Cuba diversifies ‘options for love’ via state-run motels

Cuba is reviving a network of state-run “love motels” in Havana where couples can rent rooms by the hour as the communist government seeks to “diversify options for love,” the official trade union weekly Trabajadores said on Monday.

Havana, the capital of the Caribbean island, boasted dozens of such “posadas” until the 1990s, when the remaining few were given to Cubans left homeless by hurricanes.

Privacy has became all the more elusive for lovers, given a housing shortage that forces many families to live in the same apartment and couples to live together long after their divorce.

Private establishments have filled in the gap for some, the trade union weekly wrote, but many cannot afford to pay around $5, or a sixth of the average monthly state wage, for three hours of bliss.

The less fortunate must resort to “parks, dark staircases, the beach and even the Malecon (seafront),” Trabajadores wrote. But now the state wants to make lovemaking easier again.

“We want to revive this service that is in high demand, has a big social impact and without a doubt is very profitable,” Alfonso Muñoz Chang of the Provincial Housing Company of Havana was cited as saying. “We will start with what we call Hotel Vento, a two-storey building with 16 rooms with bathrooms.”

“The city needs this,” Hotel Vento administrator Maria Sterling was cited as saying, noting that employees would be “very enthusiastic” as wages would likely rise with the extra work.

Next, authorities will restore some once-famous love motels like La Monumental to their former glory and convert another hotel, Muñoz Chang said.

“To think about how to diversify options for love is not farfetched,” Trabajadores wrote. “It is a reality that concerns everyone, and cannot become a luxury.”

source: interaksyon.com

Weekly sex makes for happy couples: US study

How much sex is enough? Just once a week is all it takes for optimal happiness among married heterosexual couples and those in long-term relationships, said a US study Wednesday.

The findings are based on surveys of more than 30,000 Americans collected over four decades, and are published in the journal Social Psychological and Personality Science.

"Although more frequent sex is associated with greater happiness, this link was no longer significant at a frequency of more than once a week," said lead researcher Amy Muise, a social psychologist and postdoctoral fellow at the University of Toronto-Mississauga.

"Our findings suggest that it's important to maintain an intimate connection with your partner, but you don't need to have sex everyday as long as you're maintaining that connection."

Researchers noted that the study was not designed to show cause-and-effect, so it remains unknown whether happiness leads to weekly sex, or if weekly sex arouses more joy in life.

The study was also limited to people in romantic relationships, not single people.

"In fact, there was no association between sexual frequency and well-being for single people," said Muise.

The findings were also consistent across age groups, gender and the length of the relationship -- whether months or decades.

Muise said couples should discuss whether their sexual needs are being met, rather than simply press for more sex.

"It's important to maintain an intimate connection with your partner without putting too much pressure on engaging in sex as frequently as possible," she said.

source: interaksyon.com

Monica Bellucci, Vincent Cassel split after 14 years of marriage

PARIS | Actors Monica Bellucci and Vincent Cassel, one of the film industry’s most famous couples, announced Monday they had separated after 14 years of marriage.

“Vincent Cassel confirms that he is separating from his wife Monica Bellucci by mutual agreement,” said a statement released by Cassel’s spokeswoman, without revealing further details.

In Italy, Bellucci’s representatives also announced the separation to an Italian press agency, confirming a story published Saturday by the French edition of Closer magazine.

The pair met while filming French film “The Apartment” in 1996.

They married several years later and had two daughters: Deva, 8, and Leonie, 3.

Bellucci, from Italy, has appeared in several Hollywood films including “Matrix Reloaded” and Terry Gilliam’s “The Brothers Grimm”.

Cassel shot to fame with his role as a troubled young man from the Parisian suburbs in the critically acclaimed “La Haine”.

He is also known for his roles in popular American films such as “Ocean’s Twelve” and “Black Swan”.

source: interaksyon.com