9 Sex Myths You Should Stop Believing

The truth: Sorry ladies and gents, there’s no way to judge his business without actually seeing his business. Studies have shown that there’s no correlation between penis size and shoe size. Same goes for ear size and hand size and pretty much every other part of his body.

The truth: Speaking of which, the relationship between size and satisfaction is largely (sorry) exaggerated. This is truly up to personal preference; the important thing here is typically compatibility of size.

The truth: Well, this is terrifying. Superfetation is an extremely rare (like, almost impossible) but real phenomena that occurs when a pregnant woman continues ovulating and a second, fertilized egg is able to implant itself in the lining of the womb. But seriously, when we say it’s rare, we mean it’s rare: There have been only ten reported cases of superfetation. Phew.

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The truth: Fortunately for everyone, this one’s very false. If men thought about sex every seven seconds, that would mean about 8,000 times per day. In reality, according to The Kinsey Institute, 54 percent of men said they think about sex several times per day and 43 percent said it was a few times per week.

The truth: Though women might actively think about sex less often than do men (the above Kinsey study found that 19 percent of women think about sex multiple times a day and 63 percent think about it a few times per week), that doesn’t mean women want sex any less. According to a survey by the fertility awareness app Kindara, around 53 percent of women don’t have as much sex as they’d like to be having.

The truth: Before you whip out the bivalves (and chocolate and hot peppers), know that there’s really no truth behind the aphrodisiac powers of food. Oysters are made up of elements (water, protein, carbohydrates, fat, etc.) that have no power to chemically stimulate sex drive. The placebo effect could be aided by the sexual nature of eating, but the food itself doesn’t get you going.

The truth: Sure you burn a few calories, but you shouldn’t substitute sex for a trip to the gym. Thirty minutes of sex might burn off 85 to 150 calories, but that’s only if you’re fully aerobically engaged for 30 minutes straight. Sorry, friends.

The truth: The idea of a “sexual peak” is pretty flimsy independent of gender. Throughout a lifetime, men and women experience peaks and valleys where desire is concerned.

The truth: Not necessarily. While sex in your 20s might be more athletic, there’s no science to support the idea of superior sex. In fact, many men and women report having more fulfilling experiences in the subsequent decades. Hooray!