5 Bizarre Sex Myths Debunked

After finishing a sex education workshop at a middle school in Queens, New York, a student came up to me and said his grandmother had recently told him that if he pleasures himself, hair will grow on the palm of his hand. As a result, he had been unable to sleep at night and was experiencing shame about his perceived indiscretions.

As I explained to him that pleasuring yourself is a natural and healthy act, I began to think about the damage caused by perpetuating myths, even the ridiculous ones. Here are five of them:

1. Masturbation causes hair to grow on your palms

This myth seems to still be alive in 2022 and in the mouths of certain grandparents in Queens, so let's investigate—is there any truth to this claim?

Although there are hair follicles in most parts of the body, there are not any follicles on the soles of your feet, your lips or the palms of your hands. Only a few people have grown hair on their palms, and they are typically people who got a skin graft, not people who gave themselves a leisurely rubdown.

"As a professional sex toy reviewer, if there was truth to this myth, my hands would look like Chewbacca's," said Rebecca Blanton, Ph.D., a kink educator in Cincinnati. "I would need much more time to wash, condition and curl my palm hair than even the hair on my head."

Although it is unclear precisely how this myth developed, the agenda is to prevent self-pleasure and make folks experience shame.

2. Women store the DNA of their sexual partners forever

This myth began with a 2012 study published by PLOS ONE. Biochemists explored the brains of several women during autopsy and found the women had genetically distinct male cells, called "microchimerism." The study hypothesized that the male DNA might have come from a transplant, a pregnancy, an older male sibling or a blood transfusion.

Several follow-up articles concluded that the male DNA cells must have come from the people with whom the women had sex, despite no mention of this possibility in the original study.

In California-based sex therapist Nazanin Moali's opinion: "Abstinent-based organizations created this myth to scare women from having premarital sex. They combined the findings from several unrelated studies and drew this inaccurate conclusion as a shame-based approach to achieve their goal."

In reality, we sometimes don't even know the last names of the people we have sex with, let alone store their DNA for eternity, Blanton joked.

3. Coca-Cola can work as a spermicide to prevent pregnancy

In the 1950s and 1960s, when Coca-Cola was extremely popular and birth control was hard to come by, the rumor developed that the acid and sugar in Coke could act as a spermicide. Coke bottles even came with a handy-dandy "shake and shoot" applicator, the myth went: After intercourse, the woman could take off the cap, put her thumb on the bottle's mouth, insert it in her vagina, move her thumb out of the way, and let the Coke hit her with freshness.

This folklore became so powerful that in 1985, researchers decided to test the efficacy of the theory, with one study finding Coca-Cola can kill a small amount of sperm after sex, with Diet Coke being the most effective choice. The researchers behind this project even won an Ig Nobel Prize for getting to the bottom of this subject, alongside researchers who found foods taste better when they sound more appealing, and dog fleas jump higher than cat fleas.

Later research in Taiwan disproved these results, finding, as one would expect, Coca-Cola has no spermicidal effect and, more importantly, you should not put it in your vagina for any reason. Indeed, the vaginal tissue has a very sensitive balance of bacteria that maintains its health, and putting cola down there can lead to yeast infections, bacterial infections and other conditions. Indeed, even though singer Lana Del Ray may brag her "p---y tastes like Pepsi cola," Blanton asserted that if you really want your vulva to taste like cola, flavored condoms are a much more effective way to prevent pregnancy than using Coke as a spermicide.

4. Semen makes your teeth whiter

If sperm made your teeth whiter, it would have solid persuasive qualities for, ah, oral application. What are the facts?

Semen does contain calcium and zinc, which promote healthy teeth and prevent tooth decay. But any benefit is insignificant; based on the amount of sperm in a typical load, you would need about 22 ejaculations to cover your recommended amount of zinc for the day and at least 1,000 loads to have enough calcium to impact your teeth. Tooth-whitening toothpaste may be an easier move.

5. Men think about sex every seven seconds

Moali said there's not a vast difference between women and men when thinking about sex and, in fact, most men do not think about sex every seven seconds. Indeed, a 2012 study in the Journal of Sex Research found the median number of times that men think about sex a day is 19, compared to 10 for women. Most men tend to think about sex once or twice an hour, about as much as they think about food and sleep.

This myth perpetuates the idea that men are hypersexual and women are not sexual at all. This misinformation can make women feel something is wrong with them if they have a higher desire.

Myths around sex can perpetuate gender, sexuality and pleasure stereotypes, working to control what behavior we deem appropriate. Nobody should be using a magnifying glass on their palms to look for hair follicles because they engage in natural and healthy behavior. So be sure to fact-check what you hear and read about sex.