So Is The SD On A Hot Sex Kick At The Moment?

Comments on Cecil's Columns/Staff Reports
#1

Well, is it? Not that I’m complaining. But a quick look at the list of Cecil’s columns from the SD home page the past few weeks indicate the Ol’ Man must be needing something to keep him warm this Chicago winter (with one exception).

To wit:

Today’s Question:

Whatever happened to that relic of the 60s, body paints?
A Straight Dope Classic by Cecil Adams

Recent Additions:

Will pheromones make you irresistible to the opposite sex?
A Straight Dope Classic by Cecil Adams

Does passionate kissing cause your chewing gum to disintegrate?
A Straight Dope Classic by Cecil Adams

How can I get my, uh, hot photos developed?
A Straight Dope Classic by Cecil Adams

Is it possible to freeze your cojones off?
By Cecil Adams

Is taking a hot bath an effective contraceptive?
A Straight Dope Classic by Cecil Adams

What’s the story with female circumcision?
A Straight Dope Classic by Cecil Adams

Why do one’s loins ache after a session of nonclimactic arousal?
A Straight Dope Classic by Cecil Adams

Does average human penis length vary among ethnic groups?
A Straight Dope Classic by Cecil Adams

#2

Considering how many questions Cecil has answered about sex, isn’t it possible that a random selection will be bulging with it?

#3

Well, the classics are run in the order they appear in the books, they’re sorted topically, thus I conclude we’re in a sexuality section. QED.

#4

Cecil receives an amazing amount of mail on sex and sexual issues. The only topic I think which has more mail is medical issues in general, with some of those being medically-related. It really makes me wonder sometimes if there are just not enough good medical sites out there to answer people’s questions.

Cecil also receives what I feel are an inordinate amount of questions on:

  • hair loss and hair removal
  • drinking and smoking
  • food and calorie-related issues
  • bowel and urine-related issues

I can almost draw a mental picture of the average questioner being a balding, overweight, sexually frustrated 50 year-old man whose favourite pastime is chain-smoking White Owl cigarillos while drinking Heineken - as a result, suffering from serious, disturbing, and rather odorous medical problems.

Which is quite a ways from my mental picture of the average poster on this message board.

#5

But it might explain why the number of posters who have uploaded their pics is so much smaller than the number of posters.

#6

Yeah, I’d blame the Teeming Millions. I wonder if the widespread pornography on the Internet makes it harder to just look up these types of questions and actually get answers.

#7

Ha! I’m only 42!

#8

This is pretty much what’s going on. We’ve had similar runs in the past, where we’re going through a series of questions about animals, or TV trivia, or whatever.

#9

Is it just a coincidence then that the weekly column’s question was related to genitals as well, or did someone notice that it might be a good idea to delay this one until we hit the run of sexuality classics?

#10

http://top-achtung.blogspot.com/

#11

Coincidence. Cecil DOES get lots of sex questions, many of them bizarre. It’s one of the thing that distinguishes us from (say) MYTHBUSTERS. Unlikely that MYTHBUSTERS would deal with freezing one’s balls off.

#12

So you’re saying that’s how you imagine the the average questioner, right? 'Cause I’ve always had this suspicion that Cecil writes a lot of the questions himself.

#13

Nope, Cecil does not write the questions himself. I see the questions as they come in via mail after Dex sorts them, and they’re legit.

#14

How many questions does Cecil get per week, would you say? And how many come in the mail? I would think that a lot of them would be handled by e-mail (or just be posted to the boards) nowadays…

#15

For some reason, I have always thought that Mrs. Cecil is probably a lil’ hottie…

(It may be from the SD column where he talks about her enjoying Big League Chew)

#16

The one about body paints says it’s originally from 1979. But the questioner mentions the 30-year anniversary of Woodstock, so obviously, there’s a typo there.

Just saying.

#17

Dex has to answer that, since he screens out a bit of the inane and previously-asked questions, and I only see what’s left, but it appears to be about 1-2 dozen questions actually worth considering a week.

#18

Uh, boy, uh … I’ll just say it was amazing coincidence and leave it at that…

I’m outta here!

#19

Please, what is your mental picture of the average poster on this board?

#20

Cecil does NOT make up the questions. Not even he could come up with some of the stuff we get. I sort the mail, and, as Una said, we usually wind up with around a dozen questions each week that are possible. I put these in a couple of piles for Cecil to consider. One pile is the totally wacko and bizarre: most of them are too stupid to be believed, but every so often Cecil actually takes one on: How would the US military fight an attack by a zombie army, for instance, was one that I thought was just for laughs.

Sometimes Cecil uses these absurd ones for filler, usually under the header, “Questions Cecil is still thinking about” – such as (my favorite): Why is there a marijuana leaf on the Canadian flag? (Near the bottom of the column)

I try to respond to almost every email (except the spam, of course.) Many of the questions we get have already been answered by Cecil, or the answer is readily available elsewhere, and I direct those people to a dictionary, encyclopedia, www.word-detective.com, etc. Some wouldn’t make an interesting column, but might be answered on the Message Boards, and I suggest the person ask on the SDMB. Some of the questions we get are not answerable (“Is there a God?”) and some are just too funny (“Is my boyfriend cheating on me?”).

Anyhow, that’s the process at my end.