Cosmopolitan - Cosmopolitan Sexopedia: Your Ultimate A to Z Guide to Getting it On

An oddly scary-sounding name for a really NBD thing. Allorgasmia happens when youre having sex with your significant other but find yourself fantasizing about someone else (ahhh, Ryan Gosling) in order to get off. This doesnt mean you like your mate any less, says sexologist Emily Morse, host of the podcast Sex with Emily. Think about it like this: You arent replacing your physical connection with your partner. Youre enhancing it by tapping into your fantasies. If its not leading to obsession, anxiety, or reactions that could hurt your relationship, says Morse, then let your mind run wild.

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That super hot-and-sensual feeling you get when all your senses are hyper-focused on sexual desire and love. But here are some fun stuff that you may not know:

Men who are turned on smell different at least to the subconscious. According to research at Rice University, when women smelled sweat created by a man watching porn, a different part of their brains lit up than when they smelled normal workout sweat. This research supports the idea that our brains may be processing chemical signals from other humans in ways we arent always aware of.

Some people sneeze when feeling revved up, reports a study in the Journal of the Royal Society of Medicine. The reason? Mixed-up signals in the body. The parasympathetic nervous systemwhich helps you get ready for sex by sparking lubrication or clitoral arousalcan also accidentally cause fluid to flow in the nose, making a person sneeze. (These crossed signals may also be the reason why bright lights make some people achoo.)

The peak time of day women desire sex is 11:21 p.m. while for men, its 7:54 a.m.at least according to a survey by sex-toy company Lovehoney.

And, apparently, men are more sexually attracted to womens bare bodies in the winter than in the summer, according to research by Dr. Justin Lehmiller. Because there tends to be less flesh on display, seeing skin in January is more novel and arousing.

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General interest in backdoor love is definitely trending up, with sex experts saying its the move that women ask them about most. In fact, 35.9 percent of heterosexual women and 42.3 percent of heterosexual men ages 1844 in the US have tried it.

Anal sex is typically thought of as anal penetration with a penis. And while pleasure cant be boiled down to just one thing, there are aspects of anal sex that both men and women can enjoy. Some guys like going there with a woman because the anus is tighter than the vagina, giving his D a more intense feeling during intercourse. Some women find that because of the rich cluster of nerves surrounding the anus, the area is a powerful zone.

According to Dr. Kat Van Kirk, a clinical sexologist and marriage-and-family therapist, these are four of the most common misconceptions about anal sex:

MYTH

In a study published in the Journal of Sexual Medicine, less than 40 percent of gay men surveyed engaged in anal intercourse during their last sexual event. What was the most popular answer? Kissing.

MYTH #1: Its going to hurt.