MYTH: You can’t get pregnant if you do it standing up.

FACT: Sperm are Olympic-class swimmers with a single-mission mentality – find the egg and procreate. “The underlying assumption is that if you’re standing up, it’s harder for sperm to swim in the direction they need to go and therefore harder for you to get pregnant,” explains A. Akers, MD,“But the reality is, sperm can swim in any direction, and they swim pretty darn fast.”

MYTH: You can’t get pregnant if he pulls out.

FACT: You’d think that if a guy doesn’t ejaculate inside you, there would be no sperm to hook up with the egg. Wrong. Guys produce a tiny bit of liquid called “pre-ejaculate” that is absolutely teeming with sperm. And the kicker: Guys can release this fluid at any time during sex without even realizing it. “Even if a guy pulls out right before [ejaculation], it’s more than likely he’s already deposited sperm,” warns Akers.

MYTH: Douching is the best way to keep clean down there.

FACT: It’s estimated that 20% to 40% of women douche – and about half do so weekly. Still, gynecologists say the best way to keep your nether region clean is to leave it alone. “People think it’s like cleaning any other part of your body, but your vagina has its own self-cleaning mechanism,” explains Akers. “It produces its own fluids that help to wash things out while also keeping the right bacteria around in the right proportions.” Using homemade or store-bought douches (usually solutions of water, vinegar, baking soda, or iodine) upsets the vagina’s natural balance of bacteria and increases the risk for yeast and other vaginal infections. And because douching can push bacteria from the vagina higher up into the reproductive organs, it may also contribute to pelvic inflammatory disease, a major cause of infertility.

MYTH: You can only get herpes if you have sex when your partner has an outbreak.

FACT: Transmission risk is highest during an outbreak, but because carriers can shed the herpes virus at any time, they can also infect their partners at any time during unprotected sex, says A. Savage, MD,. According to the latest statistics from the CDC, 11% of men and 23% of women have genital herpes, while 56% of men and 60% of women have oral herpes, which can be spread to the genitals through oral sex. The best way to prevent transmission is to use condoms and dental dams for intercourse and oral sex and to avoid sex during outbreaks. Won’t condoms protect during an outbreak, too? Not always. “Herpes is a skin infection, not something transmitted by bodily fluids like HIV or gonorrhea,” explains Savage. “If either partner has an open sore outside the area covered by a condom, they could transmit herpes even with a condom.”

MYTH: If you’re aroused, you shouldn’t need lubricant.

FACT: Needing more lubrication than your body naturally produces is not a sign that your guy’s failing to arouse you. “A lot of people equate wetness with how turned on they are, but that’s not necessarily an accurate barometer,” assures A. Semans, author of Good Vibrations Guide To Sex. Your monthly cycle, pregnancy, illness, menopause, medications like antihistamines and decongestants can all affect how wet you get, no matter how much water or how many caffeinated beverages you drink. And if you’re using condoms – even lubricated ones – you’ll definitely need extra lube. “Latex tends not to slide well even if you are naturally lubricated,” says Savage.

MYTH: You can become addicted to your vibrator.

FACT: Contrary to the Sex and the City episode in which Charlotte develops an unnatural attachment to her vibrator, sexperts say that even if you climax faster and more easily with battery-powered assistance, a vibrator won’t ruin your ability to achieve orgasm with your partner. “We can still have orgasms if we take the time, but we’re so used to the quick response we get from the vibrator [that] we get impatient and give up,” explains E. Barnard, a sex educator/counselor and co-founder of A Woman’s Touch in Madison, Wisconsin (www.a-womans-touch.com).

Semans offers this advice for the more than 20% of women who use vibrators: “Put your vibrator away for a few months, and you’ll find that your response to fingers or a tongue comes back.” That said, there’s nothing wrong with introducing your partner to your vibrator, especially if you’re self-conscious about how long it takes you to climax without one. “Most people feel okay with their partner’s hand on their clitoris,” says Semans. “So putting a fingertip vibrator on his finger just adds a little extra buzz.”

MYTH: Bigger is better.

FACT: Some women have definite size preferences, says C. Queen, PhD, staff sexologist at the online sex toy boutique Good Vibrations (www.goodvibes.com). Still, a huge “package” doesn’t automatically translate into mind-boggling sex. In fact, sexperts say that women more often complain that their partner is too big than too small. “There’s more to erotic pleasure than size,” says Queen. “It’s about how a guy uses his hands or mouth or how sexy a woman feels before she gets to the bedroom.” Still, if you want something bigger, your partner can wear rings or sleeves that add length and girth. In addition, says Barnard, doing kegel exercises will tighten your pelvic floor muscles and let you “adapt to whatever size partner you have.”

MYTH: All women can experience orgasm just through vaginal penetration.

FACT: Contrary to the movie-sex cliché where women start screaming Yes, Yes, YES! the moment a man enters them, the truth is only about 20% to 30% of women experience orgasm through intercourse alone. So, there’s no need to be shy about reaching down and giving yourself a hand (or a buzz). “Putting your hand on your clitoris during sex really ups the chances that you’ll have an orgasm,” says Queen.

MYTH: There’s no such thing as the G spot.

FACT: Like the lost city of Atlantis, this pleasure zone’s exact location sparks great debate. There’s no consensus on where to find it. Some sex researchers say it’s the glandular tissue around the urethra (found behind your pubic bone, about two inches inside your vagina). Others believe it’s further back, in a triangular area on the back of the bladder wall – called the trigone or T Zone – where three nerves come together.

“The fact is, every time anyone shines a microscope on genital anatomy, they find some other thing that will get a woman engorged during arousal and that probably has some separate, specific neurological function,” says Queen. “The acreage is dense down there. We’re not talking about things that are spread far apart or that can be stimulated separately without stimulating the surrounding erogenous areas. It’s pretty much all going to be working together.”

Myth or Fact: Test Your Sexpertise
You like to have it and feel great afterward...of course we're talking about sex! While hitting the sheets with your partner may be the best part of your day, how much do you really know when it comes to all things sex? Take this sex myths quiz to find out. Viv