Children of same sex marriage are happier and healthier than their peers, according to new research out of Australia.

Researchers have found that children fare better in terms of physical health and social wellbeing than children in the general population, according to a study at the University of Melbourne.

“It’s often suggested that children with same-sex parents have poorer outcomes because they’re missing a parent of a particular sex. But research my colleagues and I published in the journal BMC Public Health shows this isn’t the case,” lead researcher Simon Crouch wrote on the Conversation.

Researchers surveyed 315 same sex parents with a total of 500 children across Australia. In all, about 80 percent were female parents and 18 percent were male parents. Children of same sex marriage had higher scores in terms of general health and family cohesion. The study controlled for socioeconomic factors like education and income level.

The results could be due to equal distribution of household duties when compared to heterosexual couples. In other categories like emotional behavior and physical function, homosexual and heterosexual couples fared the same.

The study did have some shortcomings: it wasn’t randomized and it was small because there just aren’t that many same sex couples with kids yet.

“Many studies have demonstrated that children’s well-being is affected much more by their relationships with their parents, their parents’ sense of competence and security, and the presence of social and economic support for the family than by the gender or the sexual orientation of their parents,” said Siegel, co-author of the American Academy of Pediatrics report in The Washington Post.

Approximately 594,000 same sex couples currently live in the U.S., according to a 2010 U.S. census report. The percentage ranged from .29 percent in Wyoming to 4.01 percent in D.C. Currently, 19 states have legal same sex marriage and 31 states still have a ban in place. The most restrictive states in terms of same sex marriage adoption include Mississippi and Utah.

Related on EcoSalon

Gay Marriage Finally Passes in Illinois

Target Ad Promotes Gay Marriage

The Economics of Same Sex Marriage Bans

Image: Trent Kelley

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Is supporting gay rights the new retail advertising trend?

Move over, JC Penney — you’re not the only major retailer to feature same-sex couples in your advertisements. Another major retail chain is showing its support for marriage equality, as Target released its new same-sex ad last week.

It’s possible that the splashy new ads are an attempt to shore up Target’s shaky history on same-sex marriage. In 2010, Target incited grassroots outrage with the news that they had made large donations to organizations and politicians that were pro-business, but anti-gay marriage. In 2011, Lady Gaga, a prominent gay rights activist, very publicly ended her partnership with Target over their donations history.

More recently, Target caused another controversy earlier this year when they announced that they would no longer carry Frank Ocean’s critically acclaimed new album, Channel Orange. Target stated that they would no longer carry the album because Ocean’s label, Def Jam, had decided to release it exclusively on iTunes for a week before it would be available to retailers. Still, many speculated that the retailer decided to drop the album because Ocean had very recently come out as gay.

Still, the ads are among a number of baby steps that Target has taken towards the correct side of social history. In June of 2012, the company  started a line of LGBT Pride T-shirts, as well as congratulatory same-sex wedding cards, even though same-sex marriage is still illegal in many states. And gay rights activists like David Badash have praised their efforts. If private citizens can change their minds, so can large corporations. Here’s hoping that Target’s new ads will result in many changed minds in the near future.

The post Target Ad Promotes Gay Marriage: Supporting Equal Rights or Just Marketing? appeared first on EcoSalon.

A round-up of what we’re reading right now.

An economic burden on people and governments? Yes, we’re talking about same-sex marriage bans. [Via TakePart]

Can a fast food chain ever really adopt a Slow Food approach? We think not, McDonalds. [Via Grist]

In New Orleans, an old mayonnaise factory is turned into an arts incubator, complete with recycled tires for insulation.  [Via Curbed]

Art is a powerful force. Here’s another example in temporary street art that promotes peace. [Via Treehugger]

Is there a cleaner gender? That is debatable, but as it turns out, men’s offices have more bacteria. [Via National Geographic]

Image: TakePart

The post Link Love: The Economics of Same-Sex Marriage Bans and Fast Food Going Slow appeared first on EcoSalon.

A weekly look at sex and culture, by the numbers.

Number of sitting American presidents who currently support same-sex marriage: 1

250,000: Number of federal government employees who have completed an official survey that includes, for the first time, questions about sexual orientation and gender identity

55-0: Votes in favor of the Gender Identity bill in Argentina’s senate, recognizing sex-reassignment surgery and hormone therapy as a necessary part of health care

12%: Number of mothers between the ages of 18 and 35 who claimed to have checked their phones during sex

Average length of American engagements: 1 year and 2 months

Average cost of an American wedding: $27,021

“In the millions”: Alleged amount John Edwards’ aides considered selling his sex tape with Rielle Hunter for after the initial story broke

Image: Dave Newman

The post Sex by Numbers: Happy and Gay Edition appeared first on EcoSalon.

