Ruth Institute Blog

By Pat Hagan

It’s a bit of a cliche that women settle down for love, and men for regular sex.

But scientists are claiming it’s true. A study shows that women agree to cohabit because they view it as a stepping stone to marriage.

Yet men move in hoping for more sex and to ‘test drive’ the relationship to see if it is worth sticking around. Read more…

An awful lot of nonsense has been said about the supposed “double standards” between the sexual histories of men and the sexual histories of women.  The discussion of sexuality is full of it like so much verbal ipecac.  The typical whine goes like this “why is it that a man who’s been with a hundred women is a ‘stud’ while a woman who’s been with the same number of men is a “slut’?”

The short answer is because men value the sexual loyalty of women more than women value the sexual loyalty of men.  This also explains why hooking up is a much worse idea for women than it is for men.  Because a woman’s value as a lifelong partner for marriage diminishes with each passing dalliance.  For men, not so much.  This does not mean that hooking up is a good idea for men, just that it’s not as bad an idea as it is for women. Read more…

Here. Here.

By Rachel L. Wagley

My dad cordially invites you to play Risk. Or talk sports. Or just wear a stained t-shirt and eat meat.

Plagued with five daughters, he sought consolation in mandatory family nights, reading aloud “Danny, the Champion of the World,” “Tarzan,” and the “Lord of the Rings.” During a reading of “The Two Towers,” we sketched Gandalf with pastel pencils and dozed behind the couch. Although I didn’t always listen, his treasured classics exposed me to manliness worthy of respect. Read more…