# Misconceptions about the opposite sex adults have **URL:** \ **Category:** In My Humble Opinion\ **Created:** [August 1, 2012, 3:50am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/misconceptions-about-the-opposite-sex-adults-have/630030 "2012-08-01T03:50:38Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![grude](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/e47774/32.png) [@grude](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/grude)\ **Post date:** [August 1, 2012, 3:50am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/misconceptions-about-the-opposite-sex-adults-have/630030/1 "2012-08-01T03:50:38Z")
My wife thought: Men leave sex smell when masturbating, she was shocked that is not true. She thought a flaccid penis is as sensitive as testicles, like if a penis was squeezed it would be intensely painful. She cannot believe a flaccid penis is almost like rubber and manipulation other than cuts or stabs is not painful. She freaks out if I twist around my flaccid penis and thinks it is the same as getting kicked in the testicles. 😃 ---
**Author:** ![matt\_mcl](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/7ab992/32.png) [@matt\_mcl](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/matt_mcl)\ **Post date:** [August 3, 2012, 1:52am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/misconceptions-about-the-opposite-sex-adults-have/630030/2 "2012-08-03T01:52:49Z")
1. That women are more complicated than men. (“Man, you’re lucky that you’re gay, you don’t have to deal with women’s mind games or their drama…” My response: “You have _obviously_ never dated guys.”) 1b) [Believed by heterosexuals of both genders:] That heterosexual relationships fail because of the inherent incomprehensibility of the other gender (“Chicks, man”; “Men!”). It is rarely considered that if this were true, gay and lesbian relationships would work far more often than heterosexual ones do. 1. That women are not adult humans who have sexual desires of their own, but rather vending machines that dispense sex when the right code is entered; that the right code is therefore knowable (“What do women want, anyway?” “How do I impress women?” “How do I pick up chicks?”); and if they fail to do so, something is malfunctioning (“friend zoned”, “Nice Guy™”, and allied phenomena) and the woman may then be either rebuked or dismissed as irrational. 2b) That it is more sexually/romantically productive to consider women as a whole, and attempt to decode them as an entire gender, than to get to know the individual human or humans in whom one is interested. ---
**Author:** ![Ambivalid](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/a5b964/32.png) [@Ambivalid](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ambivalid)\ **Post date:** [August 3, 2012, 1:57am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/misconceptions-about-the-opposite-sex-adults-have/630030/3 "2012-08-03T01:57:40Z")
> [@grude](#): > > My wife thought: > > Men leave sex smell when masturbating Um, what? 😕 does-not-compute ---
**Author:** ![Der\_Trihs](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/der_trihs/32/233_2.png) [@Der\_Trihs](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Der_Trihs)\ **Post date:** [August 3, 2012, 2:00am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/misconceptions-about-the-opposite-sex-adults-have/630030/4 "2012-08-03T02:00:58Z")
That women have one pair less of ribs. ---
**Author:** ![Ambivalid](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/a5b964/32.png) [@Ambivalid](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ambivalid)\ **Post date:** [August 3, 2012, 2:02am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/misconceptions-about-the-opposite-sex-adults-have/630030/5 "2012-08-03T02:02:48Z")
That hot women _actually_ poop. It just doesn’t happen. ---
**Author:** ![grude](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/e47774/32.png) [@grude](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/grude)\ **Post date:** [August 3, 2012, 2:10am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/misconceptions-about-the-opposite-sex-adults-have/630030/6 "2012-08-03T02:10:51Z")
> [@Ambivalid](#): > > Um, what? 😕 does-not-compute She just assumed it was so, why I haven’t a clue. ---
**Author:** ![WhyNot](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/w/c77e96/32.png) [@WhyNot](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/WhyNot)\ **Post date:** [August 3, 2012, 2:16am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/misconceptions-about-the-opposite-sex-adults-have/630030/7 "2012-08-03T02:16:01Z")
> [@grude](#): > > My wife thought: > > Men leave sex smell when masturbating, she was shocked that is not true. Well, if they don’t launder their spooge rags, they do. Smells like bleach after a few hours. ---
