Don't Put That in There! by Aaron E. Dr. Carroll, Rachel C. Dr. Vreeman

 
    Introduction
    Who do you ask when you have a question about sex? Are there things about sex you’ve always wondered about, but never dared to bring up with anyone?
    Most of us have learned all sorts of things about sex. But, think about where you got your information. You talked about sex with your friends, you learned some basics from your sex ed class, you saw some interesting things on TV or on the Internet, and you figured some things out from experience.
    You may have plenty of information about sex, but we would bet that some of it is wrong. People believe all kinds of things about sex that are just not true! And even if you like talking about sex, you might not be as eager to ask questions about whether your ideas about sex are correct.
    People believe many myths, half-truths, and outright lies when it comes to sex. When we wrote our first myth-busting book, Don’t Swallow Your Gum! we included a whole section on myths about sex and getting pregnant. They were hugely popular. When we wrote Don’t Cross Your Eyes…, we added some more myths in this vein. Once again, the sex myths seemed to be the ones people wanted to talk about most.
    After all, who doesn’t love talking about sex?
    Well … believe it or not, it was not our dream to become sex experts! Sex is not all we want to talk about.
    Aaron’s favorite story about writing our first myth-busting book is how much he teased Rachel over her inability to defend whether “cum” should or should not be spelled with a “u.” Ask her. Watch her blush.
    Aaron has three kids who are still pretty young, and he has had a hard time deflecting conversations about this book from them. His daughter, age seven at the time of writing this, seems to be on to him, and is constantly pressuring him for more information about the book.
    Nonetheless, as pediatricians, part of our job is to teach adolescents about sex. As researchers, our job is to help figure out the science about what works and what doesn’t work to keep people healthy. And as professional myth-debunkers, we can’t let you believe things about sex and your body that just are not true.
    So, we overcame our inhibitions to shine some light (and evidence) on the most popular and prevalent sex myths around. For those of you who are new to these books, here’s how it all works:
    One of the skills necessary to our job as health services researchers is to understand health research and translate what it means for the general public. So for each of these myths, we scoured the world’s medical literature, looking for scientific studies to prove the idea true or false. You’d be shocked at how often real research has been done on these topics. We bring the science to you, explain what it means, and—more often than not—detail why these myths are or aren’t true.
    When you read this book, it’s important that you remember we do not just want to give you our opinions. We’re showing you, through data, why we think an idea is a myth. We won’t just tell you that myths aren’t real; we’ll show you why.
    This is the book that will answer all those crazy questions you have had about sex. Plus, if you read it, you’re pretty much guaranteed to be the life of the party. Our friends love just hearing the chapter titles in this book. Imagine how popular you’ll be when you become the sexpert who can discuss them at length.
    Some of the myths in this book are lighthearted fun. Others are deadly serious. We apply the same research and scrutiny to all of them. If we can’t find evidence, we’ll say so. But more often than not, science exists to tell us whether that sex idea is true or myth. When there is science, we should use it. Get ready for all of the sex science.
    Happy myth-busting!

 
    Part One
    MEN

 
    Penis Size Matters
    One of our friends debunks the myth this way: “It’s not the size of the wave, but the motion of the ocean.” There are a lot of different ways to phrase this, but it comes down