The most interesting stories about our misconceptions about sex, say in our twenties, or even the ones we carry with us now, go back to childhood. And when the root story is told, it is often tragicomic. The group of friends who decided to convince a particularly studious sort of classmate that his penis is extremely small. Or the ones who spread the idea that semen is so limited that if you masturbate a 1,000 times you will have none left. So many such. (On masturbation, do read https://misters.in/en/blog/how-much-should-one-masturbate/)

The attempt in this podcast has been to try and move on from all that. However, how does one move on? There’s the risk of suggesting therapy to everyone, and while that may be no bad thing, it is a non-starter for purely practical reasons. (On therapy, this may be a great read, https://misters.in/en/blog/a-more-meaningful-way-of-talking-to-your-partner-about-sex/)Much of what was clearly unreliable information—gleaned from friends on playgrounds, or on the back benches in class—stays with us and continues to shape our views well into adulthood.

With us today to discuss all this are of course the usual suspects, and Manak of the YP Foundation, an organisation that is doing amazing work with young people on sex and gender.