Sex Conspiracies You Need To Know About (SLIDESHOW)

EDITOR'S NOTE: Our friends at TruTV have scoured the Internet to discover the most important sex conspiracies.

By Jessica Ferri

Go ahead and Google “sex” (as if you haven’t already done so in the past hour); you’ll find 2.8 billion results ranging from scientific discussion to pornography to databases of sex offenders.

Clearly, sex is something we like to talk about. But there is a hidden side to sex, where conspiracy theories and well-kept secrets abound…

Loading Slideshow

• Stopping Prostitution

  Photo credit: Massimo Catarinella Prostitution is known as "the oldest profession." Trying to suppress it seems futile. Other countries and cities have legalized the practice, giving prostitutes greater protection under the law. In Germany, prostitutes were just recently asked to report their pay for taxes! Many rights groups and prostitutes advocate for the legalization of prostitution on the grounds that official regulations could better protect women.

• Stopping Prostitution (Cont'd)

  Photo credit: Russell And Sydney Poore Prostitution has been legalized in certain rural counties in Nevada and several cases of fraud and racketeering have since been prosecuted. Someone must be profiting from keeping prostitutes in the shadows.

• Eugenics

  This is the practice of using science to improve "the genetic composition of a society." After eugenics principles were used in the Nazi medical experiments it became a very, very dirty word. The Nazis tried to improve society's genetic composition through forced sterilization and targeted euthanasia.

• Eugenics (Cont'd)

  Now, we have the technology to confine eugenics to the laboratory. On the cutting edge of science, we are using the principles of eugenics to cure disease through stem cells and other genetic therapies. Still, in the hands of the wrong person, the same genetic technology that currently mitigates hereditary illness could be used to create a neo-Nazi master race.

• Circumcision

  In America, most parents opt to have their male infant circumcised. Because it makes daily hygiene easier, the medical community recommends it. For Jews, circumcision is a religious practice. Medical research has show that if circumcision is performed shortly after birth it has no negative effect on sexual function.

• Circumcision (Cont'd)

  Just when a campaign was growing to prevent what some believe is unnecessary genital mutilation, medical research has shown that circumcision also significantly decreases the transmission of HIV and STDs. Some anti-circumcision activists, however, look upon the timing of this discovery with suspicion.

• Homosexuality "Cures"

  In the 1920s, therapists and doctors argued that homosexuality was a curable disease. Conversion therapy, a mixture of behavior modification, aversion therapy, and sex therapy was applied to gay individuals. As one can imagine, this therapy was aggressive, ineffectual and certainly unethical.

• Homosexuality "Cures" (Cont'd)

  Though the conspiracy to convert gay people into heterosexuals was largely abandoned by the medical community in the 1980s and discredited in a 2009 study by the American Psychological Association, the practice of "praying away the gay" continues in ultra-conservative Christian ministries across the United States. (Marcus Bachmann, husband of Republican presidential candidate Michele Bachmann, purportedly tries to "cure" its patients of homosexuality at one of his health clinics)

• Female Genital Mutilation

  Also known as female circumcision, this mutilation affects an estimated 100-140 million women in 28 countries, according to the World Health Organization. Just like male circumcision, practitioners argue that FGM keeps women healthy with the added bonus that it prevents unwanted pregnancies. In truth, FGM inflicts lifelong suffering on women.

• Female Genital Mutilation (Cont'd)

  Rarely performed with anesthesia, women are at risk for infection, sterilization, and even death when their genitals are cut, often at the onset of puberty. This practice also turns intercourse into an excruciating act for women. FGM is often defended on cultural grounds but many see it as a conspiracy to keep women submissive.

• Gender Reassignment

  At birth, the attending physician examines the newborn's genitals and officially assigns a male or female sex to the infant. With prenatal testing, most parents know the sex of their child before it's born.

• Gender Reassignment (Cont'd)

  In some situations, however, visible sex characteristics are vague and, up until recently, doctors would encourage the parents to simply choose a gender for their child. Occasionally, those decisions can be wrong, especially in "intersex" people, who have internal anatomy that is inconsistent with their external anatomy. This practice has led to a sub-culture of intersex individuals in our binary world.

• Raising a Child Androgynously

  The discussion of what to do in the case of an intersex child has become a hot topic in the medical community. In this atypical instance, it might be appropriate for the child to choose his or her own gender. Are children born with gender proclivities, like dolls for girls, trucks for boys, or do we force our children into those preferences?

• Polygamy

  This was the common practice of the Mormon faith until 1904 and, in the Fundamentalist Latter Day Saints (FLDS) faith, polygamy is still in practice. In the early days of Mormonism, the number of men was severely limited due to disease, war, and the hardships of pioneer life. It made logical sense for one man to take on many women, many of whom were widows with children and therefore very vulnerable.

• Polygamy (Cont'd)

  Though members of the FLDS argue that plural marriage works better than traditional marriage, rights-groups see it as a way for one man to keep women and their children under his control.

