October 16, 2024 by Emily Mendelson
Questions from readers about whether drugs and medications can be transferred to sexual partners via semen have been coming in on a surprisingly regular basis for almost ten years. The very first question read as follows, but there have been multiple variations on it over the years: “Can medications that men take regularly (like blood...
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November 30, 2023 by Bethany Lumsdaine
As the annual masturbatory abstinence challenge known as “No Nut November” comes to a close, it is a great time to remember all the positives of masturbation. From improved health...
Myth vs Fact
October 26, 2023 by Merissa Prine
October 26th is Intersex Awareness Day. In a world that is becoming increasingly inclusive and accepting of various sexual and gender minorities, intersex awareness remains an important, yet often overlooked,...
LGBTQIA+, Myth vs Fact
May 24, 2023 by Emily Mendelson
“We are the recorders and reporters of facts—not the judges of the behaviors we describe.” – Alfred Kinsey Founded in 1947 at Indiana University, the Kinsey Institute is the premier...
Media & Culture, Myth vs Fact, Sex Ed, Sex Q&A
March 14, 2023 by Olivia Adams
Hollywood sex scenes tend to glamorize spontaneous sex. You’ve undoubtedly seen this time and again in the movies and on TV: flirtatious tension starts brewing and then we cut to...
Myth vs Fact, Psychology
March 1, 2023 by Emily Mendelson
The size of the sex toy market is predicted to reach $62.3 billion by 2030. In light of this, it’s surprising that so little research has explored what might be driving...
Myth vs Fact
November 16, 2022 by Emily Mendelson
The season three finale of Netflix’s Love is Blind was released last week, which means we finally get to see who said “I do.” Hosted by Nick and Vanessa Lachey, the...
Media & Culture, Myth vs Fact
November 9, 2022 by Emily Mendelson
It’s “No Nut November” once again. While this annual abstinence challenge seems to pick up some new participants each year, you may want to think twice before giving up masturbation...
Myth vs Fact
October 13, 2021 by Justin Lehmiller
While writing an article on the health effects of sex and masturbation a while back, I came across a paper titled “Ejaculation as a Potential Treatment of Nasal Congestion in...
Myth vs Fact
September 18, 2020 by Justin Lehmiller
A surprisingly large number of people report having had paranormal experiences. For example, in a 2013 HuffPost/YouGov poll of 1,000 American adults, 32% of respondents answered yes to the question: “Have you ever...
Fantasies, Myth vs Fact
April 29, 2020 by Justin Lehmiller
Sexually transmitted infections (STIs) are on the rise, and many people are curious about the reasons why. While the cause is obviously multifactorial, some have suggested that at least part...
Myth vs Fact, Safe Sex
April 27, 2020 by Justin Lehmiller
April is STD Awareness Month, so let’s take a little time to set the record straight on some popular myths about sexually transmitted infections and diseases. In this post, we’ll...
Myth vs Fact, Safe Sex
March 18, 2020 by Justin Lehmiller
In the last few weeks, I’ve seen a ton of headlines predicting a massive baby boom stemming from the COVID-19 coronavirus pandemic—and some people are making very bold claims. Case...
Media & Culture, Myth vs Fact, Safe Sex
January 24, 2020 by Justin Lehmiller
“Across the alt-right movement, leaders are telling young men not to masturbate, “ says clinical psychologist Dr. David Ley in a recent interview. Why is that? In part, because some...
Myth vs Fact, Videos
October 16, 2019 by Justin Lehmiller
The refractory period is usually defined as a phase following orgasm during which additional orgasms are impossible. Sexual arousal is often said to be very difficult during this time as...
Myth vs Fact, Sex Ed
June 3, 2019 by Justin Lehmiller
June is LGBT Pride Month, so I'll be running several posts on LGBTQ+ issues on the blog over the next few weeks. To get us started, let's begin by debunking...
