Testicle Size 'Really Is What Matters'

Testicle size is what counts for a clean bill of health and being able to produce children.
Most men are unaware of how important the size of their testes is in relation to their health, Professor Rob McLachlan, director of Andrology Australia, told Fairfax newspapers.
"I've seen men coming in with (testicles) the size of a sultana and they haven't realised (it's a problem) - it happens all the time," Prof McLachlan said.
Men need to be aware of their testicle size, to measure their own health.
"They don't know how big their testes should be - what's normal and what's abnormal," Prof McLachlan said.
Small testes can indicate there is a testosterone deficiency. This can make a man feel tired, lose muscle, gain fat, lose sex drive.
It could lead to osteoporosis or thinning of the bones. And it can also be a sign of infertility, with a higher risk of developing testicular cancer, Prof McLachlan says.
Genital examinations, which take about 30 seconds, are crucial for men and opens the channel for a diagnosis.
"You want to pick these conditions up in men when they are younger if you can because then you have the chance to intervene and give them 30, 40, 50 years of quality of life and protect them from issues such as thin bones," Prof McLachlan says.
To raise awareness of men's health, the male reproductive health centre Andrology Australia is producing orchidometers or different-sized beads.
They range from 1 ml to 35 ml in volume, which help doctors identify reproductive health disorders.
Testicles measured from 15 ml to 35 ml are in the normal range.
"If a man's testicles are the size of a sultana he should see his doctor," he said.
from The Sydney Morning Herald

Gay Or Straight? Body Type And Motion Reveals Sexual Orientation

An individual's body motion and body type can offer subtle cues about their sexual orientation, but casual observers seem better able to read those cues in gay men than in lesbians, according to a new study in the Journal of Personality and Social Psychology.
"We already know that men and women are built differently and walk differently from each other and that casual observers use this information as clues in making a range of social judgments," said lead author Kerri Johnson, UCLA assistant professor of communication studies. "Now we've found that casual observers can use gait and body shape to judge whether a stranger is gay or straight with a small but perceptible amount of accuracy."
Johnson and colleagues at New York University and Texas A&M measured the hips, waists and shoulders of eight male and eight female volunteers, half of whom were gay and half straight. The volunteers then walked on a treadmill for two minutes as a three-dimensional motion-capture system similar to those used by the movie industry to create animated figures from living models made measurements of the their motions, allowing researchers to track the precise amount of shoulder swagger and hip sway in their gaits.
Based on these measurements, the researchers determined that the gay subjects tended to have more gender-incongruent body types than their straight counterparts (hourglass figures for men, tubular bodies for women) and body motions (hip-swaying for men, shoulder-swaggering for women) than their straight counterparts.
In addition, 112 undergraduate observers were shown videos of the backsides of the volunteers as they walked at various speeds on the treadmill. The observers were able to determine the volunteers' sexual orientation with an overall rate of accuracy that exceeded chance, even though they could not see the volunteers' faces or the details of their clothing. Interestingly, the casual observers were much more accurate in judging the orientation of males than females; they correctly categorized the sexual orientation of men with more than 60 percent accuracy, but their categorization of women did not exceeded chance.
The findings build on recent research that shows that casual observers can often correctly identify sexual orientation with very limited information. A 1999 Harvard study, for example, found that just by looking at the photographs of seated strangers, college undergraduates were able to judge sexual orientation accurately 55 percent of the time.
"Studies like ours are raising questions about the value of the military's 'don't ask, don't tell' policy," Johnson said. "If casual observers can determine sexual orientation with minimal information, then the value in concealing this information certainly appears questionable. Given that we all appear to be able to deduce this information to some degree with just a glance, more comprehensive policies may be required to protect gays against discrimination based on their sexual orientation."
The findings also are part of mounting evidence suggesting that sexual orientation may actually be what social scientists call a "master status category," or a defining characteristic that observers cannot help but notice and which has been scientifically shown to color all subsequent social dealings with others.
"Once you know a person's sexual orientation, the fact has consequences for all subsequent interactions, and our findings suggest that this category of information can be deduced from subtle clues in body movement," Johnson said.
from Science Daily

'Top Chef' Contestant Attecked In Gay Bashing

A former contestant on Bravo's "Top Chef" was beaten by attackers yelling anti-gay slurs, her lawyer said.
Josie Smith-Malave, who was featured on the second season of the reality show, was among a small group of women who were asked to leave a Sea Cliff bar over Labor Day weekend, lawyer Yetta Kurland said Tuesday.
About 10 young people followed the women and began screaming anti-gay epithets, spitting on them and then beating them, Kurland said.
Smith-Malave, who is in her early 30s, is openly gay, Kurland said.
Nassau County police said they were investigating, but declined to provide details of the incident.
Smith-Malave, a Miami native, is a former sous-chef for Marlow and Sons restaurant in Brooklyn. She has played for the New York Sharks of the Independent Women's Football League.
from The Associated Press