• China's Birth Blockade

  Since 1978, China has restricted urban couples to only one birth, in hopes to bring the population under control. In the thirty years since its inception, demographers believe that up to 400 million births have been prevented.

• China's Birth Blockade (Cont'd)

  The problem with the one-child policy stems from an apparent son preference. A widespread conspiracy against girls has taken place as many parents will have sex-selective abortions until they know they carry a boy.

• Sex Tapes

  It seems like every other day there's a celebrity sex tape circulating on the internet. With computer technology, it's easy for hackers to break into cell phones or computers and disseminate intimate photos and videos on the web. This activity is illegal, and several stars, like Scarlett Johansson, have pursued legal action.

• Sex Tapes (Cont'd)

  But other celebrities such as Paris Hilton and Pamela Anderson have marketed their sex tapes, making millions of dollars off sales and publicity. Perhaps, even when the lady doth protest too much, sex tapes are marketing tools.

• Sex Scandals

  When JFK allegedly boinked Marilyn Monroe, the rumor was kept behind closed doors. Today, the doors have been flung wide open and sex scandals have become a very powerful political tool in the United States. As Newsweek reported during Lewinskygate, conservatives had been on the warpath to dig up proof of Clinton's philandering even before he was elected.

• Sex Scandals (Cont'd)

  Conveniently, when Anthony Weiner was rising as a popular liberal politician, a sex scandal destroyed his career. That said, powerful people get cocky and let their guards down, often making them easy targets.

• Total Abstinence

  In many conservative Christian households across America, abstinence is taught to children as the only means to protect against pregnancy and STDs. The organization True Love Waits requires its members to make this pledge: "I make a commitment to God, myself, my family, my friends, my future mate and my future children to be sexually abstinent from this day until the day I enter a biblical marriage relationship."

• Total Abstinence

  The problem with religion-based abstinence-only sex education is that there is a strong correlation between high rates of religiosity and high rates of teenage pregnancy. Think maybe these parents forgot about adolescent rebellion?

• HPV Vaccine and Cancer

  Conservative politicians, such as Michele Bachmann, have come out against giving young women a vaccine for the Human Papillomavirus (HPV), because they claim it causes cancer.

• HPV Vaccine and Cancer (Cont'd)

  However, this rumor is universally disputed by the scientific community. The HPV vaccine prevents HPV, a virus that causes some types of cervical and anal cancer. Vaccinating young women (and men) against HPV will prevent the spread of this very common disease and the cancer it can cause.

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Comments

[Scent]

04:13 AM on 10/01/2012

Two things I stumbled over here:

1.: I am stationed in germany and here circumcision is not even close to normal. AND studies HERE have shown that although circumcision does not affect libido in young men it sure does in older men. Urologists stated that viagra is sought by men almost ten years younger in circumcised men. Call me silly but I for one would claim that number means that circumcision will reduce sexually active time for men by almost ten years.

2.: Prostitution is always claimed to be women wanting easy money and freely offering their bodies to fat, ugly men. The problem is twofold. For one thing women are also vilified for offering sex for money. In almost ever nation on earth it is ONLY the women charged for prodtitution - not the men. Secondly it is always men who claim women offer freely what men can demand without ever being proscecuted.

The world has a very nasty example of what happens when women are treated better and MEN are charged for WANTING prostitutes: Sweden. In that nation women are not proscecuted but men are if they seek sex for money. More telling though is that when the government offered women jobs and education to get out of prostitution more than 95% took less money for a dayjob instead of selling sex.

[propackage]

08:59 AM on 10/01/2012

prosecuting prostitution is ridicoulous. There are many levels of prostitution. So it becomes interesting where the line is drawn. A woman that sees a man repeadedely in return for an apartment and clothes but does not solicit on the street is much different?

[Professor Wagstaff]

10:55 PM on 09/28/2012

Huff Post failed to point out the direct link that sometimes (rarely) occurs between circumcision and gender reassignment...sometimes the knife slips, and they suddenly have to return all those blue onesies and get pink ones. One conspiracy leads to another!

[PaultheMagyar]

01:21 PM on 09/28/2012

Male circumcision is an interesting issue. Many of the alleged health benefits are premised on studies conducted in sub-Saharan Africa, where clean water, societal customs and traditions are not conducive to cleanliness and health. In Europe, wh where clean water, societal customs and traditions conducive to cleanliness and health are more common, the statistics cited in the African studies are not duplicated. Uncircumcised men in Europe have fewer health problems.

The question is whether or not to wait until the male can make an informed decision for himself to be circumcised. Certainly, many of the alleged benefits -- especially regarding sexually transmitted diseases -- do not accrue to infants and prepubescent children. There is no convincing reason why a male should not have the autonomy to make this decision for himself. Genital mutilation can be of such consequence that it is best left to the affected individual. Some males have suffered from inexpertly-performed circumcisions and the consequences have ranged from acquisition of diseases to other infections to sexual dysfunction to loss of sensation to amputation and forced sexual reassignment surgery. Irreversibly imposing ones' values, prejudices and superstitions, with dubious therapeutic benefit, on an incompetent and unconsenting infant -- male or female -- should be seen as what it is: A human rights violation.

