you were living with a Bozo? Awkward!!

How often do most parents fly at all, let alone on long nonstop flights? And wouldn't the kid be better off sedated than constantly being told no? It's a once in a while thing, so I don't see why a parent shouldn't use whatever will help everyone if there is no harm involved.

My parents regularly drugged me and my brothers on Christmas Eve for years ("Santa won't come if you don't take your Benadryl")and it didn't hurt me!