**Author:** ![matt\_mcl](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/7ab992/32.png) [@matt\_mcl](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/matt_mcl)\ **Post date:** [August 3, 2012, 2:16am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/misconceptions-about-the-opposite-sex-adults-have/630030/8 "2012-08-03T02:16:52Z")
> [@Der\_Trihs](#): > > That women have one pair less of ribs. I read somewhere once speculating that the term “rib” actually referred to the penis bone, or baculum, found in most mammals but not in humans. ---
**Author:** ![Napier](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/n/ce73a5/32.png) [@Napier](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Napier)\ **Post date:** [August 3, 2012, 2:24am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/misconceptions-about-the-opposite-sex-adults-have/630030/9 "2012-08-03T02:24:21Z")
Based on another thread around here a while ago, it appears men’s claims about the severity and importance of “blue balls” may be somewhat overblown in the hope that women will erroneously believe some kind of orgasm is pretty much necessary for their boyfriend. ---
**Author:** ![Gleena](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/b3f665/32.png) [@Gleena](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Gleena)\ **Post date:** [August 3, 2012, 2:26am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/misconceptions-about-the-opposite-sex-adults-have/630030/10 "2012-08-03T02:26:07Z")
> [@WhyNot](#): > > Well, if they don’t launder their spooge rags, they do. Smells like bleach after a few hours. Hello, fellow mother of a teenage boy who has to occasionally have uncomfortable but hilarious conversations, how are you? 🙂 ---
**Author:** ![matt\_mcl](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/7ab992/32.png) [@matt\_mcl](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/matt_mcl)\ **Post date:** [August 3, 2012, 2:28am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/misconceptions-about-the-opposite-sex-adults-have/630030/11 "2012-08-03T02:28:34Z")
> [@Napier](#): > > Based on another thread around here a while ago, it appears men’s claims about the severity and importance of “blue balls” may be somewhat overblown in the hope that women will erroneously believe some kind of orgasm is pretty much necessary for their boyfriend. Even if one is grievously suffering, I’m given to understand there are ways of obtaining an orgasm that don’t involve another person at all. I invite similarly afflicted persons to avail themselves of them. ---
**Author:** ![Der\_Trihs](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/der_trihs/32/233_2.png) [@Der\_Trihs](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Der_Trihs)\ **Post date:** [August 3, 2012, 2:29am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/misconceptions-about-the-opposite-sex-adults-have/630030/12 "2012-08-03T02:29:19Z")
> [@matt\_mcl](#): > > I read somewhere once speculating that the term “rib” actually referred to the penis bone, or baculum, found in most mammals but not in humans. [Cecil’s take on it.](http://www.straightdope.com/columns/read/87/do-women-have-an-extra-rib-because-eve-got-one-of-adams) ---
**Author:** ![TriPolar](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/tripolar/32/3008_2.png) [@TriPolar](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/TriPolar)\ **Post date:** [August 3, 2012, 2:32am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/misconceptions-about-the-opposite-sex-adults-have/630030/13 "2012-08-03T02:32:38Z")
> [@matt\_mcl](#): > > Even if one is grievously suffering, I’m given to understand there are ways of obtaining an orgasm that don’t involve another person at all. I invite similarly afflicted persons to avail themselves of them. I’ve heard that. But I’ve never tried it myself. Certainly not at least once a day when I was a teenager. ---
**Author:** ![WhyNot](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/w/c77e96/32.png) [@WhyNot](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/WhyNot)\ **Post date:** [August 3, 2012, 2:33am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/misconceptions-about-the-opposite-sex-adults-have/630030/14 "2012-08-03T02:33:39Z")
> [@Gleena](#): > > Hello, fellow mother of a teenage boy who has to occasionally have uncomfortable but hilarious conversations, how are you? 🙂 HA! Exactly! (Have you had the “Spooge isn’t entirely water soluble, dear, Mom’s slipping in the shower!” one? I haven’t. I made my husband tackle that one.) ---