LGBTQIA+, Myth vs Fact
May 22, 2019 by Justin Lehmiller
Penis size is a common body concern among men. While most guys report being satisfied with the size of their genitals, a sizable minority say they’re unhappy. For example, in...
Myth vs Fact, Sex Tips
May 3, 2019 by Justin Lehmiller
According to countless popular media articles, there is a massive disparity between heterosexual men and women when it comes to giving oral sex. Some of these articles suggest that, in...
Gender, Myth vs Fact, Sex Ed
April 26, 2019 by Justin Lehmiller
In the popular media, pornography has seemingly become the default source of blame for any and all sexual problems. Why are we in a “sex recession?” Porn. Why do we...
Myth vs Fact
April 15, 2019 by Justin Lehmiller
Some physicians argue that male circumcision should be a routine procedure because it can help fight the spread of sexually transmitted infections (STIs). Not only does circumcision reduce men’s odds...
Myth vs Fact, Safe Sex
September 17, 2018 by Justin Lehmiller
About a decade ago, I came across a book entitled The Technology of Orgasm by Rachel Maines. It quickly became one of my favorites on the history of sex because...
Myth vs Fact
September 14, 2018 by Justin Lehmiller
People have been searching for tools to enhance their sex lives for centuries. Historically, and even today, they have looked to various herbs and foods in the hope of finding...
Myth vs Fact, Sex Tips
June 6, 2018 by Justin Lehmiller
It’s not uncommon for guys to experience fertility problems—even guys who are in the prime of their lives. Just consider that some health organizations claim that as many as 1...
Myth vs Fact
May 2, 2018 by Justin Lehmiller
The question of whether there are racial differences in penis size is one that has been notoriously difficult to answer with any degree of scientific certainty. The problem has been...
Myth vs Fact
April 27, 2018 by Justin Lehmiller
In the popular media, it’s easy to find claims of a rising “epidemic” of erectile dysfunction in young men. For example, this article argues that the rate of ED in...
Myth vs Fact, Sex Tips
August 30, 2017 by Justin Lehmiller
My social media feed has been blowing up lately with links to article headlines like this one from HuffPost, “Women Want More Sex Than Their Partner Does, According To New...
Gender, Media & Culture, Myth vs Fact
June 23, 2017 by Justin Lehmiller
For the last two days, articles about “anal Botox” have been blowing up my Facebook and Twitter feeds, with most of the headlines (like this one from Cosmo) saying something...
Myth vs Fact, Sex Tips
February 10, 2017 by Justin Lehmiller
Logically, you might assume that there would be an increase in children being conceived on Valentine’s Day. Given the nature of this holiday and the emphasis on celebrating sex and...
Myth vs Fact
June 13, 2016 by Justin Lehmiller
Many guys have body image issues and, more often than not, those issues center around penis size--even among men who are perfectly normal in size to begin with. As a...
Myth vs Fact
April 6, 2016 by Justin Lehmiller
It’s not uncommon for guys to experience fertility problems—even guys who are in the prime of their lives. In fact, some health organizations have claimed that as many as 1...
Myth vs Fact, Sex Tips
December 7, 2015 by Justin Lehmiller
Several studies have found that when heterosexual men are around attractive women, they become prone to engaging in risky behaviors and spend their money more freely than usual. For instance,...
Myth vs Fact, Sex Ed
October 22, 2015 by Justin Lehmiller
In the weeks leading up to Halloween, it has become tradition for the media to run article after article warning parents that sex offenders may use the holiday as a...
Myth vs Fact
September 11, 2015 by Justin Lehmiller
In the last few years, a growing media panic has emerged about the dangers of pornography. Much of this has centered around the concepts of "pornography addiction" and "porn-induced erectile...
Myth vs Fact
August 3, 2015 by Justin Lehmiller
Millennials are often referred to as "the hookup generation," with popular media portrayals characterizing them as constantly jumping from one hook-up to the next and rejecting traditional notions of dating...
