"Revelations...One New, The Other, Not So Much..."

First...The Not So Much...

According to a recent Los Angeles TIMES newspaper article, the intimate apparel industry appears to be recession proof. Although women's sports wear began to falter in comparative sales to the spring of 2008, (and I quote) "the straps didn't start slipping off the lingerie business until late this past fall." "Need" is the number one reason women buy lingerie. I dare say that men who venture forth to purchase articles of intimate ware for their lady fare embrace a certain degree of "need" as their motivation for doing so as well. For women, according to the article, "it's a lot more acceptable to wear last year's outfit than it is to don a ratty bra. Replenishment of existing undergarments is the "F" cup of lingerie market segment." But one should not discount the more fancy and alluring items that boarder if not totally embrace the fantasy aspect for lingerie purchases.

With the present economic crunch in full crush, extra-curricular, out-of-the-house forays have become more and more of an elected rare occasion than in the recent past, thus leading many couples to venture no further than their bedrooms. Thus the second tier of the skimpy foundation industry falls under the category of the more daringly risque, those titillating items of apparel that serve to hopefully "spark the imagination." Even in a down economy "sex" will always sell, and in today's economy it is selling in the form of lingerie in quantities and varieties just slightly less than a year earlier. With Valentine's Day just around the corner, far be it from me to not do my part to uphold this vital segment of our struggling economy. We don't go out much any more anyway...

And Now For The New...

There is a new "scientific" study that proclaims that alcohol leads to better sex. Now we're talking! The study, conducted by Dr. Kew-Kim Chew of the Western Australian's Keogh Institute for Medical Research, employed 1,580 Australian men to test his theory that the consumption of alcohol "within safe and moderate quantities seemed to have the best erectile function." Dr. Chew further discovered that even binge drinkers functioned better sexually than those who never drank. So THAT"s been my problem all these years!!

The study further concluded that low risk consumers of alcoholic beverages - those who drink up to twenty drinks per week over a five day period - had on average 30 percent fewer performance problems than did the men who did not drink at all. The men who performed the poorest were previously heavy drinkers who had stopped the intake of alcohol all together. I'm no scientist, but I'm not sure that the cessation of alcohol consumption can be so readily attributed to poor sexual performance. My guess is that their suddenly non-depressed brains become overwhelmed with the foreign reality of being sober for a change that merely being able to place successfully one foot in front of the other is about all they can concentrate on at any given moment.

Of course I always somewhat skeptical about how these types of studies are conducted. For instance, how were the results of these experiments measured? Now there's fodder for visualization! Can one really depend on a binge drinker to be forthright in relaying the results of his sexual escapades? "Tell me Harvey, how did things go last night between you and the Misses?" "The who!?!" See my point?

For me personally, in my youth I use to be a heavy drinker. My memories of those times hearken back the realization that I don't remember very much about very many of those instances. Perhaps that's a good thing. I do now believe that an occasional adult beverage isn't going to do me any harm...unless it's a glass of wine, which results in my getting a gigantic case of indigestion. No, I'll just continue to muddle along in the blissful state of sobriety and let the chips and lingerie fall were they may. So, if you'll excuse me, I think I'll head on over to Victoria's Secret and see what's cookin' there. You, on the other hand, feel free to imbibe. Just keep your case studies to yourselves.