Dead Sex

A man I used to know confided to me once that it really turned him on to have a woman pretend to play dead during sex. I'm pretty sure he was kidding but it did give me an idea for a whole different kind of "Night of the Living Dead" movie.

Now it appears that the idea is catching on, at least with some species. In an experiment conducted in Denmark, researchers have discovered that some spiders - male spiders, that is - have better sex by pretending to play dead:

All the males sought to attract partners by offering a gift of food, held in the mouth.

But the ones that lay flat and motionless -- even if meant getting dragged about by a female that had latched onto the victuals -- wound up in a much better position, as it were, to engage in sexual activity.

The hapless males that tried the direct approach wound up keeping the free meal but not getting what they were really after.

Males that played dead were also allowed to copulate longer than males that did not, ensuring more eggs could fertilized, the researchers reported.

Actually, this technique isn't new. I've used it for years, although the results haven't been very satisfactory.

Maybe it's the snoring that ruins it.