by Carson Abrir
“No Hair to the Thrown,” is perhaps the most telling of recent British tabloid headlines pursuing anything and everything to capture public fascination with the upcoming royal wedding of Prince William and Kate Middleton. Until Tatiana Boncompagni’s “Baldness: Put a Crown On It,” in the New York Times, I suspected counting hairs instead of predicting heirs was a uniquely English spin on the pairs’ fast approaching April 29 wedding at Westminster Abbey.
“In the past, only women were perceived to have a marital sell-by date. But thanks to a convergence of social and economic trends, some men feel the same pressures,” Boncompagni writes.
If research from the University of Texas about what leads young adults to have sex is any indication, the Prince’s receding hairline is much ado about nothing.
A study of 400 mostly college-age men and women, followed up by a survey of an additional 1,500 undergrads by psychologists David Buss and Cindy Meston came up with an astonishing 237 reasons people have sex.
Just 52 of the 237 reasons had to do with physical motivations, such as, “I was attracted to the person,” or “The person was too physically attractive to resist.” Much more common were motivations rooted in achieving goals, such as “The person was famous and I wanted to be able to say I had sex with him/her,” or “It would get me gifts,” fulfilling emotional needs (“I wanted to feel loved”), or overcoming insecurities (“I wanted to raise my self-esteem”).
While the mostly young co-eds reasons for sex may be very different than the motivations that lead to marriage, physical intimacy based on many of the 237 reasons for sex identified by the Texas team can lead to relationships missing shared values, dreams and other factors that predict long-term compatibility.
It’s a safe bet that Kate Middleton has plenty of reasons to eagerly anticipate her formal welcome to the Royal Family. While pundits continue counting hairs, it’s likely the thoughts of the Prince and his Princess couldn’t be further away.