We engage in sex because we have a powerful biological urge to do so: it's nature's way of ensuring that we reproduce. But, unlike other animals, we have also inextricably linked the act of sexual intercourse with notions of love and romance, made monogamy and sexual fidelity moral standards, created taboos that have long prevented open discussion (much less open observation) of sexual matters, and have even been successful in controlling the mechanisms of reproduction. Sex is a subject of the highest importance to us, yet it is also one we are extremely reluctant to talk about.

Not surprisingly, then, sex legends are an extremely fertile crop in the field of contemporary folklore. Just talking about sex is embarrassing enough; getting caught in the act is perhaps our supreme humiliation. We love to gossip about the sex lives of our friends and neighbors, and we're especially fascinated by the sexual peccadilloes of the rich, famous, and powerful. We enjoy the neat little moral tales about unfaithful partners who are caught in their transgressions and meet revenge at the hands of angry mates, and we relish the poetic justice that awaits those who dare to engage in illicit sex. We fantasize about love potions that will turn unattainble objects of our desire into willing and eager sexual partners. And the legends don't stop with the act of intercourse itself: the mysteries of pregnancy and reproduction have themselves spawned legions of misinformation and old wives' tales.

We hope you'll get a chuckle out of (and maybe even learn a thing or two from) the many sex-related legends to be found here.