Myth vs Fact, Sex Ed
July 16, 2015 by Justin Lehmiller
Although casual sex is something that most Americans have done before, it is a sexual activity that continues to be viewed in a largely negative light. For instance, casual sex...
Myth vs Fact, Videos
July 10, 2015 by Justin Lehmiller
The concept of “pornography addiction” is one that has generated a lot of debate in the popular media. Although pretty much everyone seems to agree that there are indeed some...
Myth vs Fact, Sex Ed
June 20, 2015 by Justin Lehmiller
BDSM (which stands for bondage, discipline, dominance, submission, sadism, and masochism) is a widely misunderstood set of sexual practices. There are a lot of myths and stereotypes out there about...
Kink & BDSM, Myth vs Fact
April 24, 2015 by Justin Lehmiller
My home state of Indiana has been in the news a lot lately, and most of the news coverage has portrayed it in a pretty unflattering light. This is due...
Myth vs Fact
March 13, 2015 by Justin Lehmiller
Pornography has been blamed for a number of problems over the years. Among the many claims leveled against porn is that it causes divorce and sexual violence (neither of which...
Myth vs Fact
December 12, 2014 by Justin Lehmiller
A new study claiming to demonstrate bias in how college students evaluate female instructors has been making a lot of waves in the media recently. The study, published in the...
Gender, Myth vs Fact
October 24, 2014 by Justin Lehmiller
Every year around Halloween, the media starts running story after story warning parents to watch out for sex offenders who plan to exploit the holiday as a means of preying...
Myth vs Fact
August 29, 2014 by Justin Lehmiller
The other day, I overheard a couple of college-age guys talking about what they thought was an ingenious method for never failing a breathalyzer test again when stopped by police...
Myth vs Fact
May 22, 2014 by Justin Lehmiller
In 1972, a paper published in the Journal of Personality and Social Psychology announced scientific support for the so-called “Romeo and Juliet effect." The basic idea was that the more...
Dating & Relationships, Myth vs Fact
May 7, 2014 by Justin Lehmiller
A new study that sought to uncover what factors predict women’s likelihood of committing infidelity has been making a lot of headlines [1]. Although this study identified several variables linked...
Myth vs Fact
April 16, 2014 by Justin Lehmiller
The hormone oxytocin is often referred to in the popular media as the “love hormone” or “cuddle drug” because research has shown that it plays an important role in human...
Myth vs Fact
April 7, 2014 by Justin Lehmiller
According to the Urban Dictionary, the term beer goggles is defined as the “phenomenon in which one's consumption of alcohol makes physically unattractive persons appear beautiful.” In recent years, much...
Myth vs Fact
February 9, 2014 by Justin Lehmiller
A recent New York Times piece by Lori Gottlieb entitled "Does a More Equal Marriage Mean Less Sex?" made a lot of waves over the weekend. Gottlieb's analysis suggests that...
Dating & Relationships, Myth vs Fact
January 6, 2014 by Justin Lehmiller
I read a fascinating Ask Me Anything (AMA) on Reddit the other day entitled: “I am the guy with two penises.” It was written by a very sexually active man...
Myth vs Fact
November 27, 2013 by Justin Lehmiller
The human papilloma virus (HPV) is one of the most common sexually transmitted infections today, and it is responsible for a wide range of health issues, including genital warts, as...
Myth vs Fact, Videos
October 28, 2013 by Justin Lehmiller
Compared to the United States, European nations tend to have more relaxed attitudes toward public nudity. Certainly, there’s a lot of variability across individual countries in terms of the type...
Media & Culture, Myth vs Fact
October 14, 2013 by Justin Lehmiller
The title of a forthcoming article in the journal Personal Relationships recently caught my eye: “Sowing Wild Oats: Valuable Experience, or a Field Full of Weeds?” As a sex researcher,...
Myth vs Fact, Sex Ed
September 20, 2013 by Justin Lehmiller
Every Friday on the blog, I answer people’s questions about sex, love, and relationships. This week’s question comes from a reader who wanted to know whether sex truly is one...
