Hollywood sex myth #5:
No one ever pauses to put on a condom, even with one-night stands. Think about it: When have you ever seen an on-screen couple discuss condoms before jumping into bed together? “Knocked Up” is the only film we can think of where the existence of condoms is even acknowledged (if not put to use — oh well!). In most movies characters have sex with no protection, sometimes barely knowing each other’s names — and it happens in everything from fluffy romances like “Love Actually” to suspense flicks like “Femme Fatale” and “The Departed” (he was in the mob, and she still didn’t use a condom!). Says Claire, 22: “If they ever showed someone like Eva Mendes suggesting protection, maybe I’d find it a little less awkward to pull it off myself.”

Hollywood sex myth #6:
Everyone looks really pretty during sex! The warmly lit love scenes in chick flicks like “Shakespeare in Love” and “The Holiday” and on teen TV shows like “The O.C.” are particularly at fault here. But even in the famously raw sex scene from “Monster’s Ball,” Halle Berry’s hair didn’t frizz a bit, and she just happened to be wearing a nice thong. “Come on!” says Katherine, 36, a stay-at-home mom in Atlanta. “Half the time you’re lying around in sweats, and it just happens. And during? My neck gets red splotches, my legs and armpits usually need shaving, and I am sure my facial expression looks as constipated as my husband’s does.” Which is not to say that she doesn’t find this hot — in fact, what Hollywood often misses out on is that moments like these are when we can feel the most intense personal connections. Explains Katherine: “No matter how stressed we are before sex, during it he just looks like a 16-year-old boy, so excited to be getting lucky, which makes me feel like a raunchy high school prom queen, adding to the cheap thrills!” With sex like that, who cares about razor stubble?

Twentieth Century Fox A vacation turns into a hot and steamy romance when Stella (Angela Bassett) hooks up with Winston (Taye Diggs) in "How Stella Got Her Groove Back."

Hollywood sex myth #7: Standing up is sooooo good! We’ve both tried standing sex, and the reality is this: He has to crouch awkwardly; his penis keeps slipping out; you can’t get any leverage; and the bigger the height difference between you, the worse things are. We can’t figure out how Keira Knightley and James McAvoy managed to get so freakin’ orgasmic while doing it standing up in “Atonement.” And beware standing sex in the shower — it’s slippery, and that soap-dish holder isn’t as firmly attached as it looks. At least that’s what our friend Jenna tells us: “I've got two words for you: bruised tailbone.”

Hollywood sex myth #8: When it doubt, raid the fridge. Call us cynics, but when we think of food and sex (yes, we’re talking to you, “9½ Weeks” and “Varsity Blues”), we can’t help but think of stickiness, Spray ‘n Wash and two loads of laundry. And “Last Tango in Paris” and the butter scene? That gave us nightmares for weeks! Even the food goddess Nigella Lawson, who’s famous for seductively licking cooking implements on TV, said recently, “I’ve never understood that whole dripping chocolate on someone. I can see how if you’re with someone you’re not particularly interested in, then using food as a prop might help. But food with sex just doesn’t do it for me.” Give us sex and give us chocolate (yes, in that order), but not at the same time, please.

Glamour contributing editors Em & Lo blog about sex and the modern woman at dailybedpost.com.

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