Single and seeking, or blissfully wed, perving is a favourite past time of men and women all over the world. There seems to be no magic OFF switch a partner can press preventing you from admiring a hottie, real or imagined, on screen or in your dreams every now and then.

Lets face it, not only does it feel good it also helps to release youth promoting chemicals associated with stress relief, complexion and skin rejuvenation as well as good health.

However some people go to great lengths to ensure their partner’s eyes and minds stay firmly focused away from all but them. We had one friend who went through a stage of actually cutting out all sexy shots in the newspapers and magazines she read before allowing her boyfriend to view them. Even the TV guide didn’t escape her paranoia; needless to say this rather extreme behaviour had the opposite effect, much to her dismay. Lets face it, when someone tells you not to think about pink elephants……… you know the rest! 

So what should you do? Well as I’m sure most of you know worrying about a roving eye is a recipe for sending you and your potential partners to the loony bin. But should you be concerned if a partner likes to linger a little too long on the lingerie pages? It seems the desire to ‘look’ may be more inbuilt than we realise.

Those wonderful lads in lab coats have come to the rescue again with yet another whacky but insightful study. In his latest experiment, neurobiologist Michael Platt at Duke University in Carolina, showed monkeys a variety of images including that of female monkeys’ bums. They were also offered various distractions in the form of their favourite juice and snacks.

The scientist discovered that male monkeys were prepared to take a significant cut in their juice rewards specifically to stare for longer at the bootylicious baboon bum of their dreams. Michael Platt said “they reacted like men faced with a large billboard of a lingerie model”!! With the latest research showing that our genes are 98%-99% genetically identical to certain apes it would seem mother nature made us all a little pervy, hairy or otherwise. So let’s relax, enjoy the view and get back to monkey-ing around!