[oldsparky]

04:27 AM on 09/27/2012

Huff lied! I googled sex and found About 3,320,000,000 results (0.14 seconds) results. lol

[Linda Pruitt]

11:50 AM on 09/26/2012

The HuffPost sideboob sex-conspracy.

[Ichigo Kurosaki]

06:34 AM on 09/25/2012

The bigger problem with the FLDS is that they make their wimmenfolk dress like extras from 'Little House on the Prairie'.... Is that a Mormon burkha?

[LordRocksavage]

09:03 PM on 09/27/2012

Gee, that's the only part I like.

[Tulka2]

01:48 PM on 09/24/2012

Couple of comments. It is a fact that where ever prostitution is legal, the edge then becomes younger and younger prostitutes. The other comment is that I find it difficult to believe circumcision can be a subject without mentioning the largest group of American pedeatritions no longer recommends this procedure and insurence companies will no longer pay for it for that reason. Do you cut off a babies ears so they won't have the bother of washing them?

[Kailuabred]

03:11 PM on 09/24/2012

You need to catch up on your reading, as you are incorrect throughout your post. First, most insurance companies do cover it, second, the American Academy od Pediatrics now recommends circumcision.

[Tulka2]

04:09 PM on 09/24/2012

If the AAP now recommends it, it is purely political. Do we cut out uteruses b/c some small percentage of women get cancer, or AIDs....or any sexually transmitted diseases?  As a Jewish friend once joked, "The reason Jewish doctors are all for circumsicion is camouflage".  

[ravenslvr]

06:41 PM on 09/25/2012

AAoP recommends it, insurance companies normally do not cover the total price anymore, because it is an elective procedure. I do not want my kid looking like he is packing a sea cucumber, so I got him cut. It is creepy and gross when it is not cut and it is highly unsanitary. It is not clean for him, nor for any females he might engage with...when hes married and outta my house.

I would never leave my kid "intact" and have him scar some poor young girl. I come from a generation that got snipped, and just because my generation is lazy and doesnt want to do it, doesnt mean I am. At least there will be one stallion with those crusty geldings

[Brithgob]

03:40 PM on 09/24/2012

You've obviously never been to a Nevada brothel. I've been to a few in recent years, and there have been more than a few women in their 40s and 50s in them. You need to be more careful about throwing around "facts" that are just plain not true.

[Tulka2]

04:10 PM on 09/24/2012

Guess you are just not a rich or powerful enough John.

[cworr]

09:14 AM on 09/24/2012

Rumor doesn't count as proof. Most scholars don't agree with you because of a lack of evidence.

[ravenslvr]

06:42 PM on 09/25/2012

Ok, just because you watched a movie, does not mean you have any facts

[surfinnonreality]

08:09 AM on 09/24/2012

Why does pologamy have to be one man and more than one wife? Why can't it be one woman with more than one husband? Seems like a double standard to me.
Also nothing in the article about group marriage. The tv show Polyamory will be so dissapointed.

[hopper250]

03:45 PM on 09/24/2012

That is why its considered a way for men to dominate women.

[Linda Pruitt]

11:46 AM on 09/26/2012

It can be. It has occured in some cultures. It's called polyandry, and multiple-wives is called polygyny. We're waiting for a revelation from the Mormon leader-who knows what kink might suddenly become OK.

[13champlain]

07:45 AM on 09/24/2012

Scarlett = yum

[caitengl]

06:54 AM on 09/24/2012

C'mon Huff Post, I'm a Liberal and I think you are too biased to be news. Facts speak for themselves and throwing in opinions just makes you less credible.

[hopper250]

03:46 PM on 09/24/2012

And you posted this in the weird news section...?

[xcxv2dhf xcxv2dhf]

04:32 AM on 09/24/2012

"Medical research has shown that if circumcision is performed shortly after birth it has no negative effect on sexual function." Right, who needs those thousands of sexual nerve endings, nobody EVER complains that condoms reduce pleasure

[Russell Seymour]

08:48 AM on 09/28/2012

I got so angry I stopped reading after that.

There's the usual, insecure, American men forcing it on their kids in the comments too.

[KIVPossum]

02:02 AM on 09/24/2012

MOST WILD?

Although my grammar is far from perfect, I believe the word you want is WILDEST

[Ole Puddin Head]

01:34 AM on 09/24/2012

I just wanted to come in here and post how cute the front page picture of ScarJo is. I could just eat her up. Shes delicious.

[Connected Fella]

03:27 AM on 09/24/2012

Yeah... She'd be all over you.

[Ole Puddin Head]

03:48 AM on 09/24/2012

I can dream.

[foolishness]

10:53 PM on 09/23/2012

It wasn't just the nazi's who practiced eugenics. We (USA) has a pretty dirty past in the game as well.

[wllsm6]

01:46 AM on 09/24/2012

DON'T REMIND US

[TheyCallMeLtKelso]

05:45 AM on 09/24/2012

Howard Jarvis is an example.