The 6 Most Common Sex Myths

There’s nothing like being sexually misinformed.
It can foil your sexual response. It can leave you pregnant or fielding an infection. And it can make you feel pretty silly, especially when you realize you have been wrong all along.
So to make sure you don’t go another day in the dark, here’s the real deal on some of the most important sex facts:

1. Myth: Viagra is 100 Percent Effective
When it comes to taking Viagra, or other sildenafil medications, which treat erectile dysfunction, men tend to think that it’s 100 percent effective. All you need to do is pop a pill, sit back and enjoy, right?

Fact: A desire component is needed for males to become sexually aroused and attain erection. Unless that's there, you're headed for disappointment.
The consequence: Half of the men who try using these drugs end up discontinuing them by the end of the year. This is partly due to inadequate communication with their partner and inadequate education on what to expect.


2. Myth: A Virgin's Hymen Always Breaks

Many people think that a female’s hymen is broken the first time she has intercourse.

Fact: This is not necessarily so for every gal. Depending on the female, this thin skin that stretches across the vaginal opening may be anywhere from nearly nonexistent to covering everything. It is not always torn during intercourse. Actually, 19 percent of sexually active females have no visible tearing.
This is important to know, since many cultures think the presence of a hymen is an indicator that a female is a virgin. Girls are born with hymens of various sizes and openings. Some may appear to have no hymen at all. Others have their hymen stretched from activities like bicycling or horseback riding.

3. Myth: Withdrawal = Good Birth Control

Couples have relied on the withdrawal method as a form of birth control for centuries.

Fact: Pregnancy can occur any time unprotected sex is had, whether or not a male has climaxed. Withdrawal is therefore not recommended as a form of birth control, especially for males who are sexually inexperienced.
The consequence: About half of the 6.4 million pregnancies that occurred in the United States in 2001 (the most recent year for which good data was available) were unplanned. Definitely something to think about before relying on this method.

4. Myth: Oral Sex is Safe Sex

Plenty of people engage in oral sex because they think it does not put them at risk for sexually transmitted diseases.

Fact: Unprotected oral sex puts both partners — whether giver or receiver — at risk for a number of STDs.
The consequence: While the risk of transmission from oral sex is generally lower than unprotected intercourse, lovers still have to worry about STDs like herpes and HIV.

5. Myth: You Can't Get Pregnant if You Aren't Ovulating

She’s not ovulating so she can’t get pregnant — Not!
Fact: While pregnancy is likeliest to occur during the six days leading up to, and including, ovulation, a female can get pregnant at any point in her menstrual cycle. This includes the week of her period.
Even if couples want to take a chance and avoid unprotected sex around day 14 of her menstrual cycle (when she is most fertile), the fact that many women have irregular cycles makes this a dicey decision. Even women who have regular menstrual cycles may not ovulate on the same day each month.

6. Myth: The Pill Protects Against STDs

Many females, especially young women, believe using a contraceptive pill will protect them not only from pregnancy, but also from sexually transmitted diseases.

Fact: All hormonal birth control methods, including the pill, provide protection only against pregnancy. They do not protect either lover from the transmission of infections. A male or female condom is the only way to protect against STDs when sexually active. more
Dr. Yvonne K. Fulbright is a sex educator, relationship expert, columnist and founder.

Kendra Wilkinson said that she had to sneak away from Hef to get sex

Who knew you had to sneak sex at the Playboy Mansion?
Kendra Wilkinson, one of Playboy founder Hugh Hefner's three girlfriends on "The Girls Next Door," told US Weekly magazine that "I had to have sex every now and then, so I had to kind of sneak it."
While Wilkinson, 23, said she and Hefner were intimate at times, mostly she just saw him once a day in passing.

Kendra Wilkinson (far right) with Holly Madison, Bridget Marquandt, and Hugh Hefner.

Bridget Marquardt, on the other hand, stayed true to her (much older) man, according to Wilkinson.
"Bridget told me that she's been faithful all these years, and I was like, 'How the hell can you do that?' I had to have [sex] so I could feel my age, like a healthy human being."
Wilkinson described Hefner as more of a "sugar daddy" who kept close tabs on the girls, which made her "insane."
Wilkinson is now engaged to Philadelphia Eagles wide receiver Hank Baskett, and plans to marry him at the Playboy Mansion this summer.

After 'Miracle on the Hudson,' Pilot Who Became Instant Hero Is Honored

NEW YORK — After guiding a crippled US Airways jet into the Hudson River and saving all 155 people aboard — a feat many were calling a miracle — the pilot at the helm became an instant hero.

Chesley B. "Sully" Sullenberger III, 57, the pilot of Flight 1549, was honored by New York City Mayor Michael Bloomberg with a key to the city on Friday. Bloomberg also honored the rest of the crew, rescue workers and civilians who helped avert a disaster.

