In The Event That...

He's Not That Into Ewe

by Lauren F. Friedman

The Score: How the Quest for Sex Has Shaped the Modern Man with Faye Flam

Faye Flam, a science writer and former sex columnist for the Inquirer, will not soon forget her interview with Steve O'Shea, an expert on the giant squid. She already knew that many invertebrates have sex lives more bizarre than anything humans could imagine, but the giant squid just might top them all. "The females don't have an opening," Flam explains, "and so they have to stab each other and all this crazy stuff."

Flam is the author of The Score: How the Quest for Sex Has Shaped the Modern Man (Avery, $24.95), which discusses endless cases of similarly "crazy stuff" in the animal world and documents Flam's experiences at a boot camp where men pay over $2,000 to learn how to become pickup artists. "They occasionally asked me my advice — like, has this ever worked on you?" Flam recalls. "I tried to be helpful."

Considering that male ducks must contend with corkscrew-shaped vaginas, male humans have it pretty easy if their biggest problem is a pickup line. "We are sort of lucky in that we evolved mechanisms by which sex creates pleasure," says Flam. "On the other hand, giving birth isn't so much fun."

Anyone looking for a date at Flam's Penn Museum Young Friends talk — which conveniently will be followed by cocktails and mingling — won't be hard-pressed to find a good icebreaker. Just don't bring up the giant squid until everyone has had a few drinks.