College students have many beliefs about sex, but how many of them are true? We asked Dr. Jan Palmer, Student Health service Director, about these myths, and he surprised us with how wrong we were.
By Kayla Shane
“I can’t get an STD from oral sex, because it’s not real sex and it doesn’t count”
FALSE. You can easily transfer STD’s during oral sex, both from giving and receiving. You can actually get Chlamydia and gonorrhea of the mouth and transfer it to the genitalia, and visa versa—those are not as common but it can definitely happen. The biggest STD is herpes. It’s easily transferred from the mouth to genetaila and back. Anyone who has ever had a breakout of cold sores can transfer it, they don’t have to be active, or broken out right then. Another big problem is the HPV (Human Papilloma Virus). We get a lot of patients who come in with HPV lesions in their throat. Guess you need to be more careful than you might have thought before you start to get down…
“I need to urinate after sex or I will get a UTI”
TRUE and FALSE. Some women are more susceptible to urinary tract infections, and some women never have a problem. Just to be safe, one way to decrease the chances is to urinate before AND after sex. Going before helps to clean out the bladder– the same with going after. It’s just a precautionary measure. So just hit the bathroom before and after your nookie session to help prevent a seriously uncomfortable problem.
“I don’t need to worry about contracting an STD if I have a boyfriend/girlfriend”
FALSE. True, the worry can be smaller, however it’s still possible. The more partners you’re sexually active with, yes the more you need to worry, and monogamy definitely decreases the probability. On the other hand. Every person you sleep with, it’s like sleeping with every person they have slept with and visa versa, so it also depends on your partner’s history. A big/ common problem that is brought into a relationship is HPV, since it isn’t treatable, and can stay with you for years.
“Men think about sex every seven seconds”
FALSE. There have been no proof as to the actual number of times per minute or how many times per number of seconds men actually think about sex. It is true, however, that men think about sex much more than women do.
“Every girl can have an orgasm, and if you don’t have one every time, you’re weird.”
TRUE and FALSE. How much do you actually care about who you’re sleeping with? Is the answer to this question. Physically, yes everyone is capable of reaching an orgasm, and some women have no problem either way. However, the mind is the most important aspect of the sexual experience. If you’re emotionally and physically more connected to the person you’re sleeping with, it will definitely increase the likelihood and intensity of the orgasm.
“It’s impossible to get pregnant if a) she’s on her period, and b) if he pulls out prior to ejaculation.”
FALSE. a) It’s much less likely that if she’s menstruating that she will get pregnant, but still not a good form of contraception and still very much possible to get pregnant. b) In no way is this a safe form of contraception. The pre-ejaculation contains sperm and can get a woman pregnant.
“You can’t get pregnant or get someone pregnant if you smoke marijuana”
FALSE. There is no correlation whatsoever. Using drugs to a severe case, maybe. But those people aren’t having sex anyways. You cant use substances like that just every once in a while, or right before/after and expect not to get pregnant because of that… sorry.
Edited by Erin Harbert
