Skip to content
Search AI Powered

Latest Stories

People Share The Most Wildly Inaccurate Thing They Were Taught About The Birds And The Bees

Make us preferred on Google

Comprehensive sex education is lacking, but some of the things people are taught are simply bonkers. For example, the stimga around HIV is still rampant. And the idea that women get the periods during full moons is laughable. Still, these things are taught, despite their harmful lack of truth. Sex is a part of life, and people have the right to know how it works.

wollyhammock asked, People who received no or terrible sex education: what was the most wildly inaccurate thing you were taught or told about sex and sexual health?


Submissions have been edited for clarity, context, and profanity.

Religion keeping people in the dark about sex? Groundbreaking.

Giphy

I received absolutely no sex education. I was raised a religious fundamentalist, married at 19 to a girl that was as ignorant as I was and lost our virginity on our wedding night. Married for 13 years. I learned what and where a clitoris was from my 2nd sexual partner at the age of 32.

ImNoScientician

This is so sad.

In addition to the usual (condoms aren't effective, sex before marriages gives you cancer, zero information about discharge or where clitoris is located) I was taught that women don't feel sexual arousal. At all. Those who think they do are just confused. Women have sex to please men and make babies, no other reason.

I still wonder if the woman who taught me this was just asexual and didn't know it, and she assumed this was the norm.

dreamfisher

It really depends on the penis.

Giphy

I always thought you were supposed to be really gentle with the penis. So my first time giving a hand job I had the lightest grip possible so I wouldn't hurt him. When he showed me just how I was shocked lol.

I also thought your period was supposed to be just a dot of blood, hence the name "period." Had a rude awakening with that one.

nicestpossibleway

This is a lot to, erm... wow.

I taught that a woman releases a special chemical in her brain during/right after sex that makes her attached to the man for the rest of her life, because he made that happen. Only women tho, and only your first.

My parents were so hellbent on this that me and my mom often argued about it... she was adamant that I could barely know the guy, yet this would happen and it would ruin my life, she was that convinced (as a teen, they didn't like my boyfriend and used this to say I won't know who he will grow up into, in highschool you've known him only a few years, this will forever taint your life when you eventually get married etc.... very strong belief they hold). Many other misconceptions as well, but that's the craziest. Others include:

*Tampons cause infertility because the ovaries cannot 'air out'

*Having cold feet outside leads to infertility by 'freeze damage' to the ovaries

*Sex is a donation to a man, not at all something to share as it can never truly be pleasurable for the woman. However, you're in luck because women happen to release a forever-bonding chemical when she loses her virginity so you won't mind "doing what is needed to him when do you have to".

*Women/girls do not discharge. It's either dry, or period time.

Manonxo

No such thing huh...

My mum told me there was no such thing as ovulation when I was 9. To this day I haven't had the courage to ask her how she thinks I got here!

kirstopheles

The worst thing to teach about sex is that it's somehow bad.

Giphy

Basically sex = your life is ruined and there's nothing you can do about it then.

Little bit inaccurate.

NumberOneBacon

This sort of HIV stigma still exists, and it's dangerous.

That you can get pregnant from hugging and that you can get AIDS from kissing. It was 1999 when it had been proven that HIV was not spread through casual contact.

gouwbadgers

"Watching the animals" are probably not the best example of how to teach sex.

My sex ed was cassette tapes of an old man basically just saying don't have sex before marriage, but one of the things he said was "I grew up on a farm, and I learned all I needed to know about sex by watching the animals."

Fruitloop800

"Abstinence only" is destructive and unscientific.

Giphy

My middle school teacher told the class that condoms were not effective at all for protecting against STDs and only worked 50% in stoping pregnancies, and that anyone who told you otherwise was a diseased pervert trying to trick you into sex. Abstinence teaching, ladies and gentlemen.

LilBuddyRem

This can't possibly be true.

"If you both keep your virginity until your wedding night, you will have an amazing sex life forever."

False.

Deuce_is_Dead

More from Trending

SONY PlayStation showcases its fun scenes in home consumption at AWE2026 in Shanghai, China.
CFOTO/Future Publishing via Getty Images

Gamers Are Furiously Sounding Off After PlayStation Announces End To Physical Discs

Physical media fans just got hit with a game-over screen.

Sony announced Wednesday that it will discontinue physical PlayStation game discs starting in January 2028, a move that has already sparked backlash from gamers who aren't exactly thrilled about handing over the last remnants of ownership to digital storefronts.

Keep ReadingShow less
Michael Che and Colin Jost
ALEX EDELMAN/AFP via Getty Images

Michael Che Just Wished Colin Jost Happy Birthday With A Hilariously Brutal Post—And 'SNL' Fans Are Cackling

Perhaps no two celebrities are better at trolling each other than SNL's Michael Che and Colin Jost.

And for Jost's recent birthday, Che decided it was the perfect time to show his friend who's actually the best troll out there.

Keep ReadingShow less
Danny Glover
Gilbert Carrasquillo/GC Images/Getty Images

Fans Rally Around Danny Glover After He Reveals That He's Living With Alzheimer's Disease In Poignant New Interviews

In an appearance filmed for the TODAY show that aired on Tuesday, actor and activist Danny Glover revealed he, like over 7 million other Americans, is living with Alzheimer's disease. The progressive, fatal neurodegenerative disease causes memory loss and cognitive decline.

The veteran actor has 200 film and TV credits to his name going back almost 50 years. His theatre credits extend even further. Glover has also received several prestigious awards for his decades of humanitarian work and political activism, including the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences' Jean Hersholt Humanitarian Award in 2022.

Keep ReadingShow less
Screenshots of Marsha Blackburn from elevator video
NewsChannel 5

MAGA Senator Tries To Dodge Reporter's Questions Only To Get Thwarted By Elevator In Super Cringey Viral Video

Tennessee Republican Senator Marsha Blackburn was called out after attempting to dodge questions from journalist Ben Hall of NewsChannel 5, the CBS affiliate in Nashville, only to be thwarted by an uncooperative elevator.

Blackburn is the frontrunner in the Republican primary for Tennessee governor; early voting is less than three weeks away and Blackburn has kept a very low profile. That was true even after she just spoken to the Greater Nashville Technology Council for an event members of different media outlets had been invited to attend.

Keep ReadingShow less
Screenshot of JD Vance; Joe Biden
@atrupar/X; Scott Olson/Getty Images

JD Vance Just Tried To Make A Pitiful Joke About Biden To U.S. Troops—And It Fell Awkwardly Flat

Vice President JD Vance had people groaning after a joke he made about former President Joe Biden falling on the stairs was met with silence from those who attended an event meant to honor "American military excellence."

Vance was speaking to troops at Naval Air Station Oceana in Virginia Beach, Virginia, at one of many different events designed to honor the 250th anniversary of the founding of the United States.

Keep ReadingShow less