**Author:** ![Fuzzy\_Dunlop](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/f/848f3c/32.png) [@Fuzzy\_Dunlop](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Fuzzy_Dunlop)\ **Post date:** [August 3, 2012, 2:49am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/misconceptions-about-the-opposite-sex-adults-have/630030/15 "2012-08-03T02:49:44Z")
A lot of women express a belief that men will sleep with any woman if they get the chance, which I find very disturbing on several levels. It’s not like I think I’m an amazing catch either. I mean, I do like myself quite a bit but I try very hard to not have nasty judgmental attitudes about women, like being too good for them or out of their league. It’s not a nice way of thinking about other people. Actually that’s why I dislike it so much when people imply men will fuck anything they can. It’s bizarre to think I would need to justify or defend why I wouldn’t sleep with someone. And for what it’s worth, I’m not saying I need some emotional connection to have sex with women. I mean on a superficial level I would never consider having sex with the vast majority of women I meet and I hate when women imply most guys are different. ---
**Author:** ![Speak\_to\_me\_Maddie](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/58956e/32.png) [@Speak\_to\_me\_Maddie](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Speak_to_me_Maddie)\ **Post date:** [August 3, 2012, 2:50am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/misconceptions-about-the-opposite-sex-adults-have/630030/16 "2012-08-03T02:50:06Z")
Some women are surprised to discover that erections and sexual arousal aren’t necessarily correlated. An erection is not always an indication of arousal, nor is an erection necessary for arousal. ---
**Author:** ![Gleena](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/b3f665/32.png) [@Gleena](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Gleena)\ **Post date:** [August 3, 2012, 3:07am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/misconceptions-about-the-opposite-sex-adults-have/630030/17 "2012-08-03T03:07:54Z")
> [@WhyNot](#): > > HA! Exactly! (Have you had the “Spooge isn’t entirely water soluble, dear, Mom’s slipping in the shower!” one? I haven’t. I made my husband tackle that one.) LOL, nope, he seems to have worked through that one on his own. I suspect this is because he spends much of the year at boarding school. My husband had the “Hiding your icky used things behind the dresser does not make them disappear” conversation. I made my husband handle that one. Mine was the put your crusty hankies in the laundry yourself because I really don’t need to see them and neither does anybody else conversation. But I can confirm the bleach smell from the lead up to that conversation. Ew. ---
**Author:** ![Blackberry](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/ecd19e/32.png) [@Blackberry](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Blackberry)\ **Post date:** [August 3, 2012, 3:38am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/misconceptions-about-the-opposite-sex-adults-have/630030/18 "2012-08-03T03:38:04Z")
> [@Speak\_to\_me\_Maddie](#): > > Some women are surprised to discover that erections and sexual arousal aren’t necessarily correlated. An erection is not always an indication of arousal, nor is an erection necessary for arousal. Okay, since you sort of brought it up, I’ve been wondering if an erection feels good even if you don’t do anything with it, but I felt too stupid to ask men I know. ---
**Author:** ![Mr\_Downtown](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/8e8cbc/32.png) [@Mr\_Downtown](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Mr_Downtown)\ **Post date:** [August 3, 2012, 3:53am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/misconceptions-about-the-opposite-sex-adults-have/630030/19 "2012-08-03T03:53:37Z")
^Not in and of itself. The erection may produce stimulation as the penis presses against clothing, stuffed animals, other people, doorframes, or mountain boulders. It may also prompt or be affiliated with anticipation that is pleasurable, based on previous experiences. ---
**Author:** ![Jragon](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/e19b73/32.png) [@Jragon](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Jragon)\ **Post date:** [August 3, 2012, 3:55am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/misconceptions-about-the-opposite-sex-adults-have/630030/20 "2012-08-03T03:55:51Z")
It may also hurt or feel like nothing sometimes – especially if the erection is due to a full bladder instead of arousal. [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/misconceptions-about-the-opposite-sex-adults-have/630030.md?page=2)