Artists, mechanics make great lovers

Men don't like thin women, survey

American men can pat themselves on the back. A new magazine survey finds that they make great lovers, especially artists, mechanics and truck drivers — although the latter group falls asleep quicker than any other after sex.

The survey by Redbook women's magazine released on Thursday said that more than 60 percent of America's married women rank their sex lives as excellent or very good.

And the survey also found that the job a man does during the daytime affects his performance at night.

Artists won high praise from the wives and doctors were faulted. But the worst group of lovers, according to the survey of 400 American women, was computer workers.

Almost half of artists' wives ranked their husbands as excellent, with 73 percent claiming full satisfaction. Artists beat the competition at foreplay with 100 percent of them ranked as taking their time.

Thirteen percent of artists' wives in the survey did, however, complain of too much foreplay.

But a masterpiece can't be turned out every day. Almost 40 percent of artists make love less than once a week. Salesmen are the most frequent lovers with 14 percent rising to the task daily, the survey said. But more than a quarter of salesmen's wives say it's over in a flash.

The survey of 400 married American women was conducted for the magazine last May by pollsters of Global Strategy Group Inc. to determine "who makes the best husband by profession." The survey is published in the magazine's September issue.

The survey found that computer technical specialists were least likely to accommodate their wives when she wants sex and he doesn't, and the least likely to give or take oral sex. But they are almost twice as likely as the average husband to cuddle after sex.

"We wondered whether what a man does for a living affects his intimate relations with his wife," Redbook senior editor Dawn Raffel told Reuters. "We found...that in fact it does."

American men

Overall, American men got two thumbs up, with 71 percent of women saying they were in sync with their husbands and sex lasted the perfect time — smashing the "myth that women want it to last much longer than men," Raffel said.

After artists, other professions most likely to satisfy were truck drivers, mechanics and managers.

Truck drivers topped the survey for "most likely to introduce edible underwear into lovemaking" with more than a quarter of them having produced some during sex.

But after sex, a truck driver is three times more likely to fall asleep immediately than any other profession, the survey said. All told, despite high marks for romance and cuddling, doctors rank poorly. More than a third of doctor's wives complained it was over too quickly.

The survey said that almost half of small business owners experiment with new positions or sex toys and are also six times more likely to produce whips and handcuffs than other groups.

And men in uniform? Firefighters and police are twice as likely to fully satisfy their wives as the average man.

Merging the professions, Raffel said,

"The ideal man in bed would have the creativity and craftsmanship of an artist, the dexterity of a mechanic, the interpersonal skills of a manager and perhaps the frequency of a salesman."

Thin women

Men find women with large breasts and slim waists more sexually attractive than waif-like supermodels, scientists disclosed on Friday.

The discovery was the result of a survey in which 40 male students were shown photographs of the bodies of 50 women and asked to say which they found the most attractive.

Women classified as emaciated were considered less attractive than those carrying a few more pounds, according to the study published in The Lancet medical journal.

The study also found that men preferred women of this type rather than those who conformed to the conventional measure of physical attractiveness in which the waist measurement is 70 percent of that of the hips.

What it comes down to is that the body-mass index is a more reliable guide than the waist-hip ratio to the kind of women men like, said the study by Martin Tovee of Newcastle University, northeastern England.

The body-mass index is worked out by dividing a person's weight in kilograms by the square of the height in metres.

In the study, 10 women were drawn from each of five body-mass index categories.

Those with a body-mass index of 15 or less were classified as emaciated, 15-19 was classified as underweight, 20-24 was normal, 25-30 was overweight and those above 30 were considered to be obese.

The women the men liked the look of were mostly grouped between 18 and 21 on the body-mass index scale.

"Body-mass index emerges as the major factor in determining sexual attractiveness, since it is a good predictor of health and reproductive potential," Tovee said.

The study also noted that anorexic women, who may be infertile and were not found to be attractive, could have the same "classic" waist-hip ratio as normal women.

-Reuters

Special Report

Bombay Tiger in trouble

The Maharashtra Govt. defiantly rejects the Srikrishna Commission's report in a bid to protect the Shiv Sena and Bal Thackeray

By V Shankar Aiyar and Smruti Koppikar

It takes a lot to trap a fierce tiger. It took Justice B.N. Srikrishna of the Bombay High Court 526 sittings, 10 extensions, a little over five years and an 800-page report on the riots that shook Mumbai in December 1992 and January 1993. Appointed on January 25, 1993, he examined over 500 witnesses over 470 days between April 1993 and August 1997 and the report was submitted in February this year. In between, the commission encountered the hostility of the Shiv Sena. In January 1996, less than a year after assuming power in Maharashtra, the Sena-BJP Government scrapped the commission. Then, following an appeal from Atal Bihari Vajpayee during his 13-day government in April 1996, the commission was restored but its scope was enlarged to include the Mumbai serial bomb blasts of March 1993.