Myth vs Fact, Sex Q&A
September 16, 2013 by Justin Lehmiller
For the last several years, the popular media has been running story after story about college “hookup culture.” These articles argue that today’s youth are more sex-crazed than previous generations...
Myth vs Fact
September 16, 2013 by Justin Lehmiller
A new study looking at the link between men’s testicular size and their parenting qualities has been making the rounds in the media lately, with provocative headlines ranging from “Choose...
Media & Culture, Myth vs Fact
September 2, 2013 by Justin Lehmiller
For centuries, numerous religious, political, and medical figures have argued that masturbation is hazardous to one's health and can lead to a wide range of negative effects, including everything from...
Myth vs Fact
August 21, 2013 by Justin Lehmiller
There is a common perception that people who practice bondage, discipline, dominance, submission, sadism, and masochism (BDSM) have major psychological issues. As some evidence of this, just take a look...
Myth vs Fact
August 12, 2013 by Justin Lehmiller
In a recent New York Times editorial, author Susan Jacoby laments the increasingly popularity of “sexting,” cybersex, and other such virtual connections. Jacoby argues that virtual sex lacks the sensuality...
Media & Culture, Myth vs Fact
May 29, 2013 by Justin Lehmiller
Despite the fact that birth control has become widespread over the past few decades, many controversies and misunderstandings persist. One area where much confusion remains is the topic of emergency...
Myth vs Fact, Videos
February 4, 2013 by Justin Lehmiller
A new study published in the American Sociological Review reports that when married couples divide household chores along gendered lines (i.e., with women doing more work inside the home, such...
Myth vs Fact
January 30, 2013 by Justin Lehmiller
Despite the fact that erections are often referred to as “boners,” there are no actual bones in the human penis. Of course, some animals have penile bones, including walruses, which...
Myth vs Fact, Sex Tips
January 23, 2013 by Justin Lehmiller
In a recent online survey, a sample of 1,500 men were asked to identify the most common causes of erectile dysfunction (ED). Results indicated that 1 out of 3 guys...
Myth vs Fact, Sex Tips
January 7, 2013 by Justin Lehmiller
A new study published in The Journal of Sex Research about the psychological effects of exposure to online pornography has been making the rounds in the media recently. A number...
Media & Culture, Myth vs Fact
January 2, 2013 by Justin Lehmiller
Although most people are sexually active, it is surprising how little some people seem to know about sex. In particular, there are a multitude of myths and misconceptions about the...
Myth vs Fact
December 17, 2012 by Justin Lehmiller
Society views women who appear in pornographic films negatively. For instance, both male and female college students rate porn actresses as having more negative traits and characteristics than mainstream movie...
Myth vs Fact, Sex Ed
November 19, 2012 by Justin Lehmiller
A flood of headlines has appeared over the past few days claiming that the hormone oxytocin may be the key to helping men with wandering eyes stay faithful to their...
Myth vs Fact
October 31, 2012 by Justin Lehmiller
Every time Halloween rolls around, people start telling stories about “Halloween sadism,” or the practice of providing trick-or-treaters with tainted treats. Parents are told to be on the lookout for...
Myth vs Fact
October 29, 2012 by Justin Lehmiller
As I have discussed in past articles, much of what has been said during the recent “war on porn” is inaccurate. There is simply no evidence that consumption of pornography...
Myth vs Fact, Sex Ed
October 15, 2012 by Justin Lehmiller
“The shortest porn scenes require an absolute minimum of ‘half an hour of hard thrusting by a well-endowed young man. It's hard enough to deal with [without] condoms. Add latex...
Myth vs Fact
September 28, 2012 by Justin Lehmiller
There are countless myths and stereotypes about gays and lesbians spanning everything from their mannerisms to their sex lives to the nature of their relationships. In this article, I will...