Jerry Apologizes

Jerry Lewis dropped an anti-gay slur - the same one that got Isaiah Washington of "Grey's Anatomy" in trouble - during the 18th hour of his annual Labor Day telethon.
He apologized Tuesday for a "bad choice of words."
The 81-year-old showman - prowling about the stage during the live telecast Monday in Las Vegas - was goofing around and dodging his cameraman, then went into a ramble about imaginary family members.
"Oh, your family has come to see you," he said, speaking to the camera and gesturing toward thin air.
"You remember Bart, your older son," he said, and motioning toward another unseen character, "Jesse, the illiterate f-----.
"No," Lewis said, quickly stopping himself before continuing.
Monday's monologue prompted a critical statement Tuesday from the Gay & Lesbian Alliance Against Defamation.
Neil Giuliano, GLAAD president, called Lewis' use of the term "simply unacceptable."
"It also feeds a climate of hatred and intolerance that contributes to putting our community in harm's way," Giuliano said.
In a statement Tuesday, Lewis said he was making "a joking comment to a member of my production team."
"I apologize to anyone who was offended," he went on. "Everyone who knows me understands that I hold no prejudices in this regard. In the family atmosphere of the telethon, I forget that not everyone knows me that well.
"That something like this would distract from the true purpose of the telethon pains me deeply. ... I accept responsibility for what I said. There are no excuses," he said.
Lewis' telethon, in its 42nd year, set a new record by raising $63.7 million to benefit the Muscular Dystrophy Association, topping last year's event by $3 million.
from The Associated Press

Jerry Lewis Using 'Faggot' To Help Raise Money

Update 9/5/07 Wednesday:
That clip was taken down but TMZ still has it.
Click here to view it.

Sharon Osbourne Fired For Calling Simon Cowell Gay?

Sharon Osbourne is furious with her brother David Arden for his sensational expose in a British tabloid this weekend (02Sep07) and is "devastated" by his betrayal, according to reports.
The rock matriarch is said to be "disappointed" at Arden's revelations in Sunday newspaper the News of the World, in which he claims Osbourne hated her fellow The X Factor judge Simon Cowell and was briefly fired from the British talent show for her constant gay jibes.
Arden also alleges his 54-year-old sister only married husband Ozzy Osbourne to spurn his Black Sabbath bandmate Tony Iommi.
He said: "The truth is Ozzy was way down on her list. Sharon had no interest. In fact she always referred to Ozzy as 'the w**ker'.
"When the label was having hard times, she actually tried to get Ozzy fired."
But Osbourne has vowed to set the record straight in the second installment of her autobiography, which is due out in October (07), and a close friend of the star claims Arden only sold his story because he was so desperate for the money.
The source says, "Their dad is dead and David thinks he can do what he wants.
"Basically, he needed the cash. Now he has to wait and see what Sharon says in the book - he should be trembling with fear."
Arden and Osbourne fell out after the death of their father, music mogul Don Arden, who passed away in July (07).
from The Post Chronicle

Sex Charges Levied Against Police Chief

Texas - The police chief in this South Texas town has been charged with two counts of sexual assault for allegedly violating male employees who were passed out at his home during parties.
Jose Luis Vela, 42, was being held in the Hidalgo County Jail on $200,000 bond after his Thursday arraignment on the two felony charges. The city has placed him on paid leave pending the outcome of the case.
"This is the first time I've ever heard of a chief of a police arrested for sexually assaulting his employees," said Sheriff Lupe Trevino, whose office started an investigation last week based on a tip from a friend of one of the alleged victims.
As he was led out of the courtroom Thursday, Vela denied the charges and said he did not know who his accusers were.
Investigators have accused Vela of performing oral sex on a male employee after the man passed out drunk at a party about a year ago at Vela's home in Mission, according to court documents.
Vela is also accused of violating a different male employee with an object while that man was passed out at a party in July, Trevino said.
Trevino would not identify the alleged victims, nor their positions within the 18-employee department.
City Manager Jorge Arcaute said the city's employees must work through the shock of Vela's arrest. The town of about 4,400 residents is located 10 miles north of the Mexican border in the Rio Grande Valley.
"This will reflect poorly on us," Arcaute said. "The challenge for us is to keep doing a good job and work harder. We're up to the challenge."
Lt. Eric Hernandez has been named the Alton department's acting chief.
from The Associated Press