Blog Posts by Cosmopolitan.com

It's not uncommon for women to start taking oral contraceptives in high school or college, which means that by the time they hit their mid or late twenties, they've been taking the Pill for 10 years. If that's you-and you've celebrated or will soon be celebrating your 10 year anniversary with the Pill (hey that's longer than all of our LTRs have lasted)-researchers have good news for you. They just discovered that women who take oral contraceptives for a decade have a lower risk of ovarian cancer.

By Zoë Ruderman

A significantly lower risk. It cuts your chances by almost half, according to the study, recently published in The British Journal of Cancer. Scientists looked at European women who had been on oral birth control for a year or less, and found that the rate of ovarian cancer was 28 in 100,000. They then studied women who had been taking the Pill for 10 years or more, and saw that the rate dropped to 15 in 100,000. As you can see, the chances of getting ovarian cancer

By Zoë Ruderman

We could fill a book with all the reasons it's amazing to be a woman (multiple orgasms, anyone?). But having ladyparts is not without its drawbacks. And recently Forbes.com published a fascinating piece on one of those drawbacks: the fact that if you're a successful woman, people often make some pretty offensive assumptions about you.

The writer interviewed 10 of the world's highest-ranking women and asked them to reveal the female-in-power stereotype that bothers them most. We list the five that jumped out at us most below. But we highly recommend you head over to Forbes.com to read the rest and find out more about what these women had to say about the stereotypes.

Related: 10 Success Secrets Bosses Never Tell You But Should

Annoyingly Pervasive Stereotype: A woman who shows no emotion and keeps it hyper-professional is icy and unfeminine.
-Halley Bock, CEO of leadership and development training company Fierce

Annoyingly Pervasive Stereotype: The strong perception

By Zoë Ruderman

Next time you have a first encounter with a guy that's a total bust, read these hilariously bad and unfortunately true stories tweeps and Facebook fans who just couldn't not get in on the hash tag #firstdatefail.

"I fell flat on my face when coming back from the bathroom. It turned out that a kid had spilled water on the floor and no one cleaned it up. My dress was all wet and I was mortified." -Kelly

"He brought his co worker along on the date." -@legit_lyssa

"I went on my first date after getting out of a serious two-year relationship. Guess who our waiter was? Yep. Most. Awkward. Date. Ever." -Jen

"The entire date consisted of this: He took me for a looong drive in his truck. I had no idea where we were. Then he stopped at gas station, bought me an ice cream bar. Then he drove me back home." -JoAnn

Related: Worst Online Dating Stories Ever

"I went out with a guy I'd known for years and within the first half hour he asked when we could get naked. Then to seal the

You literally are what you eat-at least if you eat sugary foods. That's according to researchers who just discovered that people with a sweet tooth tend to be sweeter.

By Zoë Ruderman

Scientists at North Dakota State University, Fargo, Gettysburg College and Saint Xavier University conducted five studies examining the correlation between subjects' food cravings and their personality traits. They learned that the participants who ate sweet chocolate were more likely to "volunteer to help another person in need" than the subjects who chose to eat crackers or no food at all-and were less inclined to help out.

Related: Turns Out There's A Right Time For Everything

The sweet eaters were also found to be more agreeable than people who don't crave sugary foods. "The authors demonstrated people can predict how helpful or nice someone is, based on the extent to which whether he or she prefers eating sweet foods," according to a release on the study posted on ScienceDaily.com.

As these readers can attest, you never know where and when you'll find your dream guy....

"Believe it or not, I met my current beau in a public bathroom! I was at a restaurant, waiting in line for the ladies' room, but this old lady was taking freakin' forever. I couldn't hold it anymore, so I ducked into the empty men's room. I was already done with my business when I realized there was no toilet paper, so I half-hiked up my pants and wobbled out of the stall, only to find that I wasn't alone. Some hot dude was washing his hands and was trying so hard not to laugh. I, however, was horrified by the situation. I zipped up my pants, washed my hands and ran back to my table, where I told my friends the entire story. Ten minutes later, the waiter brought over this brownie dessert and said it was from the guy I'd met in the bathroom. Even though I was still mortified, I went over to his table and thanked him. After reassuring me that I had no reason to be embarrassed, he asked for my

For the past two months, Cosmo has been working to fight rape on college campuses. But college campuses aren't the only places a woman may be victimized by a rapist. In the past year in the Dallas area, four former sorority sisters have been raped-all in their own homes-and police believe the same man may be behind each of the attacks.

By Zoë Ruderman

According to one report, the suspect seemed to have information about the victims. Local police are encouraging current and former members of the sorority not to advertise their affiliation with the group. They're also educating those women on how to protect themselves, according to an article on the crimes.

Related: How Serial Rapists Target Their Victims

While many rapists are one-time offenders and may attack a woman with little or no premeditation, serial rapists are a very different breed. As we've reported before, they're typically intelligent, normal-seeming men, who often have a wife or girlfriend and a demeanor

For guys, sex is kinda like pizza. Even when it's bad, it's still pretty damn good. That said, every dude has that one uber-memorable encounter that stands out from all the rest. So we got real men to give us a private tour of their spank banks and share the naughty story that plays on a near constant loop inside their dirty, dirty minds.

By Zoë Ruderman

"My long-term girlfriend and I were all dressed up and about to walk out the door to a party when she suddenly started kissing me and rubbing my crotch. I couldn't believe that after spending 45 minutes on her hair and putting on tights and heels, she would want to start something. But we ended up having sex, her tights down, her heels still on, and her skirt up. It felt like such a 'beginning of the relationship', unexpected move and it was all I could think about that night."
-Kyle

"Four words: sex on a plane. She pulled me into the tiny bathroom, pulled down my pants, turned around and braced herself on the sink, then told me to

We squeezed in a quick chat with the most datable dude of 2011 and got him to tell us about his ideal GF, the craziest emails he got from chicks during this contest, and what he plans to do with the dough.

By Annie Daly

What do you look for in a woman?

My dream girl is someone who's down to earth, but most of all, I look for someone who wants to have as much fun as I do. Now, I'm not talking anything super crazy here like jumping out of a plane-although if she wants to jump out of a plane, I'd be down for that! I just want a confident girl who is comfortable in her own skin.

Related: 9 Surprising Things Men Look For in A Wife

What do you want women to know about you?

I want them to know that even though I'm an entertainment reporter on TV (for WOIO, Cleveland's CBS 19), which is a pretty cool job, I'm really just an average, down-to-earth guy who likes to hang out. And if anything, I actually have kind of a nerdy side, too-I like to go fishing on weekends and