Given this, and the nature of depositions before the commission, it was expected the report would be harsh on the Sena. However, even the most avid followers of the commission's proceedings couldn't have expected the severity of the indictment that followed. Particularly of Sena chief Bal Thackeray and in Srikrishna's choice of words, the commission unambiguously stated that Thackeray "like a veteran general commanded his loyal Shiv Sainiks to retaliate with organised attacks against Muslims". The commission also held that the "doctrine of retaliation" was largely responsible for the "vigilantism" practised by Sena activists that led to the killing of Muslims.

A political storm was inevitable. As expected, the Congress and Samajwadi Party (SP) MLAs stormed from the state Assembly in protest. The SP's Husain Dalwai publicly tore the Government's feeble Action Taken Report (ATR) and declared: "This government has to go ... we have decided to approach the governor and ask for its dismissal." His colleague Nawab Malik was a bit more dramatic. He stepped outside the House and set a copy of the ATR on fire. Leader of the Opposition in the Legislative Council Chagan Bhujbal, a renegade Sainik, even called for "the immediate arrest of the so-called veteran general (Thackeray)".

The chorus for Thackeray's prosecution is gaining ground. Already the Naib Imam of Delhi's Jama Masjid Syed Ahmed Bukhari has urged the Centre to prosecute Thackeray. "The Srikrishna Commission has provided enough evidence against Thackeray and other Sena leaders ... the Government should file a case," he told a prayer meeting last Friday. He appealed to the Samata Party, Trinamool Congress and the National Conference to withdraw support to the Vajpayee Government which had "failed miserably to deliver the goods".

From London, West Bengal Chief Minister Jyoti Basu demanded "legal action" against Thackeray "if the present Government at the Centre has even the slightest faith in parliamentary democracy". As of now, the demand for Thackeray's arrest and prosecution is being made by only political parties.

Human rights and minority groups in Mumbai are planning to get into the act. Senior lawyers like Yusuf Muchhala, who appeared for riots victims before the commission, are studying the 800-page report and the Government's ATR. The strategy being chalked out is to file public interest petitions to force the Government to take action. At a later stage, several such petitions may be grouped together to give weight to the demand. Some activist lawyers feel that a judicial verdict should not take time since the commission has already taken evidence and arrived at conclusions. Others, however, believe that the findings of a commission of inquiry are insufficient for an outright criminal verdict and that conviction calls for a proper trial.

There are likely to be two other demands. First, citing the commission's report, Bhujbal has demanded Chief Minister Manohar Joshi's resignation since he was not true to his oath of office. "It is clear that Joshi had in his deposition to the commission endorsed the Sena's doctrine of retaliation. Similarly, Gajanan Kirtikar is said to have led a mob during the riots. Today he is the state Home Minister. Both should resign immediately." Second, there are certain to be demands on the Election Commission to deregister the Sena on the ground that its commitment to secular principles is suspect. Muslim India editor Syed Shahabuddin has already advocated such a course.

Not that the outcry trou-bles the Sena and its pugnacious supremo. The Maharashtra Government took less than an hour to rubbish the report. As Joshi read excerpts from the commission report in the Assembly last Thursday, he was oozing scorn and contempt. "I have to reject this," thundered the normally placid Joshi. He was echoing mentor Thackeray's outburst a week earlier — before the report was made public. The Government's ATR described the report as "biased and anti-Hindu". According to the ATR, the rioting in January 1993 was a "spontaneous reaction by Hindus" to the brutal murder of mathadi (porters) workers and the arson in a Jogeshwari slum. Joshi also berated Srikrishna for "not having a word for those who conspired to destroy Mumbai through the serial bomb blasts".

Those who heard the chief minister defend Thackeray and his Government's decision to reject the commission's findings — and in that order — believe that it was perhaps Joshi's finest performance in the Assembly. Delivered in the style of a shakha pramukh, it sounded like an impassioned election speech. Indeed, Speaker Dattaji Nalawade had to remind him on three occasions "to read from the report" and had to repeatedly ask him to bear in mind his position. Thackeray himself patted Joshi for his spirited defence and roundly blamed the media for making the Sena into the "khalnayak (villain)".

The Sena mouthpiece Saamna also applauded Joshi's performance, calling it a "tadakebandh bhashan (scathing speech)". Such was its stridency that the Opposition was completely taken aback. It had expected the saffron alliance to go on the defensive given the severe strictures passed by the commission and be embarrassed at the very least. But the brazenness with which the report has been rejected has stunned the Opposition — particularly the Congress. Coming close on the heels of the Government's campaign to deport Bangladeshis and the attack on painter M.F. Husain, there is a feeling that the saffron alliance is preparing the ground for a possible regression to hard-line Hindutva.

