Can anyone debunk these 4 arguments and also provide sources to the arguments against the myths surrounding anal sex?

[Oatmeal_Muffin]

Hello. I am curious about anal sex and have a few questions. Firstly, can anyone here specify the sources of everything in the responses in the debunking anal sex myths section? It would be best to actually see other scientists showing where the myths are wrong; https://www.analonlylifestyle.blog/guide/anal-myths/

For example, in the anal myths section it is said "frequent anal sex can actually help you strengthen your anal muscles, giving you greater control over the area, not less—reducing your chances of incontinence later in life.", yes so I agree with this, but now I would love to see the studies that have been done that show anal sex reduces the chances of fecal and urinal incontinence

I'm saying this because anytime I search "anal sex, incontinence", many articles come up that say "anal sex increases the risk of getting fecal and urinal incontinence", here: https://www.cosmopolitan.com/sex-love/n ... ther%20men.

And here: https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/28248849/

So now to debunk this, we need to give sources to studies that show anal sex actually reduces the chances of getting fecal or urinal incontinence

Does anyone have any sources?

There are also 2 more articles I found today that I would like to share for you to see too. Here's article 1; https://www.health.com/sex/is-anal-sex-dangerous

> "“Let’s face it, the anus was not made for intercourse. It’s supposed to be a one-way passage,” Dr. Streicher points out. The vagina, on the other hand, “has a thick, elastic, accordion-like lining designed to stretch to accommodate a penis, or a baby.”

Rectal tissue is thinner and doesn’t share the same elasticity, so there’s a greater chance it can tear, says Dr. Streicher, who is the author of Sex Rx. And tearing increases your odds of contracting a sexually transmitted infection.

Rectal gonorrhea, anal chlamydia, and HIV are all real risks. According to the United States Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, "anal sex is the highest-risk sexual behavior for HIV infections." But anal sex is perhaps most likely to transmit the human papillomavirus (HPV). “Very few heterosexual men have HIV, but over half of men have HPV,” says Dr. Streicher. HPV can cause anal warts and anal cancer.

Then there’s pain, bleeding, and fecal incontinence. “Poop in your pants is not a nice thing to talk about,” says Dr. Streicher. She points to new research from a team at Northwestern University that found that women who considered anal part of their regular bedroom behavior were more likely to say it changed the consistency of their stools, and report both urinary and fecal incontinence = https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/28248849/ ....."

Here's article 2; https://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/lif ... d=60743470

Both articles say the "risks" associated with anal sex are;

argument 1) Higher risk of HIV and HPV transmission, higher risk of STDs and STIs transmission, higher risk of UTI transmission

argument 2) Fecal incontinence and urinary incontinence = https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/28248849/

argument 3) Pain and bleeding

argument 4) Loose rectum and anus, this one is a common belief. So many people say that penis is bigger than poop, that rectum and anus can only stretch when something comes out of them not when something goes inside them, and that just like a rubber band that gets loose when it gets stretched when rectum and anus get stretched as something goes inside them they will get loose too

Can anyone here debunk these 4 arguments please and provide sources to the arguments against these 4 myths that surround anal sex? Are these 4 "risks" that are associated with anal sex myths or are they not myths? Is anal sex safe and healthy? How to enjoy having anal sex when people say there are so many risks associated with anal sex?

[julietagc]

Hello, I find what you wrote very interesting, I know that no one refutes what you said regarding sexually transmitted diseases, because in fact it is so, there is a greater risk as you explained.
The point that makes me curious and I would like them to answer you about incontinence.

This: "anal sex can actually help you strengthen your anal muscles, giving you greater control over the area, not less—reducing your chances of incontinence " or "anal sex, incontinence", many articles come up that say "anal sex increases the risk of getting fecal and urinal incontinence" what is the truth mmm.

Does incontinence increase or not increase? I would love to see the sources. I hope they answer you and thanks for the information.

[FarmerDan]

I can't offer you any sources either (although I do have some decades of giving, receiving, and reading everything I can find about anal sex!) .

In fact, reliable sources may not exist. People who are surveyed are reluctant to talk about anal sex in any detail, and until recently most medical professionals were inclined to give negative advice about it, for 'ethical' reasons rather than in the interests of practicing good medicine.

How would you go about gathering reliable data on fecal incontinence, anyway? Get a few thousand people to wear some kind of camera between their cheeks? And what is incontinence, anyway? An occasional 'wet sneeze', or something much more debilitating?

The most consistent data I've seen on incontinence says something like '5% of the population have faecal incontinence, and that rises to 7% in those who regularly experience anal insertion'. That small difference could be easily explained by people who are anally experienced intentionally relaxing their sphincter at the thought of something or someone entering it.

My own experience and that of anyone I've discussed this with is that anal sex is more likely to be good for your anal health than bad for it.

The risks listed by those medical experts exist all right, but what they don't tell you is how great the risk is (in most cases it's very small). Look at it this way - if you travel by car you face a risk of death or injury which is significantly greater than any anal misadventure can offer. But that doesn't stop us clogging the highways ..

[julietagc]

I can't offer you any sources either (although I do have some decades of giving, receiving, and reading everything I can find about anal sex!) .

In fact, reliable sources may not exist. People who are surveyed are reluctant to talk about anal sex in any detail, and until recently most medical professionals were inclined to give negative advice about it, for 'ethical' reasons rather than in the interests of practicing good medicine.

