Sex Urban Legends, True, False and Weird

Sex Urban Legends, True, False and Weird

By Ksenia Sobchak

When it comes to urban legends, those involving sex are by far the popular favourite. The more outlandish, the better. What's more suprising however, are how many myths prove to be true, and how many tidbits of "common knowledge" prove to be nothing but myth! Here are three of our favourites: the false, the true, and the outright odd.

Kicking things off is a myth that most of us have believed from when we first learned how sex worked: that pregnancy happens right away or not at all. "Six weeks pregnant" for most of us translates into "six weeks since that night of passion", but this is far from the whole truth. You see, sperm have quite the lifespan, able to survive for days after ejaculation, just waiting to make that happy accident happen. Tests have found them surviving for longer than a week inside the reproductive tract! This means that simply passing a pregnancy test the morning after is no guarantee that you've dodged the baby bullet. What's more, the more promiscuous among us can't simply count the days to determine whether Joe or Frank is the lucky father.

On the flip side of things, here's an outlandish sexual myth that is in fact, true. Who hasn't heard of the legendary orgasm pill? "Nonsense!" cry the masses. "If such a thing existed it would be all over the market!...right?" Well, it's not exactly available on a convenience store shelf, but that chemical combination certainly does exist! Clomipramine as it is known is an anti-depressant that's been in use since the sixties; one which has produced some interesting side effects. Roughly one in twenty test subjects have experienced spontaneous orgasms from little more than yawning. Sadly, side effects also include nausea, weight gain and potential impotence, but hey, it's not a myth!

Ending on an appropriately outlandish note, we have the ever popular sexual urban legend of a man who got too frisky with his pool pump, with predictable consequences. No one could be so stupid right? Actually yes, yes they can. Florida's own Scottish Inn motel had just such a frisky guest, with both police and the paramedics called in to free willy as it were. Turns out half an hour of relentless suction can cause quite a bit of swelling. Ouch!