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

7,000 same-sex couples tied the knot in France last year

PARIS  - About 7,000 same-sex couples tied the knot in France last year after gay marriage was legalised in May, the national statistics agency said Tuesday.

France legalised same-sex marriage after months of intense and sometimes violent protests, in keeping with an election pledge by Socialist President Francois Hollande, who faced a huge backlash from the opposition right and the powerful Catholic Church.




Same-sex unions made up around three percent of the total number of 238,000 marriages registered in France in 2013, the Insee statistics agency said.

Three out of every five gay marriages involved male couples, it said.

The average age at which male gay men got married was 50, while it was 43 for women. The corresponding average age for heterosexual couples was 37 and 34.

The first gay marriage in France was held on May 29 in the southern city of Montpellier, which has a gay-friendly reputation.

But many die-hard conservatives have continued to oppose the measure. Some mayors argue that the lack of an option not to perform gay marriages violates the French constitution, which stipulates that freedom of conscience is a fundamental human right.

Several have refused to conduct gay marriages on the grounds it goes against their beliefs, but the Constitutional Council, France's top court, has ruled they cannot do this.

source: interaksyon.com

Hawaii governor calls for debate on legalizing gay marriage

LOS ANGELES -- Hawaii's governor on Monday called a special legislative assembly next month to debate a bill legalizing gay marriage, in what would make it the 14th US state to do so.

Lawmakers in the Pacific island state will meet from October 28 to discuss a bill "to address the issue of marriage equity," said Governor Neil Abercrombie, who in 2011 signed into a law legalizing same-sex civil unions.

"The purpose of the Act as stated in the bill is to recognize marriages between individuals of the same sex ... and to address questions of equity, civilly and otherwise," he said.

"I've spent my entire life, politically, trying to find what's the fairest thing to do," he tweeted a short time later.

Attorney General David Louis said that, if the bill is approved, Hawaii could start issuing marriage licenses to same-sex couples from November 18.

Thirteen US states plus the capital Washington, a federal district, allow gay marriage.

In June, the US Supreme Court voted for the repeal of the defense of traditional marriage, which prevented same-sex couples from enjoying the same rights as heterosexual couples.

source: interaksyon.com