Fred Flintstone. David Beckham. John Travolta in Battlefield Earth. These three men, all with facial hair, have perpetuated the philosophy that beards are awesome. Some social researchers, however, believe this connection to awesomeness may be untrue. According to a recently published study of women in New Zealand and Samoa (ensuring some anthropological diversity), women consider men with facial hair to be almost universally less sexually attractive than men without. Yes, kid proudly sporting a soulpatch-mustache combo, this applies to you, too. Of the 200 women surveyed, the vast majority determined men without beards to be “significantly more attractive.” The influence of such conclusions is sure to be far reaching. For instance, this data will finally put to rest the age-old dilemma of whether Bradley Cooper was hotter in Wedding Crashers or The Hangover. Moreover, it explains how beardless actors Woody Allen and Adam Sandler have continued to find such beautiful companions film after film. For the college crowd, this study poses a targeted attack on the ritual of No Shave Movember and the even more common practice of being too lazy to shave. In conclusion, if you think you’re single because ‘nobody gets you,’ the simple solution might just be to get that hair off of your face.

Disclaimer: Almost none of the links in this post are safe for work studying in the FriSC. Click through at your own discretion.

If you, like us, have been wasting time perusing Spotted at Brown during the last few days, you might be aware of a new subreddit heating up the Brown cyberscene. The site, punnily titled BrownBares, serves as a space for Brown students to post revealing or nude photos of themselves. As of yesterday, the URL www.brownbares.com redirects to the site.

To date, 27 posts have gone up on the subreddit, the vast majority of which feature nude or semi-nude photos of students. While most of the photos seem to have been taken in dorm rooms or bathrooms, one brave poster (deemed “Salomon” by his Spotted at Brown following) fully embraced the spirit of the subreddit and took to the 500-seat Salomon DeCiccio Auditorium to take naked pictures. Another female poster hints at having taken pictures of herself in a library bathroom. (Though no photos have featured donuts yet…)

Brunonians aren’t the only college students who like being nekkid on the Internet. Boobs@Bard, for example, is a tumblr that showcases topless photos of the women of Bard College, while its counterpart, Bard Cocks on Campus, features bottomless photos of men. Once those two sites gained traction, copycats quickly arose in WesBreasts/Westacles at Wesleyan, Titties at Tulane/Cocks on Campus at Tulane and Vag@Vassar — the men at Vassar apparently haven’t risen to the challenge.

BlogDailyHerald recently caught up with the moderator and founder of BrownBares and direct messaged him (yup, he’s male, we asked) a few of the questions we’ve all been wondering:

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The Herald's fall 2011 undergraduate survey

Every semester, The Herald conducts a survey of the undergraduate student body on a number of issues. Some questions, such as approval of Ruth Simmons and UCS, frequently appear on the poll, while many of the others change each semester. This semester’s poll asked:

• Whether or not students would consider joining an ROTC program, at Brown or another school
• How many sexual partners students have had so far this semester
• What students think of their class sizes
• What students think of the number of admissions spots that are reserved for athletic recruits
• How well students think Ruth Simmons and UCS are doing their jobs
• How satisfied or dissatisfied students are with academic advising
• How students see their families’ wealth compared to that of the “average Brown student”
• How confident students are in getting a desirable job after graduation
• What electronic devices students own

Check out the article with the full results here! (Disclaimer: I wrote the article.)

Over the next couple weeks, we’ll be publishing a series of articles, each of which goes into depth about one specific poll question. More reasons to read The Herald every day!

Despite a rough midterm period, Brown aced the Trojan Sexual Health Report Card. According to the Trojan list (via HuffPo), Brown is the 4th most sexually healthy college in America. Coincidence that SexPowerGod is right around the corner? You decide.

Brown students love sex and free t-shirts, and today’s third annual Consent Day paired the two for an afternoon of games and education around sexual consent.

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We have pretty interesting news.  No, we aren’t opening a campus in Shanghai. Casual sex website eduHookups is expanding to Brown! Started at UChicago a few weeks ago, the “no strings attached” hookup site has already expanded to Northwestern, Columbia College Chicago, DePaul, SAIC, Yale, Washington University in St. Louis and Loyola University Chicago and will be opening up to Brown students on April 4th (you will need a brown.edu email address to register… sounds a little bit like another instant web-phenom that started up seven years ago).

