We Ask You on Shine

Do cheesy romantic gestures skeeve you out?

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I just came across this great post on The Frisky about how sometimes your partner can do the sweetest stuff and it just melts your 'lil heart, and then again, some gestures are so damn syrupy and cheesy that it just totally turns you off. And as Shine editor Jenn Romolini pointed out, the latter ends up making you feel really bad for being such a callous, cruel person. Still, I think we can all relate to the following please-don't-do-that-ever-agains, and some of us may even be guilty of committing similar "crimes of passion" (hello answering the door wrapped in Saran Wrap--whoops)...

The fundamental difference between men and women

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Yes, I know about the actual difference b/t men and women (penis vs. vagina, boobs vs. no-boobs). But here's a big difference that I've only recently begun to notice-or at least think about since I've been blogging.

Basically, it's that men poop. And fart. And we...

Is feminism moving backward?

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Lately, the word "sexist" has been tossed around more than a squealing teenaged girl at cheerleading camp, and it seems everyone has a different definition of what it entails, (both in practice and philosophy). Is it envisioning a certain female political candidate in a star-spangled bikini, or deliberately refraining from asking her the "hard" questions because she's a girl? Is it standing up for stricter abortion laws because that's what some women believe in, or passionately fighting for the right to choose? These questions inevitably bring us to the underlying tension: What does feminism, in the western world at least, mean these days? And is it, as some would argue, propelling today's women backward?

What was your worst dating disaster?

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I loved being single, no question, but I don't miss all the high jinks and shenanigans that dating so often entails. Serial dater Kate Hudson just relayed an incident to a little magazine called People about her own worst experience in the trenches, "'One date, I just left before we even ordered food because the guy was just so deeply boring that it was like, 'I'm going to just save us from all of this and just leave,' said Hudson, 29, adding that her date 'was in banking. I'm not kidding.'"

I know, yawn. But still, remember your worst dating experience? Spill it.

How do you keep yourself from drunk dialing?

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So I had a bunch of lovely friends over this weekend, and somehow the conversation turned toward drunk dialing. You know how it can be: You just broke up with someone you're convinced you may or may not be still in love with, you've had a couple cocktails, it seems like a great idea for you to contact said person and express your undying love for them and possibly convince them that you never should've parted in the first place. Yet it never fails that the next day you live to regret the drunk dial, right?

So, how many is too many?

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Ever since French First Lady, former model and bed mate to rock stars Carla Bruni admitted that she slept with 15 people before marrying President Sarkozy, people are playing the numbers game. Is she a "slut?" Does 15 mean 30 in reality? Are we to assume she's great in bed? Have I slept with too many people? Too few? And just how many lovers should a woman ever have, period?

What's all the flap about?

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There's nothing like the subject of uncircumcised penises to brighten up a ladies' night out dinner conversation, eh? While discussions regarding the typical peen-snipped American man's nether regions are always guaranteed to get a rise (heh) out of the crowd, once uncut genitalia--and more specifically, the possibility that we will actually encounter one of these mythical creatures--rears its um, head, it can whip a table full of hot blooded American girls into a real tizz. What's the difference? Has anyone actually seen one? How does it feel? More importantly, what in god's name do you do with it?

Got questions? We've got answers, after the jump.

Let's have a little chat about the female "happy ending" massage, shall we?

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While men have been enjoying the infamous "happy ending" massage for oh well, ages I guess, ever since the "Sex and the City" episode where Samantha went on a mission to get one, women have been not just a little curious about the um, ins and outs of what the female version just might entail. But whereas the idea is certainly provocative and something to laugh at or fantasize about, would you ever actually attempt to get an off the spa menu add-on? Tango writer Melissa Lafsky did just that when she went on journey to try and experience the elusive urban legend herself. And well, let's just say things got really, really real.