aries (Mar. 21st-Apr. 20th)
"You never get a second chance to make a first impression." What a great proverb. Too bad it's from a dandruff commercial. And you know anything having to do with advertising is usually just a big fat lie. So don't be too quick to dis every flaky-scalped hottie who looks over their snow-covered shoulder at you this week--they'll probably turn out to be a Pulitzer Prize winner or, at the very least, a Prada model.

The New York Times mag story this weekend called "Students of Virginity" turned out to basically be one big profile of a single student at Harvard who doesn't have sex, Janie Fredell. (Man, if we knew not having bad, unsatisfying, drunken sex in college would mean our own feature in the Times, complete with full-page picture before the age of 22, we totally would have regrown our hymens back then in a heartbeat.) Her arch nemesis (our term), a student sex blogger named Lena Chen, does get a little print time too--enough to help cast these two women on opposite extremes of the sexuality rainbow (not the gay one), which, in our humble opinion, is not where you want to be.

On the one hand, you've got Fredell talking about the feminist empowerment that comes from being in total control of your body, your emotions, your life when you say no to sex. We dig it: abstinence can be an excellent choice for many people. And we totally get why a college student (or anyone, for that matter) would want to avoid all the potentials cons of sex: unplanned pregnancy, STDs,  insecurities about your body, mind games, betrayals, broken hearts, messy sheets, embarrassing bodily noises, not having your own needs met by a drunken frat guy, etc. But...

Em & Lo have teamed up with Claire at Babeland to break down all the info you'll need to make this very fun decision.; Claire Cavanah; Babeland; clitoris; em & lo; orgasm; rabit habit; Sex and the City; Vibe; vibrators; Em & Lo have teamed up with Claire at Babeland to break down all the info you'll need to make this very fun decision.

If the ubiquitous Dr. Sanjay Gupta says it's coming in the next year, then it must be true! Some quick facts, based on recent studies of this pill: fellas, you take it every day (no skipping a week or taking 7 days of sugar pills, since guys don't menstruate); it takes three months to kick in and three months for sperm count to return after you stop taking it; you'd probably gain four to ten pounds, mostly in muscle mass; it lowers your good cholesterol a bit; and it's 98 percent effective at preventing pregnancy. Not much there not to love!

But will any dudes take it?...

Just discovered Julia Wertz's "thrice a week" autobiographical cartoon and we heart it. Though she's not in a relationship or even having sex at the moment, her endearing potty mouth makes it obscene enough for us to happily cover here. Plus, peruse the archives and her blog (which has a section called "People I'd Give Handjobs To"), and you'll find comic gems like the ones on oral sex and replacement lovers and her first kiss,  this scan of a hilariously disturbing anti-douching (sorta) ad in a 1963 Redbook, and a post about her reaction to a botched S&M session reported in the "news." Fun stuff.