Reddit user u/13Vicious01 asked the community: "What's the weirdest sex myth you've ever heard?" The thread quickly filled with a colorful variety of myths and rumors people heard about sex while growing up. If anything, the thread is a stellar reminder that honest and open sexual education is critical and necessary. Here's what people shared:
1. "That you can't get pregnant if you have sex at night because the sperm are sleeping."
2. "That sneezing more than seven times in a row will give you an involuntary orgasm."
3. "A girl can't get pregnant if she's riding you because the sperm can't swim up."
"My sex ed teacher said that if a girl is on top, she won't get pregnant because of gravity. He has four children, and yes, he was also the PE teacher."
4. "A woman I know told me when you have sex with any man, it permanently leaves his DNA, so any future children you have will have the DNA of all your sexual partners."
5. "You get a male child if you conceive with both people on their right side."
6. "'It’s not sexy for a man to make noises in bed.' False! Whether it’s moans, groans, dirty talk, sweet talk, soft laughs, asking for permission, or even those awkward half-groans of concentration...they’re all fantastic!"
7. "This is a pretty common one, but it’s really weird when you think about it: the idea that women's vaginas get loose from overuse or being exposed to large penises. I find it odd because we are all aware that vaginas can dilate to a size that is much larger than any penis, and then return to normal."
"The myth is actually a bit more nuanced (and ridiculous) than this. In its most common form, an ignorant person is claiming that having 'multiple partners' is what makes a woman's vagina loose. This simply makes no sense. A married woman, even one who stayed a virgin until marriage, is likely to have more sex than a single woman who hooks up a few times a year. Yet, the single woman would be seen as the 'looser' of the two."
8. "When I was in high school, my then-boyfriend told me that friction from sex stops your period. Spoiler alert: He was very wrong."
9. "I have a friend who used to believe (he still might but I'm not sure, it was years ago) that it was emasculating to go down on a woman. His logic was that it was the woman's job to go down, not the man's."
10. "A woman can't get pregnant if she doesn't orgasm. This from a 43-year-old man."
11. "I was working self-checkout at a big blue box store. A couple was buying onions, and being bored, I asked what they were cooking. The girl pipes up and says, 'He was telling me you can’t get pregnant if you have an onion in your vagina during sex.' In shock, I say, 'That is not true.' The dude got super angry with me for not lying so he could hit it raw."
12. "I had a health class teacher tell us that alcohol negated birth control."
13. "'Soaking isn't sex,' or 'Anal isn't sex,' or 'Oral isn't sex.' I feel like these are manipulation tactics from one party to convince the other party that what they're doing is okay. This is particularly rumored to be used primarily in the Christian community in which sex before marriage is discouraged."
14. "Masturbation causes blindness and hearing loss. A kiss is the actual act of procreation, not genital sex. Wearing a condom mid-sex lets you fully enjoy sex while guaranteeing no pregnancy because a rubber is worn at the end. Swallowing still causes pregnancy, as does any kind of skin contact with sperm. I believed in some of those as late as 15."
15. "That if you're a virgin with endometriosis, then having sex can cure you. This was said to me by my mom after I heard her asking a friend if her recently married, super religious granddaughter was still having 'issues.'"
"A doctor told me that getting pregnant could cure my endometriosis. I immediately switched doctors."
16. "Way too many people still think the female orgasm isn't real."
17. "If you sneeze really hard when you finish, sperm can't find where to swim due to confusion."
18. "That using peanut butter on the genitals is a form of birth control."
19. "When I was young and learning about masturbation, I remember the schoolyard theory that you only got to do it 100 times, then you’d die. That weighed heavily on my mind the 101st time the next day."
20. "The child's sex is determined by who did the most work in bed."
21. "You get hairy palms from masturbating."
22. "In ninth grade, a girl in my class tried to tell a group of us that you can't get pregnant if it's your first time. We were all like, 'Oh, honey, nooo.' We had decent sex ed at my school, so I don't know where she got that from. I suppose nobody ever explicitly specified that yes, your first time having sex can cause pregnancy just as easily as the 100th time, but why would they even think to say that?"
23. "That one ovary is responsible for making boys, and the other is for making girls. So, if you have an ovary removed, you will only be able to have one gender of baby."
24. And: "That the hymen is proof of virginity. Total BS."
What's the wildest myth about sex you heard growing up? Tell us in the comments or share anonymously using this form!
Note: Submissions have been edited for length and/or clarity.