What’s something you believed was a fact for ages that turned out to be wrong?

[kindofsquishy]

I thought for nearly my whole life that losing your virginity was *supposed* to hurt. I only found out recently that it actually isn’t always the case! I also thought that paw paws and papayas were the same thing until last week. What did you believe for ages that turned out to be wrong?

[walk_on_walls]

Wait…paw paws aren’t papayas?

[kindofsquishy]

No @walk_on_walls! I know right, my mind was blown. 

From Quora: 

“Consumers have long been confused about the difference between these fruit and the fact is that while they are the same species Carica papaya, the fruit known as papaya looks and tastes quite different to the fruit known as papaw.

To make things easier for consumers the agreed understanding in the Australian industry is that the red-fleshed sweeter fruit is called red papaya, while the yellow-fleshed fruit is called yellow papaw. 

American pawpaw (note the different spelling) on the other hand is an entirely different fruit not related to the tropical Carica papaya from which Australian red papaya and yellow papaw come. American pawpaw is also known as ‘poor man’s banana’ and is the fruit of the Asimina triloba tree.

To complicate things further, there’s also green papaya, which is either red papaya or yellow papaw picked green. Green papaya is a sought after ingredient in Asian cuisine and is eaten as a vegetable.”

[walk_on_walls]

I can’t believe this is happening.

[kindofsquishy]

I’m sorry to break the news 😛 @walk_on_walls

[ElleBelle]

Ok, this is not about sex and it’s v. embarrassing but I believed in drop bears until I was 14. My whole family was in on the joke, and nobody bothered to tell me they weren’t real until I was way too old for anyone to believe in them. 🙁

I also thought people with penises couldn’t pee with an erection but a couple of people have told me they can so now I don’t know what to believe!

[MsBlueStreak]

I have one, though it’s a little outside the box.

For the longest time I didn’t know what gay/lesbian meant. I knew they existed (I loved the movie Philadelphia), I just didn’t know what it meant at all, not even in terms of same sex attraction and love. It wasn’t until someone brought it up in sex-ed that it began to dawn that it had to do with sex and attraction.

This from the girl whose aunt shared a bed with a Lisa for most of my life, even when staying at my Nana Lady’s house. It also didn’t occur to me until I was about 12-13 that my aunt was sharing a bed with a Lisa, even though I’d seen it many times. (Ah the ignorance of childhood)

Thankfully, because it wasn’t discussed much or made a big deal out of, when my cousins and I all started to figure it out, no one made a fuss – which led to us all growing up to be pretty accepting types.  The “well dah” moment felt pretty huge at the time though.

[Curiosity]

This isn’t something I believed to be true for ages but is silly that I believed it. When I was in primary school we used to get free milk during afternoon tea (chocolate, strawberry or plain), some of the boys in the class had me convinced that depending on which one they drank they would pee the same colour. I didn’t seem to process that it clearly didn’t have that effect on girls, so why would it be for boys? Silly me, I asked mum at one point and she told me that it wasn’t true

[walk_on_walls]

@MsBlueStreak Is ‘a Lisa’ slang for another woman?

When Jurassic Park came out, for quite a while I thought the technology behind recreating the dinosaurs was real. Needless to say, I was pretty disappointed 🙁

[MsBlueStreak]

Hey @walk_on_walls, it’s actually not slang, her name was actually Lisa.

(Lisa is the only girlfriend/partner that my aunt has ever lived with, or brought to Sunday family dinner – but for the many years they were together Lisa was just another member of the family).

[kindofsquishy]

That reminds me, @MsBlueStreak, I used to think that *any* kind of sex would result in pregnancy. Ie lesbian sex etc. 

There are so many things that I was wrong about in my life, hahahah.  😀 😀 😀 😀 

[NickiPower]

@ElleBelle I’m with you on the penises/pee one. I thought it doesn’t work and now I’m confused. 

[RoseHill]

I only learned maybe 2 years ago that men dont use toilet paper to wipe when they pee  😀

A boyfriend explained to me that they “shake” to drip dry and then thats that. 

I always just thought they were much more efficient at using less and conserving haha!

[RoseHill]

Same here @kindofsquishy ! I thought if you had unprotected sex even once, it would always end in pregnancy! I never made the connection between ovulation cycle and sperm etc. hahaha

[kindofsquishy]

Yes @RoseHill! I embarrassingly enough didn’t really understand the basics either – I just assumed sex=babies. I had started experimenting with a female friend and lived in mortal fear that I was going to be pregnant (I hadn’t even had my first period yet). 

@walk_on_walls I guess in a way that’s a sign of a good movie!!! Real dinosaurs would be both awesome and terrifying. 

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