How would you go about gathering reliable data on fecal incontinence, anyway? Get a few thousand people to wear some kind of camera between their cheeks? And what is incontinence, anyway? An occasional 'wet sneeze', or something much more debilitating?

The most consistent data I've seen on incontinence says something like '5% of the population have faecal incontinence, and that rises to 7% in those who regularly experience anal insertion'. That small difference could be easily explained by people who are anally experienced intentionally relaxing their sphincter at the thought of something or someone entering it.

My own experience and that of anyone I've discussed this with is that anal sex is more likely to be good for your anal health than bad for it.

The risks listed by those medical experts exist all right, but what they don't tell you is how great the risk is (in most cases it's very small). Look at it this way - if you travel by car you face a risk of death or injury which is significantly greater than any anal misadventure can offer. But that doesn't stop us clogging the highways ..

Long-term fecal incontinence I think it refers to, because many people have anal sex and we dont have that problem, but maybe over the years yes, it happens, I dont know, but I would like to know.
I am 24 years old, I would like if there was reliable information that when I am 50 years old I dont have these kinds of problems

[FarmerDan]

There are a few of us here that have long term experience and none have reported problems.

To set your mind at rest you could try asking around the anal fisting boards in Reddit or Fetlife. Taking a fist on a regular basis should be a good test!

[johnywest]

Go to the gym and lift the heavies weights you can find! No warm up, just go and lift them, as hard as you can for as many reps as you can.
Your arms will be sore for the next few days. You won't be able to lift your arms without feeling lots of pain. You won't be able to lift a spoon or hold a pen or even masturbate. But hey, that's ok, no biggie, it will go away in a couple of days and it's a funny story to tell your friends.

Now do the same with your asshole. Skip warm up and stretching, skip buttplugs, go straight to balls deep anal penetration. Just like weight lifting, go as hard as you can for as many reps as you can.
Your asshole will be sore for the next few days. Your sphincter won't be able to stay completely closed and some poop will find its way out. But this is not funny anymore, it's not like the time your arms were too sore and you had to drink soup with a straw. For the next few days until your asshole recovers it is going to be embarrassing.


Your sphincter is just like any other muscle in your body.
Push it too hard and it will get sore, but with more unpleasant consequences than other muscles.
Do it gently, properly and regularly and you will strengthen that muscle and build endurance.

99% of people don't know how to have proper anal sex, so scientists have to write those articles to at least give them a warning and keep people safe. It is the same with warning labels that say "Do not open during flight" on airplane doors.

[julietagc]

Go to the gym and lift the heavies weights you can find! No warm up, just go and lift them, as hard as you can for as many reps as you can.
Your arms will be sore for the next few days. You won't be able to lift your arms without feeling lots of pain. You won't be able to lift a spoon or hold a pen or even masturbate. But hey, that's ok, no biggie, it will go away in a couple of days and it's a funny story to tell your friends.

Now do the same with your asshole. Skip warm up and stretching, skip buttplugs, go straight to balls deep anal penetration. Just like weight lifting, go as hard as you can for as many reps as you can.
Your asshole will be sore for the next few days. Your sphincter won't be able to stay completely closed and some poop will find its way out. But this is not funny anymore, it's not like the time your arms were too sore and you had to drink soup with a straw. For the next few days until your asshole recovers it is going to be embarrassing.


Your sphincter is just like any other muscle in your body.
Push it too hard and it will get sore, but with more unpleasant consequences than other muscles.
Do it gently, properly and regularly and you will strengthen that muscle and build endurance.

99% of people don't know how to have proper anal sex, so scientists have to write those articles to at least give them a warning and keep people safe. It is the same with warning labels that say "Do not open during flight" on airplane doors.

Obviously, Push it too hard and it will get sore will have consequences, I agree on this point.

But there is something in everything you said that is not right, not all muscles are equal, the functioning of the skeletal muscle, cardiac muscle, smooth muscle is not the same. A striated muscle is not the same as a smooth muscle. The muscles of your internal organs are not the same as the muscles of your arms, you realize at a glance that they are not the same and do not work in the same way, so your comparison with the muscles of the body does not work in this case.

Nor is muscle pain when you exercise comparable to your ass, because one pain is caused by straining your muscles and recruiting fibers, and the other is pain from damage by forcing a workout and micro-tears (speaking of a poorly done anal sex)

But it also doesn't answer the question, whether that long-term anal muscle is affected or not, having anal sex gently, properly and regularly.

[julietagc]

There are a few of us here that have long term experience and none have reported problems.

To set your mind at rest you could try asking around the anal fisting boards in Reddit or Fetlife. Taking a fist on a regular basis should be a good test!

That is something extreme, I don't know if you speak to me with reality or with fantasy, but I doubt that taking it to an extreme is good.

As far as I've seen, everything you take to extremes is bad

[analintimate]

I can't debunk the points made but would observe that the evidence and studies quoted supporting those myths are pretty weak - at least in in the study linked (not sure about the large scale Cosmopolitan study conducted in 2011 but wouldn't imagine Cosmopolitan as very reliable either).

As FarmerDan notes, there is no definition of incontinence or objective measure of the same; there is a small increase in self-reported incontinence which could just as easily be down to increased 'awareness' caused by the myth in the first place. It may also depend a lot on what order the questions are asked in:
1. Had anal sex recently?
2. Experienced any anal incontinence?
...would likely get a higher incontinence rate than:
1. Experienced any anal incontinence recently?
2. Have you ever tried anal sex?

I don't think the data are good enough to draw any real conclusion.