Sex woo

Sex is surrounded by woo and pseudoscience. Some of it is derived from word of mouth, others from societal taboos, and others by the simple fact that sex is of interest to many people.
==Sexual activity==
===Hot singles near you===
Despite what that clickbait banner might have told you, there are probably not so many of them as there are hot male singles. Women have a libido as high as those of average males, even before marriage. There is an to this. Additionally, testosterone, the primary driver of sexual desire, is much lower in females.
This doesn't mean you won't be able to find paid sex services or erotic chats.
===Masturbation===
A huge pile of myths has been developed on this topic, including blindness, hairy palms, loss of masculinity/libido/erections, a gateway to sexual violence, hatred towards women, conversion to homosexuality and much more.
==Male body==
===Penis enlargement===
Many herbal supplements are being sold under the premise that they can change the penile size. They are often promoted by scam artists and they are sold without clinical trials to prove their purposed efficacy. Additional proposed techniques include penis pumps, which do not result in any permanent size change.http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/16536772 Exercises range from being useless to risking causing injuries, such as Peyronie's Disease (the penis is indeed not a muscle). Surgery yields limited effects, with the addition of potential complications.
===Bodybuilding woo===
Many supposed tips spread by word of mouth are often heard in bodybuilding communities, but they are often based on anecdotal evidence and on whatever the more muscular guy said.
==Female body==
===Menstruation===
Menstruations don't sync with each other when multiple women live under the same roof,http://www.straightdope.com/columns/read/2429/does-menstrual-synchrony-really-exist nor with moon phases. Many other myths are also often perpetuated.
===Abortion===
Abortion does not increase the risk of cancer.
===G-spot===
Scientific studies don't seem to be able to point to a specific "magical" spot,http://www.independent.co.uk/voices/commentators/joan-smith/joan-smith-call-off-the-search-teams--the-gspot-is-a-myth-7679083.html despite the anecdotal evidence reported by some women and what some TV "sexperts" say. Individual women can however have more or less sensitive areas.
===Sex permanently stretches the vagina===
One particularly prevailing misconception is that the vagina will become "beat up," worn out,"First things first: the vagina is a muscle. It's not some flippety-floppedy passive tube, nor is it tissue like your skin." http://www.scarleteen.com/article/advice/lets_let_this_be_the_last_word_on_worn_out_vaginas_shall_we or loose"The vagina contracts and expands every time you have sex with your partner or masturbate. With repeated contractions and expansions, the vaginal walls would tend to slacken and lose their elasticity. Again, too much force applied during penetration could potentially damage the vaginal opening and walls, causing them to lose their grip and elasticity." http://www.ladycarehealth.com/home-remedies-for-tightening-a-vagina/ from sex, especially rough sex, or sex with well-hung guys. In particular, promiscuous single women are said to develop loose, worn-out vaginas, despite the fact that women in relationships have sex far more regularly and thus would be more at risk of such a syndrome if it existed.http://www.the1585.com/concerningvaginas.html Even more, one would expect mothers to be even more at risk, since they pass something much wider than any penis during childbirth. This whole misconception is most likely tied in with slut shaming.
==Human body==
===Hair regrowth supplements===
Many proposed pills and natural remedies have been proposed to cure baldness. Actual drugs that actually work are and .
===Depilation/shaving regrowth===
A common myth is that shaving an area of the human body causes future hair to grow faster or stronger.http://www.mayoclinic.org/healthy-lifestyle/adult-health/expert-answers/hair-removal/faq-20058427http://www.snopes.com/oldwives/hairgrow.asphttp://www.nature.com/jid/journal/v55/n3/pdf/5618137a.pdfhttp://www.nature.com/jid/journal/v55/n3/abs/5618137a.htmlhttp://lifehacker.com/5873922/10-stubborn-body-myths-that-just-wont-die-debunked-by-sciencehttp://www.menshealth.co.uk/style/skin-care/q-if-i-shave-my-chest-will-the-hair-grow-back-thicker-516749 Shaving can give the illusion of thicker hair, because hair is sharply cut and loses its thinner/damaged top. Needless to say, this tactile sensation disappears as soon as hair is given time to regrow.
==Orientation and attraction==
===Changing orientation (one way or another)===
Sexual orientation is considered to be unchangeable (without taking internalized homophobia and abstinence into account).http://www.apa.org/topics/lgbt/orientation.aspx This does not stop religious groups from proposing pseudoscientific and pseudopsychological methods to "deconvert" gays to normal straight people.
Fears of conversions in the opposite direction are also used to oppose gender and orientation-inclusive sex education and LGBT visibility.
===Opposites attract===
Whether the context is heterosexuality or homosexuality, couples composed of people with very different attitudes, social status or interest don't tend to attract each other as much as those with more similarities.Do Opposites Attract? WebMDDo People Know What They Want: A Similar or Complementary Partner?, Pieternel Dijkstrahttp://skeptics.stackexchange.com/questions/3099/do-opposite-types-in-romantic-relationships-attract
These features include:
*physical attractiveness;White, 1980
*wealth;
*desire (or lack thereof) to have children;
*religion;Luo and Klohnen, 2005
*social status;
*education;Bouchard and McGue, 1981
*kind of relational attachment.Klohnen and Luo, 2003
===Pick-up artistry===
Pick-up artistry is the "study" or techniques to get laid with women. Many of these techniques are based on deceptive and manipulative behaviors, others on misogynistic stereotypes, while others are simply reasonable common sense that every person generally should know.
==Gender==
===Biological determinism===
Biological determinism is used to imply the idea that men should behave in a specific way (or are justified in behaving in specific ways), and that women should behave in other specific ways.
While there are definitely innate differences and attitudes (such as height, sexual desire, predisposition to specific illnesses), many people (not necessarily transgender people) might find this cultural imposition to be restrictive of their agency. For example, women being slut-shamed for being sexually promiscuous, or men being dismissed for doing non-masculine things (like crying or being interested in fashion or style).
==References==
Category:Woo
Category:Pseudoscience
Category:Sexism
Category:Homophobia
Category:Purity culture
Category:Rape culture