Sullenberger, of Danville, Calif., is a former fighter pilot who runs a safety consulting firm in addition to flying commercial aircraft.

He has flown for US Airways since 1980 and flew F-4 fighter jets with the Air Force in the 1970s. He then served on a board that investigated aircraft accidents and participated later in several National Transportation Safety Board investigations.



The Airbus 320 took off from New York's LaGuardia Airport about 3:26 p.m. Thursday en route to Charlotte, N.C. Less than a minute later, a flock of birds apparently flew into the plane, disabling both its engines.

Sullenberger was going to make an emergency landing in New Jersey, but decided to turn around. He reported a "double bird strike" and said he needed to return to LaGuardia, said Doug Church, a spokesman for the National Air Traffic Controllers Association.

Passengers quickly realized something was terrifyingly wrong.

"I heard an explosion, and I saw flames coming from the left wing, and I thought, `This isn't good,'" said Dave Sanderson, 47, who was heading home to Charlotte from a business trip. "Then it was just controlled chaos. People started running up the aisle. People were getting shoved out of the way."

On the way back, Sullenberger realized he was going to have to land in the river. He told passengers to "brace for impact" and brought the plane down safely in the icy water.

One passenger described the impact as about the same as a rear-end collision. Miraculously, no one was seriously injured and everyone onboard survived. They exited onto the jet's wings and were rescued by boats.

How Birds Can Down a Jet Airplane

Click here to read more about the water landing.

Sullenberger had been studying the psychology of keeping airline crews functioning even in the face of crisis, said Robert Bea, a civil engineer who co-founded UC Berkeley's Center for Catastrophic Risk Management.

Bea said he could think of few pilots as well-situated to bring the plane down safely than Sullenberger.

"When a plane is getting ready to crash with a lot of people who trust you, it is a test.. Sulley proved the end of the road for that test. He had studied it, he had rehearsed it, he had taken it to his heart."

Sullenberger is president of Safety Reliability Methods, a California firm that uses "the ultra-safe world of commercial aviation" as a basis for safety consulting in other fields, according to the firm's Web site.

Sullenberger's mailbox at the firm was full on Thursday. A group of fans sprang up on Facebook within hours of the emergency landing.

"OMG, I am terrified of flying but I would be happy to be a passenger on one of your aircraft!!" Melanie Wills in Bristol wrote on the wall of "Fans of Sully Sullenberger." "You have saved a lot of peoples lives and are a true hero!!"

The pilot "did a masterful job of landing the plane in the river and then making sure that everybody got out," Mayor Michael Bloomberg said. "He walked the plane twice after everybody else was off, and tried to verify that there was nobody else on board, and he assures us there was not."

"He was the last one up the aisle and he made sure that there was nobody behind him."

Gov. David Paterson pronounced it a "miracle on the Hudson." more

Female teacher was arrested for having sex with 6 former students

Hannah McIntyre, a teacher at Merchant Taylors' Boys' School, Crosby, was arrested and bailed on suspicion of breaching a position of trust under the Sexual Offences Act 2003
A female teacher at a top private boys' school has been arrested over allegations of sexual misconduct involving sixth-formers.
Hannah McIntyre, 24, has been suspended from her job at Merchant Taylors school, in Crosby, Merseyside.
The classics teacher was arrested and questioned by police last week on suspicion of abusing her position of trust. Social services are also investigating.
She has been granted bail while further inquiries are made.
The alleged sexual activity is said to have taken place away from the premises of the £8,000-a-year school, whose former pupils include ex-Archbishop of Canterbury Robert Runcie.
Although sixth-form students are above the age of consent, it is a criminal offence for teachers to engage in sexual activity with them because of their 'relationship of trust'.
Government guidance also warns teachers that 'intimate or sexual relationships between staff and pupils will be regarded as a grave breach of trust'.
Headmaster David Cook said: 'Merchant Taylors Boys' School can confirm that a member of its senior school teaching staff is the subject of an investigation by Sefton Social Services and Merseyside Police. more

Mother, 34, posed as her 15-year-old daughter to try out for high school cheerleading squad

