Rebecca Kamm: 1 in 200 US mothers believe they are virgins (and other women's studies)

Photo / Thinkstock

A recently published study that's taken the easily amused internet by storm shows that 1 in every 200 mothers report "at least one virgin pregnancy unrelated to the use of assisted reproductive technology". In a sample size of 7870 women, that's 45 perceived immaculate conceptions.

The belief was more common among women who'd signed chastity pledges, and women whose parents struggled to talk clearly with them about sex and birth control. Or just plain didn't have the knowledge to teach their daughters the basics.

Researchers say that whether the 0.5% really truly believed they were virgins was hard to gauge. It's possible some women weren't clear on the definition of "sexual intercourse", or that they considered themselves "born again virgins".

Also, and this is something "women's" media seems to have overlooked, sexual abuse victims often (and legitimately) consider themselves virgins for various reasons, despite their technically having been penetrated. Which takes this research out of the vaguely comical territory and into a whole new realm altogether.

Subtlety in marketing

Women who ride Harley Davidsons are happier than women who don't ride Harley Davidsons, according to Harley Davidson.

Apparently they are twice as likely to feel "confident" and twice as likely to also feel "extremely satisfied" with their appearance. Also, "female riders are happier in their careers, happier in their friendships, happier with their home lives, and twice as likely to be 'extremely satisfied' with their sex lives," reports the LA Times.

The riders were slightly less inclined to say they "usually feel good" about their senses of humor and intelligence. But they were almost twice as likely to say they "usually feel good" about their sex appeal.

Which all goes to show that Harley Davidson is trying to sell more bikes to women.

Scientists crack the code once again

Can you believe he got you that? I can't either. I really can't. What was he thinking? DOES HE KNOW YOU AT ALL?

The answer is science, because of course it is. To wit: a pair of researchers from Tilburg University in the Netherlands have found that "women do indeed make better gift selections for others, regardless of the gender of the receiver and the type of relationship between the giver and receiver".

Participants were put into cubicles and given a selection of gifts to choose from; their intended recipient a young female test subject who explained beforehand what she did and didn't like.

They were also instructed to select gifts from a catalogue for people they already knew, then compare what they'd chosen with what the recipient would have actually preferred to receive.

Finally, some kind of gift-ranking system was performed (measured on a "7-point-scale and the AQ (? = .83)", because DUH) and again women nailed it.

The incredibly detailed analysis surmises that "this gender difference is due to the interpersonal interest women have in others." Which is sort of interesting, and just goes to reinforce my own personal theory: VOUCHERS.

Follow Rebecca Kamm on Twitter.

Debate on this article is now closed.