Endlessly fascinating and always controversial, there are a million and one ways to talk about sex. But we reckon even a seasoned sexpert would still be surprised by some of these random facts. Here, we list some of the strange and downright crazy things we bet you didn't know about your favourite physical activity. Prepare to be enlightened…
1. Male sperm is surprisingly resilient. Sperm inside a woman’s vagina can live in her cervical mucus or upper genital tract for 3-5 days. Provided the sperm remains alive, it may even be able to fertilise the egg, too. Sperm ejaculated outside the body is less tough – it can survive up to a few hours.
2. If a female ferret doesn’t mate while she’s in heat, she can die! If she’s unable to find a sex partner and stays in heat too long, her body will start to secrete high levels of estrogen, which causes aplastic anemia – a deadly disease for ferrets. Sex really is a matter of life and death ;-)
3. A single sperm contains 37.5 MB of DNA information. One ejaculation represents a data transfer of 15,875 GB, equivalent to the combined capacity of 62 MacBook Pro laptops.
4. Apparently the Divinyls were right – there is a fine line between pleasure and pain – at least during sex, that is. According to a study published in the Journal of Sex Research, when you’re aroused your pain threshold can increase significantly. It’s even better if you reach the big O – orgasms have been known to block pain by releasing a hormone which elevates your pain threshold.
5. During World War I, members of the British Secret Intelligence Service (MI6) discovered you could use semen as…um, as invisible ink. Apparently, it didn’t react with iodine vapour (the main method used to detect invisible ink) and, as a bonus, it was also readily available. They stopped using it once they realised that it began to smell if it wasn’t, uh, fresh. Disturbing, but true!
6. The man who bought the western world its favourite breakfast cereal – Kellogg’s Cornflakes- had more motivation than just a healthy diet. A virulent anti-masturbation campaigner, Dr Kellogg believed if you had a healthy diet it would reduce sexual thoughts popping into your head. Er…toast anyone?
7. The German for "contraceptive" is Schwangerschaftsverhütungsmittel. By the time you've finished saying it, it's too late.
8. Sex is big, big business. According to a study published in Sexual Addiction & Compulsivity, more than half of all spending on the internet is estimated to be related to sex. That’s a lot of porn and sex toys.
9. The "G-spot" was nearly called the Whipple Tickle- after Professor Beverley Whipple, who coined the expression that we know today.
10. The best-selling work of fiction of the 15th century was "The Tale of the Two Lovers," an erotic novel by the man who later became Pope Pius II.
11. After you orgasm, your body releases an anti-diuretic hormone, which explains why you may have trouble urinating directly after sex. Stick with it though – going to the loo after sex helps to prevent urinary tract infections.
12. Ladies, forget push-up bras – just get frisky instead. A woman’s breasts can swell up 25 per cent when she’s aroused. And about one per cent of women are able to orgasm through the stimulation of their breasts and nipples alone. Those lucky ladies!
There are loads of weird and wonderful facts about sex out there. Hope we hit your ‘Whipple Tickle’ with some of these! ;-)
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