The purpose of the site is simple: to give college students an easy (no pun intended) place to seek out sexual encounters. For both the cripplingly shy and the passionately deviant, eduHookups should represent a welcome addition to the college student’s casual sex utility belt (apparently the old-fashioned kind of social lubricant just doesn’t do it anymore). The site has been a relative success so far, with 800 registered members and features in the Huffington Post and a local Chicago television station. Oh yeah, and there was this little quip on Leno a few weeks ago:

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The sidewalk has spoken, Sex Week 2011 is now in effect through the 19th. While it officially started yesterday, this week promises several informative (and free!) events for the 2/3 of sexually active college age folk (though Brown, with its exceptionally green and vegan student body, tends to transcend statistics). Here are the most interesting-looking events for each day of the week:

Monday 3/14: Sex and Chocolate in the Dark in South Wayland Lounge at 8 pm. Do you like anonymous discussion about sex in dark spaces? Then this one’s for you. Not sure what the connection between an aphrodisiac and sex talk is…but free food is free food.

Tuesday 3/15: Peg-Ass-Us at 155 Angell St. at 7:30 pm. Wins the award for best name, but what is it? A romantic comedy performance about…gay sex. Featuring sing-alongs and nudity, this one should not be missed.

Wednesday 3/16: Raunchy Bake Sale on the Main Green at noon. People have said food can be sexy, but this may take that notion to new heights. This event promises baked goods in shapes “too hot to handle” and a Butternut Squash contest (oh my). Free safe sex supplies so you don’t have to feel bad about snubbing your RC 15 cents.

Thursday 3/17: Brief History of Sex Toys in Salomon 003 at noon. Sex toys and college have had a rocky relationship as of late, but this workshop will fulfill your burning desire to find out where your vibrator came from, assumedly without the live demonstration.

Friday 3/18: Flashbang in Kasper Multipurpose Room at 10 pm. For those who need some flash banging between their SexPowerGod and Starfuck. An “explosive evening” with music, raffles, goodie bags and, you guessed it, more sex toys.

Saturday 3/19: Kink for All Providence 2 in SmittyB from 10 am – 5 pm. No, it’s not the newest installment in Providence’s porn industry, but a day of workshops and discussions about the relationship between life and sex. Sign up here.

It has been an exciting few weeks for colleges across the country, to say the least. Temperatures are rising, spring break is upon us, and  March Madness is basically here. Here are just a few stories to remind you of some recent strange–dare I say ridiculous–events in higher education:

If you are unaware of what’s been happening with Charlie Sheen recently, then just leave now. Charlie Sheen’s influence has inspired people all over our country to try to understand what really matters in life. His many words have been so inspirational that even some GW students want him as their commencement speaker. This GW Facebook page (with over 1,500 “likes”) implores Mr. Sheen to attend GW’s graduation. Other sites have followed, and even our very own Diddy tweeted at him. No one knows what the future hold for Sheen, though we must trust that it will be nothing less than epic.

Not in Providence, but in Provo, Utah, Brandon Davies, one of Brigham Young University’s finest basketball players, was suspended for having premarital sex (#sinning). According to BYU’s honor code, students are required to “live a chaste and virtuous life,” a rule which Davies apparently violated simply for attending sexction. The question remains: how did they find out about Davies’ sexual endeavors? [Read more →]

According to Trojan’s fifth annual Sexual Health Report Card, Brown’s been doing pretty well in safe and healthy sex department. Ranked fifth in its class under the #1 Columbia, Bruno pushed up from its 9^th spot in 2009 with an astonishing 3.5 GPA! (okay maybe it’s a low A…)

Thought that was a big jump? Harvard is now 16^th after its embarrassing 62^nd ranking last year… which is fishy to say the least…looks like they got some extra homework help, or finally decide to learn from the best here on College Hill.

What were the criteria, you ask?

They included areas such as STD testing, health center hours, the existence relevant student groups, and the availability of condoms on campus (now you see why our RCs tape them all over their doors).

So, in addition to our high ranks on happiness, looks like we’re also safest and less likely to destroy the hard work that landed us in this prestigious university in the first place. Bruno’s not ready for baby bears quite yet…