Hone Up Your Sex Trivia

12 Things You Didnt Know about Sex

If a guy's pupils are dilated, he's aroused.

Along with flared nostrils, slight sweating and a suddenly hyperactive heartbeat, pupil dilation tells the true story of male desire. These four things are classic male involuntary physical responses to sexual arousal. Ever heard the old sixties song, "The Girl Can't Help It?" Well, no guy can help revealing his condition of arousal in the presence of a female who is adept at reading these bodily details. That's the only way to see him for what he is. His pupils are dilated? There are only a few explanations: It's dark outside. He's had one too many beers or he's punch drunk for you!

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There's no real correlation between the size of a man's hands and his penis size.

Although folklore abounds comparing the size of a man's hands, his feet, the length of his nose and his fingers, to uh, more private parts of his physiques, there is nothing at all to any of these theories. Many men who have big hands and feet do indeed have large members, but it's just as likely that a man with a big penis has small hands. Or vice versa.

The results of a study of 104 men with foot sizes eight through 13 surveyed and examined at St. Mary's Hospital and University College Hospital in London published in the British Journal of Urology International reported that there is no link between foot size and penis thickness or length, stating there is no medical evidence to support this widespread, long-held foot-penis size theory.

Even so, human beings want to believe. We want to see patterns even where none exist to assume the human body was built on a precise scale. But Mother Nature defied this notion by coming up with random patterns. The only halfway reliable way to gauge a guy's penis size before you've felt or seen it is to listen closely to what the guy says about it. For example, guys who immediately own up to their small penises often really have little ones. And many guys who brag and strut around as God's gift are often well-endowed. (Unfortunately, these guys often have enormous egos; in which case, you'd be better off dating the guy with the small penis who has a dexterous tongue!)

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Nipples, genitals -- and nostrils -- swell during arousal.

That's because the inner nose, fine-tuned as it is to sensation and slight changes and gradations in pulse and body temperature, actually swells (very slightly) during sexual arousal. Check it out for yourself! Study your lover's face the next time you're making love and watch his or her nose grow…not exactly like Pinnochio's! Flared nostrils, by the way, are a dead giveaway to tell if someone is sexually interested in you. Whatever words come out of their mouth could be a lie, but the nose will tell the truth every time!

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Sometimes too much of a good thing can be a bad thing!

Yes. Excessive, persistent, intense sexual needs, urges involving nonhuman objects, and a need to masturbate constantly, are all considered psychological disorders! A fixation on masturbation is a compulsive sexual behavior, says the Mayo Clinic. Compulsive sexual behavior is known by other names such as hypersexuality, nymphomania, or erotomania. Some docs and shrinks call this behavior a sexual addiction, comparing it to the uncontrolled use of a drug. Some medical experts call excessive masturbation an issue of impulse control.

So how can you tell if you're playing with yourself too much? Here are the main questions: Does your pleasuring routine interfere with your job? Would you rather stay home and masturbate than have a real social life or relate physically to your partner? Is staying home with your porn more important than hanging out with your friends? Do you spend as much time as you can at work on the DL, furtively touching yourself while looking at smut on the web? If you've answered 'yes' to even one of these questions, you're masturbating too much.

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About 30 percent of males in the world are circumcised.

Male circumcision is the surgical removal of some of all of the foreskin or prepuce of the penis. The word comes from the Latin word caedere, which means "to cut." While the practice is very old (there are cave drawings depicting it), circumcision is a religious commandment for those who practice Judaism or who live by the rules of the Islamic culture. Circumcision is also a requirement of the Oriental Orthodox Christian church in Africa. According to the World Health Organization, about 30 percent of males in the world are circumcised. At the same time, human foreskin is a highly innervated, vascularized, sensitive erogenous zone. It would seem obvious that removal of the foreskin interferes with sexual function and pleasure, and yet studies abound for and against circumcision.

The Centers for Disease Control in 2008 cited evidence that male circumcision significantly reduces the risk of HIV, and at the same time clearly noted that the procedure provides only partial protection and should not replace other interventions known to prevent transmission of that disease. Research from the American Academy of Pediatrics, the Masters and Johnson Institute and the American Academy of Family Physicians suggests there is little discernible difference in experiencing pleasure between circumcised and uncircumcised males.

