Rule 5 Rescue: For the Ladies!

This is a special "reach-around" post for the ladies!

Here's my crew of bloggin' babes (in no particular order, as they're all hot!): Vinegar and Honey, Thoughts With Attitude, Kim Priestap, Five Feet of Fury, Amy Proctor, Blonde Sagacity, Great Satan's Girlfriend, Darleen Click, Fausta's Blog, Clueless Emma, Melanie Morgan, SWAC Girl, Ann Althouse, Nikki's Blog, Big Girl Pants, Maggie's Notebook, Betsy's Page, Hummers & Cigarettes, Paula in Israel, Gayle's Cyber Place, Villainous Company, Melissa Clouthier, HotMES, Little Miss Attila, Nice Deb, Vanessa's Blog, Cassy Fiano, Midnight Blue, The Anchoress, Insert Clever S.Logan Here, Dr. Sanity, Sister Toldjah, Pundit & Pundette, Pamela Geller, And So it Goes in Shreveport, No Sheeples Here!, Becky Brindle, Pondering Penguin, Right Wing Sparkle, Conservatism With Heart, Obi’s Sister, Right Truth, Gold-Plated Witch on Wheels, Natalie's Blog, The Jungle Hut, Wake Up America, and Michelle Malkin.

From the scientific journal, Evolution and Human Behavior, "Costs and Benefits of Fat-Free Muscle Mass in Men: Relationship to Mating Success, Dietary Requirements, and Native Immunity." Or, as the New Scientist puts it, "Hunks Get More Sex, But There's a Price to Pay":

Skinny men have new reason to celebrate. Well, kind of. Beefcakes may be able to attract women by rippling their muscles, but the downside of all that brawn is a poor immune system and an increased appetite, a new study finds.

Such evolutionary costs could explain why males of our species do not all look like He-Man, according to William Lassek, an evolutionary psychologist at the University of Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, who led the new study. "In some respects I was surprised at how big the costs were… something I hadn't anticipated," he says.

Many other studies have shown that women tend to prefer more toned men, and muscle-bound men tend to have more sexual partners than slender men, when other factors are controlled for.

Previous research has also suggested that musculature comes with a cost. Testosterone, a hormone that promotes secondary muscle growth, suppresses the immune system of all animals, including people.

Yet no one had examined both the positives and negatives of big muscles in a single population, says Lassek, who analysed data from more than 5000 men, aged 18 to 49, who participated in the National Health and Nutrition Examination Survey, between 1988 and 1994.

The beefier the man – measured by total fat-free mass, or arm and leg muscle mass – the more sexual partners he had, Lassek confirmed. The study also showed that more muscled men tended to lose their virginity at a younger age, compared to skinny men.

Ladies: Send me an e-mail, at my Blogger profile, to have your blog added to the roundup!

Photo Credit: Muscle and Fitness, "Jacked Like Jackman: Inside the Wolverine."