A weekly look at sex and culture, by the numbers.

There are a lot of terrible things that happen in the world, but this is the week that brought us the phrase “sex litter,” so hold onto that when life seems unbearable.

250,000: total sales for 50 Shades of Gray, an erotic novel based on Twilight characters, before being acquired by Vintage Books

11: airtime for Savage U, Dan Savage’s new college-focused sex advice TV series for MTV

23: age of the peacock at India’s Lucknow Zoo that has recently undergone a spontaneous sex change from female to male

23: age of Jenna Talackova, the woman who may become the first openly transgendered contestant in the Miss Universe pageant

650,000: signatures on a thank-you card delivered to Starbucks headquarters for its recent support of same-sex marriage

0: number of times the two pandas at the Edinburgh Zoo in Scotland have mated during the breeding season, confirming everyone’s suspicions that pandas have been trying to commit species-wide suicide for decades now and human attempts to force them to continue to exist are bordering on cruelty now

15: bags’ worth of used condoms and pornography cleaned up from England’s Bristol Downs during a “sex litter” cleanup campaign

Confidential to our Bristol Downs readers: I’m glad you’re using protection, but is it that hard to find a trash can? Sorry, a ‘bin.’

The post Sex by Numbers: Picking Up Our Sex Litter Edition appeared first on EcoSalon.

A weekly look at sex and culture, by the numbers.

I hope you’re ready to live on your own, because unless you’re a dolphin (it’ll make sense later, I promise), odds are you’re going to end up alone. With that out of the way, let’s get to our weekly batch of facts.

33: Age at which most people describe themselves as first being “truly happy”

50%: Odds a man who suspects his partner of infidelity is correct, according to a recent Australian study

85%: Odds a woman who suspects her partner of infidelity is correct

$120,000: Budget NOM allocated in 2009 to locate “children of gay parents willing to speak on camera” against same-sex marriage

52%: Percentage of Jewish marriages from relationships that began online that originated at JDate

5.5 million: people under the age of 35 who live alone

11 million: people over the age of 65 who live alone

120: Number of dolphins in a recent study detailing their previously unknown “extensively bisexual” behavior

The post Sex by Numbers: Dolphins Are Swingers Too Edition appeared first on EcoSalon.

Column Facts are facts.

It’s Groundhog Day, which, if nothing else, means you have a legitimate excuse to watch what is inarguably the last great film Harold Ramis ever directed. It also provides a thin and tired narrative frame for us to hang an assortment of sex facts from, and for that, we can all be grateful. Congratulations! It’s almost spring. (Oh god, spring is still so far away. There are at least five more weeks of nothing but apple pyramids and Brussels sprouts at the farmers’ markets.)

20%: increase in vitamin D and fertility-related hormones for women after prolonged exposure to sunlight

States that recognize same-sex marriage as of February 2nd: 7 (welcome to the party, Washington!)

35: median male age at first marriage in Sweden, the world’s oldest

$140: amount the average Swede spends in a given year in the pursuit of romance

$94: amount spent by the average Dutch citizen, the lowest rate in Europe

$815: going rate among the Irish

1924: Year the term “sexpert” was coined (yet another thing to blame the Jazz Age for. Thanks a lot, Fitzgerald).

Number of days Phil Connors spent trapped inside of the Groundhog Day loop, according to best estimates: 12,403

2 to 4: Factor by which most men over-report their number of lifetime sexual partners

Image: qmnonic

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Column Facts are facts.

In honor of the recently-concluded Republican Iowa Caucuses, we’re running an extra-special Sex by Numbers this week honoring both the region and the people that made the last few months so jam-packed with sex scandals, mistresses, and trips to the Pizza Ranch.

