receive toElle Oh Elle , where Portland - based writer and entertainer Elle Stanger takes your sex activity life from subpar to subversive . Find more of her musingshere .

In today ’s variation of Elle Oh Elle , Portland entertainer and academic Elle Stanger give you the sex Department of Education you never had in schooling .

If you raise up as an American teenager , you may have been lucky enough to have objective and informative education regarding intimate health and your change physical structure .

Elle Stranger sitting on bed with books

Steven Clouse/Thrillist

Just banter !

Sex ed for most of us was comprised of a few color - the - genitalia - by - numbers page , an awkwardly recite slideshow , and a few dispirited - budget films from the ' 80 that somehow manage to make sex seem ho-hum .

And even though it ’s been since the ( first ) Clinton era that many of us ride in front of our apathetic public school educators ( Hi Mr. Lopez ! ) , I look back and realize how much knowledge I ’ve reap by doing my own research … and having a lot of sex .

W

Baby wipes aren’t just for babies and strippers

If you live in the southern region of the US , you probably hold up in a perpetual state of swamp - ass : sweaty ballock , contamination , vulva , or butt . But no matterwhereyou last , sweat happens – and showers can be difficult to snag at a second ’s notice . A sort lover is a thoughtful lover ! PLEASE expend a hygienics wipe if you intend you might be get some oral activity . Keep them in your home , railway car , and purse ( where applicable ) . There ’s nothing worse than smelling feces when you ’re in from the source .

You are what you eat

Like your shrewish mother , I’ve told you this before . drab , but you just ca n’t live on on pizza and whiskey . If you do n’t eat for heart health , eat for jizz wellness .

Adding partners doesn’t always multiply pleasure

Threesomes are seen as a will to your power to supersex more than one person at a fourth dimension . But besides requiring groovy multi - tasking and share-out skills , tri - collaborator play can be hard to navigatebecause this gambol can expect more responsibleness and communication between all party require . More people intend a big likeliness of pleasure , but also an increase chance for wounded impression – and for the spread of STIs .

You’re supposed to use condoms for blow jobs

… but nobody does that , only because dick - balloons try awesome . Those who do often opt for flavour condoms ( vanilla extract is most popular ) . Professional sexual activity workers do incline to use condoms for oral ; just one more reasonyou’re less potential to transmit an STI or STD to and from a sex worker than a civilian .

Homophobia is indicative of same-sex desire

Studies patronise what most of us already eff : world and women who vocalise the strongest impression against same - sexual activity sex are also most conflicted about their own foreplay . A 1996 study in theJournal of Abnormal psychological science , used male person , ego - name “ straight ” participants who admitted disconfirming feelings toward homophile males . When debunk to sexually explicit stimuli , the men ’s penises indicated arousal . And a piece in theNew York Timesfound a half - dozen like cogitation that drew the same ending . In Jesse Bering , Ph.D. ’s bookPerv , he recounts try out to blend in with his peers : “ I stuck my nous out the machine window and screamed , “ queen ! ” at my older brother … as we all know perfectly well , a soul who outcry homophobic slurs ca n’t maybe be gay . ”

So to all of those input troll , congrats on your coming - out .

Oil and lube might destroy your condom

We learn in theGuide to Getting It Onin 2009 not to use petroleum - based products ( babe or mineral oil , lotions or Vaseline ) with rubber-base paint safety because THEY WILL melt THE LATEX ! As ofthiswriting , polyurethane prophylactic are safe with rock oil - based lubes .

Don’t get jizz in your eyes

It hurts ! Also , you’re able to abbreviate chlamydia , gonorrhoea , hep B , herpes , syphilis , HIV , and HIV . So …. do n’t .

Novelty items are for gags

If you buy it at the mall , it ’s credibly not mean for sex . “ Motion Lotion , " “ Spanish Fly , ” and anything listed as an “ eatable cream , ” is not meant to go inside of a vagina . Sugar or synthetic sweetening can lead to barm infection and other complications . Be an fearless consumer : double - check these production before you buy them ! New brand for lubricant seed and go quite often , but I resist by JO brand , ID , and Pjur , water - based and silicone polymer .

Your antibiotic might get you pregnant

Well , kind of . If you are prescribed a Rifampicin - type antibiotic , it will make your oral birth control gadget less efficient . Check with your doctor if you have any concerns about compatibility of medications .

Sex is not baseball

Unless you ’re play the world ’s most slow sport , footmark do not want to take place in order by following first , second , and third base . integrate it up ! range a zigzag around that field .

Penetration isn’t required

You heard me . lot of same - sex activity duet never utilize penetration at all , and have plenty of orgasms . If there ’s one question that lesbians are probably unbalanced of audition , it ’s “ How do you have sex activity ? ” Just so you know , tribationfeels amazing .

Porn looks better than it feels

There ’s a reason we call hoi polloi in porn performers and actors : because it ’s their chore to make sex activity look wild and fun . I ’ve had better half who judge to mime some of smut ’s strangest stunting , leave me annoyed or else of satisfied . The fashion the great unwashed in porn give cunnilingus is absolutely atrocious when felt in real life . Your mouth should n’t look like it ’s awkwardly licking an ice cream cone shape . Your look should be inter in my nether region ! I ’ll permit you know when you may amount up for air .

Don’t fake your orgasms

Doing so instruct your partner that you like something , when it actually does n’t feel good at all .

“Sexually active” is not a constant state

Nor does it have to be ! I begin having sex in high schoolhouse , because I opine I had to keep up with my peers . And then I stopped for a number . And I was fine ! If you ’re single , try , or continent , you do n’t have to be get up so as to blend . There are mickle of people who are quite happy without sex in their living at all . I prognosticate your pieces wo n’t dry up and fall off if you terminate using them .

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Elle Stangeris a sexual practice worker , activist , and Instagram princess residing in Portland , Oregon . She does n’t desire you to move here , but you’re able to follow her adventures at@ElleStangerand on her NSFW websiteEroticMusePDX.com .

Pile of sweet potatoes

Flickr/Wally Hartshorn

Bottles of Johnson’s baby oil in a row

Flickr/Jenny

Couple watching porn together in bed

Lucky Business/Shutterstock