What It's Like To Be A Sex Researcher (Hint: It's Awesome)

Our daily commute to work allows for a solid 20 to 30 minutes of silence. Okay, not actual silence, but the kind of mental quiet that means we don't have to talk to anyone. And, if we so choose, we can just sit there and be one with our thoughts. So, what do you think about during your morning ride? Recently, Nan Wise spent her time thinking, "So far, I have collected 13 self-stimulation orgasms but only six orgasms brought about through partner stimulation. The goal is to have an equal number of both."

As a sex researcher, Wise spends her working week at the Rutgers University Brain Imaging Center. And, she's offered up a "day in the life" essay for The Atlantic that's as interesting as it is hilarious. At 56 years old, the former sex therapist is now a cognitive neuroscientist. Her job is to study the human sexual response. Wise's Ph.D dissertation is on genital stimulation and the female orgasm. In other words, she collects orgasms for science.

While the most exciting moment from your work day may be that someone brought in an apple pie to share with the rest of the office, Wise's stories are a bit more entertaining. There was that time she was stimulating herself in an MRI machine and lost control of the vibrator. That story's since been dubbed the one about the "flying purple dildo." Really puts that water-cooler gossip into perspective, huh? (The Atlantic)