Contented Cow Syndrome

By becksta on 1/6/10 1:00am
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The Tragedy of Contented Cow SyndromeThe Tragedy of Contented Cow SyndromeMy sister-in-law was the first to let me in on the sad phenomenom of “contented cow syndrome” or the reality that once singles become couples, they get a little more comfortable, chew on their cud, sit on their couches, and gain what is usually the equivalant of the freshmen fifteen. Science, being a little late to this reality, has just confirmed this sad fact.

According to this NYT article, a recent study found that a 140 pound  childless single woman will gain 11 pounds over ten years, a married (or partnered) woman who has had a kid will gain 20 pounds over the same ten years, 11 pounds if she is married but has no kids.


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Is Monogamy Realistic?

By becksta on 1/4/10 3:30pm
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Is Monogamy Realistic?Is Monogamy Realistic?Last year was full of rampant infidelity (Berlusconi, Tiger, and just about every Republican who has ever lived on C-Street) and each and every time, it was the important man who was reported as cheating on his wife. I just read a really interesting Salon article questioning monogamy, cheating, and why little mention is ever given to the fact that sometimes women cheat on their spouses as well.


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Sex and Marriage

By becksta on 10/27/09 11:52am
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Marital SexMarital SexTouchy subject #458  is definitely sex and marriage. Everybody knows the old joke about the penny jar. If you put a penny in the jar for every time you have sex the first year of marriage, and take a penny out for every time you have sex after that, you will never empty out the jar. I doubt this, but it definitely is difficult to keep the “juices flowing” after a few years.


The secret worry that approximately 68% of adults have (again, this is my own approximation and is not based on any Kinsey study) is that everyone else is having more sex than they are. How much is enough? How much is too much? And how do you balance sex with kids or a low sex drive?

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John Gottman's List of Potential Marital Warning Signs

By becksta on 10/22/09 4:50pm
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John Gottman is a PhD in Seattle who studies relationships and marriages. Let me get this clear from the absolute beginning: he is no Dr. Phil and you will probably never see him on Oprah, although he was mentioned in the book “Blink”.  His main area of study has been how to predict early on if a marriage is going to succeed or fail and in fact his rather unironically named book “Why Marriages Succeed or Fail....and How You Can Make Yours Last” discusses that very topic.

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