We make up all sorts of stuff about sex. Birds and bees, storks bringing babies, damn, sex is confusing as heck. Some of those little oddities hang around and gather lives of their own until it’s hard to remember a time when they didn’t exist. We’ve pulled together and debunked five of the stranger myths that feel like they could be true, but aren’t. You’re welcome.
- Coca-Cola Is A Spermicide
You might not have heard of this one, but since the 1950’s, some have believed that douching with Coca-Cola after sex can help prevent pregnancy. It’s true. In fact, the belief in the efficacy of Coke-douching was so prevalent that a team of scientists was assigned to look into it. They said that there was, in fact, a chance that Coca-Cola would kill a small amount of sperm after sex, and even noted that Diet Coke was the most effective. (The scientists who conducted it were awarded the Nobel Prize as a result. I couldn’t make this up.)
While the evidence suggested a very slight reduction in the probability of becoming pregnant when Coke was douched, it is absolutely not a safe or effective contraceptive in general. If you want an effective Coke-based contraceptive, just ask a new partner if it’s ok if you douche with Diet Coke after you have sex. Then, no sex will occur.
- Semen Makes Your Teeth Whiter
Along with the idea that pineapple juice makes it taste better, there’s a lot of folk who think semen makes their teeth whiter. Does it? Well, the American Dental Association has never put out a definitive statement one way or the other, so there’s no official consensus. But we know this much: semen contains the nutrients zinc and calcium, both of which are known to promote healthy teeth. But, the amount of semen you would need for it to make a difference would be astronomical.
We’ve crunched the numbers. It would take 22 ejaculations per day to make up the necessary zinc amount, and over 1,100 ejaculations to source enough calcium.
- You Can’t Get Pregnant While Breastfeeding
Another pregnancy-related one, there are 385 million results if you search this topic on google. But the truth is that, although many women celebrate the brief menstrual break their body gives them during pregnancy and after childbirth, periods and pregnancy are only indirectly related. Just because your period might have taken pause for a little while, it is still possible to become pregnant again in this period. So to speak. In other words, even if the various hormones that usually trigger ovulation are redirected to trigger lactation, ovulation is still possible, and therefore so is the chance for conception.
- Men Think About Sex Every 7 Seconds
It’s so temptingly easy to distill all of the human masculinity down to its preoccupation with sex, isn’t it? Unfortunately for overgeneralizers everywhere, it’s just not true. It’s not true consciously, where only 23% of men actively fantasize regularly, nor neurologically, where the various sexual receptors in the brain have been showed to only activate when directly stimulated. Men aren’t quite the one-dimensional sex automatons as we assumed.
- Sex Can Ruin Your Athletic Performance
Every now and then, a story emerges about a team coach prohibiting his players from engaging in sex before a big game, in the hopes of harvesting all that raw, sexual energy and channeling it into a good, competitive performance. But is there any truth to it?
Nope. According to the only study I could find into the phenomenon, “doubts remain regarding the possible negative impact of sexual activity the night before a competition.” It goes onto say, rightly, that, “the sexual sphere is individual, and in this context, athletes should likely feel free to live their sexual activity in complete freedom.”
Strong words from a physiology academic report.
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