Number of Iowan sex shops being shuttered for selling “product lines that will offend [landlord’s] clients”: 1

Age of consent in Iowa: 16

Number of “dislikes” candidate Rick Perry’s anti-gay ad has received on YouTube: 734,891 as of today, January 5

Number of collective marriages between the six primary Republican candidates: 8

Number of +1s received by spreadingsantorum.com, a website aimed at linking Rick Santorum’s name with a byproduct of anal sex: 6,483

Political sex scandals that resulted in a firing, resignation, or the end of a campaign in 2011: 5

Number of same-sex weddings performed in Iowa last year: 1,594

Number of board-certified sexologists currently practicing in Iowa: 7

The post Sex by Numbers: Republican Caucus Edition appeared first on EcoSalon.

ColumnA look at the institution of marriage and what some will go through to make it happen.

Whether you consider it an anachronism or not is little matter:  A wedding is a fête, marriage is an institution, and because summer is culturally enshrined as the season for matrimony, there’s no better occasion for exploring the anthropology of marriage than now. The current incarnation of marriage (one governed by romance and not pre-arrangement), is unique in human history, but its contemporary expression is no more exceptional than any other across history and geography.

While its interpretations shift and morph over time, at its universal core is marriage’s “holy trinity:” 1) reproductive management, 2) property management, and 3) kinship management.

In the lawless days of pre-history and, more recently, the warring tribes of Europe or violently-maintained dynasties of Asia, marriage functioned (and, in many places, continues to function) as a means of staving off early death: When groups of people are genetically similar and have a communal interest in an area’s natural resources, they are less likely to kill one another. And, in turn, much likelier to kill those who do not belong, dare to trespass, and threaten an existing social order.

Reductionist, romance-devoid analysis of marriage? Absolutely. And still, despite its singular evolutionary value, the institution’s cross-cultural manifestations are as vast as they are fascinating. In such a vein, this week’s Sex by Numbers surveys six striking (biased and  arbitrary) installments in the global annals of marriage and meaning.

1) Afghani government official Mabubullah Sayedi said, “It is against all human rights.” Amnesty International called it a “heinous crime.” Kunduz-based Sadiqa, 20 years old, and her lover Qayum, 28 years old, attempted to run away and elope after being prevented from marrying. A Taliban led group discovered the couple hiding at a friend’s house in preparation for their elopement. The pair was dragged into the open and in front of a group of 150 men they were stoned to death. Their murders occurred exactly one year ago, in August 2010.

2) In ancient Babylon, what is now modern day Iraq, both Jews and Shiite Muslims could be granted temporary marriages, called Mutt’a, in which a man was allowed to take a ‘wife for the day.’ The short lasting contract stipulated no further obligation to one another, with a single exception: If she became pregnant, her child was considered legitimate progeny and due a share of the father’s inheritance.

3) A University of Virginia neuroscientist recently conducted a study for which he recruited American women who rated their overall marital happiness as high. His study included a stress-response component, for which a woman’s brain waves were monitored using an f.M.R.I. while receiving a controlled electric shock. For the first round of electrical administration, the woman was alone. For the second round, she held the hand of a stranger. For the third, she held her husband’s hand. The effect of his touch stimulated the same areas of the brain that would be activated when taking a pain relieving drug.

4) Swedish researchers in 2000 conducted a study of women who had been hospitalized for heart attacks or debilitating chest pain, gathering information about various stressors in their lives and following their health for the following three years. Women who reported significant on-the-job stress had no higher risk for recurring heart problems than those who indicated they were happy at their jobs. However, women who reported high levels of marital stress were three times as likely to experience a second heart attack or require a bypass or other procedure.

5) In China in the 1800s, young women had the option of selecting out of a traditional marriage by wedding a dead man through an arrangement called ‘ghost marriage.’ The benefits to this unique union were two-fold: Women were freed to pursue their freedom and ambitions without having to take care of children or a husband. At the same time, the marriage contract allowed her family to consolidate wealth through her husband’s financial legacy. Apparently, these husbands were a coveted stock. As one such ‘ghost’ bride is quoted, “It was not so easy to find an unmarried dead man to marry.”

6) July 24th of this year marked the first time ever that lesbian and gay couples could receive marriage licenses in the state of New York, flooding clerk’s offices with same sex couples seeking to exchange vows. In New York City alone, 484 couples married at city bureaus and another 659 collected licenses, totaling 2,286 happy newlyweds.

Sex By Numbers is an ongoing look into the emotional and sexual lives of the modern day woman. Follow Abigail Wick weekly here for insight and inspiration as she explores the “sex” of women and the terrain they must travel.

Image: m5, DVIDSHUB, Telyinex, Nikoretro, SammyDavisDog, RalphRepo, Maxintosh

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