It seems that the human body has been studied up and down, and nevertheless, there are still stereotypes in society regarding our body. Especially women get it - the fault is a large number of taboos and prohibitions in which the ladies lived until recently. So, it's time to rip off the covers! InStyle has collected and debunked the most popular myths about the female body.
It turns out that women have never been in scientific focus: all major clinical trials were conducted mostly on men (especially in cancer research). The reasons, of course, are not only and not so much in sexism: few scientists want to put girls of childbearing age at risk. Some claim that the fluctuations in female hormones are so complex and mysterious that there is simply no point in understanding them (ha!). Be that as it may, in recent years, medicine has begun to pay increased attention to the female body, and the myths that have been accumulating for years, decades and even centuries have begun to gradually debunk. So…
MYTH # 1. Pregnancy cannot occur during menstruation
“Nothing is impossible when it comes to conceiving,” says Aaron Carroll, author of the bestselling Don't Swallow Gum: Myths, Half-Truths, and Lies About Your Body. And indeed it is! Getting pregnant during menstruation is problematic, but possible: a sperm can wait for an egg for up to a week, which means that unprotected intercourse during critical days does not guarantee you complete safety (not only from conception, but also from many sexually transmitted diseases!) …
MYTH # 2. Menopause changes sex drive and affects libido
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This myth is so ingrained in the minds of people that it took more than one decade to debunk it. Yes, hormones are changing, but this is not directly related to sex drive. A woman's mood can change - due to the so-called hot flashes, the amount of lubrication decreases, but the fact remains: a study conducted already in 1994 by the American scientist Edward Laumann showed: every second subject aged 50+, of which there were more than 10,000, has sex several times a month. Keep it up!
MYTH # 3. Women and men need the same amount of sleep
A wonderful day to debunk this myth! All sleeping beauties, lovers of long and high-quality sleep and fans of the kingdom of Morpheus can rejoice: scientists at Duke University have proved that continuous and high-quality sleep for six hours in a row is vital for ladies, otherwise not only psychological, but also physical health deteriorates in women. An increase in insulin levels, hypertension, mental disorders - this is what awaits those who are forced to wake up against their will. In men, such relationships were not revealed (more than 6000 people were studied).
MYTH # 4. A gynecological examination will give an accurate answer whether a woman is a virgin or not
The adolescent fear of the gynecological chair, caused by the fact that the doctor "finds out everything" (by "everything", of course, means the information that the girl has already begun sexual activity), it turns out, is not justified. Even when using glass capable of tenfold magnification, doctors cannot identify sexually active virgin women. It's, of course, about finding a hole in the hymen. The fact is that all women have this hole.
MYTH # 5. A woman can control menstruation
From serious to funny and ridiculous. Scientists, of course, are not engaged in exposing these issues, but it would be worth it, because many men are still sure that menstruation occurs at our will - both its start and its finish. Welcome, welcome! Girls are not able to just pick up and stop it.
By the way, some men believe that all girls (!) Have critical days at the same time, a kind of X hour. What can we say if we exclude the surprised exclamations? No, dear ones, this is not so.
MYTH # 6. A woman can breastfeed any child at any time
In theory, even a woman who is out of childbearing age can cause lactation for a step-baby. And yet, we cannot just pull out the breast and feed any random baby if the lactation process is not started. It is controlled by oxytocin and prolactin, which is why even nursing mothers need to be relatively calm and happy so that stress hormones - cortisol and adrenaline - do not "clog" lactation hormones.
MYTH # 7. There are no gag reflexes in women
We know where this myth comes from - from pornographic films, where actresses easily perform oral sex using the "deep throat" technique. In fact, not every girl is able to master this technique precisely because of the presence of the gag reflex, which is stronger in some than others.
MYTH # 8. Women are bad drivers, and it's all because of the hormone estrogen
I would like to complete the list of ridiculous statements regarding female bodies with this myth. The hormone estrogen, produced by the female ovaries, is also produced in the male body - the adrenal cortex and testes are responsible for this. In a word, look for another explanation, please.
Author: Olga Zhurkova