LGBTQIA+, Myth vs Fact
September 12, 2012 by Justin Lehmiller
There are several common stereotypes about the sex lives of gay men. One of the most prevalent is that anal sex is the primary (if not only) sexual activity that...
LGBTQIA+, Myth vs Fact
September 10, 2012 by Justin Lehmiller
Are couples who start having sex right away not as happy in the long run? A new study has found that heterosexual romantic partners who had sex within the first...
Media & Culture, Myth vs Fact
August 29, 2012 by Justin Lehmiller
Several decades ago, psychologist Dr. John Money advanced what has become known as “the theory of gender neutrality.” The basic idea was that, in terms of gender, everyone comes into...
Myth vs Fact
August 22, 2012 by Justin Lehmiller
A recent study looking at the types of women that men are attracted to during times of stress made huge international news this month. Among the many headlines I came...
Media & Culture, Myth vs Fact
August 10, 2012 by Justin Lehmiller
Every Friday on the blog, I answer people’s questions about sex, love, and relationships. This week, we’re talking about whether you can pick the sex of your baby by having...
Myth vs Fact, Sex Q&A
August 1, 2012 by Justin Lehmiller
People around the world have long believed that certain foods are aphrodisiacs. Oysters, bananas, figs, cucumbers…the list goes on and on. But can eating any of these foods really increase...
Myth vs Fact
June 11, 2012 by Justin Lehmiller
Everyone knows that pheromones exist in animals. For example, if you’ve ever been around a female dog while she’s in heat, you have probably seen and heard all of the...
Myth vs Fact, Sex Ed
June 6, 2012 by Justin Lehmiller
“Research has shown that men are more visually stimulated, while women are more literary; they’re turned on by words or erotic stories.” – Dr. Michael Krychman on Fifty Shades of...
Gender, Myth vs Fact, Sex Ed
June 4, 2012 by Justin Lehmiller
When you see someone attractive that you desperately want to meet, how do you break the ice? Many of us opt for a simple “hi” or “hello,” others offer a...
Dating & Relationships, Myth vs Fact
May 30, 2012 by Justin Lehmiller
Men are masturbating 50 to 500% more than they would normally without Internet porn. So if a guy normally masturbated once a day, he might now be doing it two...
Myth vs Fact
March 19, 2012 by Justin Lehmiller
"America is suffering a pandemic of harm from pornography. A wealth of research is now available demonstrating that pornography causes profound brain changes in both children and adults, resulting in...
Myth vs Fact, Sex Ed
February 20, 2012 by Justin Lehmiller
Ever since the Internet arrived in our homes, people have been using it as a tool for making love connections. In fact, research indicates that about one in five heterosexual...
Dating & Relationships, Myth vs Fact
February 8, 2012 by Justin Lehmiller
It was recently reported in several media outlets that an HIV-positive Texas man was sentenced to 35-years in prison for spitting at a police officer. The reason? Prosecutors argued that...
Myth vs Fact
January 25, 2012 by Justin Lehmiller
The stereotypical picture of a heterosexual couple post-coitus depicts a frustrated woman who wants to talk and cuddle staring at a sleeping (and usually snoring) man. Such tension between the...
Myth vs Fact, Sex Ed
January 19, 2012 by Justin Lehmiller
When it comes to sex and relationships, the popular media loves to discuss these topics in terms of statistical averages. For example, what is the average number of time couples...
Myth vs Fact
January 12, 2012 by Justin Lehmiller
“Masturbation: the primary sexual activity of mankind. In the nineteenth century it was a disease; in the twentieth it's a cure.” – Thomas SzaszOne of the most common sexual topics...
Myth vs Fact, Sex Ed
January 2, 2012 by Justin Lehmiller
“I’m not even sure bisexuality exists. I think it’s just a layover on the way to gaytown.”– Carrie Bradshaw (Sex and the City)Many of you are probably familiar with the...
LGBTQIA+, Myth vs Fact, Sex Ed
