National Post

Downside of online dating: more STDs, some experts say
The growing spread of sexually transmitted disease in Canada may be at least partly the result of the Internet dating boom, and the rapid intimacy that can develop before online couples even meet, some public-health experts say. (Photo: FOTOLIA)

Extremely Bad Advice: Love Conquers All That Is Relatively Close
Dear Steve, I started dating a pretty awesome girl not too long ago. Problem is, she lives in a totally different city, about five hours away. How can I keep the magic alive in-between visits, short of standing in front of my webcam playing In Your Eyes on a boom box? Work your magic. Your awful, sexy magic.

STEP ONE  Awwww! You guys are in love for now! Look, I’m not a big fan of long-distance relationships. I once broke up with a girl because she required two transit transfers for a visit. You’re at the early stage, which both works for you and against you. On the one hand, you haven’t put in enough time yet to really fight for the relationship when things go badly. On the other hand, you want to do it with each other, like, all the time and you’re both magical creatures travelling along erotic sunbeams. I highly recommend using the formula I’ve sketched out to determine how far away is TOO far away for your love to survive. It’s science.

The rest of the advice…

Smiling men are the least attractive: study
The axiom that nice guys finish last has received new validation in the form of a Canadian study that suggests women are less sexually attracted to men who smile.

The University of British Columbia study found that women were least attracted to smiling, happy men, preferring those who looked proud and powerful or moody and ashamed.

On the other hand, men were most sexually attracted to women who looked happy, and least attracted to women who appeared proud and confident.

The study, published Tuesday in the journal Emotion, is the first to show that women are sexually attracted to a brooding hulk, while men are sexually attracted to a smiling beauty.

“We know that women like the bad boy. The James Dean, Edward the vampire — all these guys who are very broody, we know that women find them attractive,” said Jessica Tracy, the study’s lead researcher. (Photo: Reuters)

Shinan’s Worthy 30: Hommes, sweet hommes
You’ve got male: the Montreal edition. We’ve taken our annual, totally unscientific, wholly fun edition of The Worthy 30 on the road to the well-accented wilds of Quebec’s largest city. Today: les boys. Here, then — in no particular order — are 15 of the 514’s catch-me-if-you-can cads, chivalrous mensches, heart fortune-hunters, and the odd cougar-bait.

Photo: Zebulon Perron, owner of ZP+A, and Douglas Bensadoun, creative director of Aldo. (Christinne Muschi for National Post)

A club for sad liars, looking desperately for love
Most of what I wrote about myself in the Nerve online dating personals was untrue. You can try being meta about it. I don’t usually do this sort of thing. Or: I can’t believe I’m doing this. Hey, guess what: nor can anyone. Online dating is one of those things nobody wants to admit to a natural proclivity for, or being an old hand at. And yet they are very much a form unto themselves, a species of fiction, really, wherein wannabe Romeos dash off lightly fictionalized, Gatsbyesque versions of themselves in a tone halfway between come-hither foxiness and plangent entreaty, as if forever posed in some doorway, blowing smoke rings and delivering unrehearsed zingers, before disappearing into the night to work in a soup kitchen or homeless shelter. (Illustration by Kelsey Heinrichs)

Unplugged: Tired of the Internet, singles are returning to cafés and classes at places like The Good Egg to meet their partners.

Did you meet in a café? We’ve got so many amazing stories/images pouring in for our Valentine’s Day #HowWeMet project! Please keep them coming!

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