Nevertheless, a preponderance of anecdotal evidence is published on and off the Web decrying the practice of what many call "the unkindest cut of all." Citing that the genitally intact male has thousands of fine touch receptors and other highly erogenous never endings, it would seem that these pleasure-producers would be lost to circumcision. But since anti-circumcision studies are often biased, and much of the medical literature on the subject is contradictory, at the end of the day, sexual pleasure remains a personal and highly subjective emotional, physical, psychological, even spiritual, experience.

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Most women are indeed hornier when they're fertile.

Makes sense, right? This is nature's way of telling them that their body is ready to get pregnant. The ovulation stimulates the hormones and triggers sexual excitement. Also many women find that their nipples are more sensitive and they're more responsive to touch while they're ovulating. During ovulation, when the female body is most receptive to the man's seed, the women's basal body temp rises, making her literally hotter. Biologically speaking, most women feel that their sex drive kicks into high gear during ovulation at mid-cycle, or about fourteen days before they're due to get their next period. Surges in estrogen plus added testosterone that comes with ovulation might explain why the libido is heightened.

If you look at it in terms of evolution, it makes a lot of sense. Nature designed the female body for reproduction, so if she grabs you and wants to make love and it's her fertile time of the month, go for it. She could be an animal in the sack! Just don't get carried away by her ardor and forget about birth control unless you want to make a baby.

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Vaseline plus condoms don't mix.

Vaseline, America's favorite greasy rub, spells disaster when used as a sexual lubricant! That's because Vaseline is a petroleum product and petroleum destroys latex. By destroy, we mean eats. In a matter of minutes, Vaseline on a condom or diaphragm will make a hole! Repeat after me: Never use Vaseline! The fact is, no oil-based product should ever be used in conjunction with a diaphragm or a condom. That means no Vaseline, no baby oil, no hand lotion. These products are all recognized to create pinholes in latex, which could lead to the exchange of an STD or accidental pregnancy. Not exactly what you hand in mind when you set out to have a good time.

When you're thinking protection, what you should be using as a personal lubricant to get past the pinch of rubber is KY jelly, or the generic KY-Type lubricant also sold in every American drugstore. The warming KY, which is a relatively new product is really nice and has the added benefit of removing that clammy "yuck," feeling when you apply it. Petroleum products are now also on every environmentalist's no-no list, so you'll be doing the planet a favor by dumping them out of your medicine cabinet.

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It takes up to four hours of vigorous sex to burn off the calories in one slice of pizza.

While there's a widely held belief that a half hour of energetic sex burns the equivalent calories in a slice of pizza, it's just not true. Let's look at the math: A half hour of vigorous sex burns about 85 calories, and most diet Web sites say that a slice of plain cheese pizza is about 230 calories, while a slice of pepperoni is about 290 calories. So, it's pretty clear that it takes more than 30 minutes of active lovemaking to burn off a single slice. Even guys on Viagra can't have sex for hours on end, so don't count on that to help you lose weight -- unless your motivation to lose weight is to look better while having sex. In which case, simply nix the pizza!

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One stamp-sized piece of foreskin contains enough genetic material to grow 200,000 units of faux skin.

Ever wonder what happens to all those babies' foreskins after they've been removed? Hospitals sell them to pharmaceutical companies and laboratories for bio-research who use them for clinical investigation and the growing field of artificial skin technology.

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Sex is good for your skin.

There is a connection between sex and your complexion, the connection being good sex, good skin. In direct contradiction to that old saw that masturbation will result in pimples, a cheap ply to make young people feel bad about self-pleasuring that reached its apex in the straight-laced 1950s, good sex means good skin. Bedroom action boosts a flagging complexion, giving a nice rosy glow to the skin. Screen legend Joan Crawford once boasted to celebrity magazines that she needed regular sex for her skin, although she preferred "doing it" for love.

That flush of love aside, there is a real psychological explanation as to why sex is good for your skin. When the body becomes heated, harmful toxins are expelled and flushed from the system. Also, the circulatory burst that accompanies orgasm means that the heart rate increases and that more blood is pumped throughout the body, especially to the face. (That's why when you have an orgasm, you tend to turn quite red.) During exuberant, energetic sex, plumping elastin fibers and collagen (the kind you pay a lot for at the cosmetic counter or the drugstore) are pumped straight to the face.

Another beneficial element is that endorphins are released during sex, endorphins being those sexy hormones that affect the brain like morphine. What this means is that in addition to looking good, you're feeling good, and that has a positive effect on your complexion.

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