'Cheerleader': Wendy Brown even attended a pool party while posing as a 15-year-old student
A 34-year-old woman posed as her 15-year-old daughter in a bid to go back to school and try out for the cheerleading squad.
Wendy Brown turned up at Ashwaubenon High School in Wisconsin, U.S., for a day of classes - and was given her own cheerleading locker and even attended a pool party with other students.
Her day of fun was only discovered after truancy officers wondered where their new 'pupil' had gone.
Ms Brown told investigators she wanted to relive her high school experience, and was found not guilty of identity theft by reason of mental disease or defect in court on Tuesday.
Court documents revealed that Brown 'stated that she wanted to get her high school degree and be a cheerleader because she had no childhood and was trying to regain a part of her life she missed.'
She attended school for one day last August after assuming the identity of her daughter while she was living with a relative out of state.
Her teachers reported the ‘student’ for truancy and the mother’s elaborate ruse to re-live the life of a teenager was eventually uncovered when she was found in a police cell, where she’d been charged over a separate forgery conviction.
Students at the school said Brown had looked older, but had not questioned her as she had the demeanour of a teenager.
Student Spencer Corpus told the CBS news network: 'She did look a little insignificantly older, but you didn't want to question it - you just go: "Aw, alright, whatever."'
Student Hope Edlebeck said: 'I thought it was really bizarre. It's just something you never hear. A 33-year-old going to school.more

Primary school teacher dismissed and facing jail for sending lewd text messages to schoolboys

Primary school teacher facing jail for sending lewd texts to schoolboy after grooming him on World of Warcraft
Lynn Walls sent illicit sex texts to a schoolboy she met on the Warcraft interactive web game
A primary school teacher faces jail for sending lewd texts to a 14-year-old boy after grooming him over the internet game World of Warcraft.
Lynn Walls, 42, who has been sacked from her job, used the interactive computer game to befriend the teenager and get his mobile phone number while playing online.
She then sent the boy, from London, a series of graphic texts in November 2007 which outlined what she intended to do with him if they met.
She was caught out when his father read them.
Today she returned to Newcastle Crown Court to be sentenced after admitting inciting a child under 16 to engage in sexual activity.
Defence barrister Andrew Finlay told the court that Walls had been too ashamed to leave her house and therefore pre-sentence reports had not been prepared because she missed appointments with probation officers.
'There has been a fair degree of media interest in this case,' said Mr Finlay.'She has been too ashamed and frightened to leave the house.
'She was suffering panic attacks, perhaps it is not surprising given that she is 42 and of good character and suddenly this storm breaks on her.
'She has had very little support. Most of her friends when they found out about this offence dropped her and obviously she has been dismissed from her work.
more

Dungy resigns as Head Coach of the Colts

There was always more to Tony Dungy than a headset and a whistle.
As much as he loved the National Football League -- and understand that he loved this game hard -- Dungy was more than a master of the Cover 2 and the leader of a 53-man roster.
In his firm but polite manner, Dungy was a coaching pioneer, the first African-American coach to win the Super Bowl and a reminder that strength and passion can come in many styles. In an era of coaches with outsized egos, Dungy was the symbol of a man with his feet on the ground. And in a time when the basest aspects of hip-hop culture are glamorized to the point of worship, Dungy showed that there are other meanings of being a black man in America.
Beyond the playoff appearances and the innovations on defense, Dungy came of age in the heat of the civil rights movement. He grew up in Jackson, Mich., with parents who held advanced degrees from Michigan State, parents who themselves were pioneers. Dungy's mother, CleoMae, taught English and public speaking at Jackson High. His father, Wilbur, taught physiology at Jackson Community College.
Wilbur had also been a pilot during World War II as part of the United States Army Air Corps' Tuskegee Airmen. His father never told Dungy about the hardships of the segregated army, how blacks had been banned from flying planes at all until the Tuskegee program was implemented.
"When I was just a kid, I didn't think to ask for more details when he said, 'We taught ourselves to fly,'" Dungy writes in his memoir, Quiet Strength. "It sounded easy. The lesson, which I did not understand clearly until much later, was that you shouldn't allow external issues to be a hindrance, whether those issues are based on race or any other factor. Things will go wrong at times. You can't always control circumstances. However, you can always control your attitude, approach, and response."
When he was old enough to understand, Dungy held fast to these lessons, as a quarterback at the University of Minnesota and as a longtime NFL assistant coach who spent years being passed over for head-coaching jobs. When the Tampa Bay Buccaneers hired him in 1996, a doormat was transformed into a playoff team. When the Indianapolis Colts hired him in 2002, Dungy elevated a talented team to the level of Super Bowl champion.
"People often say that teams reflect their head coach, and that can be said of Tony Dungy's teams, which are consistent winners every single year," New England Patriots coach Bill Belichick said in a statement. "Tony has been such a fixture in this league that his absence will take some getting used to. He may be leaving the sideline, but Tony will be remembered fondly for a long time."
Besides Dungy's coaching protégés, who are sprinkled throughout the league, his greater legacy may be his work outside the lines. While coaching in Tampa, he started a program called Mentors for Life, an organization aimed at uplifting area children. He also launched All Pro Dad, a program designed to help fathers interact with their children in lasting ways. more