Sex “Research” Stories That Aren’t

Way back in 2002 when I started this sex blog, I imagined that many of my posts might point to online news stories about sex. There weren’t so many sex blogs back then, and online writing about sex from “mainstream” journalists was still rare enough to be notable.

What I quickly discovered, though, was that these stories were generally crap, especially when they pretended, badly, to be based on “the latest research”. Scientists usually don’t do sex well, and reporters usually don’t do science well, so a reporter’s view of sex research usually turns out to be hideous insulting nonsense and tripe. (Exceptions do happen. But man, you gotta dig for ’em.)

Pretty soon, it got to the point where I don’t even read journalism about sexual science. The noise level is too high; it’s all spam and no eggs.

Therefore I am amused to discover two articles in two days that discuss the whys and wherefores when it comes to bad reporting about bad sex research. This morning it was Thomas Roche blogging at Violet Blue’s Tiny Nibbles; yesterday it was How To Spot an Internet Sex Research Hoax at The Sexademic.

If you still read “Newest Research about Sex Reveals…” stories, you’ll want to read these, too.