In fact, the manner in which the Sena-BJP regime has rejected the report and its findings seems to confirm its future course of action. The alliance which came to power on the plank of checking criminalisation of politics and development for the state has now read the writing on the wall. Specially after the last Lok Sabha polls when it was routed. In less than a year and half, the state is due for Assembly elections. Too short a time for the Government to acquire a new image, not to speak of fulfilling promises made in the past.

It is quite apparent that Thackeray and the Sena leadership planned and rehearsed Joshi's stridency. Even those portions of the report that they accepted were carefully and politically chosen. For instance, the commission's observations on the then "effete political leadership" and on the lacunae in the police force affecting its operational efficiency in riot-control situations.

Where the report has named police officers, the Government has conveniently kept silent. Interestingly, one of the officers named for "strict action for his delinquency" is R.D. Tyagi, then joint commissioner of police, later promoted to commissioner by the Sena Government. Tyagi, who joined the Sena after his retirement this January, has dismissed this as "pure humiliation and denigration" of a retired police officer.

The Maharashtra Gov ernment has refused to yield even an inch. To the Opposition there couldn't have been a more shocking setback — particularly the Congress which is caught in a cleft stick since it can't ignore the report and can't attack the regime either for fear of triggering renewed violence. The SP is slightly better placed as it has the cushion of the minority vote bank. But only slightly. As things stand, the options are limited. Neither the Congress nor the SP though can afford to take to the streets as that would turn the rising anti-Sena-BJP tide among voters back in their favour. They can scarcely afford that. Especially the Congress which has assiduously rebuilt its base, the gains of which were evident in the last general elections. If the 1998 Lok Sabha results are repeated in the assembly, the Congress strength would rise from 79 to 211 while the Sena-BJP would plummet to 70 from 139.

Senior leader Sharad Pawar knows this, a reason why he impressed upon party President Sonia Gandhi to refrain from pursuing a line of over-aggression against the state Government. Pawar is believed to have briefed his partymen in Mumbai to lie low after the symbolic protests and wait for the regime to decimate itself over the next few months. Besides, restraint will enable the Congress to publicise the commission's verdict among minority voters, thereby regaining their support.

In the final analysis, Pawar believes it will be governance, or the lack of it, that will eventually determine who wins. Of course, the Congress could look to the judiciary to hasten its political comeback. It can appeal to the court, pleading the Government be forced to act on the findings of the commission. The courts could well decide in its favour and direct the Government to prosecute Thackeray.

But Joshi has already taken care of that eventuality. "If we are forced to act against Balasaheb, I will resign and join him on the streets," he thundered after tabling the report. Such a dramatic turn is calculated to revive the plummeting fortunes of the Sena-BJP regime, and even turn its leaders into martyrs. In fact, although the SP leaders are talking about pressing for President's rule — provided the Congress backs them — they are aware that any move to topple the Government would tantamount to handing over the electoral advantage to the Sena-BJP.

As a senior BJP functionary explains: "The Vajpayee regime could well take it up with a strategic intent. First, it could afford them the opportunity to dismiss other troublesome state governments like in Tamil Nadu and Bihar. At the same time, dismissal could clear the path for the return of the Sena-BJP in Maharashtra. What better opening could the alliance, currently battered on all fronts, ask for?"

The only problem with this calculation is that the saffron alliance is concurrently ruling at the Centre, at the head of a very fragile coalition. Having struggled against the hard-liners in his party and kept the more divisive aspects of the BJP's agenda under wraps, the last thing Vajpayee wants is his national agenda to fall a victim to Thackeray's extremism. A great stickler for form and parliamentary norms, Vajpayee insisted on the restoration of the Srikrishna Commission in 1996. Now, he finds his own alliance berating Sri-krishna's alleged "anti-Hindu bias".

-India Today

Damning indictment

December 1992 riots caused by demolition of the Babri Masjid, aggravation of Muslim sentiments by Hindus, insensitive approach of the police and spontaneous reaction of leaderless and incensed Muslim mobs.

January 1993 riots caused by communal Hindu organisations ... Shiv Sena led an organised attack on Muslim life and property with its "doctrine of retaliation".

Sena chief Thackeray acted like a "veteran general", his writings and directives through party mouthpiece Saamna commanding loyal Sainiks to attack.

Effete political leadership, vacillation for political reasons ... four days lost as chief minister Sudhakarrao Naik considered deploying the army when its use was imperative. Precautionary and preventive measures taken by the police were inadequate. Intelligence machinery and apparatus of the police failed.

Built-in bias of the police force against the Muslims became more pronounced ... Bias evident in active connivance of police constables with rioting Hindu mobs, in their role as passive onlookers

Has recommended that government take "strict action" against 32 officers, including R.D. Tyagi, then joint Police Commissioner and later the city's Police Commissioner, for delinquency.

-India Today

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