Islamic Martyrs Get 72 Virgins?

I've been thinking about this whole "72 Virgins" thing for a while. I wrote a joke about it I published here before that I'll retell below, but I got to wondering what the specific attraction is. What about it would help convince a young man to become a suicide bomber?

I have an idea, but nobody with whom to confirm or deny it. Here it is anyway.

The little I know about Islam suggests they frown upon (forbid?) premarital sex. That means many/most/all the young men who blow themselves up have never had sex before. If you were one of those men, you wouldn't want to get to Heaven/Paradise, have sex for the first time, and have the woman tell you, "You are the worst lay I ever had, you premature-ejaculating pencil dick." I can see how that wouldn't be a very desirable experience. It wouldn't make *me* want to blow myself up.

The "72 Virgins" offer, on the other hand, is enormously attractive. For 72 times in a row a woman would say, "So THAT is sex. I had always wondered. Making love with you was the most fabulous experience of my life." Or something like that.

By removing the sexual performance anxiety from young male virgin zealots, those issuing the orders have a far greater likelihood their men will follow through with their missions.

BTW, there are many *female* suicide bombers, too. I wonder what they get promised.

And now the aforementioned joke ...

Islamic suicide bombers are promised 72 virgins in Heaven. If Popeye the Sailor became a suicide bomber, he'd get 73. He'd have that extra virgin, Olive Oyl.

Dating somebody at work

When I was very, very young, I dated a woman where I worked.

We all gave her a 21st birthday party (I *said* I was young), and somebody brought a bottle of wine -- but no corkscrew. I handed her the bottle and asked (in a normal voice), "Why don't you suck out the cork?" Everybody, including the girl and me, thought this was very funny.

Only a very special set of circumstances made that moment work. But it did.